Whole Wheat Dutch Babies

Need an easy, delicious breakfast idea for this weekend? While I love regular pancakes, we also grew up loving dutch babies around our house, which are essentially a puffed-up oven-baked pancake. Dutch babies are great because they only call for a few ingredients, they are hard to screw up, and the result is quite impressive with very minimal effort. I thought I would switch up the standard recipe by trying whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular all-purpose white flour in order to make my version of dutch babies a little more nutritious and they turned out great. Whole wheat pastry flour can be found at any grocery store in the baking aisle or bulk food section and is a great pantry staple to substitute for all-purpose white flour in almost any baked good recipe. Don't use regular whole wheat flour here - it's too heavy and the dutch babies won't rise correctly. Serve the dutch babies topped with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dusting of powdered sugar, then eat it like that or add maple syrup, jam, or fresh fruit.

Whole Wheat Dutch Babies
Serves 4

Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

6 eggs
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. lowfat milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract
4 T. (1/2 stick) butter
Lemon, powdered sugar and maple syrup, jam, or fruit for serving

Place a 10'' cast-iron skillet (or similar oven-proof skillet) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
Whisk the eggs together in a medium-sized bowl until frothy. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, then whisk the flour into the bowl with the eggs. Whisk in the milk and vanilla, combining well to make sure there are no clumps (the batter will be thin). When the oven is preheated, remove the skillet and add in the butter, stirring with a wooden spoon until melted (which only takes about 10 seconds). Then, immediately add the batter to the pan (right on top of the butter) and return to the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and puffy. Don't peek until it's done or the dutch babies will lose their height. When ready, remove from the oven, cut into four big pieces, and serve with a squeeze of lemon juice, some powdered sugar, and syrup, jam, or fruit, if you'd like.

Winter Vegetable Gratin

I'll admit - I think this is one of the most beautiful dishes that I've created, and it's much easier and healthier than most gratins! I've been getting all sorts of different root vegetables in our CSA box - celery root, yukon gold potatoes, butternut squash (ok that's not a root vegetable but same idea), and watermelon radish. I suggest using any combination of root or fall hard vegetables in this dish: potatoes, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, hard squash like butternut or kabocha, even sugar pumpkin would be great. I happened to have the combination I talked about above - about 1 lb. each of celery root, butternut squash, a giant watermelon radish (yes, you can cook these and they taste similar to turnips), and yukon gold potatoes. Most gratins require making a bechamel sauce, which is delicious but not exactly heatlhy nor quick when you're also having to prep and arrange all of the vegetables. My version layers the vegetables with two cheeses, sage, and includes just a bit of lowfat milk poured over everything to bring it all together. The result was both gorgeous and delicious! I served this as a main dish with salad and bread, but it would also be a great side.

Winter Vegetable Gratin
Serves 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side

Active Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

4 lb. assorted hard winter/root vegetables (I used 4 varieties, 1 lb. each)
1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 c. freshly grated gruyere cheese
1/2 c. lowfat milk
1 T. fresh sage, finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel and thinly slice all of the vegetables. Grease a large oval gratin dish or 9x13 baking dish. Arrange the vegetables in the first layer, alternating between the different types. The vegetables should be overlapping and create a relatively even, tight layer. Drizzle the first layer with a little extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, 1/3 of the parmesan cheese, 1/3 of the gruyere cheese, and 1/3 of the sage. Add the next layer of vegetables and drizzle the olive oil, add the pinch of salt, another 1/3 of each of the cheeses, and the sage. Top with the last layer of vegetables, drizzle with olive oil and the pinch of salt, then pour the 1/2 c. of milk over the dish. Top with the remaining cheeses and sage, then transfer to the oven and bake for approximately one hour until lightly golden. Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, then cut into sections for serving.

Sweet Potato Oat Bread

We've been getting sweet potatoes in our CSA box for the past few weeks and I've been trying to come up with inventive new ways to use them. I happen to love homemade breakfast breads, and thought why not use mashed sweet potatoes in place of something like pumpkin puree which you might normally find in one of these recipes. The result was a moist, not too sweet, healthy breakfast bread which is great with a cup of coffee in the morning or for a mid-morning snack. Eat it as it is or with a little bit of butter. This bread kept well for me for a few days wrapped in foil.

Sweet Potato Oat Bread
Makes 1 loaf

Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes (plus time to roast sweet potato)

1 1/2 c. mashed cooked sweet potato (about 2 medium)
1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or 3/4 c. white and 1/2 c. normal whole wheat flour)
1/2 c. oat flour (can be found at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods - or make your own by grinding up oats in a food processor)
1/4 c. ground flaxseed meal
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. kosher salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 c. agave nectar or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Roast the sweet potato for about an hour until a fork goes in easily (this can be done ahead of time). Remove from oven and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flours, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another medium-sized bowl remove the flesh from the sweet potato and mash well with a fork. If you've roasted the sweet potato the day before and it's cold, warm it up then add the butter and stir to combine (the heat will melt it), then add the eggs, agave/maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract and stir. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Transfer the batter to the pan and bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown on the edges. Let cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan before serving.