Breakfast

 

Scones, muffins, omelets, French toast.... I love breakfast foods, especially those that are freshly made.

So why is it that I like the occasional boxed cereal, processed in all its modern-day glory to the nth degree.  

As a kid, boxed cereals, especially the sweet ones that are seemingly pure sugar and therefore the utmost in luxury for a 9-year old, were only rarely to be found on our breakfast table.  I remember when I got to college and discovered the all-you-can-eat buffets that were part of every meal at my particular university.  At last this meant that I could have breakfast cereal every morning, and even for lunch and dinner as well.  Captain Crunch, here I come.

Well, as an post-college adult, I have at least learned that all those sugary cereals aren't really what I want.  But I still have a craving for them sometimes.  And I still will eat the occasional boxed cereal, but now it's something a little less unhealthy -- perhaps a Quaker granola cereal, or my favorite brand of corn flakes (which is an off-brand, Best Choice).   

Still, though, when I eat one of those less-unhealthy cereals, I'm eating highly processed food that has gone through the wringer and is undoubtedly simply not as good for me as fresh made-from-scratch foods.  

So why is it I still love to eat them from time to time.  I will probably never know the exact reason.  

Summer's end and new foods

Here we are at the end of August, summer soon to end, the heat soon to leave, but I'm still thinking about cold beverages.  Soon we'll see some new varieties of lemonade added to the menu.  But for now, let's get on to the upcoming two weekends of menus.

As a result of a lower back muscle strain which took a while to heal, I didn't do any food order prep this weekend.  Everything was pushed ahead to next weekend.  Menus haven't changed.  Just pushed ahead.  But rest assured, I'm completely mended and ready to work in the kitchen again.

Now back to lemonades.  Soon you will see three new lemonades added to the menu.  Each of them is infused with another fruit to make a blend.

Also I will soon add chicken tetrazzini on the menu.  I know, I know, turkey tetrazzini is more customary, but I have found that it doesn't have nearly as much flavor as the chicken, so that's what I'm going with.

Final versions of hazelnut cream cake and strawberry cream cake will soon be completed as well.

And chocolate ice cream and a special chocolate cream pie will also soon be added.

These are just a few things that are upcoming.  Adding new items to the menu is one of my favorite things.  So watch for them soon.  

Have a great evening!

New cookie dip flavors

 

I am happy to announce that I have expanded the available flavors of Bruce Bakery and Bistro's sweet and creamy cookie dip.

In addition to the original vanilla, now you can order caramel and ...

chocolate chocolate chip and ...

raspberry and ...

almond.

So now there are a total of 5 different flavors of this dip.  Will I do more new flavors?  Probably, sometime, maybe, we'll see.

I certainly had fun developing these flavors.  And I have found that many people who enjoy these simply eat the dip all by itself rather than dipping cookies or spreading it on sweet rolls, etc.  You can do whatever you want with it.  As long as it is enjoyed, then I'm happy.

I'll put these on the weekly menu soon and you can all try them for yourself.

Have a great day, everyone!

A late Sunday email on Monday

Good Monday morning.  I almost always get a new post out on Sundays.  But yesterday I had a bit of an issue with a lower back muscle that I strained, and by the end of the day it was best for me to simply lie  down and relax and let it start to heal.  Today it's tender, but on the mend.  I am carefully going about my normal routine, being very careful that I don't disturb the healing process.  I managed to cut a watermelon today and that might be the only thing I do in the kitchen, all in the interest of recuperating.

This coming weekend we have lemon snickerdoodles and ginger spice cookies ready for ordering.  And the following weekend we have double chocolate pudding and double chocolate cookies.  Yes, double chocolate for both.

Today as I stay calm and relaxed, I will perhaps try to get caught up on some new additions to the menu.  That's the task that is foremost in my mind.  

That's all for now.  I will be back again soon this week with more updates.

Taste tests

I love to compare things, especially in the kitchen.  So taste tests are something I really have fun doing.  Sometimes you try something new, compare it to the old way you used to it, and you are really amazed at the difference.  Then you have to try to decide which way you want to do it from then on.

These past few weeks, I've been experimenting with lemonades with different companion fruits.  I've come up with three great things that will be added to the menu as soon as I get the chance on a day when I don't feel like vegging all day.  I tweaked the balance of flavors and sweetness until I had them just the way I wanted them.  But then I wanted to try one final thing.  So today I made two separate batches of raspberry lemonade, one with regular water and one with carbonated water.

And the winner is ...

Regular water!

I love carbonated water.  Who doesn't, right?  It's fizzy and light and just plain fun.  But in these lemonades, the balance of the fruit and the lemonade was upset just a bit by the presence of carbonated water.  And additionally, after whirling this in my blender for a long time, it seemed that the carbonation wasn't quite a pronounced, which I supposed would be expected considering the nature of carbonation.

So these lemonades will be made with simply plain water.  That doesn't mean I might not deign to make a batch that is carbonated just for fun on a hot summer day when I think that visiting friends and family might enjoy it.  I certainly will.  But I will personally stay with the non-carbonated version for myself, most likely.

I have a couple recipe books on the making of artisanal sodas from past generations, things with names like "purple cow", and other such fun names.  I haven't delved too deeply into the art of specialty sodas, but occasionally I will test out a recipe and tweak it a little bit.  It's the combination of carbonation and really smooth flavors that I find most intriguing.

The other day my wife and I journeyed up to Weston which is about 40 minutes from Kansas City, and we had lunch at a charming and fun restaurant there.  And they had red cream soda which I rarely see.  It was a great soda, not heavy on the carbonation, very smooth flavor, not overly sweet, and it had the most brilliant red color.  There are many places around here where one can find unusual sodas from small artisanal makers, and I always love to try them.    

Well, for today, though, I won't turn my raspberry lemonade into a soda.  Soon you will see it on the menu along with two other lemonade combinations.

I hope you will all give them a try when they appear on an upcoming weekly menu.

Brownies, creams, cookies

It has been an enormously rainy day here in Kansas City.  A perfect day to stay inside and cook and eat and watch movies.

This coming weekend we have brownies and a raspberry cream both available for ordering.  And the following weekend, we have two different cookies ready to be ordered.

As you can see, I am in a cookie mood.  Cookies are always nice to have around.  And many cookie doughs chill or freeze easily so that a lot can be made and put aside for cooking later.  You can't do that with a cake batter or a pasta dish, but cookie doughs handle that chilling and freezing just fine.

I wish brownie batter could be frozen and cooked later, but I have never dared to try that.  Does anyone know if that is workable?  Perhaps I'll give it a whirl sometime.  I've never even bothered to look it up online to see what others think because I've simply assumed that it wouldn't work well.  But I'm sure sometime I will do that.  Why don't I do that right now?  Well, I'm about ready to make some cookie dough so that my wife can take cookies in to pass out to her colleagues tomorrow.  So looking up that info will have to wait.  The mixer is calling my name.

This week I will make a variety of cookies, so those of you who order may get a few extra things in your bags to try.   

Eat well, stay dry, and enjoy the cooling days that seem to here (at least for part of this week). 

Cookies for the weekend

 

Happy Monday to everyone.

This coming weekend we have two different cookies available for ordering:  chocolate chip pecan and butterscotch pecan.  Yes, I like pecans.  They are a wonderful lightly sweet nut that is perfect in baked goods.

For the next weekend, you can order brownies and raspberry sweet cream.  While I am not a fan of chocolate covered strawberries, I am more accepting of raspberry combined with chocolate.  While these two items weren't selected to be eaten together, I would not be surprised to find that some of you who orders these might put the cream on top of the brownie.  I've done that, and it tastes pretty darn good.

That's all for now.  Just this quick update regarding the upcoming two weekend menu offerings.

I will be back soon again with a few more items that are being added to the menu.