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chia seed pudding

The longer I hang out in San Francisco, the more of a weirdo tech hippie I become. Today’s exhibit: I am writing to tell you all about chia seed pudding. “Pudding” that isn’t even dessert, but rather some quasi heath food, apparently full of vitamins, fiber, protein, omega-3s. Blah, blah, you’re bored already.

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Chia seed pudding looks terrifying. Swampy, gooey and black. I admit, it’s a texture that is more on the acquired side, but after getting over my initial trepidation, I’m super into it. It’s been a great breakfast to have at work, filling but not heavy, enough to keep me going until I rise from my keyboard and somehow it’s already 1 pm. The past few weeks of Back to School have been madness, in a good way, and we’re not totally out of the woods just yet, so I’m glad to have this ‘power breakfast’ to keep me going. That’s just the type of badass boss I am.

Are you ready for it? Ready to take the world by storm after eating some tiny, jelly seeds suspended in ‘milk’ made from nuts?!? You sure as hell are, you beautiful hippie.

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Chia Seed Pudding
They call it pudding, it seems a bit odd to call a health food pudding, but I don’t have a better idea soo …
3/4 cup chia seeds (use 1/4 cup chia seeds for each 1 cup of liquid)
3 cups almond or coconut milk (I’ve done both types, in plain and vanilla. Both were good. I’ve found better quality ‘milk’ = better flavor. Chia seeds are more of a texture thing, they don’t add any flavor)
bananas
strawberries (or any other berry, or stone-fruit, whatever you got)
slivered or sliced almonds (or pistachios, or pecans, or any other nut!)
honey (more or less depending on if your almond milk was sweetened)

In a large tupperware, whisk together the chia seeds and almond milk. Let stand for a few minutes, whisk again. Let stand for a few more, whisk again. You want to make sure there aren’t any big clumps as the chia seeds gel together. Put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. I usually do this on Sunday night while prepping dinner to get ready for the week.

The next morning, scoop a few scoops of pudding into a bowl (or – real talk – an old ice cream container/tupperware since you’re probably eating this at work in front of your computer), slice a banana and a handfuls of strawberries, sprinkle those on top. Add a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle some almonds, and you’re set.

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Jordan’s getting into it too, though I believe he still prefers toast, cream cheese, and smoked fish.

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Recipes

almond cake and tea

I got back from my trip to Taiwan a week before Thanksgiving, and time has just been barreling forward since.  Work, work, work, Thanksgiving, weekend of wedding scheming with my mom, radio appearance, work, work, work, work, work, Christmas Cookie Day, try recipes from a friend’s new cookbook, back to work. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be moving at this clip through the end of the year.

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But, somewhere in there, I did have time to make this cake. This slow down and savor the moment with a cup of tea cake. Neither Jordan or I are big fans of almond flavored desserts typically, but this cake is really perfection. The crumb is tight, but not too dense, and not at all dry. The almond flavor is just right. Not enough to taste fake, just enough to say, ‘yes sir, I am an almond cake. Pleased to be your breakfast’.

I love a cake that transitions effortlessly from dessert to breakfast. Some days mustering up the strength to get out of the door is tough. Cake helps with that. This cake is my breakfast cake ideal, and I’ve been thinking about it every breakfast since I made it a few weeks ago. It feels almost premature to say this one is being promoted to one of my go-to recipes, but I’m going to put it out there. It really is that good.

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In Taiwan we drank a lot of tea. It was on of my favorite parts of the trip. We’d slow down from the marathon eating and sightseeing (which also was an absolute treat), to sit down in a quiet place and share some tea. There’s a whole ritual associated with having tea in Taiwan, which the server would walk us through every time before passing the responsibility of tea-brewer onto someone in our group. Quite possibly this whole routine was just putting on a show for tourists, but I loved it nonetheless. Sitting in a quiet tea shop in a jet-lagged haze, misty air blowing in through the open windows, the business of the city moving along outside, drinking delicately brewed tea, letting the experiences of the trip wash over me. It was good.

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I tried to recreate the experience at home with Jordan, but it really wasn’t the same. I’m not quite as experienced a tea preparer as those tea house employees. Though Jordan did say that the tea tasted better out of the little tea set I brought back from Taiwan than out of our regular mugs. So that’s something. Plus, there was almond cake. Where there is tea, there should also be almond cake.

Almond Cake, from Orangette and adapted from Amanda Hesser’s Cooking for Mr. Latte
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 (7-ounce) tube almond paste, cut into small pieces
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Butter and then line a 9″ springform pan with parchment paper, and then butter the paper. In a small bowl, mix together sour cream and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the almond paste a few pieces at a time, and beat on medium speed for 8 minutes. Yes this is a long time, but want the almond paste to be nicely incorporated—no chunks.

Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, and mix until incorporated. Beat in the almond extract and the sour cream mixture. Reduce mixer speed to low, and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter a couple of times to make sure that all of your flour has been mixed in.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and spread it evenly. Bake for about 1 hour – the cake will be a medium brown color and pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack, and cool the cake in its pan. Slice and serve with a dollop of whipped cream for dessert, or a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.

-Emily

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Recipes

oatcakes, or a meal in a muffin

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It might look like a muffin, but this oatcake isn’t messing around with a delicate crumb, bright lemon zest or jammy berries. It is a breakfast that packs a punch, and by a punch I mean each one of these suckers has enough oats and nuts to leave you full for hours, even after a 2.5 mile walk to work or 2 hour surf sesh. While not the most nuanced of pastries, these oakcakes are great for what they’re designed to be—fuel.

Oakcakes, adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Everyday
3 cups rolled oats, avoid instant oats if you can
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat your oven to 325° F. Butter a muffin tin, or line it with adorable paper cups purchased in Japantown.

Combine the oats, flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts in a large mixing bowl.

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In a medium saucepan over low heat, heat the coconut oil, butter, maple syrup and sugar until they melt and combine. Pour the coconut oil mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine. Add the eggs and stir again until everything comes together. The dough  will be more the texture of granola than batter.

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Spoon the dough into the muffin tins, spreading it amongst the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 25 – 35 minutes, until the edges of the oakcakes are golden.

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Enjoy for breakfast or as a mid-day power snack. I’d recommend having some tea or coffee alongside these guys.

-Emily

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Categories
Recipes

chocolate chip zucchini bread

It’s late summer which means that you probably have zucchini the size of toddlers growing in your backyard or left on your doorstep in the night by a neighbor or delivered in your CSA box. This recipe is here to help you out. We made several variations, tweaking the recipe each time to maximize the amount of zucchini used, minimize refined sugar and retain deliciousness. I won’t claim this bread is healthy, but I also don’t think you should feel guilty eating it for breakfast. You are using up those zucchini after all.

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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
2/3 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1 cup crushed pineapple
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted (optional – we did it once, but didn’t repeat for the next few batches)

Preheat your oven to 325° F. Grease two loaf pans with butter and dust with flour.

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Combine flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, pineapple and sugar.  Add grated zucchini into to the other wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.

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Stir in walnuts, chocolate chips and coconut if using. Divide batter into two loaf pans. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out dry.

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Enjoy! For breakfast, lunch and dessert!

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Recipes

pancakes with white peaches

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I used to think Bisquick pancakes were the end-all-be-all of pancakes. They were what my Nonnie made for us for breakfast when we stayed at her place, and what my dad made for us when we had breakfast for dinner. My dad was especially talented at making shaped pancakes. Anyone can make a Mickey Mouse pancake, but my dad was (and probably still is) a true pancake artist. He could make just about anything you’d ask for—even adding the batter at different times to make faces, fins or fur. T-Rex, killer whale, guinea pig, we’d name it and he’d make it.

Another childhood favorite was my dad’s ‘special pancakes’, his version of crepes. They were just your standard Bisquick pancake recipe with enough extra milk to make the batter runny enough to coat a pan, and we loved them. While he’d cook up a stack of special pancakes, he’d tell us about how he used to make them for his college football team. He’d wax poetically about how much the guys loved them, and how he’d never give up his secret recipe. All those years of practice making pancakes for a bunch of football players paid off—my dad is good at flipping crepes. We’d snatch them hot off the pan and roll them up like little burritos with a filling of syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, peaches, powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, whatever we had around and could get away with.

Needless to say, my attachment to Bisquick pancakes is a serious thing. Being both a diligent food blogger and generally opposed to processed food products, I’ve tried to find a ‘from scratch’ recipe that measures up to my Bisquick memories. Sadly, every recipe I tried was a disappointment.

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And then I found these pancakes. Insanely fluffy, just the right amount of saltiness, not too sweet, a hint of spice. They are perfection in a pancake.  They have more depth than the old Bisquick standby, but I’ve never finished them disappointed craving a ‘real’ pancake. While I may never find a pancake that replaces Bisquick pancakes in my heart, these are a very close second.

Sour Cream Pancakes with White Peaches, adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
1 egg
1 cup sour cream (8 oz)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (heaping 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt, a level 1/4 teaspoon if you’re using table salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
butter for the pan
1 – 2 white peaches, depending on their size and how much you like peaches
maple syrup for serving

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Preheat your oven to 250 degrees and place a cookie sheet or heatproof plate on the middle rack (to keep the pancakes warm while you cook the other batches). In a large bowl, whisk together egg, sour cream, vanilla and sugar. In another bowl, combine, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, all-purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just to combine. The batter will be a little lumpy.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat (I usually just use the nonstick to keep things easy) and add a pat of butter. When the butter is bubbling, spoon in the batter. I can usually fit about 3 pancakes in my 10″ skillet – they expand as the cook. When they start to bubble and the edges are dry, about 3 – 4 minutes, flip them. Cook them another few minutes on the other side and then transfer to the oven while you cook the rest.

While the pancakes are cooking (or before if you’re nervous about burning things), cut the peaches into small chunks.  To serve, make a short stack, pile on the peaches and top with maple syrup!

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Ps. Don’t be scared by the cup of sour cream. It is GOOD. Just go with it. Also, who doesn’t have a tub of sour cream languishing in their fridge left over from a taco night. This is the perfect way to use it up.

-Emily

 

 

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Recipes

green smoothie

We’ve been having smoothies for breakfast everyday for a while now and have been tweaking this recipe along the way. It started out as an attempt to sneak more leafy greens into my diet, but Jordan and I both got hooked. It’s a great way to start the day—fresh and full of fruits and veggies. We use one of those infomercial-famous Magic Bullet blenders, which was my dad’s parting gift when I moved out of the house, so this recipe for a single serving.

Like all smoothie recipes, this recipe is flexible. If you’re missing an ingredient, swap it for something else in your crisper. Also, if you’ve got a winning smoothie recipe, please let us know. We’ve been enjoying this one for about a month straight, but I expect we’ll hit a wall with it eventually.

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Green Smoothie
1 banana
2 – 3 tablespoons of frozen pineapple tidbits
2 – 3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup fresh spinach (or as much as you can cram into the remaining space in the blender)
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup coconut water

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Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Though the Magic Bullet infomercial claims it will make a fruit smoothie in miraculous 5 seconds, mine usually takes about a minute.

-Emily

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Recipes

spelt quick bread

This recipe is dedicated to my mother. This bread precisely is her type of bread. She’s never been a fan of fluffy white breads, at least not in my memory. As kids we’d plead for a sandwich loaf that didn’t look like a bird feeder. But, since we cannot help but turn into our parents, my recent love affair with seedy loaves probably shouldn’t come as a surprise.

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This bread is dense and nutty. Two slices of it and you’ll feel full until noon. I’ve been tweaking the recipe for a few weeks and now it comes close to a few really great spelt breads that you can find around San Francisco that kicked off my recent obsession.

This is a quick bread, which means you just mix and bake. With no waiting for dough to rise and loaves to proof, you can have a hot loaf of bread in about an hour and a half.

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Spelt Quick Bread
4 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon molasses
3 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 egg
2 – 2 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
butter for greasing the pans

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9 x 5 loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sesame seeds, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together the molasses, honey, brown sugar, egg and milk. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in the larger bowl, stirring to combine. Spoon half of the batter into each loaf pan. Top generously with sesame seeds.

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Place both loaf pans side by side with some room between in the middle rack of the oven. Cover both with a baking sheet. This will help get a nice even brown crust on the top that doesn’t split open. Bake 40 minutes – 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

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We love this bread topped with goat cheese for lunch or dinner. It is also lovely for breakfast broiled with butter and cinnamon sugar.

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-Emily

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Recipes

heavenly cheesy buns

I’ll just put this out there up front, you should probably make these cheesy buns this weekend. Eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or for all three!)—you won’t be disappointed.  Imagine the puffy dough of a perfect cinnamon roll and then swap the sweet cinnamon filling for sharp cheddar cheese and onion. Yep, pretty much perfect. And, I’ve even got a secret to share so you can have them for brunch without even waking up at an ungodly hour.

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One year ago: Best Chocolate Pudding
Two years ago: Ad Hoc at Home Brownies 

Sharp Cheddar Cheesy Buns, adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
For the dough
3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (or one 7 g packet) of instant yeast
1 cup milk (if you want the dough to rise easier, warm the milk to about 100 degrees)
4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled to lukewarm

For the filling 
1/2 cup grated white onion (about half an onion)
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (you could substitute swiss, provolone, mozzarella or use a mixture)
2 teaspoons fresh dill, minced (you could also use 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme or rosemary)
1/4 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of black pepper

First make the dough. You can make the dough the night before you plan to serve the rolls for convenience’s sake, but you can also make it the day of if you plan to serve them for dinner. They take about 5 hours in total, but most of that is rising time.

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Combine the flour, salt, pepper and sugar in a large bowl, preferably the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook. In a medium bowl, whisk the yeast in the milk until it dissolves. Add the melted butter into the milk mixture. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and mix them together with the paddle attachment or a wooden spoon until a shaggy ball forms.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead the dough on low speed for about five minutes, until the dough is smooth and a slightly sticky ball has formed. You can also do this by hand on a lightly floured counter.

Place the dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in your off oven and let it rise until doubled, about two hours. I find that my house is too cold for yeasted bread doughs to rise well without putting them in my oven with my pilot light to keep them warm. If it is warm in your house, you can just leave the dough on the counter and appreciate your insulation.

While the dough is rising, make the filling. Combine grated onion, cheese, dill, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Line the bottom of a 9″x 13″ baking dish or two 9″ round baking pans with parchment paper.

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After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured counter. Roll it into a 12″ x 16″ rectangle. With the long edge facing you, spread the filling in an even layer, leaving a 1/2″ margin on the far edge. Roll the dough tightly and seal the far end. Using a sharp knife, cut the log in half, then cut each half into thirds, then cut each third in half. You should have 12 rolls. Space them evenly in the baking dish, leaving room around each roll for it to expand.

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Let the rolls rise in an off oven for another two hours, until doubled again. Alternately, you can cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to cook the next day.

One hour before you want to serve the rolls, remove them from the fridge. Place them in an off oven. Fill a dish below the rolls with boiling water. Let them rise for 30 minutes, until puffy. Remove the rolls from the oven.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Brush the tops of the rolls with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the cheese begins to brown and bubble. Serve immediately. Don’t worry, they won’t last long.

-Emily

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Recipes

granola-coated nuts

I made these nuts as a topping for ice cream, but they would be pretty good topping just about anything. Crunchy, toasty and slightly sweet with just a hint of salt—they incapsulate all of the best parts of granola. Go get yourself some nuts and whip these up. You won’t regret it.

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One year ago: To Cook a Crab
Two years ago: Sage Grilled Cheese

Granola-Coated Walnuts and Pecans, from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup pepitas, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a few pinches of kosher or sea salt
1 egg white
2 teaspoons water
4 cups walnuts and/or pecans (I did a combo)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with tinfoil.

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In a food processor, process oats, coconut, pepitas, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well chopped. Don’t overprocess though; it shouldn’t be powdery.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg white and water together. Toss the nuts in the egg white mixture. Pour the granola mixture into the bowl of nuts. Use your hands to gently stir to coat all of the nuts.

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Pour onto the baking sheets and spread into a single layer. No need to separate the nuts apart – you can do that after baking. Pour any granola mixture that didn’t adhere to the nuts over the top of them.  Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, tossing once while cooking, until the nuts are nice and toasty. Let cool and then break larger chunks apart.

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Top your ice cream with them, or your yogurt, or your oatmeal or just eat them plain—these are pretty much irresistible, hence the double batch.

-Emily

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Recipes

soft eggs with herb-gruyere toasts

Because we’ve both been swamped with work, we’ve been all about easy meals and there’s nothing like eggs and toast for a quick dinner. The recipe for these cheesy toasts is from Smitten Kitchen and like all of Deb’s recipes, it does not disappoint.

Soft Eggs with Herb-Gruyere Toasts, from Smitten Kitchen

16 sourdough bread batons
4 T butter, melted
1 t smooth dijon mustard
1/3 cup gruyere cheese, grated
1 T parsley, chopped
1 t thyme, chopped
salt and pepper
4 eggs

Heat an oven to 400 degrees. Cut the bread into batons. Mix the melted butter, dijon, cheese, herbs and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss the bread with the cheese-herb mixture.  Place in an even layer on a lined baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Meanwhile, heat a medium pot of water until boiling. Cook the eggs for six minutes for a perfectly soft-boiled egg.  Serve with the toasts and enjoy!