Mesclun Salad with Homemade Honey Roasted Almonds and Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Yuuummmm. I was mmmm mmm mmm-ing the entire time I was eating this salad. It's pretty much my perfect salad (other than say a beet salad). But I find something like this next to impossible to resist on a menu. I also find that most of the time when I make my own vinaigrette, there is something off with the flavors. Like it tastes good plain, but then I mix all the goods together and it just doesn't mesh. This is NOT the case with this salad. Some might find this salad too sweet bc of the sugar from the nuts and the maple syrup, but I thought it was the jam. My mouth is watering just thinking about it...and it's a salad....My dad and my step mom absolutely loved it too and my mom ate the leftovers directly from the salad bowl at dinner. 

Oh man check out this close up...yeah thats right. A juicy burger couldn't make my mouth water more...maybe not even a breakfast sandwich....blame it on the summer heat...or the goat cheese. I can't resist goat cheese. I just can't. 

Mesclun Salad 
about 4 sliced strawberries
1/3 cup blueberries
full bag (or more) of garden blend greens
about a ¼ cup honey goat cheese, crumbled (or regular, but I prefer the honey)
about a ¼ cup of honey roasted almonds
Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette


Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette 

Depending on the quality of your ingredients, you may want to try one or the other versions of the vinaigrette. My dad tends to have super fancy pants oils and vinegar's that are old and have subtler or stronger flavors. If that sounds more like your pantry - use this version

higher quality ingredients:
1 tablespoon good quality maple syrup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon aged red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste

more everyday ingredients: 
1 tablespoon good quality maple syrup
1 tablespoon balsamic
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste

The first time I made this vinaigrette I was user more everyday ingredients, so the vinegar flavor was strong enough from the balsamic. When I made it again at my dads house like I did the first, it tasted very flat, so the addition of the red wine vinegar gave it just the right amount of zing. The higher quality/aged ingredients were thicker and almost looked like more of a dressing than a vinaigrette before I added the rwv (if you don't know what kind of ingredients you have)

Honey Roasted Almonds

1 cup sliced almonds

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil 

¼ cup of granulated sugar 

¼  teaspoon of salt 

Bake the almonds on a cookie sheet at 350 for about 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Heat the honey, oil and water in a sauce pan. When the pecans are finished toasted, pour them into the pan and stir until the pecans have absorbed all of the liquid. Pour the sugar and salt over the pecans and toss until fully coated. Spread out onto a cookie sheet and let dry for at least 30 minutes before breaking apart.

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich

I think I'm either in a rut, or have an addiction. I can't stop making breakfast and Mexican foods (and ice cream...the cookie phase has passed for the most part - I ODed during that semester long project when I brought cookies to class almost every week). Is it college? Is it my boyfriend with the huge appetite? I've always been a morning person, so that I can understand. And once you get good at something it's kinda hard to stop. 

I have a system when I make breakfast on the weekends. It has become a peaceful way of getting up after a night of partying, believe it or not. 

My foolproof system:

Wake up and preheat the oven to 350° for the bacon. Brush my teeth, watch some tube until the boyfriend wakes up etc. Line the cookie sheet with tin foil (with raised edges so the grease doesn't drip) for the bacon (preferably center cut that has been cut in half so you can fit more - honestly so brilliant I wish I thought of it first). Pop that in when the man has risen and set the timer to 15 minutes. Prepare the scrambled eggs in a bowl with the splash of milk and dashes of Tabasco. Take out the cheeses from the fridge and place the everything bagel in the toaster, but don't toast it until necessary. (In this post's case I used biscuits - but I digress). After 15 minutes of baking, check the bacon and flip using tongs (not entirely necessary but I usually do) and bake for 5 more minutes. When the bacon is almost done, start heating the pan on medium low heat. When the bacon is ready, dry on a paper towel and pour the grease into the pan for the eggs. Pour in the egg mixture, frequently stirring with a rubber spatula. Turn the toaster on and top off the almost finished eggs with sharp chedder, salt and pepper. On the toasted bagel, butter the top and line the bottom with good quality american cheese. Place eggs and bacon and place the top back on. Cut in half and serve. BOOM. Perfect breakfast sandwich. I have been told by several that this is the best breakfast sandwich they have ever had...just saying....

I personally think that the sandwich photographed above is the best sandwich I have ever had. I am allll about biscuits. And the avocado was a last minute decision that seriously nailed it. My mouth is watering just thinking about the sandwich - I just can't. Drizzled with a little good quality maple syrup....oh man 

Buttermilk Biscuits 

Ingredients 

(recipe can be doubled – yields about 10 biscuits)

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup buttermilk

*2 tablespoons of butter, melted

*The dough can be made with a food processor, but mine isn’t big enough so I just use my hands.

**Also, try and bake these as late in the game as possible. They are 10x better when they are served warm and fresh out of the oven

Directions 

Preheat oven to 450°.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk and mix until just combined. It will be very sticky

Place the dough onto a floured work surface and knead until lightly covered in flour so it is no longer sticky – make sure not to overwork the dough so they can rise evenly

Gently pat out the dough until it is about 1 inch thick and cut biscuits out with a round biscuit or cookie cutter

Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes until lightly golden on top. – A minute before baking is finished, brush melted butter on top of each biscuits (about 2 tablespoons are needed)

THIS IS THE BEST BREAKFAST SANDWICH EVER. At least to date...nothing can beat this. And I'm usually a sausage egg and cheese kind of girl, too. This bad boy has good quality white american cheese from the deli section, sliced avocado, cheesy eggs, crispy bacon and a light drizzle of good quality maple syrup on a homemade buttery biscuit. I mean could you ask for more?

Maple Oatmeal Raisin Ice Cream

At Elon we have a local ice cream placed called Smitty's that makes a killer oatmeal ice cream. So of course, immediately upon tasting it for the first time I knew I had to try and make it at home. I also happen to have developed an oatmeal addiction this year and have eaten it almost every day for breakfast since August...no idea how I haven't gotten sick of it yet, but there it is. I finally got around to making this ice cream and - i'm not exaggerating - this is hands down the BEST ice cream I have made so far. It's amazing; not too sweet, perfectly creamy and just downright dope. UGH it's just...too good. like jeez louis my mouth is watering just thinking about it. AND once again, its pretty dang easy to make too and could potentially involve ingredients that you already have lying around...apart from the heavy cream - that's a zinger. 

Also this is random, but for some reason I have never been able to make 1/3 look like ¼...why is that? It has been annoying me for YEARS. If anyone knows that the deal is with that PALEASE help a sistah out...

Oatmeal Raisin Ice Cream Base 

Ingredients 

2 cups milk 

4 tsp. cornstarch 

1 ¼ cup heavy cream

1/3 cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons maple syrup

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ tsp. and one pinch salt 

3 tablespoons cream cheese

½ cup toasted rolled oats, lightly processed 

*sweetened raisins 

Sweetened Raisins:

½ cup raisins 

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

For the Ice Cream base: 

In one small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of milk and the cornstarch

Place the 3 tablespoons of cream cheese in a bowl and set aside.

Open plastic bag with edges folded over set over an ice bath

In a 4-quart saucepan, add the remaining milk, heavy cream, sugars, maple syrup and salt. Whisk together until somewhat incorporated

Over medium high heat, cook the mixture until it comes to a rolling boil. Then let boil for 4 minutes.

Pour in the cornstarch slurry and the oatmeal and mix well. Bring back to a boil and cook for 2 more minutes then remove from heat. Stir frequently so the oatmeal gets fully incorporated.

With your small measuring cup, scoop out about 1/4 cup or more of the hot mixture and pour into the cream cheese bowl. Mix very well and then pour it back into the main pot. Stir well until thick.

Pour the hot cream into the plastic bag over the ice bath. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or until completely cold. If you don't want to freeze right away, you can also put the plastic bag in your fridge for up to 3 days.

To prepare the sweetened raisins: 

Soak the water and raisins in the unheated saucepan for about 15 minutes. Add the sugar and cook over medium-low heat. Stir frequently to prevent burning, until most of the water/syrup has been absorbed - about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain out remaining liquid and let cool. 

Freezing the ice cream:

freeze according to your ice cream makers instructions and add the raisins 2 minutes before it's finished. I had to break them apart with my hands first so they wouldn't form a big raisin clump.