Category: Breakfast

>Oatmeal Corn Waffles


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I really enjoy waffles.  All those little pockets to hold syrup and butter, or a nice fruit sauce.  They are a real treat on a weekend morning, and the left overs can be popped in the toaster for a nice treat in a week day morning.  I know there are waffle like substances available from your local factory food outlet, but we deserve better.
I will be releasing a number of waffle recipes on the blog, including a traditional wheat flour waffle, a herb and parmesan cheese waffle which is an amazing base for poached eggs and smoked salmon and a chocolate desert waffle which would be amazing topped with Fox Hill Cheese Coconut Gelato.
But for today I am going to give you my favorite hearty waffle recipe.  This recipe is a cross between a waffle and a bowl of flavorful oatmeal.  It is crispy on the outside and soft and a little creamy on the inside.  A couple of these waffles will give you the energy you need to start the day.
Ingredients: 
7 Cups of Rolled Oats
1.5 Cups of Corn Meal
8 Cups of Hot Water
1 Cup of Apple Cider
1/4 Cup of Canola Oil
3 Tbsp of Honey or (Brown Sugar to make it Vegan)
2 Tbsp of Vanilla Extract
1.5 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Currents
1 Apple Cored and Diced
In a large mixing bowl combine the first 9 ingredients (not the apples or currents) and stir to combine.  Allow this to sit for about 20 minutes to allow the grains to hydrate and absorb the flavors.  
While waiting heat up a waffle iron if it is variable heat it to medium heat.
Using an immersion blender blend up the batter a little bit, it is ok to have flakes of oats left but the batter should be mostly smooth.  Then stir in the currents and diced apples.  You can blend this in small batches in a blender but really get an immersion blender because it is so much cleaner. (Well for me anyway :))
When the iron is heated, spray with no stick spray and cover the bottom plate with batter.  This is not leavened so it will not rise much so don’t worry about filling it up.  It wont expand and overflow.  These waffles take a while to finish cooking as they contain a lot of moisture, cook them until they are crisp on the outside and the steam is no longer pouring out of the waffle iron.  It takes 5 to 8 min a waffle.  They should be golden brown in color.  Serve right away, if you are going to freeze the left overs allow them to cool on a cooling rack and then freeze.  They reheat beautifully in a toaster.
These are very flavorful and very good for you.  They are low in fat and oats are one of the best grains you can eat.  For my vegetarian and vegan friends they can be made with no animal products.  Having said that these waffles do not sacrifice any flavor in order to be healthy.  Give them a try.
Thanks to my Local Suppliers:
Apple Cider: Pasture Hill Farm
Also Pictured:
Berkshire Bacon: Active Life Farms
Fresh Mint: Riverview Herbs
As always thanks to the Halifax Seaport Farm Market for giving me a place to connect with my suppliers.

>An All Nova Scotia Bagel Breakfast Sandwich


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I love a good bagel.  A real bagel, chewy and soft, lightly toasted.  Though the local supermarkets are full of bagel like substances, really large doughnut shaped dinner rolls, it is really hard to find a good bagel.  I have been known to lose my mind over bagels I have bought that are bread through and through but being sold as a bagel.  
In my quest to find a real Bagel in Halifax I happened upon one made by Spice of Life Artisan Foods at the Halifax Seaport Market.  They have it spot on, nice and chewy, on the outside, soft on the inside and it toasts up beautifully.  If you are a bagel lover you have to try this.  They are affiliated with Rock Island Bistro and if you buy their delicious baked goods you get Bistro bucks that you can use toward a meal at the Bistrol.  I will have to review them soon.  Check out their facebook page.

The bagels inspired me to create an all Nova Scotia Breakfast Sandwich.  I used eggs and the amazing Berkshire pork bacon from Active Life Farms and Garlic Quark and medium cheddar cheese from Fox Hill Cheese House.  
What is Quark you ask, well I just asked that question my self a week ago.  Whitney, Fox Hill’s smiley, friendly and informative sales person (be careful she will bewitch you with free gelato samples), explained that it is German cream cheese like product.  It is spreadable and rich in flavor, it is also lower in salt then standard creamed cheese.  Click on this link and scroll down to the Quark section for more information. 
To prepare my sandwich I cooked the bacon first on low heat to render off the fat then I drained the fat and turned up the heat to crisp it.  This makes for more tender meaty bacon.  
I selected 2 beautiful farm fresh eggs to poach.  Notice in the picture the different colors, which occurs because the eggs are from different breeds of chicken.  If you talk to Kevin and Heather from Active Life they can tell you which eggs come from which types of chickens.  When I visited the farm I was impressed with how the chickens were treated, I even saw one of them jump into Kevin’s feed bucket, it was pretty cute.  Free range eggs are the only eggs I want to eat, not only are the chickens treated better than egg factory chickens but the eggs are better for you.  For information on this go to the Active Life Farms Egg Page and click on the hyper link for the specific nutritional benefits.  In addition to this the eggs taste amazing and are not watery and runny like factory eggs.
To poach the eggs heat up some water to a simmer (not a rolling boil).  Add in salt and 1 tsp of vinegar(I prefer rice wine vinegar).  The vinegar will help to quickly set the egg whites.  Poach the eggs until the egg yokes are just firm, you don’t want them runny, but you don’t want them dried out and bright yellow.  When they are set allow them to drain on a plate.
I then lightly toasted the bagel, spread it with quark, put the bacon on the bottom and added the eggs, which I sprinkled with black pepper and paprika.  I then topped with Fox Hill Cheese Medium cheddar and enjoyed.
This is just an example of the kind of high quality, flavorful food you can have while eating local.  It is good in so many ways but from a selfish perspective, it just tastes great.  That is all the reason I need.

Sausage You Want to See Made


There are 2 things you never want to see made, laws and sausages.  Having been around enough politicians I have often thought this was unfair to sausage.  Stores bought sausage are loaded with salt and fat and can be way to use things no one wants to eat.  However homemade sausage is a great taste treat.

Sausage is simply flavored ground pork.  If you have a good source of ground pork you can enjoy sausage with your mind at ease.  Being from Nova Scotia I seek out Tony’s Meats ground pork.  http://www.tonys-meats.com/ I have also found a farm from which I can buy my pork but that is another blog for another day.
Being the weekend I would like to share my breakfast sausage recipe with you.  I enjoy these sausage patties with eggs, pancakes or as a part of a sausage egg and biscuit sandwich.
Pure Pork Breakfast Sausages:
1.5 pounds of local ground pork
1 ¼ tsp of sea salt
2 tsp dried sage
3/4/ tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp dark brown sugar
¼ tsp ground cloves
In a small bowl mix the salt and spices together to ensure they are well combined.  In a large bowl spread the pork out along the bottom of the bowl and sprinkle half the spice evenly over the meat.  Mix in.  Spread the meat out again and sprinkle the remaining spice over the meat.  Mix well.
Put the meat in a zip top bag or covered bowl for an hour or over night to allow the flavors to blend.  Then form into a patty and cook over medium heat for a couple minutes each side until cooked through but still juicy.  Spicing is a personal thing, cook one patty and taste then adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Now if there was a way to fix how laws are made. J