Nick and I threw a little brunch party last weekend during the last weekend at his awesome Westwood condo. We found a beautiful, cozy, and cute apartment about a block from my workplace and he's moving in this weekend. I can't wait to host our housewarming party in January!! Already planning the menu for that...
But back to brunch. I wanted to host a perfect brunch and to do so, I knew I had to try to be careful not to make an overly sweet brunch. I always adore the IDEA of going to brunch restaurants and stuffing my face with pancakes, waffles, crepes, donuts, and other sugary carbs, but I pretty much always end up feeling regret afterwards. For our brunch menu, I made a breakfast pizza complete with applewood smoked peppered turkey bacon from Trader Joe's, baked eggs, and green onions, as well as maple apple oatmeal muffins, and peanut butter pancakes. Everything turned out perfectly (toot, toot!) and the perfect balance of sweet and savory was reached.
First, the breakfast pizza. Every ingredient was bought from Trader Joe's. They have almost-as-good-as-NYT-homemade-pizza-dough pizza dough, really good pizza sauce (buy the one in a jar next to the pasta sauces, not the refridgerated one in a plastic container), and amazing cheese (I got shredded mozzarella for this occasion). Makes for a seriously good meal in no time (I usually fall back on this one at least once every two weeks).
Making sure to let the dough rest at room temperature for twenty minutes, I topped it with
1. pizza sauce
2. Cooked turkey bacon
3. a layer of cheese
4. More bacon. Of course.
5. Green onions.
6. A few eggs strategically positioned so that there are some slices without egg (some people just don't like baked egg!).
I put it in the oven at 425 for ten minutes or so (watch it so you can take it out when the eggs are cooked to your liking) and viola!
The peanut butter pancakes were perfect. They're very slightly sweet and the peanut butter makes them even slightly savory (in the same sense that peanut butter legitimizes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a lunch food even though it's technically just a healthier dessert). The combination of peanut butter and maple syrup (pure, from Trader Joe's) was awesome.
Finally, ANOTHER new classic: maple apple oatmeal muffins. These muffins are hearty (thanks, oatmeal), not too sweet (Thanks, maple syrup), and just slightly tart (thanks, green apples!), making for an irresistible muffin treat. I love muffins so much but I because of that, I maintain a really high standard for them...these ones? They go way beyond the mark.
There you go--a perfect brunch! :) I love brunches...and every single meal of the day. I can't wait for Nathan's Christmas dinner this weekend!!! And for all the holiday feasting to come. Most of all, I can't wait for that seven-course dinner at our wedding and then the homecooked Tuscan dinners we'll be having in Italy...be jealous. I know you are.
