eclaire (what's in a) name?

mmmm…waffles!  it’s hard for me to begin writing, because i placed all of the pictures in my post first, and instead of writing text around them, i keep drooling over the memory of the taste of these waffles and wishing that i had some leftover, waiting around in my fridge to be eaten. alas, they are long gone, so i’ll try to move on.

ok, so first things first:  have you noticed that my fabulously talented husband and i did some work on my blog this weekend?  i updated the header, added a recipe index so you can easily find recipes in their appropriate meal section (breakfast, entree, etc), or search through categories for ideas of what to make (including vegan, garlic and onion free, and sugar free), and mike provided a bunch of technical expertise, plus tweaked text formatting, and added some ads to the sidebar.  thanks, mike!

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do you know about the amazing-ness of quinoa?  i learned about it a few years ago, and quickly became obsessed with quinoa because it is super quick to cook, has a very satisfying texture and taste, and is a complete protein (i.e. it contains all of the essential amino acids, something that can be challenging to find in one food item for vegetarians/vegans).  if you clicked on the link above and read the wikipedia page on quinoa, you’d know that part of what makes quinoa so special is that it’s a faux grain – it’s actually a seed.

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there are some cookbooks, like the one i used to make butternut squash risotto, that i go back to over and over, finding new and delicious recipes every time.  there are other cookbooks, however, that despite enticingly written concoctions, never quite carry through.  sadly, mike and i bought a cookbook like this years ago, entitled the student’s vegetarian cookbook: quick, easy, cheap, and tasty vegetarian recipes, by carole raymond. quite a title, huh?  we bought it when we were still students, and i can still remember spending an afternoon in the local bookstore, pouring over all kinds of cookbook options, before finally deciding that this cookbook had the most recipes that we would actually make.  unfortunately, every recipe we made was kind of a dud, and we stopped using the cookbook.  except for this one recipe, called sunday morning muffins.  the recipe was not perfect by any means, but i’ve reworked it a ton over the years (see all my edits below!), and i think it’s finally ready to share with you.

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as i was grocery shopping this week, and looking through the store’s winter selection of apples, pears, and citrus, i found myself really missing my favorite summer fruits and berries: nectarines, strawberries, raspberries, and plums. as i was daydreaming about these fabulous fruits that feel months away, i absentmindedly placed a bunch of bananas into my basket. as i unpacked the groceries a little later, it dawned on me that although i miss the summer fruits, and consider the four above to be my all time favorites, bananas might actually qualify as my absolute favorite, albeit the unsung fruit in my life. since bananas are present almost all year round (thanks, global produce market), and something i never leave the store without, why don’t i think of them as my absolute favorite fruit? perhaps it’s because i take them for granted and never yearn for them in off season months. are there any fruits and veggies that you miss over the course of the year, dear readers? do you think that missing them makes them better when you actually get to eat them than they actually taste?

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one year ago today, mike and i celebrated our wedding with our friends and family at pajaro dunes. most of you know the story, but just in case you don’t – we started dating on september 20, 1999, and decided to get married on the saturday closest to our 8 year anniversary. we sweated over details, made lists, spent lots of money, and involved our family and friends in all kinds of projects to get to the day of the wedding.

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