breakfast « (y)our food choices™

Sweet Inspirations
Fruit infusions: bubbly, baking & chocolate

Tired of the same sparkling wine, chocolates, and roses for Valentine’s Day? Come to (y)our food choices first cooking demonstration just in time for Cupid’s big day, where we’ll show you how to turn inexpensive bubbly into a sophisticated cocktail, make tasty scones in a variety of flavors, and infuse the flavors of fruit and spice into a quick and simple chocolate mousse that can be served even to your vegan friends. All with just a simple spicy fruit juice reduction.

We’ll demonstrate how to reduce the juice, bake the scones, and make the fabulous mousse, all while sipping on a sparkling cocktail. You’ll be able to taste three different scone varieties and three different chocolate mousses, along with a glass or two of fruit-infused bubbly. Move over mimosa! After you try our fruit reductions you’ll be asking your favorite brunch spot to pass on the OJ and bring on the syrup.

Our cooking tutorial will be held on Saturday, February, 12, 2011 from noon to 2:30 pm at Zannah Noe’s studio, 900 Tennessee Street #21 @20th St. in the Dogpatch district of San Francisco. Cost is $45 and includes detailed recipes for everything we prepare and serve.

Purchase your tickets at our Eventbrite page.

Be sure to hurry, as space is limited!

Walnuts, bananas, strawberries, and milk cover the bowl of oatmeal.

We’ll never understand how anyone older than 8 years old would want to eat, let alone like, those packets of sugary instant oats. Maple and Brown Sugar (really, twice the amount of sugar), Apple and Cinnamon (dehydrated apples—yuck!), Peaches and Cream (makes me want to hurl). Sure they’re quick. Sure they’re easy. But being quick and easy is just a cop out. They are loaded with sugars, they contain very little fiber, and the ones that claim to have fruit in them are usually the ones no one wants to eat anyway. Why not do just a little bit of prep so that you can enjoy some relatively quick, easy, nutritious, and might we add, delicious steel cut oats?

Right now you’re saying: “I don’t have an hour to cook and stir. I’m in a hurry.” Nonsense! With just a little preparation the night before, steel cut oats can be ready and on the table before you decide which packet of sugar-laden oat powder you want to feed your children, or yourself, in the morning.

Quick Steel Cut Oatmeal
Serves 2

2 cups water
pinch of salt
½ cup of Steel Cut Oats

The night before, boil water in a sauce pan. Add the salt and steel cut oats. Turn the heat off and place the lid on top. Let stand overnight. The next morning, turn the heat back on to low medium and in less than 5 minutes the oatmeal is done.

Now for the fun part – the toppings and additions: diced up fresh fruit such as pear, apple or banana (we even love to add pomegranate seeds when in season), dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, blueberries, etc.), toasted nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.), spices of your choice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.), and warmed milk (we like whole milk as a rule). If you need to sweeten your oats, drizzle a little honey at the very end or, if you have it, REAL maple syrup, agave nectar, or even a sprinkle of brown sugar.

There are no good excuses for relying on those tasteless, artificial, nutritionally worthless envelopes. We’re confident you’ll agree that steel cut oats beat the instant stuff any day.