Glass of Win

Last week I wrote up on Cafe Gusto. Today I entreat you to read about its sister eatery, Liberty Grill, also owned and operated by Denis and Marianne.

Steffie and I are partners in crime when it comes to our shameless love for breakfast food; it’s the meal that can make or break my day. If I have a good breakfast, that has set the standard for my mood and I can carry the memory of delicious, taste-bud pleasing food with me throughout the day. I was more than delighted (but not at all surprised) that Liberty Grill delivered on such an experience.

Eggs Royale

Steffie loves her smoked salmon and ordered the Eggs Royale, “smoked salmon, poached eggs on sourdough topped with Hollandaise sauce.”The verdict? LOVE.

I ordered the Crab Cake Benedict, described as “spicy crab cakes and potato, eggs and Holandaise.” Their spicy is mild, but I love it, like a slow, well-seasoned burn. Fresh crab, light eggs so fluffy you’d think they were clouds and perfectly smooth, non-salty (a sign of poor Hollandaise) Hollandaise. I wanted more!

Crab Cake Benedict

Steffie and I reserved Liberty Grill for our last full day in Cork, Monday the 14th of June. We were sad to leave but decided to go hog wild and squeeze in as much Cork experience as we could from shopping, to a museum, to dining out twice and even the theater. It was our last day and we wanted a nice send off. Going to Liberty Grill that morning was not just to enjoy an exquisitely prepared meal but to say farewell to our pal Denis, and we could not have asked for a more ideal morning or breakfast.

Liberty Grill
32 Washington St., Cork

Open: Monday-Saturday
Breakfast, Brunch and Lunch: 8am to 5pm
Dinner: 5-9pm

Liberty Grill – Facebook
Liberty Grill – Twitter

Oh, breakfast. My favorite meal of the day. When I don’t have a tasty breakfast I’m in a rotten mood for hours. I love playing around with new flavors with regards to pancakes and French Toast because they’re the most versatile of the breakfast assortments and adapt rather favorably to new twists. Try this variant on an old breakfast favorite. Super easy and big payoff!

CITRUS VANILLA FRENCH TOAST
with raspberry sauce!

Raspberry Sauce:
1 basket of fresh raspberries
OR
1 bag of frozen organic raspberries, thawed with lukewarm water or a few hours in the fridge.

Puree raspberries in your blender until smooth. Run through a chinois (fine mesh sieve) to remove seeds.

Place raspberry puree in a small saucepan.

Add either agave nectar, molasses OR Karo corn syrup (to taste, just to cut up the tartness of the raspberries and add a little thickness)

Stir constantly over a low-medium heat, do not boil. Remove from heat when it has reached your preference of sweet/tart and your preference of consistency.

Lemon
In a wide bowl, mix:
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 c. milk
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of a small lemon

Drench your favorite kind of French Toast bread in the mixture, fry up in a small non-stick pan (or skillet lightly coated with cooking spray). Cook until golden brown on both sides, plate up.
Drizzle raspberry sauce on top.

Optional: serve with mint garnish and/or a dusting of powder sugar.

Orange
In a wide bowl, mix:
1 egg (lightly beaten)
2 TBS milk
1/3rd c. orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of a small orange

Cook as you would regular French Toast. Garnish with orange wedges. Serve and enjoy!

Are you a pancakes, waffles or French Toast kind of person? I’m a mixture of all three, but I think pancakes is the most versatile of the trio.
Lately I’ve been hankering cottage cheese pancakes – and I got nothing but flack from my mom because apparently when she tried to make these for me when I was a kid I totally turned up my nose at them. Well, taste buds change and these are my current go-to pancakes ~ I love to garnish them with raspberries and use agave nectar in lieu of syrup for a lighter taste.

COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES
via Whole Foods

Ingredients
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoons sugar (optional swap out: 1 tsp. agave nectar)
2 eggs
1/2-3/4th cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup milk (soy, almond, rice or moo-cow)
1 tablespoons oil (canola or coconut)
Cooking spray

OPTIONAL: 1 tsp. lemon zest, 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl mix: flour, baking soda, and sugar.

In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together eggs, cottage cheese, milk and oil.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and whisk until thoroughly incorporated.

Spray a large skillet or griddle with cooking spray then heat over medium heat.

Spoon batter onto the skillet, cook, flipping pancakes once, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through.

Transfer to plates, garnish with berries & syrup and serve.

serves 2

Cottage cheese pancakes with raspberries & agave nectar in lieu of syrup

Goooooood morning, interwebs! I hope this Saturday finds you well and your tummy filled with delicious breakfast foods. Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it is often the most delicious – especially if you’re doin’ it right! Enjoy these tasty breakfast theme finds from Etsy!
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I love breakfast foods. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, late-night munchie and brunch, I’m there. I’ve never skipped breakfast in my life; it’s not just the most important meal of the day, it’s the most comforting and delicious. Are you into breakfast foods?

Recipes: Blueberry Corn Pancakes & Cherry-stuffed French Toast

BLUEBERRY CORN PANCAKES
shared by Anja via Veganomicon

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour (all purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour)
1/2 cup cornmeal (make sure it’s the finely-ground variety)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (OR rice, soy, hemp, hazelnut, cow)
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons honey (OR pure maple syrup, agave nectar)
1 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh blueberries
Cooking spray or a little oil for greasing the pan

Directions
1) Preheat a large non-stick pan on medium-high heat

2) Sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. in a
separate bowl, combine all other ingredients (except blueberries and
cooking spray). Add wet to dry, mix until just combined, then fold in
the blueberries.

Do not over mix or the pancakes will be tough, a couple of lumps is okay!

3) Spray pan with cooking spray. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice
cream scoop to pour out batter into pan. Cook pancakes until brown on
bottom and bubbles form on top. Flip pancakes over with a thin spatula and cook until bottoms are brown and pancakes are barely firm to the touch.

Transfer to plates.
Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as needed.
makes 8-10 pancakes

NOTES
- This recipe is originally vegan. I switched out the maple syrup for honey.
- I used whole-wheat pastry flour
- I never measured my blueberries; I used about 3/4ths of a basket and topped the pancakes with leftover blueberries & butter. Anja recommends agave, a little bit of coconut oil, or soy-yogurt.

STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4th cup vanilla almond milk (or whatever milk you use)
1/4th tsp. vanilla extract
1 TBSP Grand Marnier
4 slices of bread

Filling
Vanilla Greek yogurt
Morello cherries (purchased at Trader Joe’s)

Grease a skillet with cooking spray, heat up skillet.
Mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl.
Mix yogurt & cherries in separate bowl.
Coat both sides of a slice of bread, lightly fry both sides and place on a waiting plate nearby.
Repeat with one more slice, but after both sides are lightly fried, add filling mix to one side, place pre-fried slice on top, flip & re-fry again until golden brown.
Repeat with other two slices.
Plate up, sprinkle with powdered sugar and dig in!

NOTES
- You can use another skillet or pan to fry both slices at once OR if your skillet is big enough, fry both pieces at once.
- In lieu of yogurt, you can use cream cheese & add vanilla extract and/or powdered sugar for extra sweetness.