If you're coming across this post, congratulations: you've discovered the all-new Simone Says Food. This summer has provided me with ample time to discover a whole new appreciation for food — and a lot of time to play around in the kitchen.
While working a great 9 to 5 job for my virtual internship that I was thrilled to still take place, I made the most of my lunch breaks to fuel my brain for the remainder of the day on virtual calls and many, many hours of screen time.
My usual go-to that often holds me over until 5 o'clock hors d’oeuvres is a big bowl of oatmeal. I've been actively inspired by an Instagram account solely highlighting oatmeal. Adapting the account's recipes to my own liking, I've been fooling around with stovetop oatmeal, mixing in chia seeds and splashes of vanilla with drops of thick maple syrup. I top my bowl with just about anything I find in the kitchen: berries, bananas and full scoops of crunchy almond butter.
Continuing on my love for things in bowls, a recent favorite breakfast of mine is a simple yogurt bowl. Okay yeah, it's as easy as a few scoops of your favorite greek yogurt with some fruit and stuff, but it's about the love and presentation of the bowl that brings out the best flavors. The experience of enjoying something I make myself is all that matters. I topped my yogurt with fruit, KIND Brand honey/chia granola and a honey drizzle. Delish.
As I've continued to play with fire, oops, I mean the stovetop, I've mastered the art of the omelet flip. Stuffing my egg whites with a new veggie everyday and a bit too much cheese (but is there actually such a thing as too much cheese?) has become a daily hobby. I'll always throw some berries into the mixture, too (not in the omelet, but on the side, to be exact). And whether it's a classic omelet or I'm playing around with zoodles and fried eggs, I'll always mess around with the plating and presentation before digging in.
Below is a spinach egg-white omelet, and a zoodle "breakfast salad" loaded with veggies. Nothing says creative freedom in the kitchen more than eggs and Everything-but-the-Bagel seasoning poured (not just sprinkled) on.
At the end of the day, however (or I guess in this case, the beginning of the day), nothing says brunch — weekend brunch, specifically — like fresh pancakes.
I prefer blueberry pancakes over any other inside flavor, though a few chocolate chips never hurt. I whipped up a batch of hearty pancakes using the OSM (Oatmeal, Spelt, Millet) mix from the Jackson Hole institution The Bunnery. With care and patience, I picked up on a good combination of stove heat, pan buttering in between each round of flipping, and spooning the perfect amount of batter for each pancake. I also perfected the actual art of flipping (it's all timing and a flick of the wrist), and the ratio of batter to blueberry: approximately 6 blueberries for a 4-inch pancake. Okay, I'm totally kidding on the blueberry-to-pancake ratio, but it's just to emphasize that I've turned my hobby of eating into a passion for cooking.
I'm headed back to school for Year 3 in a few short weeks, so my cooking days will be long behind me until I can get back into a kitchen again. Moving back into my sorority house brings excitement and a sense of returning to normalcy as we were abruptly kicked out back in March, but with excitement brings worry about taking extra precautions with regards to the current national crisis we're all living in. And I say "national" crisis and not "global" crisis because I so wholeheartedly want to believe that Europe is doing better than us so that I can escape across the Atlantic for a semester in the Spring. Only time will tell.
But let's live in the moment and enjoy what we have in front of us: the second half of a beautiful summer and a steamy plate of lots to come. Feel free to use my creations as inspiration for your next brunch adventure.
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