Tag: Matcha

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Scrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime

Scrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime | A Couple CooksScrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime | A Couple Cooks

Are you all breakfast people? This is not rhetorical: we’re actually wondering — as in, let us know if you are! Since we typically go simple for breakfast (think peanut butter toast), the breakfast category here on A Couple Cooks has been slimmer than others. In fact, we don’t even have a category called Breakfast; everything is filed under Brunch, since in my early cooking days I couldn’t justify expending the effort cooking on a meal that didn’t involve guests.

But lately, we’ve posted several breakfast-y items (below) and are truly enjoying creative weekend breakfast/brunches…which do we eat closer to noontime than when we wake up, but that’s just us. We’d love to hear your morning time routines — do you cook breakfast on weekdays? On weekends? Do you pile a bowl high with yogurt, granola and berries? Do you stay simple with PB toast?

This recipe is so simple it could almost work for a weekday breakfast, except it’s not often that we have time in the morning before running into the office so we save this for weekends. We’ve been working with a green tea powder company to come up with some creative savory uses for the green stuff, since it’s generally used in sweet concoctions like this smoothie. Believe it or not, green tea + eggs actually works! The tea has a subtle aromatic flavor that works wonderfully with the richness of the eggs. If you try it, don’t totally coat the eggs in green, but use enough so that you can taste it. The other surprise ingredient, which you’ve likely noticed in this post title, is lime. I know, it sounds a little weird, but hear us out: adding citrus brightens the flavors of the egg and elevates the dish to a whole new level. You’ll just have to trust us on this one.

If you’re interested in the nutritional benefits of matcha, check out this post for a brief description and a link for more information. And if you’re an Indy-dweller, in this recipe we used local eggs from Schacht Farm and green onions from Full Hand Farm, both purchased at Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market.

Our Latest in the Breakfast/Brunch Vein…
Dippy Eggs with Cheese Fried Toast Soldiers
Strawberry Rhubarb Hazelnut Muffins
Soft Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese and Asparagus
Breakfast Parfait with Roasted Strawberries

Scrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime
 
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Serves: 4

What You Need

What To Do
  1. Thinly slice 2 green onions.
  2. In a medium bowl, crack 8 eggs and whisk them together until well-beaten. Stir in ½ teaspoon kosher salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper.
  3. In a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Tilt the pan to ensure the entire pan is coated in the melted butter. Add the green onion and saute for about 1 minute to soften slightly. Pour in the eggs.
  4. Keep the heat on medium. When the eggs just start to set, use a flat spatula to slowly scrape sections of eggs, creating folds. Scrape occasionally until the eggs form soft folds, and remove them from the heat just before they are fully hardened.
  5. To serve, place eggs on a plate. Garnish with sprinkles of matcha and squeezes of lime juice.

This recipe was developed for Aiya Matcha.

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Matcha Eggs Benedict

Matcha Eggs Benedict | A Couple CooksMatcha Eggs Benedict | A Couple Cooks

Here’s a final recipe to round out our latest breakfast kick. We’ve been wondering: do you eat breakfast? Most days our breakfasts are simple with peanut butter toast or oatmeal, but on the weekends we like to mix it up when time allows. How abut weekend breakfasts or brunches? There’s something so comforting about the concept, like a little reward for making it through the week!

This recipe is a twist on an old standard: eggs Benedict, healthy style (we couldn’t help it). This “healthy hollandaise” sauce is made mostly of Greek yogurt, with a little lemon, touch of butter, and some green tea for an unexpected kick. We’ve been working with a green tea powder company to come up with some creative savory uses for the green stuff, and this is one of our favorites. Don’t expect it to taste quite like a true hollandaise, but the tart yogurt and lemony zest goes quite well with the eggs and makes for a satisfying, savory breakfast. The matcha brings a vibrant green color to the dish, and after tasting many formulations of the green sauce, this one ended up as the winner. We hope you enjoy it – cheers to weekend breakfasts!

(And don’t forget brinner. On many a busy weeknight, brinner saves us.)

If you’re interested in the nutritional benefits of matcha, check out this post for a brief description and a link for more information.

Our Latest for Breakfast/Brunch/Brinner
Almond Butter Toast with Strawberries and Honey
Scrambled Eggs with Matcha and Lime
Dippy Eggs with Cheese Fried Toast Soldiers
Strawberry Rhubarb Hazelnut Muffins
Soft Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese and Asparagus
Breakfast Parfait with Roasted Strawberries
Waffle Party

Matcha Eggs Benedict
 
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Serves: 4 (2 stacks per person)

What You Need
  • ¼ cup melted butter
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • Juice from 1 lemon (~ 3 tablespoons)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons matcha (we used Aiya Cooking Grade Matcha)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ~¼ cup warm water
  • 8 eggs
  • 4 whole grain English muffins
  • Chives for garnish
  • Edible flowers for garnish, if desired (we used nasturtium flowers from our garden, only because we had them onhand)

What To Do
  1. Melt ¼ cup butter. In a bowl, mix together ¼ cup melted butter, 1 cup Greek yogurt, juice from 1 lemon (~ 3 tablespoons), 1 ½ teaspoons matcha, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon honey, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add warm water a few tablespoons at a time to thin out the sauce, up to ¼ cup.
  2. Poach 8 eggs. Toast 4 whole grain English muffins. Thinly slice the chives.
  3. To serve, place poached eggs on English muffin halves, drizzle with sauce and garnish with chives.

This recipe was developed for Aiya Matcha.

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Matcha Green Granola Bars

matcha

I have to start off by saying THANK YOU.

I just came back from my cookbook tour in London, which is the very last trip I’m taking until the autumn. Now that I have some time to reflect, I have to say how deeply touched and grateful I am to all of you that have showed your support these past few months. Whether you’ve come out to an event, book signing, cooking class, reposted a recipe on your own blog, sent me a love note, or happy vibes through the ether, I have felt it all and will carry the collective experience with me always. I mean it. I am officially overwhelmed with love.

It’s been a very fulfilling time for me, but if I’m being honest, it’s also been a very challenging one. Being on the road and away from my sweet little family has been hard, despite being surrounded by so much goodness. My workload has also been full-on at the same time, so there hasn’t been much in the way of breaks, or breathing, or looking after myself at all. As someone who is perpetually beating the drum of balance, wellness, and self-love, I am beginning to feel like a hypocrite! And how can I expect to be the best I can be for everyone else if I can’t take care of my precious self?

So in the name of practicing what I preach, I’m introducing My New Roots Summer Lights again – all new delicious, healthy recipes, just without the lengthy article. As it takes an average of 20 hours to create a single blog post, shaving a few off of that will give me some time to regain a little more sanity in my life. And maybe even inspire some of you to do the same.

So. These granola bars. They are really, really yummy. Satisfying in all the ways that count; filling without making you feel full, and a salty-sweet flavor balance to make you feel like you’ve gotten everything you need. Maybe more. I have been relying heavily on these to fill the 11am / 4pm gap, avoid late night bad food decisions, and I’ve mowed down a couple (maybe more) for my personal favourite: breakfast-in-a-taxi/airplane/subway/train. Hey, at least I get to sit down.

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The matcha green tea powder is of course what makes the granola bars green. It has a lovely tea-like flavor (thank you, captain obvious), and a nice little bitter nuance that I dig. But because matcha is a bit of a specialty item that can be hard to find and so darn expensive, the you can of course omit it entirely. Maybe sprinkle in another kind of superfood powder if you have it (lucuma, maca, baobab, raw cacao), cocoa powder, or protein powder, or whatever else you’re in the mood for. The point is, these are flexible and simple, and a great granola bar base recipe for you to play with. Party on.

The brown rice syrup makes the granola bars ooey-gooey, but because it isn’t overly sweet, I poured in a few tablespoons of maple syrup for good measure. If you are not vegan, you could replace the maple syrup with honey, but I wouldn’t replace the rice syrup with honey because then these would be way too sweet. Just sayin’.

If your tahini is unsalted, add a little more salt to the dry ingredients – I promise that you want the salty-sweet thing going on here. And if you have an allergy to sesame, or feel like something different, use another kind of nut or seed butter instead – hazelnut butter would be divine, pumpkin seed butter too, or combo it up, wild cat! 

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Matcha Green Granola Bars
Makes 14 bars

Ingredients:
2 cups / 200g rolled oats, gluten-free if desired
1 cup / 135g pumpkin seeds
1 ½ cups unsweetened puffed rice cereal (rice, millet, quinoa etc.)
½ cup dried fruit (raisins, dates, figs, prunes, goji berries), roughly chopped
¼ tsp. flaky sea salt
1 – 1 ½ Tbsp. matcha green tea powder (to your taste)
1/3 cup / 80ml brown rice syrup
3 Tbsp. / 45 ml maple syrup
½ cup / 125ml tahini
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C. Combine oats and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the oats are golden and have a nutty aroma.
2. In a small saucepan combine the brown rice syrup, maple syrup, tahini, coconut oil, vanilla. Whisk to combine. Do not overheat.
3. In a large bowl, combine the cooled oats and pumpkin seeds with the chopped dried fruit, rice puffs, salt, and matcha. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir quickly to mix.
4. Pour the mix into a brownie pan lined with plastic wrap or baking paper. Press the mixture firmly, especially into the corners. Place in the fridge for a couple hours to firm up, then remove from fridge and slice into bars. Keep leftovers in the fridge for up two weeks.

So dear friends, I’m wishing you a very healthy, happy summer full of crazy adventures, (responsible) sun-worshipping, belly laughs, and of course, delicious food.

I love you!
xo, Sarah B


My New Roots