But one of the most lasting additions to my kitchen routine is homemade granola, and credit for that goes to Jainey. I had never seen granola made before I watched her make it, almost every week. This recipe is an adaptation of hers.

I go through granola-making ebbs and flows, but when I get in a good rhythm, I make about a batch a week. It replaces cereal and becomes my primary snack food, eaten with plain Greek yogurt and honey. Jainey would even turn it into dessert by adding chocolate chips. Adapt and enjoy!

Mix these in a large bowl:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 small glug vanilla
• generous pile of cinnamon (the recipe said a tablespoon, but I don’t measure it anymore…)
• 1/3 cup of canola oil and/or applesauce (I use about half and half, Jainey uses all oil. All applesauce doesn’t work as well.)

Add all these all at once, then mix until well-coated:

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 3 cups nuts and seeds (I usually use walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds and pepitas. You can also use shredded coconut.)

Spread the granola evenly on two large baking sheets. Bake at 300. Take it out after 11 minutes to stir/flip it, and rotate the two baking sheets, too. Bake it for another 11-13 minutes, until it’s golden.

When the granola comes out, it’ll still be soft and moist, but it will harden as it cools. Let it cool on the pan, and don’t be shy taking it off — it’ll stick a little. (For some reason, it comes off easier if you put some applesauce in the mix than if you use only oil.) Store in an airtight container.

If you like raisins, add them when you’re ready to eat the granola, not before baking. Baking the raisins makes them turn hard and chewy.

Fresh tomatoes from the farmer’s market don’t need a lot of dressing up — no need to spend the day boiling down sauce or doing anything else fancy.

Here’s a simple but yummy sandwich that we keep coming back to:

• Toast up some whole wheat bread. If you don’t bake bread, pick up a loaf at the farmer’s market along with the tomatoes.
• Slather it with plenty of mayo and Dijon mustard. I put both condiments on both pieces of bread, so the textures and flavors mix. I’m told that this makes me strange, but I think it’s well worth it.
• Slice some Swiss cheese and add that.
• Finish the sandwich with some thick slices of tomato, mixing types if you have them. Don’t be shy, they are the star of the sandwich so pile them on!

If at all possible, eat this sandwich outdoors. Goes well with corn salad and watermelon salad.

For two servings of this salad, mix:

1 cob of corn, boiled lightly for 2-3 mins and sliced off the cob

a handful of heirloom grape tomatoes, sliced in half

half a green onion, sliced

2-3 leaves basil, chopped

a splash of olive oil

a smaller splash of red wine vinegar

salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

But wouldn’t it be even better to combine fresh-baked bread with summer goodies from the farmer’s market? And wouldn’t it be the best to do it for brunch?

I started with a variation of the New York Times no-knead recipe, using whole wheat  flour and folding in raisins and walnuts before the second rise. (See the image in the header for what it looked like fresh out of the oven!)

Eric mixed up the standard French toast batter (1 egg per adult, splash of cream, splash of vanilla), and fried up the bread.

Topped with real maple syrup, toasted pecans and fresh peaches, it made a perfect breakfast — hearty but still summery. Mmmmm.

Since Eric gave me a waffle maker last fall, we’ve made waffles an average of once a week. We’ve made them in two states for a couple dozen people, and have frozen over a hundred waffles. Each time, we’ve made adjustments, triangulating our way to the Very Best Waffles.

At long last, here they are.

Secret #1: Use this recipe.

The two kinds of waffle recipes are with and without yeast. Yeasted ones are made the night before. We would have been willing to do it, every time, except that it turns out: No one likes the yeasted ones better. They are a little too rich, a little too yeasty for brunch.

Among the morning-of waffle recipes, there’s another distinction. For some, you whip the egg whites separately. Again, we would have been happy to whip the egg whites, every time, but it turns out those waffles taste no better.

This recipe is a modification of Waffles of Insane Greatness, via Orangette. It adds whole wheat flour and specifies the milk-to-buttermilk ratio for optimum texture and tanginess.

The Very Best Waffle Recipe

½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. table salt
1 ½ tsp. sugar

Whisk the above ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix these ingredients:

¼ cup whole milk
¾ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine in one bowl and whisk until it’s mostly smooth, then follow your waffle maker’s instructions for making the waffles.

I prefer them medium done, and they toast up better after freezing if you’ve cooked them on the lighter side. However, many people enjoy the crispness that comes with more done waffles.

To keep them warm, preheat the oven to 200 degrees and place cooked waffles in one layer directly on the oven racks. (If you pile them up, they get soggy.) Don’t forget to turn the oven off after breakfast unless you want waffle croutons!

Yield: Enough for two hungry adults and possibly some leftover. Make a double batch for four adults or lots of leftovers.

Secret #2: Use this waffle maker.

Eric really did his research before he settled on
this Calphalon waffle maker.

Unlike the other waffle makers, most of the reviews were from foodies who had had it for a while. Long enough to know that the nonstick coating didn’t peel off and it cooked evenly batch after batch. From the review that sealed the deal:

I purchased and tested many, many waffle makers over the span of 16 months, ultimately gathering an inventory of 13 waffle makers of various shapes and vintages…the Calphalon is the first modern waffle iron I have found that can match the crispy texture and consistently fabulous results of the vintage wafflers.

I have not gathered an inventory of 13 waffle makers, but I do really like this one.

Secret #3: Use these toppings.

You wouldn’t think that toppings make that much of a difference, but they do. Raspberries, our preferred fruit for the hearty, tangy buttermilk oatmeal pancakes are way too strong for the delicate flavor of the waffles. Blueberries are the very best fruit topping, followed by bananas.

The nuts matter, too. Lightly toasted pecans have just a touch of sweetness and the right amount of crunch — less than almonds but more than walnuts.

Home-made whipped cream with just a little sugar and vanilla works really well. And you wouldn’t have thought of anything other than real maple syrup, right?

My favorite thing about these cupcakes is that they are rich and dense and chocolatey. My least favorite thing is that making them involves lots of waiting.

They’re not difficult. It’s just that something always needs to warm up or cool down, and there isn’t a way to hurry that along. Read through to see where you have to let something sit, and definitely make them a day ahead.

Adapted from the excellent recipe on Joy of Baking.

The Cupcakes

1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup boiling water

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. In a small bowl, stir together the boiling water and the cocoa powder. Let it cool to room temperature, and set out a stick of butter if you haven’t already.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. (No waiting here, thank goodness!)
3. In a third bowl, with an electric mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.
4. Put it all together — add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

You have two choices now:

For regular-sized cupcakes, I use 5 1/2-inch parchment paper squares to line the cups, since they look artsy and it doesn’t matter as much if the cupcakes aren’t perfect. If you go this route, you’ll end up with 12-16 cupcakes and they’ll bake for 14-18 minutes.

These are wonderful, but they can be messy and sometimes you don’t want a whole one, and there’s no one around to share with. Sometimes mini-cupcakes are what you need. Use cupcake cups (the paper square would be a gooey mess). These bake for only 8-12 minutes, and you’ll end up with about 48 cupcakes.

I usually make a half batch of each. In either case, when they’re done, a toothpick will come out mostly clean, with just a tiny crumb or two stuck to it.

As soon as you can stand the heat, take the cupcakes out of the pans and let them cool on wire racks, and set out another stick of butter, and melt the chocolate for the frosting…see below for specifics.

The Frosting

I should start by saying that my frosting has never come out looking anything like the pictures on the original recipe. I don’t own a pastry bag or offset spatula, so I just kind of glob it on with a knife. It isn’t quick, but it still tastes very good.

The texture always varies quite a bit, too, depending on the temperature of the butter and chocolate and the brand of powdered sugar.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Melt the chocolate by microwaving it on low power for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring in between firings. Let it cool to room temperature.
2. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
3. Add the sugar to the butter and beat until it is light and fluffy. For me, it  always looks like it’s not going to come together at all, and powdered sugar flies everywhere, but it eventually works. I keep meaning to try adding the sugar a little at a time, which I’m sure would make less mess.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy — or so says the original recipe. That has never happened for me, but beating it longer does make the texture nicer.

When you’re done frosting the cupcakes, it’s ideal to refrigerate them for several hours before serving them. This makes the frosting set and taste even richer.

With snow on the ground, it’s a great time to tell the story of these muffins. They were born just after a blizzard.

My roommate Amishi was experimenting with making fruit muffins. I came in from shoveling a foot of snow just after these came out of the oven. They were sweet and hearty, with little bursts of chocolate. I inhaled three of them. I felt bad for eating so many of Amishi’s muffins, so I stopped there.

I came back in the kitchen a little while later, and interrupted Amishi just as she was about to throw these wonderful muffins in the trash. In the trash!!! She thought, you see, that they tasted too healthy. She relented and gave me the muffins, along with her best recollection about how she made them.

Since then, they have been my favorite treat to take to potluck brunches. They’re always a huge hit.

Two notes:

• The muffins are small, which is good because then you can eat lots of them.
• There is so much gooey banana in them that they will fail the Test of the Clean Toothpick. Trust your judgment about when they look brown enough on the top and sides.

Amishi’s Banana Chocolate Oat Muffins

• 1 cup flour (can use up to 1/2 whole wheat flour)
• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 pound butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, diced (I cut them lengthwise in four, then slice)
• chocolate chips (less than a bag…however much looks right to you!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tins for up to 24 muffins.

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients (just up to the eggs) in another. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and stir, then add the banana and chocolate and stir more.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them no more than 3/4 full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the tins as soon as they are cool enough to handle and finish cooling on racks.

It’s not often that I leave a recipe alone. Every recipe has room for a little tinkering, you know — to make it perfect.

But not this one.

These pancakes are hearty, flavorful and distinctive. I’ve made them at home, for ourselves and for company, and on the road. They always get rave reviews.

One recipe makes about 12 small pancakes, plenty for four adults. (The only person I’ve seen eat more than three was a nursing mother.) The secret? Soak oats in buttermilk overnight, so they are mushy and tangy. Once you’ve done that, there’s not much left to improve.

Many thanks to Molly Wizenberg for sharing the recipe.

I love using sweet things in salty contexts. And I love this time of year, when the farmer’s market is at its absolute peak. Tomatoes, peaches, corn…

But I especially can’t resist the local organic watermelon. I usually come home with two, but there’s only so much watermelon you can eat  in slices, dripping over the sink. And you definitely can’t bring watermelon in that form to work for lunch.

This super-simple salad, however, is presentable for both work lunches and entertaining. After much experimenting, I’ve settled on topping the watermelon with feta cheese, black pepper, super-thin slices of sweet white onion and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Just as important is what not to add. I know some people add vinegar, but that has never worked for me. Mixing in tomatoes violates my rule against mixing foods with similar colors, sizes and textures but different tastes. (I instituted that rule after some idiot party host mixed Skittles and M&Ms in the same bowl!)

In the batch pictured above I was still thinking adding some herb or other might improve the salad. And so it might, but that herb is definitely not oregano. Suggestions? I have another half watermelon in the fridge!

My seven-year-old niece: “I like the special peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you bring.”

My friend Dave: “You make your own bread. You are practically Amish!”

But as usual, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I tinkered with the recipe to make it even easier. Here are the modifications I’ve made.

1. I don’t have a fancy dutch oven. I started out using a 9×13 Pyrex and covered with foil. I have since gone upscale and graduated to a 2-quart oval-shaped Pyrex covered in foil.
2. I increase all the ingredients to make a bigger loaf. (It still doesn’t always last me a week.) Here are the amounts:
   • 4 cups flour
   • 1/4 plus 1/12 tsp yeast
   • 2 tsp salt
   • 2 cups water, and up to 1/4 cup more to get all the flour wet.
3. I use whole wheat flour. Five half-cups of whole wheat flour plus three half-cups of all-purpose flour make a very hearty loaf…use half and half for a lighter wheat loaf. (I’ve actually never made this bread with all white flour!)
4. I find the dough way too sticky to put on a towel, so for that stage I just leave it in the bowl and cover it with a towel. Seems to work fine. In general, the dough is usually too goopy for my to do anything that really resembles “shaping” it.
5. You can mix stuff in to make it yummier! Fold things in gently after the first rise. I’ve added cinnamon at the beginning, then walnuts and raisins after the first rise, and it’s yummy. I’ve wanted to add rosemary, cheese, and/or carmelized onions, but haven’t gotten around to trying other combos yet.

This no-knead recipe got me started on a path to more complex and labor-intensive breads, but it’s still the only one I make really regularly. Many thanks to creator of the recipe, Jim Lahey, and Mark Bittman for sharing it with the world. (And here’s the link again.)

Update: A friend asked how I manage the timing of this recipe. I usually start the dough right before bed, which means I can bake it in time for dinner. It’s a little tight on work nights (but possible) and works nicely on weekends.