Banana Mocha Smoothie

I thought our country's obsession with smoothies was a little over the top, until I made this smoothie. Now I wake up excited to have it again. I also wind up waking my husband with the sound of the blender -- unfortunately, he doesn't love this smoothie quite as much as I do.

Ingredients
1 banana, cut into chunks and left in the freezer for a few hours
1 c. or slightly less of plain (fat-free, if you like) yogurt
1 dash vanilla
1/4 c. coffee -- better if it's cold or at least not hot
1 Tbsp. sweetened cocoa

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with sprinkles of cinnamon and nutmeg. If you don't have plain yogurt and sweetened cocoa, you can also use 1 c. vanilla yogurt (omit dash of vanilla) and add unsweetened cocoa. If you don't have time to freeze the banana chunks, just use an unfrozen one and add 2 ice cubes to the blender.

Jessica

Poached Eggs

I really love poached eggs. There were such discovery for me when I was a kid -- I didn't know you could make eggs that weren't fried or scrambled. But then one night when I was maybe eight and couldn't fall asleep, I walked into the kitchen to find my dad making poached eggs for a nighttime snack. He made some for me, too, and served them in the traditional (and some may say horribly foul) manner of our family: heavily salted and peppered, then mashed with a fork and mixed together with crushed saltines. Yum. I still find it a great comfort food. Although, as my grandmother says, we don't eat poached eggs this way in front of company.

I think the poached egg is a good basis for riffing and I like to try new variations. I am especially fond of poached eggs with tomato, either fresh or in a sauce, and in particular the Moroccan Eggs Benedict at Cafe Mogador in the E. Village (http://www.cafemogador.com/), which are topped with a spicy tomato sauce and hollandaise. I've tried to create a version of my own at home, sort of. It has none of the Morrocan spices and, in a heart-healthy gesture, I eschew the hollandaise (I'm not a huge fan, anyway). I came up with the following, which I really like. The simple spicy and fresh tomato sauce is a great foil for the creamy yolk of the poached egg.

1/2 pint ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
2-3 T. minced onion
1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (according to your tastes)
2 eggs
1 slice whole grain bread, halved, or 1 split english muffin
pecorino shavings

Heat oil in small pan over med-high heat, then add onion and saute until soft and translucent. Add cherry tomatoes, salt, and red pepper flakes and saute over med to med-high heat, stirring occasionally until tomatoes begin to soften and break down (maybe 10 mins.?). In the meantime, toast the bread or english muffin and poach the eggs. For anyone who has difficulty poaching eggs, epicurious.com offers a great tutorial.

To serve, top toast with poached eggs, sauce, and pecorino shavings.

If you don't like this, you may want to give poached eggs with crushed saltines a whirl. You just might be surprised.