Maureen’s Kitchen: A Long Island Institution

So I’m one of those annoying morning people and more so now that Future Foodie wakes up at 6:30 AM on the dot every day.  This past Saturday, we were visiting family on Long Island.  It was 7 AM, my sister and I were up with Future Foodie and I decided that it would be just awesome if the whole family got up and went to breakfast at Maureen’s Kitchen in Smithtown.  So one by one, I woke my grumpy ass, the opposite of morning people up and told them we were having a family breakfast TOGETHER.  There was cajoling, demanding, and straight up yelling but I was absolutely determined we would get to Maureen’s Kitchen together and early.  That place fills up very, very quickly and I hate waiting for food, especially with a toddler.  So we collectively arrived at 8 AM and were promptly seated.

It’s super cute inside, there’s a big cow theme. Seriously, cows EVERYWHERE.  My parents took my sister and I took to Maureen’s kitchen when it was literally this tiny shack around 20 years ago and it’s been there ever since and has morphed into a bigger and nicer restaurant over the years.  The big thing at Maureen’s are specialty pancakes. I wasn’t feeling any of them so I got something I had never seen before, croissant french toast.  I mean yum, right?  Yum they were too!  Lightly dusted with powdered sugar, they were heavenly. They were not overpoweringly sweet, soft but not mushy.  I seriously ate my entire plate of food (sausages included), and a side order of the best corned beef hash I have ever eaten.  I was so happy. 

My mom got some awesome banana walnut pancakes.  They were delicious with walnuts baked right into the fluffy pancakes.  She took half of them home since she couldn’t match my voracious appetite and I finished them off the next morning.  I love leftovers!

My favorite breakfast

I eat oatmeal five days of the week and I’ve been doing so for the past 5 or 6 years.  It’s funny because I usually get tired of foods pretty quickly especially if I’m eating them everyday.  But not with oatmeal.  Mainly I eat it because it’s quick and as filling as I can get without eating a full eggs and toast breakfast.  Plus it’s my way of balancing my intake of french fries.  I figure the oatmeal kind of evens out the badness.

I recently discovered steel-cut oats.  I’ve dabbled in them before but never thought they were quick enough for me during my morning rush of trying to get the heck out of my front door to work.  But I had them at a work conference a couple of months ago and totally craved them, so my dear husband bought me some bulk steel cut from our favorite store, Honest Weight Food Co-op.

The easiest method that I found of cooking them is throwing them in the slow cooker and putting the setting on low.  Which is kind of a safe guard for me because I’m a total space cadet sometimes and forget about the oatmeal until the next morning. Which is actually fine, if on the low setting (I did it once on the high setting and I got some weird tasting oatmeal). I use a 1:3 ratio of oats to water and if I cook it for an hour or so, I get that nice steel-cut texture. If I space out and leave it on all night, it’s nice and mushy and still delicious.  Sometimes I add a little water because I need to heat it up in the microwave but overall I’m really happy with the steel-cut and will never go back to rolled oats.

To add some texture, I throw in a handful of sliced, spiced almonds and then a small teaspoon of local honey. YUM.