Open Faced Dippin' Eggs Sandwich

Weekends with my dad were always fun, but some of my fondest memories are of him making breakfast for my brother and I.  I have told you before about how he is the master of egg frying and taught me what I know today.  His specialty is eggs over easy.  Or as we liked to call them, dippin' eggs.  Back in those days, eggs in our house were never without their counterpart, bagels and cream cheese.  We loved puncturing the soft, runny yolk with the toasted bagel and making a mess on our plates.  For a very long time, mopping up the yolk with a toasty piece of bread was the only way I would eat eggs.  Today, even though I have learned to love eggs in all forms, I still return to this way of eating eggs quite often.

Last Saturday was one such occasion.  Denny and I awoke from a (rather...ambitious) Friday night and all I wanted was a sloppy, hearty, flavorful egg dish.  I don't know how I scrounged this all together, because let me tell you, I was in rare form, but I will tell you that I had this recipe in the back of my mind so it couldn't come out all that bad.  When all was said and done, Denny and I scarfed.this.down.  It was delicious.  But it also may have been the type of morning where almost anything would have tasted delicious to us, who knows.  You guys will just have to make it and tell me if we are crazy or not.  It was tart, yet rich and creamy and had a whole lot of textures going on.  And messy, boy was it messy.  See Exhibit A below.  If you think you are going to daintily eat this like a normal breakfast sandwich, think again, because once you break the yolk it's game over.  You better save yourself the time and humility and just grab a fork and knife from the get-go.

Open Faced Dippin' Eggs Sandwich

(makes 2 sandwiches)

4 eggs

1 everything bagel

Enough cream cheese to spread on a bagel.  1 tsp or half a cup.  Your call.

2tsp dijon mustard

1 cup arugula

1 shallot, finely chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1tbsp goat cheese, crumbled

1tsp butter

Non-Stick cooking spray

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 an avocado, sliced

In a small frying pan, melt the butter and sauté the shallot until translucent, 2-3 min.  When finished, add the shallot and lemon juice to the arugula and toss together.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside.  Pop two bagel halves in the toaster until golden brown.  Top each half with cream cheese.  Spread 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard on each bagel.  Set aside.

Spray down your small frying pan with non stick spray and heat at medium low.  Crack 2 eggs in there.    Top with salt and pepper.  For sunny side up eggs, cover the pan and let cook until the white is no longer runny.  For over easy eggs, flip when most of the white, aside from the top layer, is no longer runny.  Repeat with 2 more eggs for the second sandwich.

Divide the arugula mix in half and pile on top of each bagel.  When the eggs are done, place them on the bed of arugula.  Top each with half of the avocado.

Sprinkle generously with goat cheese and go to town.

Grilled Peaches & Oatmeal

Ah that time of year is upon us.  You know, the one where there is a slight breeze in the air, the mornings are cooler, the leaves are juuuust barely starting to turn.  It's almost fall.  You can recognize it by the increasingly annoying Facebook posts about football.  It's almost as annoying as Facebook during election time.  I understand I am the minority that doesn't care AT ALL about football, but come on people, work with me.  If you insist on posting about how excited, or sad, you are about _____ team, ____ game, or _____ player, then first take a quick gander at your news feed and use this opportunity to post something original.  To really make your mark.  "Go Broncos!!" and  "I love you Payton!!" are examples of unoriginal content.  Perhaps think to yourself, "Hmm, 4 people have already said this.  Maybe, just maybe, I should say something else, or nothing at all."

By the way, Colorado people looooove fall.  It's like, "trendy" to like fall out here.  I'm just saying, it's okay to like summer too, Coloradans, it's ok.  Can you sense how "judgey" I am lately?  I think recent levels of elevated stress have sent my filter running.  It's probably temporary, but maybe not :)  One of my last posts started with a 2 paragraph rant and was later reduced to just the slightly annoying dog accident and  good ol' "moth-in-the-shirt" story.  Now there is no editing...it might become that kind of blog. Excited?!  Hey, thanks for reading ;-)

On another note, this time of year is awesome because of peaches.  That's right, peaches.  (Finally she is getting to the food part...)  Colorado has the best peaches I'm convinced.  They come from a little town called Palisade on the western slope.  It's a lovely place with fruit stands on every corner.  And wineries!  I'm a little obsessed with peaches right now because they are soooo ripe and perfect, and there is such a small window every year to get good peaches.  My daily peach consumption is currently averaging 3 peaches per day.  I have been singing to myself "...millions of peaches, peaches for me..." for the past week.  I'm almost as annoying as Facebook football fans.

When Sunday breakfast came along this week, I was sad that we didn't have eggs, but excited that we had peaches.  Still sad about the eggs.  I thought Denny would be sad too, but he hid it well.  When I suggested peach oatmeal, he was all over it.  You know me, always wanting to grill sh*t, so there I went.  Grilling at breakfast.

This is really simple and a nice little way to spice up boring oatmeal.

4 ripe peaches, pitted and halved
1 14 oz. can coconut milk, unsweetened
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground nutmeg1½ cups sugar
(Cinnamon or vanilla ice cream also works!)
Rolled oats, or quick oats

Halve the peaches and dip in coconut milk, then in sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg mixture.  Grill for about 5min on each side until you get some nice grill marks.

Cook oatmeal per instructions on package.  Spoon into bowl, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or drizzle generously with honey, place peaches on top.
(We used the extra coconut milk to cook our oats, with a little water to make up the difference.  When sweetened with cinnamon sugar and/or honey it tasted great!  Without a sweetener, not so much.)

Recipe adapted from Gilded Fork.

Inspired | Lavender Lemon Scones

Yet another trip to the local farmer's market resulted in a TON of great stuff.  Denny came this time, so we obviously couldn't just buy ONE thing.  We had to buy several things: farm fresh eggs, steak burgers (so good), cucumber relish, heirloom tomatoes, homemade beef jerky, lemon orzo, Puff's "boozy" beer & chamomile jam (LOVE this company - we also have the strawberry champagne mint & raspberry whiskey chipotle), and lastly, lavender infused sugar.

When we bought the sugar from the Indigo Blooms Botanicals booth (who sold primarily herbal home and body care products), the woman asked what I was going to do with it.  I said, "I'm not sure yet, but I am always looking for new ingredients for new recipes for my blog".  She was excited to hear about the blog and told me that I would have to let her know what I made with it.  Turns out that she just had extra lavender and was looking for new ways to use it, so infused it with sugar.

That day, I started brainstorming what to do with the lavender sugar, just like I did with the rosemary sourdough bread the weekend before.  Stumbling on a recipe for lavender scones sealed the deal.  I know this is ridiculous, but I try to stay away from recipes that involve working with cold butter because I don't have a large food processor or KitchenAid miracle worker (FYI, birthdays and weddings are coming up - just saying!).  So, cold butter scares me and therefore I don't do a lot of baking...I've bent many a fork trying to knead the stuff into a stubborn cookie dough.  But I went for it anyway because this recipe said you could knead the butter in with your hands.  I have hands.  I can do this.

Next problem:  the recipe called for dried lavender buds.  Where was I going to get those??  It seemed like such a "stuck up" thing to have in a recipe.  It made me almost want to not make them, and all I could think of was the episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S where Ross smashes a scone, yelling "Stupid British snack!"  But, a Google search told me I could get them at any health food store.  I consider the Sprouts we go to be "healthy" so I went there for our groceries, in the hopes of finding lavender.  When I couldn't find it myself, I asked around "Nope, don't have it here".  Ugh, I was NOT going to go to another store.  If grocery stores were peaceful, quiet meccas of amazing food, I would love grocery shopping.  But they aren't.  They are crowded, noisy, warehouses full of aimlessly wandering shopping carts that you usually have to dodge, lest they run you over in the frozen food aisle.

I was bummed.  I thought lavender scones weren't happening.  But then, while shopping in the bulk food section, I saw a shelf of bulk spices and herbs and alas lavender buds!!!  Can I just say, I l-o-v-e the bulk foods section.  Even before it magically brought me lavender.  Nuts, rice, granola galore - and so CHEAP!  I remember when I worked at Whole Foods and people would fill the entire check out counter with bags of bulk foods and I thought they were crazy hippies...until I saw their bill compared to other people's.  Then I thought they were geniuses who knew of a loop hole in the (sometimes) ridiculously expensive health food industry.  I filled a small ziploc baggie with the lavender and it cost me something like $.23.  No joke.  So, when in doubt, check out the bulk spices if your store has them.  I guarantee even the "normal" easy-to-find spices will be much more affordable this way.

After all that, I realized I forgot the buttermilk....after I got home.  Dammit.  I guess a second trip to the store was always my destiny.

Here are the stupid (yet delicious) British scones.  I think they turned out pretty well.  The recipe called for too much sugar to use the lavender infused sugar in the baking (as you can see, I just had a little jar), so I sprinkled it on the top.  Also, if you don't like lemon this might not be for you - I tasted more lemon than lavender at times.  This pairs nicely with a cup of tea, sweetened of course with the lavender sugar :)  Enjoy.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for surface

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp dried lavender buds

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermilk

2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (I might use less next time)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp sanding or granulated sugar infused with lavender

[Dried lavender buds (culinary lavender) are available at some supermarkets and natural foods stores.]

Preparation

Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 425°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk 3 cups flour and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter; rub in with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Whisk 1 cup buttermilk, zest, and vanilla in a small bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until shaggy dough forms.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface; knead until dough forms, about 5 turns. Pat into a 10x6" rectangle. Halve dough lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into 4 squares. Cut each square diagonally in half into 2 triangles. Divide between baking sheets. Brush with 2 Tbsp. buttermilk. Sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake until scones are golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 13–15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature.  I don't know, maybe put some boozy jam on it :)  I really liked honey and butter on it

Adapted from this recipe.  Lemon curd isn't really my thang, but maybe it's yours!

Frozen Breakfast Burritos

I think I told you way back here that there is indeed a solution to boring weekday breakfasts.  Frozen breakfast burritos are the answer, and they are addicting!  This is something that I have done for the past couple of years and they have saved the day on more than one occasion, including getting home from a late night out and wanting to eat everything in sight!

I like to make them on the smaller side so that you don't start your day off feeling too stuffed.  That is the responsible, healthy side of me talking because otherwise I would have a Chipotle sized breakfast burrito every.single.day.  Apparently it's not okay to do that, so I stick to the smaller ones :)  I make anywhere from 20-24 at a time.



2 packages of 10" whole wheat flour tortillas (smaller burrito tortillas).
2 packages of frozen o'brien potatoes or hash browns.
1/2 diced yellow or red onion (needed if the potatoes don't already have onion in it)
1 diced green or red bell pepper (needed if the potatoes don't already have pepper in it)
10-12 eggs
1 large jar of green chile (I like the 505 hot chile)
1 package of shredded cheddar cheese with taco seasoning (2 cups)
1 can of diced green chiles
Seasoned pepper & garlic salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp butter
3 tbsp water
Foil

You don't need me to tell you that you could also add meat to these (mmm bacon). I'm sure you already figured that out!

In a large non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add frozen potatoes and onion.  Season to taste with seasoned pepper and garlic salt.  Cook until potatoes are thoroughly cooked and almost approaching "dry", stirring frequently.  Set aside.  (The key to these burritos is to have as little liquid as possible.  For this reason, green chile is chosen instead of a tomatoey salsa that will release water when re-heated, making a soggy burrito).

While the potatoes are cooking, tear 20-24 sheets of foil into 12" sheets (one for each burrito).  Set aside.

In a separate pan, melt butter over medium-low heat.  Whisk eggs together, adding water, continue whisking until incorporated (this is optional, I like adding water because it makes the eggs more light and fluffy).  Add eggs, canned green chiles and salt & pepper to the pan.  Scramble until done.  Set aside.

Set up all of your ingredients in a burrito-making "station" and start assembling.  Before you start, it sometimes helps to wrap the tortillas in a paper towel and heat in the microwave for about 1 minute to keep them from tearing.

Place a tortilla on a sheet of foil, add a scoop of eggs, equal amounts of potatoes, a sprinkle of cheese, about 1 tbsp of green chile and wrap the tortilla, folding in both sides.  Wrap the burrito in foil and stick in the freezer.

When you are ready to eat, remove foil and pop in the microwave for about 2 minutes!

Peach Banana Bread

I don't really bake often because it seems that I always need to make an extra trip to the grocery store just to make basic cookies or cakes.  There is always SOME ingredient that I don't have.  But one thing I do bake often is banana bread!  I don't know about you, but there are always 2-3 bananas in our bunch that get too ripe and are never eaten.  I throw these in the freezer so that I have them on hand at all times.

Therefore, I make banana bread probably about once a month (we buy a lot of bananas!) and I have to say it was getting a little boring.  So I decided to make it a tad more exciting by adding peaches, and it has become a favorite amongst my friends and co-workers.  This time of year, I have to resort to canned peaches, but towards the end of summer I bet you can get some amazing ripe peaches and make this bread taste even better!!  Banana bread is great because you can add whatever you want to it.  Berries or chocolate chips would be awesome.  I personally like it as a dessert rather than a breakfast, but to each their own!

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1 Tsp. baking soda

1/4 Tsp. salt

1/2 Cup butter

3/4 Cup brown sugar

2 Eggs, beaten

2 1/3 Cups mashed overripe bananas (I use 3 bananas)

3/4 of a can of peaches (or about 2 fresh peaches, pitted and peeled), cut into 1/2" chunks

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine, flour, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.  Stir in eggs and mashed bananas (I put the frozen bananas in the microwave for about a minute to thaw them, the peel will come right off) until well blended.  Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten.  Gently stir in diced peaches.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  

Bake in preheated oven for 65 minutes (I find that it might take up to 10 minutes longer with the peaches added.  At this point, watch the bread closely and test often with a toothpick.  When it comes out clean it is done.)  Let bread cool about 10min.  Slice and serve!

(Adapted from this banana bread recipe.)

Please drop some!

Simple Pleasures | Sunday Morning Breakfast

Happy Sunday!

I hope you all are enjoying your day...especially since it is Cinco de Mayo!  I have been CRAVING Mexican food and can't wait for what today brings.

One of these days I will post something non-breakfast related, I promise.  But, in case you can't tell, it IS my favorite meal of the day!  Aside from dessert, which, according to me, is absolutely a meal.  Eating cereal or yogurt or something very blah on a weekend just doesn't cut it for me.  Save that for the weekdays when you need something quick on your way to work.  (By the way, even that can be avoided...we usually make a bunch of breakfast burritos and freeze them.  Grab one on your way to work and microwave for 2 min in the office - boom.  More on that later.)

This particular breakfast (pictured) was kind of unexpectedly cool.  I bought a small bag of colored potatoes, just because I thought they would be fun.  I have bought them before, but they are so tiny that I left them whole and roasted them in the oven.  This time, I had a few potatoes left that were going to go bad soon, so I cut them up for hashbrowns....and they were beautiful inside!!  And, added bonus, apparently they provide nutrients that derive from their color, that other potatoes do not.  From now on, I am trying to pick at least one item at the grocery store that I wouldn't normally buy, because you never know if it will start to become a favorite!

Saute these potatoes with some garlic, onion, bell pepper and seasonings, and they provide a perfect bed for a fried egg or two.

Enjoy!

Something of an obsession...

First of all, I hope I am not annoying you all with the ever-changing look of this blog.  I am super picky when it comes to graphic design and always have a hard time settling on something final.  Plus, I am working within the limitations of Blogger and struggling :)  I kind of like this new layout though, hopefully you all do too!  Let me know.

Anyway, onward and upward!  Lately I have been reading all of the food blogs I can get my hands on (which is one reason I had the urge to remodel the blog).  There is a whole world of food blogging that I have recently been exposed to that I had NO idea existed.  I mean, there are competitions for Best Food Blog, and on top of that there several categories within this competition, such as Best Food Photography (love!), Best Original Recipes, Best Cocktail Blog, the list goes on and on.  Needless to say, when I discovered this new world I was stoked!  And motivated!

There is something about the beautiful pictures and creative recipes that has me hooked.  It is such a fun new hobby, and I have been using any excuse to cook all of the worthwhile recipes I come across.  Which is a LOT.  I have noticed, however, that I have started gravitating to one blog in particular:  Smitten Kitchen.  While I love a nice, sophisticated food blog, some of the recipes can be a bit too pretentious for my taste (pun intended), calling for all sorts of fancy (fancy=expensive) ingredients.  And sadly, I don't have half of the fancy utensils needed to mix, beat, knead, stone bake, etc.

I am pleased to discover that this gal at Smitten Kitchen feels the same way I do.  She realizes we can't all be Julia Child all the time - we need simplicity, we need shortcuts, but we also need great food.

So, this weekend I made a gluten free version of her Smashed Egg on Toast recipe (it was gluten free on accident because we had rice instead of toast).  Now I want to smash eggs on everything!  This recipe was a great weekend breakfast change-up.  We had all of the ingredients it called for, but would never have thought to put them together for breakfast.  This might become a go-to breakfast, it was that good, and that easy.

Hefty handful of spinach

1 small pat of butter

1tsp Dijon mustard

1tbsp Shallots, finely chopped (I substituted minced yellow onion)

3/4 cup Rice and/or toasted bread

1tbsp Heavy cream

Goat cheese (feta works too).  It would be wrong for me to tell you how much to use.

1 egg (I won't judge you if you make 2 or 3 or 4)

Salt & pepper to taste

Place rice or toast on plate, smear with dijon mustard.   In a pan, melt butter and saute shallots until translucent.  Add spinach and cook until wilted.  Add cream and stir until incorporated.  Pour this mixture over the rice/bread. 

Add water to a pot or saucepan, enough to cover the egg(s).  Boil, gently place egg in boiling water.  Watch the egg closely.  At about 6min (I go to 7min if I am cooking more than one egg) is when the egg should be soft-boiled.  To peel the egg, run under cold water and peel carefully.  Place egg on top of spinach, dust with salt, pepper and your favorite cheese and smash away!!

Simple Pleasures | Buttermilk Biscuits

It could have been the fact that we just finished the cleanse and were ravenously eyeing all solids foods, or it could have been that I haven't had biscuits in probably 10 years (and the ones I remember were always the in-a-can Pillsbury version), but damn, this recipe caught my eye and I had to make it!

I have always enjoyed a good drop biscuit, but growing up, we would always eat store bought biscuits with gravy for dinner.  Think bacon gravy and hamburger gravy (all my grandmother's recipes).  And while it was soo delicious, it was also so heavy, and that's probably why I haven't thought to make them since being "on-my-own."

But when I saw this recipe I suddenly thought of all the possibilities a biscuit provides - sweet & savory; breakfast & dinner;  sandwiches or solo - the list goes on.  I immediately wanted to make a cheesy, garlicky biscuit.  So, I did just that.  The next time we had friends over for dinner and I made a feta scallion biscuit.  And it was good :)  But I still didn't feel like I was doing the biscuit justice.  So, on Easter Sunday I made Denny and I brunch and made plain biscuits, to eat with butter and jam, and then gave a savory biscuit another go, this time it was rosemary basil and parmesan.  I also made some scrambled eggs with veggies.

The savory biscuits were still good, but when I tried a plain one, with butter and jam, I about died.  I had to stop myself from eating them all, and I can't say I did a good job.  By the time I "stopped" myself I had eaten 4 of them (!) and shoved my plate of eggs towards Denny for him to finish.  I finally felt satisfied :)  Try them, and I guarantee you will love them!

2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons to 1 1/2 tablespoons (10 to 20 grams) sugar (to taste, see note above)

1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder

3/4 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

9 tablespoons (125 grams) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

3/4 cup (175 ml) buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 °F and cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large, wide bowl. Using fingertips or a pastry blender (I used a regular blender), work butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, Add buttermilk and stir until large, craggy clumps form. Reach hands into bowl and knead mixture briefly until it just holds together.  Drop onto a nonstick cookie sheet or roll out (to 1/2" - 3/4" thick) and use a round cookie cutter (or glass) to make "neater" biscuits.

(recipe at Smitten Kitchen)

How to | Omelettes

My dad taught me a lot of things, and among them was how to cook eggs.  Every weekend we spent with him, he would cook us breakfast:  "dipping eggs" (which were eggs over easy with bagels and cream cheese that we could dip into the runny yolks).  I remember watching him make perfect eggs every weekend and wondering how he did it.  Part of my wonder and amazement came from the fact that he didn't bother with a spatula but rather flipped the eggs with one swift motion of the pan (I guess that's what years in the restaurant business will do for you!).  So, when he taught me how to make eggs, he taught me this way.  You can imagine the mess that followed.  He let me break as many eggs as I needed to get it right (however, none went to waste as he didn't mind eating all of the ones that I ruined!).

Avocado, Tomato & Goat Cheese Omelette

For a while after that, I was intimidated by eggs because out of all the eggs we cooked that day, I think I only flipped one successfully.  Therefore, I stuck to what I knew - scrambled eggs.  Every now and then I would try an egg over easy, this time with a spatula, and still be unsuccessful.  Omelettes were the same story.  I would make an absolute mess and/or end up with an undercooked runny "scramble" of random ingredients.

But, alas, after a lot of practice and a lot of poorly cooked eggs, I am finally comfortable cooking eggs, any style (I have even started poaching them).  I still stick to a spatula because I realize that, these days, in order to perfect that pan flip it will be ME cleaning up the mess and not my parents.  No thank you!

Once I got the method down, I realized that omelettes in particular are not that hard to make, if you have the right stuff.  Here is a quick how-to:

What you will need:

A small non-stick pan

Oil or non-stick spray (be generous, this won't work if the eggs are allowed to stick to the pan)

Eggs - 3 is usually a good number  (for a healthier omelette, I use 2 egg whites and one whole egg)

Cheese!

Misc meat and/or veggies that suit your fancy.  (For this, I used avocado, tomato and goat cheese)

Simple Steps:

Whisk the eggs.

Add enough oil to coat a small pan.

At medium high heat, add the eggs and don't touch them until the bottom layer has been allowed to cook a bit, then gently pull all of the sides away from the edge with a spatula, allowing the remainder of the runny eggs to coat the pan.  You may need to do this 2-3 times.

When the top is only a little runny, yet stable, you can flip.

Using a small pan, and not allowing the egg to stick, makes this do-able.  Get the spatula as far under the eggs as you can, and flip er' over.  If you want to try the pan flip, be my guest, but I hope you have a clean up crew :)

Quickly add cheese and any other fillers you want to one side of the omelette.  The egg is pretty much done at this point, so you won't be cooking your ingredients beyond letting the cheese melt a bit.  Any veggies, meat, etc. should already be cooked before adding to the omelette.

With your spatula, fold the egg in half over the ingredients.

You can give it a second to heat up before plating, but not too long or you will burn the eggs.

Viola!  You have yourself an omelette!  My favorite omelette has to be chili and cheese, what's yours?