Breakfast ... Fast

I love breakfast. Eggs. Bacon. Sandwiches. Omelettes. Corned beef hash. Wait...must stop salivating. Weekends we go all out. My challenge is the week days and my work schedule. Some mornings I need to leave my house by 5 a.m....yep I said A.M. But my love of breakfast doesn't waver and I am a person who must have breakfast lest risk crankiness. The problem is I would fail to give myself time to get a morning meal together...and to a drive-thru I would go or I would just scrounge up something at my desk. NOT a great way to start a morning.

So I had been seeing different recipes online for making egg "muffins", simple eggs made in a muffin tin. I had made a South Beach diet version using Egg Beaters but never used real eggs. Then over the Thanksgiving holiday I needed a quick way to make breakfast for 6 adults, 3 teenagers and a 5 year-old. The recipe is on Pinterest and online in a million places but ultimately I go back to one of my favorite no-carb/low-carb sites, Kalyn's Kitchen as a favorite although the version I made (and cannot remember the source) was at 350 degrees and you just break one egg into each muffin tin and then break the yolk as opposed to beating eggs and pouring into cups. Then you sprinkle the top with the meat and cheese (if that's what you are using)

They were a hit with the extended family and I made them again this week to have breakfast on hand for me and the rest of my house. I used just deli ham and shredded colby jack. There are a million combinations, it's quick, low mess and delicious. Now to figure out how to get breakfast to ALWAYS be that easy!

Easter Brunch

Easter was 5 days ago and I am just getting to this post about brunch! Ironically, this post ended up being a lot more complicated than my first ever brunch actually turned out to be. It was nerve racking (as it always is when I prepare food for other people even when in this case its very dear friends,I still was super on edge!) but it came together beautiful and I have some recipes to add to my collection.

To start, I thought it would be fun to have a couple over that my husband and I are very good friends with who have a son only a few months older than mine and an adorable 1-year old little girl AND most importantly a love for food. For me and my girlfriend’s husband, ham is a Easter given so that was the main dish around which all other things were planned.  Ham decided upon, I went looking for side dishes.

I flipped through a few books, checked a few websites and then remembered seeing last month’s Cooking Light and a recipe for brown butter asparagus. Asparagus is in season (and was on sale for $1.99 a pound at Harris Teeter) so a vegetable was decided on. AND in a future post I will share how I finally learned and started blanching vegetables like asparagus!

What I love about brunch is the ability to do as the name implies, combine breakfast and lunch, so for me an egg dish was mandatory. One of my favorite recipe sites Better Recipes, add very easy and delicious sounding egg casserole that DID NOT HAVE BREAD, which was key since I knew my girlfriend was bringing over the baked goods! The only change I made to the recipe was instead of bacon bits (which I might add I have never owned…REAL bacon “bits” packaged, yes but the stuff in the jar, umm no way!) I used crumbled pork sausage since I was already making some plain sausage patties for the boys.

Potatoes, although not eaten often in my house, were also a must but I needed quick and tasty. Enter Simply Potatoes and their recipe for a  cheesy hash brown casserole. I omitted the cornflake topping…my personal preference definitely and reflects my lack of love for crushed cereal as crumb topping!


The last item that I thought would pair great with the meal (and our mimosas)and would also delight my little fruit bat, was fresh fruit. And because I apparently switch into crazy entertainer mode when I have people over, I decided to get all fancy with the fruit. What resulted was the below attempt at a pineapple boat!

Now back to the ham. I must have stood in the grocery for 20 minutes looking at hams. I didn’t want a honey ham, or one that came with a brown sugar sauce. I didn’t need a very big ham since we were talking about 4 adults and 2 and a half kids. I didn’t have time for a fresh ham with an 8:15 church service and a 12PM serve time for brunch. So I ended up with a 7.5 pound fully cooked smoked ham….and then realized other than just cooking it I had no idea what to do with it!

I thought about what I had on hand and remembered reading somewhere about a bourbon sauce for pork.No bourbon in my house but a tiny confession is there is always whiskey (i.e. Jack Daniels) in the house. To the trusty internet I went and my Google search was: smoked ham with Jack Daniels glaze. THIS is what I got…and I didn’t change a thing. Easy to make, yummy to smell and very tasty! 
The finished ham:

And the finished spread:

I look forward to making my next brunch..and to making this Easter one an annual tradition!

Cook Crook Creation: Asparagus and Ham Frittata

Things have been crazy in Cook Crook land and I underestimated the time it would take to not only make an Easter brunch, but chronicle the process and results. But while I get that together, I had to share what I did with the leftover asparagus and ham from that brunch.

Monday was a busy day and I already planned to use the leftovers for dinner, but I wanted to make something quick. I decided on a frittata because they are easy to make, delicious, and easy way to use leftovers.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup diced Vidalia onion
1 1/2 cup chopped leftover cooked asparagus
1 cup cooked ham chopped
6 eggs, beaten
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 oz. of diced Havarti cheese (I used a kind that also had jalapeño in it!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in an oven proof non-stick skillet until shimmery. Add the onions and cook until just starting to soften. Add the asparagus and ham and sautee until heated through. Add the pepper to the eggs and whisk well. Pour the eggs into the skillet and then add the diced cheese throughout the eggs.

As the edges begin to set, use a non-stick spatula to push the eggs from the edge to allow the uncooked eggs to flow to the outside. Repeat this process as you go around the pan until the edges are set and the top of the eggs are slightly wet. Put the skillet in the oven for 10-15 minutes until all of the egg is set and firm. Invert the completed frittata onto a large plate and slice into wedges. I served mine with a mixed green salad.

Sadly we were so excited for dinner...no pictures!

Cook Crook Creation: Eggs in Purgatory

My friend Ingrid suggested this recipe for eggs in purgatory. Actually, until she recommended it, I had never heard of it so I went searching to see what other versions were out there. I got a few ideas and decided since my high-cholesterol husband tries to avoid eggs, I'd give it a try one night when I was cooking solo.

So, recently hubby was gone and I had a friend coming over who I had promised to cook dinner. I looked at what I had in the house and decided it would be a good night to try my own eggs in purgatory. I created the recipe below and it was fantastic! (so much so my friend considered seconds!)

Eggs in Purgatory

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
  
• 2 cloves garlic diced
  
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
• 1 cup pitted kalamata olives
  
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  
• 1 jar prepared arrabiata pasta sauce
  
• 4 large eggs
  
• Grated Parmesan
  
• Fresh basil or basil herb blend in the tube
  

Cooking Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium high heat.
   
   
2. Add diced garlic and cook until oil is flavored and garlic is just beginning to brown.
   
   
3. Remove garlic from pan.
   
   
4. Add artichoke hearts, olives and Italian seasoning and saute about 5 minutes.
   
   
5. Pour in pasta sauce and heat until just bubbly.
   
   
6. Make a well in the sauce and crack an egg into the well.
   
   
7. Repeat this process with the remaining three eggs.
   
   
8. Cover the pan and cook until the egg whites set and yolks are desired doneness.
   
   
9. Top with grated Parmesan and serve with the fresh basil on top or the basil blend on the side.
   

I was very happy with this dish and the leftovers re-heated for lunch every well. I look forward to making it again!

Eggs In Purgatory

Eggs-cellent Omelets

I have quite a lot of love for eggs. They are in fact my favorite MacGyver tool because they are so versatile and are a key component in many dishes. If you are low-carbing it, eggs are one of the few satisfying things you get to eat in the first Phase and some folks get bored. However, I have yet to get bored with omelets and I am always challenging myself to come up with new fillings. I’ll take this opportunity to put a shout-out to my brother-in-law who I have deemed Omelet MacGyver because it seems like he can find anything in the fridge and make it an omelet (Special recognition for using green olives in that last one fellow Mudblood). So take note that omelets are a great way to use up leftovers!

Omelets  are not just for breakfast. You can find just about any cooking magazine featuring a quick weekday night supper as being an omelet and a green salad. If you move your thinking away from breakfast you can come up with some really great fillings that are delicious AND satisfying. I have also noticed that I can hide some pretty good stuff in an omelet and suddenly I have kids eating ham, cheese and onions and getting a balanced meal! I also tend to gravitate toward the omelet because it takes a few steps less than a frittata and you can tailor an omelet to an individual versus making one huge pan of eggs (my typical frittata recipes call for 6-8 eggs). However, I did just read an interesting food tip via Twitter about popping an omelet in an oven the last few minutes of cooking to make it nice and fluffy…I’ll let you know when I try it out!

Good Housekeeping has an Omelet 101 on its website 

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/quick/make-perfect-omelet-tips 

but I will also share a few of my tips:

•  If using freshly cut vegetables, sauté them in the pan with a little butter or oil first and the set aside to add to omelet when time. This ensures the vegetables aren’t super crunchy and it also gives you the opportunity to season them to your liking.
• Leftover meat also does well sautéed and then removed. Also, make sure you fully cook any meat you selected that was not previously cooked. I will often cut up some raw bacon, cook it in the pan, add some onion and then remove and reserve a little of the bacon grease as my fat for cooking the eggs.
• Some recipes suggest you add the cheese to the egg mixture. I have found that the omelet consistency is not as good and it sometime sticks worse that way. My method for cheese is to sprinkle a little on the cooked half, then add the other fillings and then a little more cheese.When the cheese melts, the sides of the omelet adhere a little better
• Pay attention to your seasoning based on your fillings. For example, if you are using bacon as a filling, be conscious that it’s pretty salty on its own.
• Drain liquid based fillings well before adding to the omelet. I used chili once and because I did not drain the excess liquid, the omelet got soupy fast.
• Use a good non-stick pan and a good wide spatula. I have tried to make omelets in a non-stick pan when on travel and it always becomes a scramble.

So what are my favorite omelet fillings? The top has to be goat cheese and asparagus as I ate that omelet for the entire first week of Phase 1 of South Beach. Pretty close is the Italian one I made with Genoa salami, pepperoni, chopped tomatoes, a little garlic salt and mozzarella. I also love a good veggie omelet, especially when its spinach, onions and mushrooms. Other suggestions:

• steak and onions
• peppers and onions with taco seasoning and monetary jack or pepper jack
• capers, prosciutto and basil

Experiment with your own creations. Also, if you are an egg substitute person, there is no limit to your fillings either. You just have to pay special attention to ensure you are moving the pan around and pushing the cooked portions up enough to not overcook them.