Egg in Toast

Nom nom!

It really doesn't get much simpler than this breakfast. The name aptly describes it. You literally cut a hole in the bread (I use a shot glass) and crack an egg into it so that there is an egg in the toast. If you have ever seen V for Vendetta, one of my favorite movies, you will remember the scene when V is making Evey breakfast and he makes her egg in toast.

That is where I got the idea to make this meal. As I understand it it is a standard English breakfast dish and after making it the first time I can see why. There is something about having the toast cook in the frying pan in the butter with the egg that makes it taste so much better than normal toast. I added the shredded cheese and salsa to contribute that extra zip I love so much.

Anyway, aside from a bowl of cereal it doesn't get much simpler or tastier than this for a breakfast dish!

Enjoy!

Egg in Toast

2 Eggs
2 pieces of Bread
Salsa
Cheddar Cheese shredded
Salt
Fresh ground Pepper
Butter
Cut the center out of the bread with a large shot glass. Then place bread in a buttered and hot frying pan over medium heat. Crack an egg into the center of both pieces of bread and sprinkle with salt and pepper then cook on one side for a few minutes then flip over and cook on the other side until egg has set. While egg is setting sprinkle cheese on the top of the bread so that it melts. Once egg is done take the egg in toast out of the pan and top with salsa if you wish.

Simple Frittata

This frittata, really a glorified omelette, is based off of a recipe I found on The Sensitive Epicure and it is super tasty! It makes a nice and quick breakfast or light dinner. Also, it is a handy way to dispose of veggies that need to be used up. I put spinach in this one because I had half a bag sitting in my fridge and wanted to make sure it was used up before it went bad, but any number of veggies would go well in this frittata.

You can easily make this into a meatless dish by leaving out the sausage and adding in some other vegetable or some tofu.

Simple Frittata

9 Eggs beaten
1 1/2 cup Jalapeno or Habanero Cheese shredded
1/4 cup Milk
3 cups fresh Spinach coarsely chopped
5 Jalapenos chopped
1 Onion minced
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
2 Tomatoes sliced
3 Colombian Sausage links
Salt
Pepper
Oil

In a large cast iron frying pan saute the onions, garlic, and jalapenos in a bit of oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add in the sausage, chopping it up as it cooks.

chopping up the sausage

Once sausage is cooked through add in the spinach and saute for about a minute then add in the eggs, milk, cheese, salt, and pepper and mix together thoroughly.

everything all mixed in

Cook on medium low for about 7-9 minutes then top with tomato slices and put in the oven to broil for about 5 minutes, until the top gets puffy and lightly browned (also eggs should be completely cooked). Let set for a few minutes then serve.

Corn Cakes

I made these to go with slow cooked pork roast and they turned out great; they are a hybrid of a few different recipes. I used yogurt instead of just buttermilk because I had some greek yogurt left over than needed using up but you could probably use all buttermilk if you wanted or even sour cream. Also, cheese would probably taste really good in these too.

These cakes are addictive and I kept nibbling on them as they were frying!

Corn Cakes
1/2 cup Yogurt
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1/3 cup Oil
2 Eggs
1 cup Cornmeal
1/3 cup Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Sugar
2-3 Chili Peppers chopped
1/2 Onion chopped
1 cup frozen Corn
Butter for frying
In a large sized bowl mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar and then add in the buttermilk, yogurt, oil and eggs. Mix just until everything is moistened then put in the corn, onions, and peppers.

Everything in the bowl

Heat a large skillet to about medium high heat and put a little butter in the pan (I just take a stick of butter and rub it around on the skillet until there is a light coating of butter).

Mixed up batter

Using a large serving spoon scoop out a spoonful of the batter and put it in the pan. (my pan fits two scoops) fry for a little over a minute and then flip over and fry for about 45 seconds.

Both sides of the corn cakes should be light brown. Continue until all of the batter is used up. Makes about 12.

Stuffed Zucchini and Squash Shells

Ready to bake

I found this recipe a while ago on Annie's Eats when I was looking for recipes that used fresh rosemary, but at the time I didn't have the other ingredients so I didn't end up making it. However, this week I decided I wanted to try it so I got the few extra things I needed, put on a movie, and started cooking. I changed a few things in the recipe, to make it more my style, namely adding in cayenne pepper to give the filling a little extra kick. I also put in crushed croutons because I needed to use them up and I added in sage because it seemed like it would pair well with the other flavors, I was right - I really loved the spice combo in this filling.

All done and ready to consume

These were a little time consuming to make because of all the chopping (having a kitchen helper would have made this go a lot faster) but they were so yummy!

Definitely try these when you get a chance!


Stuffed Zucchini and Squash Shells (adapted from Annie's Eats recipe)
1 lb. Ground Turkey
3 Zucchini (medium sized)
2 Yellow Squash (medium sized)
1 Onion diced
2 tablespoons Garlic chopped (I always buy the jarred minced garlic packed in water, it's quick and I can't tell the difference)
1 8 oz container Portabella Mushrooms diced
3-4 Tomatoes diced
2-3 tablespoons fresh Basil coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh Rosemary chopped
1-2 teaspoons Sage
1 teaspoon ground Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Salt
fresh ground Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons White Wine optional (this was in the original recipe but I really don't see why, if you don't have any don't worry about it)
2 Eggs
1/2 cup (approx) smashed up Croutons (or bread crumbs)
3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese grated
Olive Oil
Peel and dice up one of the zucchinis and set aside. Slice remaining zucchini and squash in half and scoop out the insides leaving about a 1/4 inch of flesh (so they don't fall apart when stuffed and baking). Dice up the insides and set aside with the other diced zucchini.

The fresh stuff all chopped up!

Saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil for about 5-7 minutes then add in the diced zucchini, zucchini and squash insides, mushrooms, ground turkey, and spices; saute until turkey has browned. Add in the tomatoes and wine and cook for another few minutes.

Cooked up filling mixure

Set aside and cool slightly. Once the mixture has cooled down some mix in the eggs, croutons, and parmesan cheese. Spoon mixture into the halved zucchini and squash shells and place them on a large cookie sheet.

Uncooked stuffed shells

Pour water into the cookie sheet until the water just covers the entire surface (this helps the squash and zucchini not dry out when baking) and bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.

Note: There will be a significant amount of leftover filling and you can just bake that in a pie plate right along with the stuffed squashes. I added about half a bag of spinach to the leftover filling because I needed to get rid of it and it tasted really good. (This would probably be pretty good served over toast for breakfast).

Gooey Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is from the Cookbook "Baking: From My Home to Yours"by Dorie Greenspan, but I actually found the recipe at Kait's Plate. These cookies are exactly what I was looking for, they are thin, chewy, and slightly gooey - exactly the way I like them. They aren't cakey or dry at all, which is something I have been cursed with when making most chocolate chip cookie recipes. I think this one may now be my go-to recipe.

Happy Baking!

Gooey Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Original recipe here)
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 sticks (8 ounces) Butter softened
1 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2 cups (or about 12 oz) Chocolate Chips (I use Ghiradelli brand, I like the shape and taste better than Nestle)
In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat soft butter for a minute or two then add in the sugars and beat for two minutes.

adding in the sugar

Add eggs one at a time beating for one minute after each egg.

After beating the eggs in

Stir in the vanilla. Add in the flour gradually, in three batches, mixing well after each addition, then mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Raw dough, tasty!

Bake at 375 for about 9 minutes (check after 8 minutes). The cookies will look a little underdone when you pull them out but that is ok, if you don't take them out when they are just starting to brown on the sides they will get over-done and crispy. Made 36 cookies (but it varies a little).

Rows of cookies!

Southern Dinner

I grew up in the south, Arkansas to be specific, and I have many fond memories of my grandmother's southern meals. Yesterday I had the hankering for a southern style dinner so I decided to make some of my favorite dishes from childhood. This was partly inspired by a trip to the market "Robert is Here" that me and my partner biked to this weekend, where I bought pole beans and summer squash. Pole beans are a particular variety of green bean, they are flatter and longer and they have a different flavor altogether than regular green beans - in short they are awesome. The squash was also amazing because it had actually been picked at the right size instead of being allowed to grow to mammoth-like proportions. The reason this is important is that smaller squash are more tender and have a sweeter flavor, also the seeds are smaller and softer. Anyway, since I had those two foods on hand I decided to make fried squash, pole beans with bacon, meatloaf, and drop biscuits.

The recipes are all below.

Cheddar Turkey Meatloaf (adapted from a Taste of Home recipe)
2 lb Ground Turkey
1 Onion chopped
1 cup Milk
1 1/4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 Eggs
1 cup Raw Oats
1 teaspoons Salt
2/3 cup Ketchup
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Dry Mustard
Mix ground turkey, onion, cheddar cheese, oats, and salt together and then add in the eggs and salt until well mixed.

raw ingredients

Form into 8 little mounds on a large cookie sheet.

raw meat mounds - yum!

Mix ketchup, brown sugar, and dry mustard together and put a spoonful onto each meatloaf mound. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Pole Beans with Bacon
Rinse a off large mess of pole beans (a pound or more) and clip off ends. Snap in half and put into a medium saucepan. Fill partway with water (but don't cover the beans because they will cook down). Put about 1 teaspoon of salt and a half a piece of bacon in the pot. Boil on medium for about 15 minutes or until beans are soft.

Drop Biscuits (from Cooks Illustrated)
2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Sugar
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Cold Buttermilk
8 tablespoons Butter melted
In a measuring bowl combine dry ingredients and set aside. Melt butter in a pyrex measuring cup and set aside to cool briefly (about 5 minutes) then pour in the buttermilk and mix until the butter forms small clumps (the butter is hardening because it is getting cold again from the buttermilk). Pour buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until well incorporated. Dough should be slightly sticky and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto a 15x10 cookie sheet and bake at 475 for about 10-12 minutes until just starting to brown on the top.

Fried Squash
4 or more Summer Squash sliced
1 cup Cornmeal
2 teaspoons Salt
Pepper to taste
Put cornmeal and salt into a quart sized ziplock bag and shake to mix then put in the sliced squash and shake again until the squash are coated in the cornmeal.

Squash in the bag with cornmeal

Heat a large skillet (preferably cast iron) to medium-high and put in a little oil. Put in slices of squash (only one layer thick) and fry the squash on both sides until browned (should take a couple of minutes on each side). Repeat with the rest of the squash. Serve.