Sausage and Red Pepper Strata

Sausage and Red Pepper Strata

Considering breakfast is my favorite meal of the day it is odd that I don’t really make it very often.  Especially during the week. I usually just pour myself some ceral and run out the door.  

Last night I though that it would be nice to have a yummy special breakfast so I prepared a strata.  The bases of a strata is eggs, bread and cheese, then you build it up from there.   This is a perfect dish to make if you need to feed a number of people breakfast. You just throw it together the night before and pop it in the oven first thing in the morning, it is incredibly easy.  Yes even you can do it Amber.

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A Two Bite Breakfast: Bacon & Eggs in Toast Cups

Bacon & Eggs in Toast Cups

• 6 slices of bread
• 6 slices of bacon
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheese
• salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with butter non-stick spray.

2. Using a cookie cutter, cut circles out of bread slices about 3 inches in diameter. (I confess I do not have a cookie cutter so I use the lid to my tub of orzo pasta and just cut around the edges ;D)

3. Take bread circles and press them into the muffin pan, set aside.

4. Heat a large skillet on medium-high. Cook bacon on the skillet until partially cooked but still pliable, about 3 minutes.

5. Shape bacon strips into the toast cups, fill with 1 Tbs of shredded cheese. Place in the oven for 5 minutes, allowing the bacon to toast just a little more. Remove from oven.

6. Crack your egg and separate out most of the egg white. Drop eggs into the cups, sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Place back in the oven and cook until white begins to set, about another 8 – 10 minutes.  The yolk should be creamy.

7. Remove from oven when done and pop out using a spoon, serve warm.

Enjoy!

Very Berry Souffle Omelette

Very Berry Omlette Souffle

Every once in a while on a Saturday morning I will feel motivated to cook up a goooooood breakfast.  This Saturday I definitely wanted make breakfast, it is our one year anniversary after all, but I wanted to do something different.  I went poking around on foodnetwork.com and found this recipe, and let me tell you this got a Holy Scandelous Yummy Deliciousness!  It was so good that I wanted another but I will admit that the recipe requires you to put some work into it.  Also if you have more then one omelette pan that is very helpful too.

Fruit Souffle Omelette 2 servings

• 6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups of berries (blueberry and strawberry)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Combine 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar with the cinnamon. Place the fruit in a small bowl and add the cinnamon-sugar. Toss to combine.

Heat the 3 tablespoons of butter in a small saute pan over medium heat. Add the fruit and saute for about 5 minutes or until the fruit begins to caramelize. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until very light and fluffy. Fold in the vanilla and lemon zest. When well blended, fold in the beaten egg whites.

Pour the melted butter into a 7-inch, ovenproof omelette pan over medium heat. Place the fruit  into the pan and pour in the batter to cover the fruit. Cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until the omelette is puffed and golden.

Remove from the oven and carefully invert onto a serving plate and fold. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve. NOTE: If desired, you can garnish the plate with fresh fruit and mint.

First Time Quiche

Zucchini Quiche

Today I made a quiche for the first time.  I didn’t really follow any recipe in particular, I just looked an several different recipes and got the gist of what goes in a quiche.  I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to put together, which was great because I had a lot to do around the house today.  Tomorrow Hubby’s bosses will be coming over for dinner so I was doing a lot of cleaning to do. 

Anyway I was pleased with the result although I found it to be a little wet, I think it needed another egg.  It was great to do because I was able to use up some veggies that I had left over and needed to be used before they went bad.  I used,onion, garlic, eggplant, zucchini and just a little bit of red and green peppers. And since Hubby requires every meal to have some meat I put some turkey sausage in too. 

My Quiche:

• 1/2 zucchini thinly sliced
• 1/2 eggplant cubed
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• some diced green & red peppers (I had about a quarter of both)
• 3 turkey sausage links (casing removed)
• 1 cup of cheese (I used a cheddar and monetary jack mix)
• 3 eggs ( I think 4 would have been better)
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 pre-made crust

I first sauteed the onions, peppers and garlic in some olive oil. Once those softened a bit I added the eggplant and zucchini, season with salt and pepper. 

While that sauteed in another pan I cooked the sausage and broke it up.  When the sausage was done I added it to the veggies. 

In a bowl I combined the milk, eggs and cheese and whisked it together.   When well mixed, add sausage and veggies into bowl and mix. 

Pour mixture into crust and bake for 40 mins at 350 degrees.  The zucchini seemed to float to the top, I arranged them.

Hubby actuallly enjoyed the dish and I was quite filling. 

Be sure to come back.  I will be posting what I made for our little dinner party with Hubby’s bosses.  I am planning on a down home menu, arroz con gandules, pollo asado & amarillos.  For dessert I will do my Tres Leches again with coffee.  YUMMY!

Eggs For Breakfast Again?

Hubby is a HUGE fan of eggs.  We buy the big pack of eggs at the supermarket (I think it has 18) and they are usually gone in just over a week.  This morning we wanted eggs for breakfast but I didn’t want to do the usual scrambled or fried egg.  For our wedding we got this little omelet pan.  It is a small egg pan that closes and it two sided.  So I decided to spray the pan with some non-stick butter spray and drop two eggs in, then I sprinkles grated sea salt, cracked pepper and a bit of garlic powder.  I then diced some fresh basil and tomatoes, sprinkled them on top, drizzled a bit of balsamic vinegar and sprinkled fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  I closed the the pan and let is cook for a few minutes without flipping it.  If you like an soft yoke becarefule not to cook it to long.  Serve with toast. Yum!