Tag Archives: breakfast

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Huevos

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This recipe from Smitten Kitchen is the last Fancy thing I cooked before I had a pinched nerve and lost the ability to walk far or stand for long. As far as last meals go, it was pretty good. I made it for FBF on Friday (a couple weeks ago.) Then I made it again on Saturday, this time with sliced avocado instead of guac:

And then one more time on Sunday as the weird pain got worse and worse. I’m glad I had such a hearty breakfast because shortly afterwards I was confined to the couch for 2 weeks. I used up all the salsa on Sunday, and it was pretty, but something was missing. I blame grocery store tomatoes.

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This recipe is very versatile and it’s obviously a keeper. It turns out, I am a much happier person in the kitchen than on the couch, so I brought a chair into the kitchen so I can start cooking again as I heal. I’ll have one more week of less than fancy breakfast posts, and then fingers crossed that I can start to be fancy again!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Easter Leftover Frittata

True confessions: This was supposed to be dinner last night, but when I started to make it, I realized we were out of eggs. So I stopped for eggs on my way home from baseball at 8:00 PM and at least breakfast was solved! This is my standard frittata. I use 6-8 eggs, some sort of veggie and some sort of meat. I had a ton of asparagus, and ham leftover from Easter, and so this was the perfect way to use everything up. The way to get the cool layering with the ham on the bottom and the asparagus on the top is to forget to add the asparagus when you are whisking the eggs, ham and cheese. I realized that I had forgotten to add the asparagus as I was pouring everything into my skillet, and it is truly an Easter miracle that I kept pouring everything into the skillet instead of all over the stove because I was staring at the asparagus and not paying attention to what I was doing. I just plopped all the asparagus on top, added a layer of cheese and voila! Pretty healthy and filling breakfast for a Friday!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Biscuits Again

A couple weeks ago, I made biscuits, and although they were delicious, I did feel like something (salt) was missing. I decided to remake them, this time using salt FOR SURE, and wow. They were a lot better. Not just more flavorful, but twice as tall. It’s possible that practice does make perfect? Maybe the second time around, I had a lighter touch with the dough? Who knows. They were good. And as I sit here trying to reconstruct the memory of these biscuits from last week, I remember that Luke didn’t get any because he wasn’t home. That means I made these on Monday, not Friday. It was a four day weekend and, things happened. This has all been a lie. The biscuits are true though!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Granola

Happy Holidays! Last week I made granola from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and it was pretty good and easy! I’ve made a bunch of the recipes so I can recommend the book. (Lentil Soup, Granola, Blueberry Muffins, Potato Skins, Tofu and Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts Pasta Bake)

Today I am making Babka again for our Christmas guests and some people are sad that it isn’t ready yet. Fortunately Dave is making eggs to order. We are so lucky!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Muffins and Potato Skins

As I mentioned last week, I recently purchased the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, and I knew I’d be making some new breakfast recipes right away. I planned to make the potato skins with an egg baked in them, but then thought, why not also make blueberry muffins? I did measure some of the ingredients the night before, but get this: My alarm went off at 6:00 am, I hit snooze, but got up. I staggered into the kitchen, making the muffins as I slowly woke up. When my snooze alarm went off at 6:15, the muffins were already in the oven. That’s pretty amazing. They were delicious.

The potato skins were also delicious. But the crazy thing is – the kids were eating breakfast when I was making lunches so I wasn’t totally paying attention. Turns out – they don’t know how to eat potato skins?! They just ate the egg and cheese and bacon and scallions out of the potato skin, and then left the little potato boat on their plate. I guess the 90’s really were a long time ago. Remember when we used to order potato skins in restaurants as an appetizer? My kids have never done that, or seen that being done. It’s a new era of appetizers. On the bright side, this whole trip down potato skin memory lane reminded me of the time my friend Rosanne and I went to see a movie in high school. (Not the time we saw Pet Cemetery, that’s a totally different story.) I’m talking about the time we saw Silence of the Lambs. After the movie we went to Michael’s Family Restaurant for a snack. We thought about just getting coffee, but we were a little hungry. What to get? Grilled Cheese, mozzarella sticks? No, we settled on sharing a plate of potato skins. Why not, they are delicious, right? While we waited for our order we discussed the movie and (spoiler alert) how creepy it was that the villain was making a suit out of human skin. Then the waitress came by with our plate and said, “HERE ARE YOUR SKINS!!!” It was horrifying. But we ate them anyway, and they were delicious. But I’m not sure I ever ordered potato skins after that, and then they went out of fashion.

So thanks for bringing them back into my life, Smitten Kitchen Cookbook!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Mexico

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It’s catch up day here Meta Megan on this beautiful Fancy Breakfast Friday Morning. Is it beautiful out? I have no idea, I’m just looking at this photo and thinking of where I was last week. Dave and I went to an all inclusive resort in Cabo San Lucas Mexico to celebrate our 20th anniversary. This is the view from the breakfast buffet. The food was delicious. I left some cereal for the kids and Aunt Suzy!

I skipped a couple FBF posts in November, and I had two good excuses. I made waffles both Fridays and they were fine, but I didn’t take any pictures. I made pumpkin waffles the day after Thanksgiving, but I realized after I started that I didn’t really have time for waffles, and I made half the batter into pancakes. They were just OK. Nothing to write a story about. But speaking of stories, in November I did NaNoWriMo, where you write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. (I guess it’s really a novella.) I did it, and I was very proud. The main thing I learned was that if I have a plan, I can easily write 2,000 words in a relatively short period of time. The other thing I learned was that if I keep typing, words will come out and then I’ll have a first draft to work with. Lastly, I learned that I have no desire to ever let anyone read anything. But my goal is to write a book, not to have people read my book, so mission accomplished! Just kidding, I plan to get back to writing and see what I can come up with in a second or third or 10th draft.

The last bit of exciting news is that I went to see the Smitten Kitchen author this week and I bought her cookbook! As I type this, the kids are eating not one but two recipes from the cookbook for what will be an exciting FBF post next week!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Dutch Baby

This isn’t a recipe for a crowd, or I suppose it could serve more people if it was just one of many items being service for breakfast. I made it on a day that Dave was going into the office, so he missed out. Jack and I both ate a a fourth, and Luke ate half. It was delicious. I’m sure I served bacon and fruit with it, but I can barely remember.

I followed this recipe from the New York Times, and it was amazing. If you were stressed about the butter, you could maybe cut it in half. I was surprised at how much melted butter was just resting on top of the dutch baby when it came out of the oven.

I covered the butter in cinnamon and sugar, and that was delicious.

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This was the start of a marathon baking week. I made cookies for Jack’s class, then I baked a Game of Thrones cake for his birthday. Then I made FBF today, and we are having a recital at our house tonight, so that will be dinner for 13. That just leaves one more cake to bake for Jack’s birthday party. And then I can just relax until… wait is Thanksgiving next week?

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Khachapuri

I was flipping through Food and Wine recently and I saw this picture:

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There wasn’t a recipe, just a reference to the Walnut Street Cafe in Philadelphia. So I googled Khachapuri and read a bunch of different recipes, and then just decided to wing it. It kind of reminded me of the breakfast pizza I tried to make a while ago, with terrible results. But the shape seemed promising. The idea with khachapuri, is that you have a bread boat full of cheese and a lightly cooked egg. You tear off bits of crust and dip it in the melted cheese and yolk. Sounded like a perfect breakfast.

I made my normal pizza recipe, but I subbed milk for water, and added two tablespoons of butter. Then I let it rise in the fridge over night. In the morning I let the dough sort of warm up while the oven preheated, and then I rolled up the boats and added cheese. I just used mozzarella because I decided to make this after dinner on Thursday night, and I didn’t want to go to the store for fancier cheese. (Also, I am boycotting our normal grocery store because the remodel was causing me to experience anxiety every time I went, which was about two times a day. In my new, post grocery store life, I am happy and calm. I’m shopping elsewhere, at Costco and Lucky’s. Lucky’s serves $2 pints and has some carts with a beverage holder. The opposite of anxiety inducing! They also don’t really have a lot of food, and what they do have is kinda expensive. And I accidentally bought decaf coffee there, but after two days of severe headaches, I figured it out. $2 pints!!)

The khachapuri bakes at 500 for about 15 minutes and then you add the egg and cook it for 4 minutes more. I couldn’t decide if I was going to add the egg at all until the very last second, but I did, and I’m glad, because it was so delicious. Only one egg slid out of the boat, but I got it back in there quickly with the yolk intact.

Everyone thought they were delicious. The boys couldn’t finish theirs so I said to eat the messy part and then I put it in a tupperware for lunch or snack. Luke at he rest of his, but Jack forgot about his, and somehow his tupperware ended up back in the cabinet, and I found half a khachapuri in there 4 days later.

Other than that, huge success! A bit ambitious for a school morning though.

Fancy Breakfast Friday:Breakfast Enchiladas

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Have you ever watched one of those food videos on Facebook where they cook something beautifully on fast forward and you think, “Yum, and that’s so pretty!!!” Sure, of course you have. But have you ever, then, followed the recipe? Is anyone going to make those fancy pie crusts for Thanksgiving? I mean, I would love to… but my crust isn’t so perfectly easy to manipulate. I know that would be a literal recipe for disaster and a #nailedit photo. Plus I’m currently all out of doilies. (That is a sentence I said last night when I was explaining why I brought a cake to a potluck in a cake carrier that wasn’t the cake carrier my friend gave me. I knew I’d see her, and if only I had put the cake on a doily I could have more easily transferred it to the pretty cake carrier when I remembered I was going to see her.) (If you are wondering why I brought up doilies, it’s because in the pie crust tutorial, you roll your crust out on a doily to get a cool pattern.)

Any who, last week I saw a cute video about breakfast enchiladas on Facebook and it inspired me. This recipe is very customizable. The night before I made bacon, and I boiled cubed potatoes. I filled the tortillas with bacon, potatoes, cheddar, mozzarella, and scallions. I sautéed peppers but I served them on the side for picky eaters. I rolled the enchiladas and I think I fit 10 in a 9×12 pan. Then I whisked 6 eggs, and a cup of milk* and a tablespoon of flour with some salt and pepper. I poured that over the tortillas and put the casserole in the fridge over night. In the morning I baked it at 400, which may have been too high, but whatever.

They were good. I served them with sour cream and salsa. I feel like they would have been better with beans, and salsa mixed in. They were a little dry and bland to be honest, but they felt pretty nourishing for a breakfast.

I’m trying something super complicated this week, and I’m already wishing I had some easy casserole in the oven and my feet up. Stay tuned!

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Swedish Sweet Pretzels

The full name of this recipe, from Food and Wine is Swedish Sugared Sweet Pretzels, which seems excessive and redundant. Call the D.R. Department, as I used to say. (Department of Redundancy Department… I’m sure you got that, I’m just being…redundant.) Anyway – these were really pretty, and everyone liked them. Well everyone except for me. I thought they were a little bland and kind of tasted like I could have made them out of pillsbury dough which would have taken significantly less time. I asked Dave if he was sure he didn’t taste any pillsbury dough flavor and he said, “Maybe I enjoy the taste of pillsbury dough.” I think after all these Fancy Breakfasts my palate is getting more sophisticated. These pretzels have baking powder, presumably so you can make them in 2.5 hours instead of 5 or so. But since I was letting them rest overnight in the fridge that was unnecessary. Now I want to remake them with a better dough recipe. But if I am going to do that… it seems like I should just make the chocolate chips pretzels chocolate chips pretzels because: chocolate.

(At least I think everyone liked them. I sent 4 off with Luke to Eagle to the State Championship mountain bike race and I didn’t get any reports back from that crew. Well Luke said they were good. I did get high praise for my pumpkin muffins at the cyclocross bake sale on Saturday, so all the baking last week was worth it.)

This week I am going savory, and the kitchen smells so oniony. I love onions but no one else does so this should be interesting.

MetaMegan

kids, bikes, books, food