Category: eggs

Breakfast Pizza

Breakfast and brunch are two of my favorite meals. I love savory breakfast foods. We have breakfast for dinner at least once a week and this breakfast pizza recipe has become a fast favorite. My father gave me the idea for the hash brown crust over the holidays and I have been making it regularly for my family.

Breakfast pizza

Ingredients

3 russet potatoes, shredded

1 large white onion, shredded

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup of corn starch

1 ½ teaspoon of salt

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

1 egg

2 Tablespoons olive oil

6 eggs

Optional toppings: crumbled cooked bacon or sausage, diced avocado, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, hot sauce, feta or cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain potatoes and onions after shredding (wrap in kitchen towel and squeeze over sink). Place potatoes and onions in large bowl and add garlic, corn starch, salt and pepper and 1 egg. Combine. Heat the olive oil in a 10 inch oven proof skillet over medium high heat. Press potato mixture into pan. Press down with a spatula (you should hear a sizzle). Cook for about 4 to 6 minutes, pressing down on the potatoes occasionally. The tricky part is flipping the pan sized hash brown. Take a deep breath and place a larger pan cover (without a lip) over the pan and flip the pan upside down, leaving the hash brown on teh cover. Place pan back on the heat, add more olive oil if needed and then slide the hash brown onto the pan so that the other side can cook. Cook for another 4 to 6 minutes, pressing down on the hash brown occasionally. Remove from heat and crack 6 eggs in a circle on the hash brown. Place in oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes for runny yokes, longer if you want well done yolks. Take out and sprinkle with your choice of toppings. Serve immediately. It is also good cold for lunch the next day!

I have found that a cast iron skillet is too heavy for me to flip the hash brown crust, but if you have a large spatula or two that can flip the crust without having to flip the pan, the cast iron works great.

Breakfast for dinner can be cereal and fruit or something like this breakfast pizza if you find yourself with a little more time. It can be savory or sweet. Breakfast can be what you want it to be. I often just eat leftovers from the night before. My family thinks I’m crazy, but it tastes good to me! What is your favorite breakfast food?

Breakfast for Dinner

An easy way to get dinner on the table during the week or at the end of any busy day is to have breakfast for dinner. We have breakfast for dinner at least once a week in our house. Depending on how busy we are, it can be anything: eggs, pancakes, frozen waffles, toast, quiche, frittatas or just cereal and fruit. Breakfast for dinner can be a fun way to get a meal on the table quickly. With activities, sports and back-to-school nights on top of work, homework and just trying to spend time with your kids, for many cooking is the last thing you want to do when you all walk in the door.  Hopefully these recipes will help take some stress off of you.
Easy Hard Boiled Eggs in the Oven  (adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/232024/hard-boiled-eggs-in-the-oven/)
Ingredients
12 eggs
Ice cubes in a large bowl with cold water
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Put one egg into each muffin cup of a muffin tin
Bake in eggs in oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove and put the eggs into the ice bath for 5-10 minutes.
Peel and serve or refrigerate.

TIP: I make this for dinner one night and then have the eggs on hand for the next few days for a quick breakfast or a burst of protein to add to lunches or snacks.
Serve the eggs with yogurt or fruit or whatever you have on hand and you have a dinner on the table in about 30 minutes without much effort.
Now this next recipe is a little more involved, so if cooking relaxes you and you have some more time one night, try this oven baked “fried” chicken, served with cornbread waffles and peas. Take some help from the store and use your favorite cornbread mix. I like to use Wegman’s Gluten-Free Honey Cornbread mixture and add an extra egg and cook it in the waffle maker. For the peas, I put about 3 to 4 handfuls in a cereal bowl with a Tablespoon or two or water, salt and pepper, then microwave for 3 minutes with a small plate covering the bowl.
Oven Baked “Fried” Chicken


Ingredients
1 ½ to 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chicken tenders
3 cups of buttermilk (or 3 cups of milk + 2 Tablespoons of cider vinegar)
1 stick plus 2 Tablespoons of melted butter
2 cups of panko bread crumbs (use gluten-free if you are making it GF)
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 Tablespoons of cornstarch
Directions
Mix milk and cider vinegar or use buttermilk and soak the chicken for 15 to 30 minutes while you prepare the cornbread mixture. Remove from milk and pat chicken dry with a paper towel. Melt butter. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the panko, chili powder, black pepper and cornstarch.  Dip each piece of chicken into the butter and then the panko mixture and place on top of a baking rack inside a cookie sheet (that way the chicken will crisp all around).  Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the pan in the oven to ensure even cooking. Bake for another 15-20 minutes until the internal temperature reaches about 180 degrees.
Optional:  Brine the chicken the day before if you have time or need to stretch the life of the chicken in the fridge for a day. Life happens and you can’t cook what you planned one night, so put the chicken in brine and make it the next night. This is my typical brine recipe that can easily be halved or doubled depending on the size of the poultry or amount of pork you want to brine. (Make sure poultry or meat does not smell rotten or is past due date when you put it in the brine)
Brine
Ingredients
½ cup black peppercorns
1 Tablespoon coriander seeds
6 small sage leaves, torn (or rosemary or thyme)
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 cup of salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons onion powder
1 Tablespoon cumin powder
12 cups of water

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil. Boil for a couple of minutes and then allow to cool before you place the chicken or pork in the brine.

My kids look forward to breakfast for dinner and especially love when they can make it themselves. It is a good opportunity to get your kids in the kitchen and make you dinner! My 6 year olds can make yogurt parfaits for us or a bowl of cereal. My 8 year old makes the mixture or batter for scrambled eggs, frittatas or pancakes and then cooks it with our supervision.  Whether you want to make a quick and easy dinner or have something easy for your kids to try making, breakfast is always popular. 

A week of Easy Breakfasts and Photos from Celebrating Julia’s 100th

Everything on the internet and in stores is throwing it in my face that fall is approaching. I love the fall, but can’t believe the summer has flown by so fast. (Note to self: must go to the beach this weekend!) As we all start the sometimes dreaded gearing up for fall, or just need some more ideas for breakfasts, I thought I would post some of my ideas and some links to other peoples ideas.

These need to be quick but yet enough to fill the kids up. When I do my menu plan, I add breakfasts, so my husband can just look at the board and know what to give the kids if I’m in the shower and if I am getting breakfast together, it is one last thing to think about! Here is an example:

Monday: Cheerios and Fruit. I had a proud mom moment on Sunday. These don’t happen all to often, but when they do, shout it from the roof tops! I took Karina (almost 5 years old) with me to the grocery store. We were in the cereal aisle to get Cheerios, the kids’ cereal of choice. Karina saw all the choices of different flavors of Cheerios, Dulce de Leche, Chocolate, Fruit (kind of like Fruit loops) and more. I don’t know how I managed to avoid this until now, but she for the first time, was in awe and wanted all the sugary cereals. I then pointed to the purple and white box of Cheerios, the Multigrain ones, and said how about this one? and she said Ok! Its purple! No one else witnessed this to my dismay, but now I share it with you because I want documentation before she gets wiser 🙂 She even excitedly ate her “special” Cheerios the next morning. We usually serve it with bananas or apples or whatever fruit is on hand.

Tuesday: Oatmeal and fruit. We use the Quaker Maple and Brown sugar, Low sugar version, for ease (probably not the healthiest), but I have been pinning all sorts of oatmeal recipes and just need to try some out. Like this blueberry and raspberry baked oatmeal one from So, how’s it taste? or this one from Weelicious for an overnight oatmeal that cooks in the crockpot.

Wednesday: Toast and fruit. Whole wheat bread, toasted with peanut butter or jelly or for fun some days, Nutella 🙂 Serve with strawberries, pineapple or whatever fruit is on hand.

Thursday: Eggs and Fruit. This can be as simple as just putting one egg per child in a microwaveable bowl that has been sprayed with Pam. Whisk egg  and add a little cheese, salt and pepper.  Microwave for about 1 minute, flip and microwave again for about 30 sec (time will depend on your microwave and how many eggs you have). Then cool and cut into pieces and serve. I (or my husband, who mainly takes care of breakfast) also sometimes add cottage cheese instead of shredded cheese or ricotta.

Friday: Cereal and Fruit again 🙂

Saturday: Eggs or toast, depending on what we have planned. If we are not rushing out of the house, I make a frittata or egg hash, which are great ways to use up leftovers. Last weekend I had a little bacon left from all my Julia Child cooking, so I diced it up and sauteed it in a non stick pan (about 4 strips). Then once the fat had rendered out and bacon started to get crispy, I added about 1/2 a palmful of sliced green onions and 1 minced clove of garlic and cooked for a few more minutes. Then I added about 1/4 cup of some of the leftover mashed sweet potato from the gnocchi I made on Julia’s Birthday and let that heat through. Season with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, I whisked 4 eggs (for our family of 5) with about 1/4 cup milk (whatever kind you have, cream is always tastier, but not as healthy), salt, pepper and a handful of shredded cheddar. When whisked, I poured it into the sweet potato, bacon and onion mixture and cooked until eggs were ready, stirring and flipping occasionally. Served with strawberries. It was a big hit!

Sunday: Pancakes. You can serve them plain with syrup and fruit or make blueberry pancakes, apple pancakes, whatever your imagination can come up with. You can make them circles or cut out with cookie cutters to make shapes or if you have the special pancake molds (like these) you can eliminate the waste. I have Mickey Mouse shaped molds that were a gift. They are very fun easy to use. You can use them for eggs as well.

I usually buy Aunt Jemima’s Whole Wheat pancake mix and then add in fruit, either mashed bananas or blueberries. Sometimes I experiment a little more, like a few weeks ago when I added about 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese and the zest of one lemon to my regular blueberry pancakes. It was delicious! I also made some colored pancakes in honor of the Olympics from scratch, but the recipe made pancakes that were too dense. I’m back to my boxed mix for now, until I find the right recipe from scratch.

 

Tips for quick breakfasts:

(1) I always make extra pancakes and freeze them to be pulled out one morning for breakfast and cooked in the toaster or microwaved.
(2) I save the ends of our loaves of bread each week and put them in the freezer. Once I have enough, I pull them out on a Saturday night and put them in the fridge. Sunday morning I make French toast with them. Again make extra and freeze for easy meals during the week.
(3) Make breakfast for dinner one night a frittata or quiche and freeze the leftovers to take out and heat up for breakfast.
(4) yogurt with cereal and fruit parfaits. 1 scoop yogurt, next granola or cereal, next blueberries or raspberries, then repeat.

Other breakfast ideas: Smoothies, Waffles (frozen or in your waffle maker if you have one), muffins (whatever your favorite are blueberry, zucchini, sweet potato, sky is the limit!), or breakfast quesadillas.

Where I find breakfast ideas:
Pinterest Breakfast Recipes to Try
Weelicious
Our Best Bites (who just posted an overnight oatmeal recipe this morning!)
The Kitchn

Here are some photos from my week of celebrating Julia Child’s birthday. Fun but exhausting!

 
 Roast chicken with potatoes and carrots (not exactly Julia’s recipe, but a “Julia-like” version)

 Quiche Lorraine. Delicious! Next time I would not blanche the bacon as she suggests. It took all the bacon flavor out of it.

 Potato Leek Soup. Delicious! So simple! Just potatoes, leeks, salt, water and parsley for garnish.

Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon with Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Sweet potato gnocchi with pesto and more fun leftover ideas

To keep things interesting, I’m challenging myself with a new cooking technique each month. Last month it was making homemade bread. This month it is making my own gnocchi, which is much easier than I thought! I made this for a cooking club last week and everyone loved it! My husband and kids really enjoyed it too.

Click link for gnocchi recipe. The cheese sauce is great but I thought a little too heavy with the gnocchi, so the second time I made it with pesto. 
Pesto
Fresh basil, handful
2 Cloves of Garlic, smashed
Olive oil, about ¼ cup
Parmesan, about ¼ cup shredded
Salt and lemon pepper to taste
Blend all the ingredients together in food processor while drizzling in olive oil, until smooth. Can add pine nuts or walnuts if you like. I also sometimes do half blanched kale and half basil. 


 I used some of  the leftover mashed sweet potatoes I did not use to make the gnocchi and made chicken mango and black bean quesadillas. They were so good! Just spread a layer of sweet potatoes on the bottom half of the tortilla. Then in a bowl, mix leftover chicken with mango, black beans, cheddar, mozzarella and some cumin. Spread chicken mixture on top of sweet potato, fold tortilla over and bake in a 375 degree oven for 5-8 minutes.


 I also made one of my kids’ favorites last week. Meatloaf “cupcakes” with mashed potato “frosting” and peas “sprinkles.” This is such a fun way to get kids to eat dinner. Karina enjoyed sprinkling the peas on the plates 🙂 I had so much leftover sweet potatoes from the gnocchi, that I added it to my meatloaf too!

Mix about 2-3 lbs of ground meat (whichever you like, turkey, chicken, pork, beef I like to use a mix of pork and beef), 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs, 1/2 onion – grated, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/2 cup cooked shredded vegetables (I’ve used leftover carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, or all three combined), salt, lemon pepper and coriander.

The key to good meatloaf  is to do what the professionals do and cook a small pattie of meat in a pan and taste it so you know if the seasonings are right. I know its an extra step, but it is so worth it! That way you know to add more seasoning.

Grease your muffin tin and use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to scoop out the meatloaf mixture, roll it in your hand to make a giant meatball and then drop it in the muffin tin. Cook at 375 for about 35- 45 minutes (may be longer or shorter depending on your oven). About half way through brush with mixture of 2 parts ketchup and one part Sweet Chili sauce (I love Trader Joe’s sauce) that has been heating on the stove. At the end brush again.

Put mashed potatoes into a large ziploc bag and cut off one corner and use it to pipe mashed potatoes on top of your muffins. Then sprinkle with peas. (I just used frozen that I microwaved for 3 minutes).

For the leftover mashed potatoes and even the meatloaf, add it to your eggs in the morning and just scramble together to make a hash with some bacon or ham deli meat that you need to use up and serve with fruit. Below I gave it to my kids with some chocolate zucchini bread on Saturday. This chocolate zucchini bread recipe is good, but for me needs a little more sweetening and moisture. Kids loved it regardless!


Ask Mamma – Freezer meals…but wait until Irene passes :)

I started this blog before Irene was an issue here in New England, after a friend who is pregnant with her second child asked me for some ideas for stocking her freezer before the new baby arrives. So if you want to stock your freezer, now that it may be empty or unfortunately the food is spoiled because you don’t have power, here are some ideas of easy meals to restock!

(1) Enchiladas – http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/2009/06/summertime.html (just leave out the meat if vegetarian)

(2) Mac – n-cheese – http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/search/label/mac-n-cheese

(3) Lasagna – http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/2008/08/comedian.html (I have more lasagne recipes in my head, that I haven’t written down yet, so if you have any questions, let me know). Here is one from a Year of slow cooking too that sounds good.

(4) Chili – http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/search/label/chili (leave out turkey if vegetarian)

(5) Rice casseroles – look at allrecipes.com and Year of Slow Cooking blog. They both have good suggestions. I recently made a good turkey curry rice casserole. Brown some ground turkey (can use chicken, pork or beef). Season with onion powder, thyme, garlic powder, coriander, curry powder and sweeten with some apricot jam.

Cook your brown rice however you like. I use my rice cooker. Add to cooked meat. Then add a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and cover on low for about 10 minutes. Serve or freeze!

(6) Soups! Butternut squash soup, Black Bean Soup (from Year of Slow Cooking), or whatever you like to make.

(7) Stock up at Trader Joe’s or your local grocery store! Buy the frozen rice, raviolis, sweet potato fries, soycatash and your other favorites!

We have been eating down our fridge/freezer for the past few days in anticipation that we might lose power. Yummy egg hash this morning with the 4 eggs we had left, 2 slices of bacon, one baked potato diced, couple of tablespoons of sour cream, about 1/4 cup of milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and a handful of shredded cheddar. Whisk eggs, sour cream, milk and spices together while you microwave the potato and saute bacon in skillet. Dice potato when cooked and add to bacon, then toss cheese into egg mixture and add to skillet. Mix until eggs cooked through. Serve with vanilla and berries smoothie. I am trying to use up the yogurt we have left and frozen berries in the freezer, add some milk and blend! So good.

Hopefully we can hold on to power until after lunch or it will be ice cream for lunch! I’m sure Karina won’t mind 🙂

Last of the summer and first fall farmer’s market trip!

So we don’t have our laptop back yet, so I still can’t post the beautiful pictures of my tomatoes!! But I figured I would post to give you some ideas of what I’ve been doing with my cherry tomatoes and lemon tomatoes from the garden.

My new favorite breakfast is a tomatoes, herbs and an egg on toast. I’ve made a couple of versions, but basically you dice up tomatoes mix with a little salt, pepper, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and whatever fresh herbs you have. Let that sit while you make a piece of toast in the toaster + make an egg either over medium or over hard or you can poach the egg (I’ve never been very good at it. Only one out of 8 tries does that come out right!) Put the toast on the plate, top with egg and then tomato mixture. Add a couple of slices of avocado if you have it.Yum. Karina doesn’t like it too much, but she doesn’t really eat tomatoes. More for me 🙂

I’ve also been grilling more pizzas with tomatoes and making bruschetta. I also made a Rachel Ray recipe with a tomato and cucumber salad. Her recipe is basically to make a meatloaf with ground turkey, greek seasoning (oregano, mint, salt, pepper, lemon zest), feta + spinach. Your own homemade gyros! One the side mix tomatoes, cucumber, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar.

Anytime you want more specifics on the amounts, please let me know! I am trying harder to make note of how much I use, but don’t always write it down. I’m happy to tell you more details!

The new fall produce has arrived at the Ballard Farmer’s Market! Last week I bought a spaghetti squash and made a new take on spaghetti and meatballs. Here is the recipe I’ve given before that is my go to for spaghetti squash. Then in a crock pot put 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, 1 cup beef or chicken broth, 1 cup water + 1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce with a bag of frozen turkey meatballs from trader joes. Cook for 2-3 hours on low.

Fall is my favorite season so stay tune for some great fall comfort food recipes!!

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