Fried Egg BLTs

We're pretty sure that it's clear how much we love breakfast. Lately, we've been on an egg sandwich kick. It's pretty simple to throw together. We're pretty sure there's nothing better than a runny egg. We didn't take process pictures - it's that easy.

Here's what you need:

1 egg per person

Butter to coat the pan

A splash of balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt & black pepper to taste

2 slices of bacon per person

sliced tomato

fresh arugula

2 slices of bread per person

Here's what you do:

Get your bacon started in a skillet over medium heat. Let that cook until crispy. We don't like to cook our egg in the bacon fat. Even though bacon grease is amazingly tasty, we do try to limit some of the calories we intake.

Once your bacon is just about finished, drop your toast in the toaster. Have your sous chef (Michelle) slice the tomato. You also will want to start your eggs. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and melt butter to coat the bottom of the pan. 

We crack our eggs into custard cups before hand for two reasons. First, if you get a bad egg, it's not contaminating all other eggs. Second, you can slide the egg into the pan more gently and have less of a risk of the yolk breaking. Anyway, once the pan is hot, add the eggs. Season with salt & pepper

Let the eggs cook until the edges are cooked all the way through. Once that happens, you're ready to flip. Flip the egg, and add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the pan. Let that cook for just a minute or so, then remove from the pan and place on one piece of the toast. 

Next, add the tomato. Pat the bacon with paper towels to remove excess grease, then add to the sandwich. Finally top with arugula. 

Enjoy!

Breakfast Hash

Well, we're back. Sorry for the extended absence. We've been VERY busy lately. Why is it summers are always so crazy?


Here's a simple one for you today. Zack threw this together for breakfast the other day. It was really tasty for an impromptu brunch. It's possible we weren't awake enough when this meal was made to remember to snap some pictures. 


Here's what you need:
4-5 potatoes, diced (we used Yukon Gold. If you're using a baking potato, remove the skins first) (Or, if you want to go the easier route, buy the pre-cut hash browns)
2 scallions, sliced on the bias
4 eggs
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste


Here's what you do:
Start by cooking your potatoes in a little bit of olive oil. Use a 12 inch skillet, it will make things easier. 


Salt and pepper the potatoes to your liking. You want the potatoes to get crispy on the outside, and soften on the inside. This may take up to 10 minutes to fry them. After the potatoes get a bit crispy on the outside, we cover with a lid to help steam them. It will cook the inside of the potato faster.


Meanwhile, beat 4 eggs thoroughly (like you would for scrambled eggs).


Once your potatoes are fork tender, pour the eggs into the skillet. Next, add the scallions. Stir this mixture a bit to help cook the eggs, but don't over mix. You mostly want to let this hang out and cook on its own.


Finally, eat.

Enjoy!

Breakfast Skillet

 

We mixed it up a bit the other morning and decided to throw all of our breakfast ingredients together in one pan. All of our usual morning ingredients were present - eggs, hash browns, meat of some kind (in this case bacon),shredded cheese and fresh herbs. You can use different meats. If you want to make it a little healthier, you can use turkey bacon or turkey sausage. You may just have to add more vegetable oil for your hash browns.


This makes enough for 2 people, so adjust as necessary.


Here's what you need:
4 eggs
4 strips of bacon
1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 or 2 cups of hash browns (basically enough to cover the bottom of a 10" skillet)
Handful of fresh herbs (we used Italian parsley here)
1/4-1/2 cup shredded cheese
Kosher Salt
Black pepper


Here's what you do:
Heat your high-walled skillet over medium heat and crisp up the bacon first.

Once bacon is nice and crispy, remove from the pan, and add just a touch of vegetable oil, probably only 1 or 2 tablespoons. The amount of veg oil depends on how much fat rendered out of your bacon as well

Pour in your hash browns so that they cover the bottom of the skillet.

Let those hang out and brown. Meanwhile, beat 4 eggs.

Chop a handful of fresh herbs, and add it to the eggs.

Finally, shred some cheese into the eggs. Give that a good mix and set aside until the hash browns have crisped.

Chop your bacon into bits and set aside.

Once you have some nice browning on your hash browns, pour the eggs into the skillet.

Let that set up for about a minute a bit, then add the bacon.

Fold the mixture together to combine the bacon into the skillet.

Once the eggs are added, it should only take a few minutes for them to cook through.


Divide in half and serve.

Enjoy!

Sausage Hash

We had some leftover stuffing from our sausage stuffed mushrooms. Once you've had the stuffing, you'll agree, that it's too good to waste. We found a way to have it the day after the holiday, with minimal effort required on our part. 


Here's what you need:
Leftover stuffing from our Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
4 eggs


Here's what you do:
Beat four eggs until light and fluffy.


In a skillet, heat the sausage stuffing mixture through (go just above medium for the heat).

Once that's warm, pour the eggs over it.

Let that sit until the bottom starts to cook.

Using a spatula, fold the hash over to cook the other side. It should still be a bit creamy.

Now, all you have to do is enjoy!

Fried Eggs with Brown Butter Caper Sauce

Weekend breakfast is an important meal in our home. We like taking a little extra time and making something special together on a Saturday or Sunday morning. We made this last weekend for Sunday brunch. It only takes about 15 minutes, because the hash browns take a little longer to crisp up.


Here's what you need:
4 eggs
4 Tbsp butter, divided
1/2 Tbsp capers
Freshly ground black pepper
Cilantro/Parsley to garnish
2 cups hash browns
about 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Kosher salt


Here's what you do:
Heat a 12" skillet just above medium heat. Add the vegetable oil and the hash browns and toss around to coat the hash browns in the oil.

Let your hash browns cook for about 5 minutes, then in a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When the butter is almost completely melted, toss in the capers.

Hopefully by how, your hash browns look like this, which is just about half way finished. 

In a third skillet, melt another tablespoon of butter in a 12" skillet.

Once the butter is melted like above, add your eggs to the skillet. We like to crack our eggs into custard cups and then gently slide them in the pan. This also prevents any chance of cracking shells into your eggs. Pepper them, but hold off on the salt. The capers should have plenty of salt flavor.

We let them all cook together in one big mass for a bit, then break them apart with a spatula. 


Keep an eye on your brown butter caper sauce, when it looks like this, pull it off the heat. You can't really see it, but the capers have gotten crispy.

Flip your eggs gently and as quick as you can. Keep them low in the pan to try to keep the eggs from breaking. Sorry for the blurry picture!

Don't season this side, because you should have seasoned the flip side well enough. Let the eggs cook for just about a minute to set the white. We like runny yolks, plus it's going to be an additional "sauce" over your hash browns.

Plate by putting a bed of crispy hash browns down first. Top with your egg and then pour the brown butter caper sauce over that. Finally, sprinkle some chopped cilantro (or parsley) over that.


Enjoy!

Banana Nut Bread

This recipe is courtesy of The Pioneer Woman's mom. It's not your traditional banana bread.  At least, not what I was brought up eating. It is however, super duper tasty. We made two loafs the other day. By we, we mean Michelle. You can pretty much assume whenever baking is involved, Michelle is doing the cooking. Zack doesn't like precise measurements.


Here's what you need:
2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups bananas (about 4)
4 cups flour, plus some for the pan
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups light sour cream
1/2 cup pecans (or your favorite nut)


Here's what you do:
Pre-heat your oven to  350 degrees F.


Grease and flour your loaf pan. We used 2 loaf pans, but if you have a bundt pan, you can probably just use that.

Combine your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.


Mash your bananas and set aside.

Cream your sugar and butter together. Sorry for the blurry pictures, the mixer was on for most of these.

Add your eggs in one at at time. After each egg, let it go for a few seconds to combine.

Next add your bananas to the mix. 

Add about 1/3 of your dry ingredients to the mixer. Then add 1/3 of your sour cream. Alternate back and forth until all of the mixture is combined. Stop every now and then to knock the flour down from the edges of the bowl.

Add in your pecans and mix just enough to combine.

The resulting batter will be pretty thick and sticky. It's supposed to be like that.

Pour your batter into your loaf pans or bundt pan. 

Now, just pop those in the oven for about 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

We like to run a butter knife around the edge, just to loosen anything that might have accidentally stuck to the side. Now transfer the loafs to a cooling rack.

Let them cool a bit, but you want to eat some while it's still warm with just a little butter.


Enjoy!

Breakfast Casserole

 

This recipe come courtesy of Michelle's mom. Michelle's family has devoured this every Thanksgiving and Christmas morning that she can remember. It's pretty simple, and takes no time to put together.

Here's what you need:

1 lb country sausage (for some reason our grocery store was out, so we used sweet Italian sausage)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3-4 eggs

2 rolls of pre-packaged croissant dough

Here's what you do:

Brown sausage completely in a skillet. This should be about 8-10 minutes. 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

While your sausage is browning, get started on everything else. Shred 2 cups of cheddar.






In a medium bowl, beat eggs until they're fluffy and then throw in the shredded cheese.

Drain the sausage and set aside.

Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish. Roll out one roll of the croissant dough on the bottom of the baking dish. Push the edges of the dough together so there are no gaps.

Cover that with the sausage.

Then pour the egg-cheese mixture over that.

Then, top with the other croissant dough. Push these edges together as best you can. It's not as important to remove the gaps on the top layer.

Bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until the top looks brown and flaky.

Enjoy!