Sweet Potato French Toast

My husband wanted to have a Good Friday bunch after church.  He wanted bacon, eggs and french toast.  Often, when we have something like that, I'd just eat what I can and not worry about the rest but this time I decided I wanted to try and make some french toast that I can eat.  It was a nice surprise!  I want to play around a bit and see if I can get the egg mixture to stick to the sweet potato a bit better but for now, this was good.

If you are eating AIP, you need to know that this isn't compliant as it has eggs and almond milk.  But once you successfully re-introduce those things, this is something you can try! 

All I did was slice the sweet potato and toast it in the toaster.  I found that the thinner slice was better than the thicker slice.  I toasted it two or three times ... til it was browned.  

Then I made the 'batter" just like normal french toast.  I used an egg, some almond milk, homemade vanilla extract, and a bit of cinnamon.  Dip the toasted sweet potato slices into the batter and then cook in an already heated fry pan.

I topped the toast with a bit of pure maple syrup and fresh raspberries.

And we had scrambled eggs (I just do eggs with nothing added) and some AIP compliant bacon.

A delicious Good Friday brunch! 

Easy Baked Custard

If you like creamy, custardy desserts - this is a MUST try.

My mom used to make this pretty frequently when I was a child, but I haven't made it in years.  An excessive amount of eggs sent me hunting for things to make using lots of eggs without having to make a run to the grocery story.  Thus, I rediscovered this gem.

If my aunt hadn't needed her other hand to take the picture, I think this would have gotten two thumbs up!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Cream together:
- 2 tablespoons soften butter
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Add 6 eggs, one at a time, blending well after each egg.

Slowly and briefly stir in:
-2 cups plus 2 tablespoons milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla

I just added all of the milk and vanilla to my two cup wet measuring cup, turned my mixer down to one notch above stir, slowly poured the milk mixture in, and turned the mixer off as soon as I'd finished pouring.

Place one large pan, a couple medium/small pans, or individual custard cups into bigger baking pans (I used my 9x13 pans) and fill with custard mixture.  Add an inch or two of hot water to bigger baking pans.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 325 degrees F (without opening oven) and bake until knife comes out clean - approximately 45 minutes.  I've never tried the individual custard cups, so don't know if that would take less time.

I like to eat it chilled.

Greek Omelets with Tomato, Avo and Tsatsiki .... It's what's for dinner.

I am always on the lookout for a good quinoa recipe.  I also LOVE omelets.  This to me, seemed like a match made in heaven.  And I was right.  I loved this!  It wasn't complicated to make either.  Just do it in the five steps listed below and you'll be fine.

This recipe was my inspiration, and while I followed the ingredient list, I didn't follow any of the measurements.  I thought it looked like a recipe that would be easy enough to do with out measuring and I was right.  I'll give you estimates, but if you want exact measurements, go to the original recipe.  Also, I make my tsatsiki different.

I made four omelets and we had enough quinoa leftover to eat as part of two lunches today.

What you'll need for the tsatsiki:
Greek yoghurt
Cucumber
Garlic
A Lemon
Salt and Pepper

What you'll need for the omelets:
12 eggs (if you are making four omelets ... basically, it's three eggs per omelet)
Milk
Butter
Quinoa
Baby Spinach Leaves
Kalamata Olives
Roasted Red Bell Peppers (Capsicum)
Sun Dried Tomatoes, in oil
Feta Cheese
Pine Nuts
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Salt and Pepper
Shredded Cheese
Cherry Tomatoes
Avocado

Cook the quinoa ... I cook my quinoa in the rice cooker.  You can cook it however you like, but get that started.  For the four of us, I did two of the rice cooker measuring cups of uncooked quinoa.  

Make the tsatsiki ... I used four or five big spoonfuls of greek yoghurt, added about a 1/4 of a large continental cucumber (finely diced), squeezed in some minced garlic (to tasted) and then the juice of what ended up being 1/2 a lemon.  I just kept tasting as I went.  Add a tiny bit of salt and pepper ... again, to taste

Make the quinoa salad ... to your cooked quinoa, add chopped spinach (I probably used 2 cups) kalamata olives (sliced) and a couple of spoonfuls of the brine out of the olive jar, roasted red bell peppers (chopped), sun dried tomatoes (chopped) and a couple spoonfuls of the oil out of the sd tomato jar, crumbled feta cheese, pine nuts, the herbs and salt and pepper.  I just kept adding and stirring and tasting until I like what I saw and tasted. 

Make the omelets ... (Do this for each individual omelet) Whisk three eggs, a blub of milk and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl.  Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat and add a scoop of butter.  The original recipe said to add 1 tablespoon of butter but we were at the end of the butter dish so I probably only used a teaspoon for each omelet and I would do the same next time. Once butter is melted, pour egg mixture into pan.  Tip the pan up and around so that the uncooked egg goes up the side of the pan and cooks. Using a spatula, push the cooked egg down towards the middle of the pan.  Tip the pan again to repeat this process until there is no runny egg left.  I found that when the runny stuff was gone, the egg in the middle was still a bit wetter than I liked so I left it to cook just a little bit longer. (this is when I whisked the eggs and milk for the next omelet!) Sprinkle with a little bit of shredded cheese.  Let that melt for a minute or two and then slide the omelet onto a big plate.  Add butter to the fry pan and start again .... 

To assemeble ... Add a few scoops of quinoa salad to one side of your omelet.  Fold the empty side over the quiona.  Top with halved cherry tomatoes, slices of avocado and tsatsiki.

Yum Yum Yum.

PS. The omelets cooked up pretty quick but I still had each person grab theirs and start eating straight away.  Omelets are always better hot!  They are quite big portions too ... my omelet was made last and I still finished eating it before my daughter who had been served second! In fact, she never finished eating ... it was too big a serve.  She saved about 1/4 of it for today.

Rio Verde Breakfast Special

The weeks that the boys are with us, we like to make sure they get a protein filled breakfast to start their days out.  A good hearty breakfast for very active boys!  They are fine having eggs and pancakes every morning, but I like to mix things up a bit.  Today I tried a new recipe from Tortilla Lovers Cook Book.  It was quick (something I appreciate since I'm cooking AND getting myself ready for work) and was a yummy hit!  I altered it just a bit.

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
pinch or two of salt
1 TBS butter
1/2 cup Jack cheese (I used Monterey jack), cubed
small can of green chiles
6 tortillas (I used flour, but the recipe called for corn)

Garnish with green salsa, sour cream, and/or avocado

Instructions:
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, and salt and mix well.  Melt butter in skillet.  Add eggs and cook, stirring gently.  When eggs are almost set, add cheese and chiles.  Cook until firm, or desired consistency.  Heat the tortillas and fill each with egg mixture.  Garnish as desired.  I served it with orange slices.

fancy egg sandwiches

 

my word, these are good! 

we had them for dinner, not breakfast.  i love breakfast for dinner!

i saw the recipe on pinterest and there was no question in my mind that they would be good.

i took a few short cuts and didn't really use the same measurements.

oh and the grocery store substituted bake at home rolls for the 

ciabatta i ordered but they were delicious! and i used

a different cheese.  two cheeses actually.

i used more garlic.  i forgot

the parsley.

 

bag of baby spinach, 160g

mozarella and gruyere cheese, 200g total

8 eggs

2 tablespoons thickened cream

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

8 bread rolls, i used bake at home ones

preheat oven to 400F/200C.

ppray a 9x13 baking dish with oil.  

cover the bottom of the baking dish with the spinach.  grate both cheeses over the spinach (only about 1/2 the cheese at this point).  crack the eggs over the top of the cheese, spacing them out evenly.  salt and pepper next.  then drizzle the cream.  grate the rest of the cheese.  bake 15-25 minutes til yokes are as runny or not runny as you like them. 

while the eggs are in the oven, melt the butter in a small sauce pan over a medium heat.  whisk constantly.  the butter will start to brown.  don't let it go too brown, or black ... that is burned.  (ask me how i know) the good news is that if you burn it, you have time to start over.  (again, ask me how i know!) the butter will be pretty hot at this point, turn off the heat and throw in the minced garlic.  keep stirring!  let the garlic brown a little bit and then stir in the panko into this garlicy buttery deliciousness.  

if you are using bake at home bread rolls, throw them in the oven according to the instructions on the pack.  mine took like 6 minutes.  

once the eggs are just about done, spoon the breadcrumb mixture over the top and pop back in the oven for a couple minutes.  they will crisp up a little bit.

cut the finished product into eight 'rectangles' and scoop one onto each bun.  

delicious!

Comfort Breakfast Bake

I saw this recipe on Facebook the other day and thought it looked easy and quick to throw together.  Perfect for a Sunday morning breakfast with a hoard of boys.  As it turns out it was super easy, very quick, and a HUGE hit!  (as you can see by the picture!!  That last bit disappeared shortly after I took the picture)

 

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1/4 cup milk

16 oz refrigerated biscuits (I used the jumbo flaky kind and cut it into smaller bits than the recipe originally called for)

1 bunch green onions

1 (generous) cup extra sharp cheddar cheese

1lb cooked sausage or bacon (I used sausage this time and the boys said it tasted like a pizza bake, but I'm sure they would love bacon too!)

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Mix eggs and milk in a large bowl until well mixed. 

3. Cut each biscuit into fours and add to the bowl.  (with the BIG biscuits I cut them into 6ths) Mix. 

4. Cook bacon (cut into pieces) or sausage (make sure its crumbled) and drain grease if necessary.

5. Cut green onions.

6. Add all remaining ingredients to the milk/egg mixture and stir.

7. Spray 13 by 9 pan with cooking spray

8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (or until it isn't runny and the biscuits look flaky.

 

Enjoy!!!

 

 

Sausage Apple Overnight Breakfast Casserole

I personally am NOT a fan of sausage, (what I would consider) soggy bread, OR baked egg dishes...BUT...I was looking for a quick, easy breakfast that I could make the night before and feed to a hoard of hungry boys starting VERY early in the morning - and I found this recipe (where, I cannot for the life of me remember!) and thought I'd give it a go.  It made TONS and was very filling, easy (did almost all the prep while dinner simmered), made the house smell AMAZING as everyone woke up, and got the stamp of approval from the hoard of boys! :-)  I highly recommend it...if you're into breakfast casseroles - or are feeding hoards! 

 

Sausage Apple Overnight Breakfast Casserole

1 pkg. (1 lb.) Pork Sausage Roll
6 cups bread cubed into 1 inch pieces (I had a coupon for french bread...so used that - it was under one loaf when cut up)
10 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large baking apples, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
maple syrup, if desired

Brown sausage; drain. Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. In another bowl, mix apples, sugar and cinnamon together until well coated. In a greased (forgot to grease the pan the second time I made this dish...definitely stuck to the pan!! So don't skip this step!) 9 x 13 inch baking dish, place half of the bread cubes followed by half the sausage, half the apples, and 1 cup of the cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients. Pour egg mixture over the layers making sure to evenly coat it all with the egg mixture. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve topped with a drizzle of maple syrup if desired. (the boys ate it plain and with syrup and loved it both ways)