German Farmer's Breakfast

Christmas Eve left me with an abundance of ham, so we've been trying out lots of ways to make use of it. This was delicious. I made a few changes, but it's pretty much the same. I just thought the recipe needed less potatoes and more eggs. Don't try and substitute for bacon grease. You'll be missing out.


German Farmer's Breakfast
adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

2 large potatoes, skinned and quartered lengthwise

3 Tbsp bacon fat or olive oil
1 cups roughly chopped green and white onions (include the greens from the green onions)
1 cups roughly chopped bell peppers
Salt to taste
1-2 cups chopped ham
1/4 cup chopped parsley
7-8 eggs, whisked

Method

1 Boil the potatoes in a saucepan of lightly salted water for 10-15 minutes until just cooked (test for doneness). Drain, rinse with cold water to cool. Cut into 1-inch squares. Set aside.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp bacon fat (or olive oil) in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and chopped bell peppers. Increase the heat to high. Brown the onions and bell peppers, stirring frequently, about 2-3 minutes.

3 Push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add the potatoes and another Tbsp of bacon fat (or olive oil) to the pan. Brown the potatoes for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Sprinkle on salt to taste as you cook. Add the ham to the potatoes and cook, stirring frequently until the ham is heated through, 1-2 minutes.

4 Mix all of the vegetables, potato and ham together and mix in the parsley. Add the eggs, stirring to distribute the eggs among the vegetables and ham. As soon as eggs begin to firm up, remove from heat.

Serve immediately. Great with ketchup on top.

Serves 4.

Finally, a french toast recipe I like!

Gold Coast French Toast
from 101 cookbooks

I used a loaf of french bread for this. We also tried it with some homemade whole wheat bread, but I preferred the french bread. 101 cookbooks recommends a Hawaiian sweet bread or challah.

1 egg
1 cup undiluted evaporated milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 slices bread

Beat egg; add milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Cut bread into triangle, dip into egg and milk mixture. Brown on both sides on a well-greased griddle or frying pan. Serve with soft butter and maple syrup.

Omelette for Two

I made my first frittata just now and I liked it. I left out the onion because we didn't have one and I used a russet potato, your average bacon, Great Value cheddar, and pickled jalapenos. It tasted GREAT.

Omelette for Two
from Barefoot at Home

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1/4 pound good thick-cut bacon
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup medium-diced Yukon gold potato
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
• 5 extra-large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk or cream
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts
• 4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, diced, plus extra grated cheese, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the bacon crosswise in 1-inch slices. Cook the bacon in an 8-inch ovenproof saute pan over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned. Drain the bacon on paper towels and discard the fat from the pan. Add the butter to the pan, and then add the potato and yellow onion. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the onion starts to brown and the potato is tender but firm. Add the jalapeno pepper and cook for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together with a fork. Stir in the scallions and diced Cheddar. When the potato is cooked, add the bacon to the pan and pour over the egg mixture. Place the pan in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the omelet puffs and the eggs are almost cooked in the center. Sprinkle with a handful of grated Cheddar and bake for another minute. Serve hot directly from the pan.

Cowboy Breakfast Sandwich

I have a new culinary obsession. I've had this breakfast sandwich for lunch or dinner three times this week. (Ironically not once for breakfast.) Occasionally I find a recipe that I love so much that it trumps all my other cravings and any time I'm hungry it's all I can think about. Most recent example being the chocolate peanut butter cake I've mentioned now four times on this blog. I was actually angry with Bobby for about 3 hours last week for eating nearly the rest of the cake and leaving me with only the most measly, teeny-weeny slice.

This is my "Nobody better mess with me or my cake" face.

The mayo and the jalapenos are what make this breakfast sandwich special. I load mine with so many jalapenos that by the end I'm practically breathing fire, but it's so worth it.

Here's the link- wouldn't change a thing.

Day 2 of cheap raspberries

On Tuesday I made Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins from Smitten Kitchen. They were lovely. I ate four of them for breakfast yesterday and two for dessert the night before. After breakfast I gave to my friends so I could start plotting my next raspberry caper.

Missouri must have really big lemons because I was able to get four tsp grated lemon zest from 1 lemon without any of the pith. I thought three raspberries would atop each muffin would suffice, but after they were finished baking I could see the wisdom in four. They were amazing!

Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins

Yield: 14 large or 56 miniature muffins

1 1/8 cups sugar, divided
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel (from two large lemons)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 1/2-pint containers (about) fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 14 standard muffin cups (or 56 minis) with paper liners. Mash 1/8 cup sugar and lemon peel in small bowl until sugar is slightly moist. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 1 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg. Beat in buttermilk, then vanilla and lemon sugar. Beat in flour mixture.

Divide batter among muffin cups (the 2/3-3/4 level worked well for minis). Top each large muffin with 4 raspberries (or mini muffins with one each). Bake muffins until lightly browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes (baking time was on the shy side of 20 minutes for mini muffins).

A new source for recipes

I found a new cooking blog through Erin that I am absolutely in love with!! I tried three recipes of hers last week and they were all fabulous.


Berry Risotto Oatmeal. Creamy and delicious!!













Buttermilk cookies. I love to work with buttermilk and her description grabbed me when she mentioned the subtle lemon flavor provided by the lemon zest. These were light as air! I thought this was a really cool recipe. It's kind of like a recipe for cake batter, because you add the buttermilk and the flour mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. (Just like any good cake recipe. :)







Macadamia Nut-Crusted Chicken with Mango Salsa.



This was AMAZING!! It calls for an entire bottle of macadamia nuts. I just ground them up in my food processor. I went to grab my bread crumbs and they were the Italian style we buy for schnitzel, seasoned with thyme and parsley. I didn't think they would work for this particular recipe. I just took out six slices of regular rice bread, placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them at a really low temperature for about 10-15 minutes until they dried out. Then I pulverized them in the food processor. It worked really nicely. I served this with Rebecca's Sticky Rice with Mangoes. DELISH!