Egg in the Hole

 

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas! Here is an easy and scrumptious breakfast to enjoy. If you still have out-of-town guests, pull out that griddle and make this one-dish breakfast.

Growning up, I had a baby-sitter who often made these for us for breakfast, she called them Chicken in a Basket. I always loved them. My Hubbie and son love these for breakfast. My Hubbie remebers his Mom making these when he was a child, instead of cutting the hole with a biscuit cutter, like I do, his Mom let him bit the middle out. I may let my son try that when he's older. He's only 2, and a carb lover, I don't think he'd be happy about having to hand a piece of bread back. This is a very simple breakfast to make, and if you have a large griddle, you can make several at a time.

Ingredients: I usually make two for my Hubbie and one each for my son and I.

4 slices of bread
4 eggs
4 TBS Butter
salt and Pepper

Preheat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Butter both sides of each slice of bread. Use a biscuit cutter to cut a hole in the center. Don't discard the removed bread. You'll be toasting that up too, it's my favorite part.

Toast the bread and the removed portions on the griddle until medium brown and crunchy, flip. Place a small amount of butter in the open hole of each slice of bread, crack 1 egg into each hole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover with a lid and cook until the whites are just set for a runny yolk. If you like a firmer yolk, cook a minute longer. Remove from the heat, use the reserved piece to pierce the yolk, and enjoy.

Sour Cream Biscuits

I've seen several recipes floating around the internet for biscutis using sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream. I already have a biscuit recipe that I adore; but since I had scant amounts of all three of those ingredients in the fridge, I figured I'd use them to make some biscuits. They had excellent flavor and were very tender.

Ingredients:
2 cups of AP flour
3 TBS Corn Starch
3 TBS Baking Poder
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream
2 TBS melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with a whisk to combine. Mix the cream cheese and sour cream, and 1/4 cup of the cream together, add to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined, adding more cream as needed for the dough to come toghether. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut with biscuit cutters or a glass. Place 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and bake 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.

 These were delicious topped with scrambled eggs with green chiles.










We also LOVED them topped with my homemade Apple Butter!

French Toast

I am not big on sweet breakfast foods like pancakes or french toast. So if I an going to eat them; they had better be good. I am super picky about both of them, but especially french toast. You won't catch me eating Wonder bread quickly dipped in egg and falling apart. No no. I always thought I didn't like french toast, until I saw Alton Brown make it. I have come up with my own recipe which I like a little better; but I use his method.

The 3 things I learned that I think make all the differnce:

1. The bread needs to be hearty, I haven't found a sandwich bread that works, so I use a loaf of French bread or challah. It also needs to be a little dried out. I slice it the night before and sit it in the oven overnight. This helps it soak up all of the redge and become nice and custard-like without falling apart. This is the most important step, don't skip it. 
2. Mix the egg dredge the night before. It speeds things up in the morning, but it also allows it to come together and blend the flavors.
3. Don't just dip and go straight o the pan. Let it soak up the egg mixture for at least 30 seconds per side. It needs to soak all the way trough to become super yummy and delicius. Otherwise you just have bread covered in fried egg.

Ingredients:

8 thick (1/2 inch) slices of hearty bread such as French, Brioche, or Challah
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 TBS warmed honey (or 2 TBS sugar), both taste great but I like the consistency of the honey better
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
butter for cooking

The Night Before: Slice the bread and lay on the oven racks to dry out over night. Mix the eggs, milk, honey (or sugar), vanilla, and salt in a container. Whish it really well. Place in the fridge overnight.

The Morning Of:

Preheat the oven to 350. Melt 1 TBS of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Pour the egg mixture into a pie pan or other shallow, wide bowl. Place 2 slices of bread in the egg mixture for 45 seconds per side, make sure it soaks all the way through the bread. Cook for 3 minutes on each side. Place in oven while you repeat these steps on the remaining bread. Serve with syrup and powdered sugar or top with my Apple Cinnamon Compote.

This makes for a scrumptious freach toast; once you try it this way; you won't go back.

Apple Cinnamon Compote

This was so yummy over oatmeal. I seriously don't like oatmeal; so if I'm going to eat it, I have to doctor it up. This is also amazing over Vanilla Ice Cream or  Pancakes. It is so simple to make and it is so impressive.

4 apples - I use Gala or Granny Smith
1/2 cup fresh orange juice - it usually takes 1.5 - 2 large oranges
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
salt - a little dash
1/2 tsp vanilla

Chop apples. Combine chopped apples, orange juice, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a sauce pan. Cover and cook over medium heat until the juices have become like a thin syrup, about 15 minutes; stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Retro Recipe: Cake Flour Pancakes

I recently came across an old pancake recipe from Swan's Down for "Lightest Ever Pancakes". The recipe card intrigued me, since it looked like it was probably created mid-century, and I LOVE old recipe cards. Since I happened to have some Swan's Down cake flour, I made them for breakfast this morning. I followed their recipe exactly at first, even though the batter looked too thick. The first few pancakes were really thick and never created the bubbles you look for to tell you when to flip. So I added a few splashes of milk and a little vanilla to the batter to thin it out. Also, it irks me to make pancakes without vanilla, pancakes need vanilla.

The vintage Swan's Down recipe card can be found here. I just love vintage recipe cards.

This is the way I made it after my slight adjustments:


2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup melted butter

Measure sifted flour into sifter; add baking powder, salt, and sugar. Beat egg in bowl or

large pitcher, add milk, and blend. Sift in dry ingredients all at once, add melted butter,

and beat with egg beater just until mixed. Do not over-mix pancake batter, it makes them tough and chewy. It should be slightly lumpy, not perfectly smooth. Bake on hot griddle, turning only once.

Verdict: These were awesome. The texture is very, very light.

This is how the first stack came out, before I adjusted the liquid level. They were dense and not as fluffy as I like. They were still good though.

 

Biscuits

 

This is a basic baking powder biscuit recipe that I adjusted to better suit my tastes. I've tried several recipes, this works the best for me. They are light and fluffy. Just remember not to overwork the dough, that's what makes them like little rocks.

 Ingredients
2 cups of flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 stick of butter
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resemles coarse cornmeal. Add milk a little at a time and mix until it forms a ball. Roll out on floured board to 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out in desired size and place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.Brush with melted butter Bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. I start checking at 10 minutes.

I love these fresh from the oven with a smear of butter and raspberry jam.

Biscuits and Gravy

Buscuits and Gravy is definitely my favorite breakfast. I don't make it often because it's so full of fatty goodness. This post is just my recipe for the gravy. I've yet to find or come up with a homemade biscuit recipe that I like well enough, so I usually save myself the trouble and use the kind in the can. We smother them in so much gravy, you can't really taste the biscuits anyway. This recipe makes a lot of gravy, you may want to halve the recipe. These pictures were taken when I made Father's Day breakfast for my husband, who likes a ton of sausage in his gravy, since I was only making it for him, I used half the milk, but kept the sausage the same. Most people prefer the proportions listed in the recipe.

You will need:

1 chub regular pork breakfast sausage. My person preference is Jimmy Dean.
4 TBS Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 TBS Pepper
4 Cups Milk
Optional:  A pinch of garlic powder and nutmeg.

Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium heat.

Sprinkle with flour

Meausre 4 cups milk into a large measuring cup. Microwave the milk for about 1 minute, just to take the chill off. This will help keep the flour from clumping when the milk is added.

Pour the milk into the pan with the sausage, stirring to prevent clumps.

Sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Allow to simmer until thickened. Taste to check the seasoning. Adjust to your liking. The saltiness of sausage can vary from package to package, so it is important to taste prior to and after adding seasonings, so you can adjust them properly. I almost always add more of both, but sometimes just pepper is needed. Add the garlic powder and/or nutmeg, if you like. I love the flavor they bring to to gravy.

Ladle over hot biscuits and enjoy.

Fluffy Pancakes

These pancakes are my family's favorite. They are tender, fluffy, and scrumptious.

The original recipe didn't call for vanilla, but I just can't make pancakes without vanilla.

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

cooking spray

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour". If you have buttermilk, you may use it in place of the milk and vinegar combo.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
3. Whisk egg, butter, and vanilla into "soured" milk.
4. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray.
6. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface.
7.  Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.
8. Serve with lots of butter and warm syrup.

Omelets

A lot of people I talk to seem to be afraid of making omelets, I'm not sure why, since with a few tricks they are really easy and to me they just look more impressive than scrambled eggs. I wouldn't go to the trouble of making individual omelets for a large family or crowd, but I often whip up a two-person omelet for Hubby and I.

3 eggs
dash of milk
salt and pepper to taste


Fillings: a cheese omelet is the most basic and definitely delicious but I sometimes I like to add things like ham, mushrooms, spinach, onion, bell peppers, fresh herbs, etc. You can add anything you want to your omelet.

Melt a pat of butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Crack eggs into a bowl, add milk and seasonings, whisk together until fluffy.

Pour eggs into skillet and let sit for a few minutes. Resist the urge to touch them for a bit, you want to let them set up.

Once eggs are setting up nicely and look a bit like this

Get your largest spatula and use it to very gently push the side of the omelet toward the center of the pan

Then spread some of the uncooked egg that is on top into the space created.

Once that has set up, use your spatula to gently lift and flip the entire omelet. If you have a lot of uncooked egg still on top, repeat the scooting and spreading step above a coule of times, in different areas prior to flipping.

Once flipped, add toppings to one half and fold the other half over. I usually turn off the heat and cover for a few minutes to allow the cheese to melt and everything to set.