Asparagus, Mushroom, and Onion Frittata

I couldn’t bear the thought of not posting midweek when I am not even out of town, so thought I’d repost one of my earlier recipes from early 2012 that some of my new followers may have never seen. My workload has been pretty crazy and my husband has cooked all this week, and I didn’t even have time to take one picture for you or write up his delicious meals. So here it is!

Asparagus, Mushroom, and Onion Frittata

Yes, I still had some of that lovely thin asparagus left that I wanted to use today, and while pondering my options in the shower I thought “Frittata!” A frittata is a fancy name for an omelet that is started out on the stove and finished off in the oven.  Remembering that I now have a cast-iron skillet, I was anxious to finish my morning routine and start making a wonderful brunch for the family.

You can use any combination of fresh vegetables and cheeses you have on hand for this dish. I happened to also have some sweet onion, mushrooms and shredded Parmesan cheese and thought they would pair nicely with the asparagus. They did.

Asparagus, Mushroom, and Onion Frittata

6 eggs
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Blend
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup asparagus, trimmed and cut into one-inch pieces
1/2 cup sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced

Set your oven rack about five inches from the broiler. Preheat on broil. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk together with the seasonings and cheese. Add the oil and butter to a heated cast iron skillet then add the vegetables.  Sauté the veggies until tender, then pour the egg mixture evenly over them.  Cook over medium-low heat without stirring for about 10 minutes, jiggling the skillet a few times to help distribute the eggs as they set. To finish, place the skillet under the broiler for another five minutes or so until the eggs are set and the top is lightly browned.

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Starbucks Old Fashioned Coffee Cake

Starbucks Old Fashioned Coffee Cake ~ Coffee Anyone???

“MOM!!! I just found the best recipe book in the entire world!”

“Well then, I think I want that too! Where do I buy it?”

Turns out it was a Pinterest link to all the Starbucks recipes in electronic book form, so I didn’t have to buy it, but there was no option to print it! I know that sounds odd, but even using the web browser print feature didn’t work properly.  So I captured a screenshot of one of the recipes she wanted to make and printed it. I’ve typed it out below so that you can copy and paste it to a word editor if you want to print it, or just print this page from your browser. It’s been on my bucket list to get some kind of widget for print-friendly recipes, but alas I have not gotten around to that research. And by the way, the website where I got this from is not the original author. I tried to get to the original source of it, and ended up on all kinds of pfishy and scary pages so I am leaving the link to it off of here in the interest of security.

Since I am not the baker in the family (as I’ve told you too many times, right?) we followed this recipe exactly. I am pretty sure you can’t fudge on baking ingredients without something in the process failing. OK, maybe adding more nuts or a different type would work, or subbing raisins or something, but the rest of it is in the  “no-touchy-changey” zone for me.

I let my daughter make the majority of this, but I did have to supervise and step in periodically. She’s actually coming along quite well with her mixing and measuring techniques. This coffee cake came out just delicious, and having a piece warm out of the oven was divine! It’s not overly sweet, and the house just filled with this lovely aromatic cinnamon and fresh baked bread smell, which lingered for hours and hours afterwards. I am glad we made this. We’ll have a yummy breakfast or afternoon snack for several days now!

Starbucks Old Fashioned Coffee Cake

Starbucks Old Fashioned Coffee Cake
Copied from somewhere on the WWW

For the Struesel:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the Cake:
Butter and flour for pan
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. First, butter and flour the inside of a Bundt pan or 8-inch square pan, or something of that size. We used a Bundt pan, which is the round baking pan thingy with a hole in the middle. In a medium bowl, combine the Struesel ingredients. To make the 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, all you need to do is take a full sleeve of them and crush them in a baggie with a pestle or your fist. It would have been nice to know that, as we kept crushing them up three at a time and adding them to a measuring cup, and lo and behold! Oh well. Lesson learned. An entire sleeve of graham crackers is exactly one and a half cups. And that cardamom ingredient? I almost fell on the floor with the price. It costs over $48 a pound for it!?!?! Thank goodness for bulk aisle bins. I pretty much got exactly what we needed (actually about 1/4 teaspoon too much) and it cost me 46 cents. It didn’t break my bank for that much. However, if you don’t have a bulk aisle to purchase this from, do NOT buy a spendy container of it in the spice aisle. Just leave it out, OK? Just sayin’…

Moving on, take a much larger bowl, and mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Chop up the softened butter into smaller cubes and add to the bowl with the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. According to the recipe, you should “beat vigorously until smooth and quite thick,” for about one minute. Well we didn’t use an electric mixer because it didn’t say to do that, so we used a fork and took turns until we deemed it vigorously beaten and quite thick, which took longer than one minute. Maybe three or so.  Spread half of the batter in the bottom of your pan, then sprinkle half the Struesel mixture evenly over that. Layer the rest of the batter and Struesel again. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool for a minimum of 20 minutes, then remove from pan and serve. Coffee would be an excellent choice with this. My daughter is really trying to turn me into a baker!

Hash Brown, Sausage, and Egg Casserole ~ Starting a New Christmas Tradition

Hash Brown, Sausage, and Egg Casserole

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends! I have decided to start a new Christmas tradition in our household this year. We’ve always done a “fend for yourself” for Christmas breakfast/brunch, but this year I decided it would be nice to wake up and bake a hassle-free breakfast casserole. This make-ahead casserole is a cinch to make, and you refrigerate it over night before popping it in the oven just before you unwrap your presents. Well, that was the plan anyways. I forgot to put it in the oven (hey it’s my first year to do this!) so we ate a bit later than planned. My daughter went back for a second serving, so I guess it’s safe to say this is a tradition I can continue.

There are hundreds of recipes online for this, most of them stating they go way back from their grandmother or handed down from a dear friend. But they are all pretty much the same, with variations here and there on the meat and/or vegetables. And they all feed about 10 to 12, so I scaled this one way back.

Another one of our traditions is to watch Polar Express on Christmas Eve, after attending a Christmas Eve party that my friend here in town hosts every year. Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition?

Hash Brown, Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Casserole

Hash Brown, Sausage, and Egg Casserole

8 ounces frozen hash browns
2 tablespoons butter or substitute, melted
Ground black pepper
Mrs. Dash Table Blend, or salt
10 ounces breakfast sausage
1 cup diced onion
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400. In a large bowl, thaw the hash browns (I used the microwave) then stir in the melted butter. Season with lots of ground black pepper and lots of Mrs. Dash, or salt to taste if you use that. In a 2 quart casserole dish, press the hash browns into the bottom in an even layer.  Bake for about 20 minutes until starting to brown. Meanwhile, break up the sausage into little chunks and add to a medium-hot skillet, stirring and breaking up. When the sausage starts to release some of the grease, add the onions. Cook the sausage and onions until the sausage is no longer pink, about 10 to 15 minutes, then drain the grease and set aside.  The hash browns should be about ready to come out of the oven now. Take them out and let them cool a bit. Crack the six eggs into the same large bowl, then whisk together well with the milk. I added a bunch more pepper and Mrs. Dash too.  Spread the crumbled sausage and onion mixture over evenly over the top of the hash browns, then slowly pour the eggs over the entire dish. Last, top with shredded cheddar cheese. Cover tightly with foil, then refrigerate overnight. About an hour before you are ready to eat, cook the covered casserole in a 350-degree preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, then cook another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest about five minutes. Serve plain, or with sour cream, hot sauce, Tabasco, whatever you like with your eggs! Easy and delicious.

Introducing the Huevodilla

Huevodilla

Every once in awhile I discover a new recipe that truly inspires me. When I came across this delight from The Pioneer Woman, I thought, “Now why didn’t I think of that before?” And the next thought that popped into my mind was “Cheese!” The corn tortillas just screamed out for cheese to me. So with a little adaptation, I turned a really good idea into a fantastic, filling, crazy-good plate of awesomeness. Can you tell I am just a little excited to share this with you? Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman) called her version “Heuvo in the Hole.” I coined the term Huevodilla for mine, which if I’m not mistaken probably translates to “little egg” in Spanish, but it’s my way of combining Huevo and Quesadilla.

Unlike Ree, I do not own a biscuit cutter to cut the holes in the center of the tortillas. Instead I used a small jelly jar to use as a guide to cut the holes with a paring knife. Not quite as pretty, but it did the job. I only had white corn tortillas instead of yellow too, but I’m sure that did not make much difference in the taste.  My only regret with this recipe is I didn’t have any cilantro on hand, but the addition of avocado rounded out this gem.

Stacking the Tortillas and Cheese

Huevodilla

3 small corn tortillas
Spray oil
Shredded cheese, any kind
Black pepper, to taste
1 egg
Sliced avocado
Salsa
Sour cream
Cilantro (if you have it!)

Cut a circle  out of the center of the each tortilla.  Spray each of the tortillas lightly with oil. Heat a griddle or skillet to medium heat and spray with a little more oil. (You may use butter here instead if you want.) Place one tortilla on the griddle. Carefully spread the shredded cheese on top of the tortilla. Place the next tortilla on top of that and add the cheese. Finally, add the third tortilla to the top. By this time, the bottom cheese should have started to melt enough to stick to the tortilla, so press down a bit with a spatula to stick it all together. Crack the egg into the middle of the tortillas, then grind some black pepper over the egg. Let the egg cook until the white has set enough to flip over. Spray just a tad more oil to the top of the egg, then carefully flip the concoction over. Continue cooking until the egg is done to your liking. Slide onto a plate, and serve with avocado, salsa, sour cream, and cilantro. Dig in!

Here is a link  Ree’s recipe if you want to take a gander at the original: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/07/huevo-in-the-hole/

Huevodilla Up Close and Personal

Chick Deviled Easter Eggs

Chick Deviled Easter Eggs

Happy Easter my friends! I decided to make a small batch of these cute deviled eggs for a brunch we are headed out to shortly. This is not so much a recipe but presentation. Another picture of these has been flying around the internet, so of course I just had to copycat. I used black olive bits for the eyes, and small slivers of carrot for the beak. The hardest part of this was getting the center out of the eggs without tearing the white apart.

Here’s wishing you a joyous Easter and I hope you have a pleasant day with friends, family, or furkids!

Broccoli, Spinach, Bacon, Cheese, and Onion Quiche

Everything but the kitchen sink...

…subtitled “Everything but the Kitchen Sink.” Well my diet these days in recovery mode has not been very conducive to cooking anything worth blogging about, however last week before the surgery, my husband and I teamed together to make a quiche with just about everything in the fridge that needed using up. Just like a frittata or omelet, a quiche can be made with pretty much anything you enjoy with eggs. So just use the recipe as a guide, and experiment! (And yes, we used real bacon in it this time, as we had some leftover from when I made a BLT the day before.)

Broccoli, Spinach, Bacon, Cheese, and Onion Quiche
1 pie crust, store-bought or homemade
5 eggs
Splash of milk
Black Pepper
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
About 3/4 cup broccoli florets, chopped
Spray olive oil
4 strips of cooked bacon, chopped
Handful of fresh spinach, chopped
1/8 cup onion, chopped
Handful of shredded cheese, any kind

One of the tricks to not end up with a mushy pie crust on the bottom is to put the pie crust in the oven while it’s preheating. So set your oven on 350 degrees, put the pie crust in, and when the oven beeps that it is preheated, take the crust out. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a medium-large bowl, pour in a splash of milk, then whisk until well combined. Stir in the seasonings, and set aside. Put the broccoli florets into a small glass bowl and add about a quarter cup of water. Cover tightly with plastic wrap then cook in the microwave for five minutes. Let it sit and steam while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Spray a small frying pan with olive oil, then add the onion and bacon and sauté for four or five minutes. When the onion starts to look translucent, add the chopped spinach and stir-fry until wilted. Scrape the contents onto a paper plate. Now drain the broccoli (watch out, that bowl will be HOT!) then add to the other ingredients on the paper plate and let them cool for a few minutes. Line the bottom of the pie crust with half of the mixture, add a thin layer of shredded cheese, then pour half the eggs on top of that. Place the rest of the vegetables/bacon next and another layer of cheese, and then the last of the eggs. Carefully place into the preheated oven, and cook for 35 to 45 minutes until eggs are set and top is lightly browned. To keep the pie crust edges from burning, we also cover the crust edges with foil. This is great for brunch, or a light dinner with a green salad.

Asparagus, Mushroom, and Onion Frittata

Asparagus, Mushroom, and Onion Frittata

Yes, I still had some of that lovely thin asparagus left that I wanted to use today, and while pondering my options in the shower I thought “Frittata!” A frittata is a fancy name for an omelet that is started out on the stove and finished off in the oven.  Remembering that I now have a cast-iron skillet, I was anxious to finish my morning routine and start making a wonderful brunch for the family.

You can use any combination of fresh vegetables and cheeses you have on hand for this dish. I happened to also have some sweet onion, mushrooms and shredded Parmesan cheese and thought they would pair nicely with the asparagus. They did.

Asparagus, Mushroom, and Onion Frittata

6 eggs
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Blend
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup asparagus, trimmed and cut into one-inch pieces
1/2 cup sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced

Set your oven rack about five inches from the broiler. Preheat on broil. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk together with the seasonings and cheese. Add the oil and butter to a heated cast iron skillet then add the vegetables.  Sauté the veggies until tender, then pour the egg mixture evenly over them.  Cook over medium-low heat without stirring for about 10 minutes, jiggling the skillet a few times to help distribute the eggs as they set. To finish, place the skillet under the broiler for another five minutes or so until the eggs are set and the top is lightly browned.