Vegetarian Breakfast Strata

I've said many times, and I'll say it again, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I've also said many times that I love easy, make-ahead meals. This breakfast strata could be put together or baked the day before and stored in the fridge if needed. It is super simple and could incorporate any type of veggie or bean you prefer. You can make it completely vegan by using egg substitute and no cheese too.

Ingredients:

3 slices bread

1 can beans, slightly mashed

1/2-1 cup vegetable (spinach here)

8-10 eggs, beaten

sprinkle of cheese

Step 1: Lay the bread in an oven-safe pan sprayed with oil. Layer on the mashed beans, cheese and spinach.

Step 2: Add the egg mixture.

Step 3: I sprinkled more cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, until eggs are fully cooked.

Mmmmmmm! Hot, healthy, and protein packed breakfast. Actually this doesn't necessarily have to be for breakfast, you could have this any time of the day.

What are your favorite strata ingredients?

Stuffed Pork Chops

What would Thanksgiving be without stuffing? Incomplete, in my opinion. I had never made stuffing myself before (I know, pause to gasp in shock) and so as per usual, I turned to multitudes of online recipes, compared that to what I had in my kitchen, and then just dove in with both feet. Hands, actually. You're welcome. To prepare for next week's big day, I made some stuffing and wrapped it in a slab of pig. Because 'Murica.

Stuffing is also called 'dressing', and rarely 'forcemeat' (because who wants to eat bread mush with a name like that?); it is a mixture of carbohydrates and occasionally other meats, sometimes with eggs mixed in. It is usually stuffed inside the body cavity of an animal (hence the name) and baked within it, then served alongside the meat. Records of various stuffing recipes exist as far back as the Roman Empire, which published a kitchen anthology titled Apicius which lists thousands of Roman recipes. An article from Kitchen Project goes more into detail about the history and evolution of stuffing if you're interested or want to try something different this year. But if you love the old easy standby, Stove Top, don't feel bad. Introduced in 1972 and now owned by Kraft Foods, they sell nearly 60 million boxes every year around Thanksgiving. That's a lotta stale bread.

So with that in mind, let's get to the stuffing of meats! For stuffed pork chops, I made the stuffing, pounded the meat thin, then rolled it around a gob of the bread mush. It tastes way better than I'm making it sound, trust me! This recipe can also easily be doubled, tripled, whatever, depending on how many you're feeding. It can also be a great way to use up leftover pre-made stuffing in the days after Thanksgiving when you're tired of just having it with turkey.

Ingredients:
2 pork chops
3 sliced day-old bread, cubed
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 tsp dried onion
1 tsp paprika
1 egg
2/3 cup broth 

Step 1: Use fresh pork chops, or thawed if frozen. You'll need to cover them with plastic wrap, then using a rolling pin or other such heavy, blunt object, pound the meat until it is about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Ideally your chops will be wide yet long, so they can close around a cups' worth of stuffing.

Step 2: Chop up the stale bread slices or lightly toasted bread into inch cubes. Put into a medium bowl, and mix in the broth and seasonings. You want the bread wet but not soupy. Finally add the egg to bind and mix it all well. This should make about 1 1/2 - 2 cups. 

Step 3: Divide the stuffing between the two chops, and scoop a handful into the center of one. Roll up both sides so they touch or cross on top and secure with a toothpick or twine.
 

Step 4: Put the stuffed chops in an oven-safe pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, until pork is totally done, at least 145 degrees. The chops should be nicely golden and tender, the stuffing soft inside and crunchy without. Serve with side dishes of your choice. I made some rice and poured my 'special' mushroom gravy over it. (Secret: It's a can of cream of mushroom soup. For reals.)
 

If you have a favorite recipe which uses up leftover stuffing after Thanksgiving, please share!

Breakfast Strata

This breakfast strata is filling, delicious, cheap and surprisingly easy and customizable. All your typical breakfast favorites make an appearance: eggs, milk, bread, cheese. Then you add in some breakfast meats if that's your thing (bacon, sausage, ham) and/or some vegetables if you like that sorta stuff (spinach, onion, peppers, asparagus), bake it up nice and warm and gooey and enjoy! Whatever you like and have on hand can be mixed in. This turned out divine!

Ingredients:
6-8 eggs, lightly beaten
2 slices bread
1-2 cups cheese (cubed, sliced or shredded)
1/4 cup milk
4 slices ham (or bacon or crumbled sausage)
1/2 cup chopped spinach

Step 1: Beat the eggs and add the milk, mix well. Lay the bread in a sprayed 8x8 oven safe pan.

Step 2: Layer the meat, veggies and cheese on top of the bread.

Step 3: Pour the eggs over top.

Step 4: Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until the eggs are fully cooked. Let it cool a few minutes, cut into pieces and enjoy!

Tastes even better than it looks, which is pretty darn good!

The bread is slightly mushy but holds texture, and the flavor combination was just perfect. This can easily be vegetarian, but it's just not the same without eggs so I'm not sure if it can be vegan. Maybe a tofu egg substitute? I'll have to dabble more in vegan cooking in the future.

Salmon Latkes

When you have a mission to eat only (or at least mostly) food you already have for a month, it is certain that you will come up with some... interesting... combinations. That is exactly what I've decided to do, due to moving situations, I have 2 boxes of canned/boxed food and handfuls of frozen meat that I am determined to get through. Since pork chops and rice can only be tolerated so many days a week, I decided to get creative with tonight's dinner. I had some frozen fish fillets and most of a 5 pound bag of potatoes, so I said, self, salmon patties are delightful, and latkes are good. What happens when I put a fish inside a baked potato patty? Turns out, something quite delicious happens.

Ingredients:
2 small potatoes
1 large salmon filet (8-10 oz)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups spinach
2 tbsp sour cream (optional)
2 slices old bread, torn up
2 inch square chunk feta (you can use whatever cheese you like, or none at all)
Garlic salt
Paprika
Parsley


Step 1: Wash the potatoes, poke holes all over with a fork. Microwave 6-8 minutes, until slightly soft. Then dice and boil another 8-10 minutes until mashably soft. (That's a word now.)

 Step 2: Microwave the salmon 2 minutes per side and cut into small pieces.

 Step 3: Mash the potatoes in a large bowl. Add the salmon pieces.

 Step 4: Put all remaining ingredients into a bowl and mash together well. I just dug right in with my hands.

 Step 5: Get about 1/4 cup oil hot in a frying pan over medium heat. Form palm-sized patties with the salmon-potato mixture. Place into the oil and enjoy the sizzle. Cook about 5-7 minutes per side, until nicely browned and cooked through.

 These were delicious, it really is like a mashed potato with a slightly fishy flavor. You can add whatever other spices you like, take out the spinach, add other veggies if you want. If you want it vegetarian, just take out the cheese, sour cream and egg, and use some of the potato cooking water to hold it all together. I guess technically the salmon makes it pescatarian. Maybe lacto-ovo if you leave the egg and sour cream. You can also use bread crumbs, cooked old rice, or oats as a binding agent if you don't want bread or the potatoes.

I topped these with salsa, sour cream, and sriracha and served over a bed of mixed baby greens. Yum!

Applesauce oatmeal breakfast muffins

Most mornings I enjoy waking up early enough to make myself a big warm breakfast. But some days I'm just too tired to wake up early. So over the weekend I decided to make myself some muffins that I can freeze and reheat any time. I found a recipe for Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins, and changed it a bit. I added nuts and dried fruit to add a little crunch and flavor. This recipe made 18 muffins, and I would probably eat 2 at a time because they were small. But at just over 50 calories each, that's an indulgence I don't have to feel guilty about!

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashion rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup non-fat milk
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. sugar
1 oz chopped mixed nuts
3 diced dried prunes

Step 1: Mix the milk, oats, egg whites and applesauce. Spray a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

 Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, fruit and nuts of choice.

 Step 3: Mix the wet & dry ingredients, and spoon into the muffin tins.

 Step 4: Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, until dry all the way through and brown on top.

Step 5: Cool and enjoy! Adding 1 cup sugar or brown sugar would likely make them taste even better, but would add more calories.

Grilled ham, egg & cheese

I wanted something different for breakfast one morning, and had a craving for grilled cheese. Eggs are highly recommended as a breakfast food to keep you full longer, so I figured I'd put an egg on it too. Something seemed to be missing, and when I realized I had sliced ham in my freezer the perfect breakfast had taken shape! At less than 10 minutes to make, this hot, melty breakfast sandwich is perfect any day of the week.
Ingredients:
2 pieces bread
2 tbsp butter
1 egg
1 slice ham
1 slice cheese

Step 1: Butter one side of both pieces of bread and begin heating a small frying pan on medium.
Step 2: Crack the egg, you can beat it if you like scrambled or leave the yolk if you like it messier. Spray the pan and pour in the egg. Let cook until nearly solid, then flip and cook 1 minute on the other side.
Step 3: Put one slice of bread butter-side down in the pan, the egg on top of the bread, ham and cheese on top of the egg. Top with the other bread slice, butter-side up.

Step 4: Cook for ~2 minutes, until bread is brown and toasty. Flip with a spatula, and cook on the other side until golden brown. Slice diagonally and enjoy!

If I had the ingredients, I would probably add tomato or avocado too, just to see what it was like. This was melty, cheesy, hot and delicious!

Breakfast BELT with avocado & feta

I've read several articles lately that say a breakfast with eggs are the most filling. Since it was the weekend, and I had one egg left, and several veggies in the fridge I had just bought yesterday, I wanted to make a super-healthy and filling breakfast. Tim Horton's makes a breakfast BELT sandwich with bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato on a bagel. To lighten it up, I used one slice of wheat bread as the "B" and in place of the bagel, no bacon, lettuce tomato one egg and added a slice of avocado and a sprinkle of feta for healthy fat and flavor.

Ingredients:

1 slice wheat bread

1 egg

1 tbsp oil

1 romaine leaf

1/2 roma tomato

1 slice avocado

1 tbsp feta cheese

Step 1: Put 1 tbsp in a pan, and fry the egg. If you like yellow, you can leave it runny. I cooked it all the way through. 

Step 2: While the egg is cooking, layer the lettuce, tomato, avocado and 1 tbsp feta on a slice of wheat bread (toasted or not).

Step 3: Lay the cooked egg on top of the feta, and enjoy! The feta gives it a tangy flavor, while the avocado is creamy and soft. If you're vegan you can omit the egg and cheese.

White bread with flax

I have always loved fresh baked bread, and have been dying to make my own! Now that I finally have an oven, I plan on making my own as much as possible. So I found a simple recipe online, and decided to try my hand at it. Take a look at my first attempt!

Ingredients:

6 cups flour

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup ground flax

2 cups warm water

Step 1: Add the sugar to the warm water and dissolve. Then add the yeast. Let it sit somewhere warm until it starts to foam. That means the yeast 'woke up' and is breaking down the sugar to make CO2, which makes the bread rise.

 Step 2: Add the oil & salt. Then add the flour 1 cup at a time. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and no longer sticky. Let sit until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).

 Step 3: Knead again on the floured surface. This recipe makes dough for 2 loaves, so divide and place into an oiled bread pan. I made one regular loaf, and one twisted loaf, like french bread.

 Step 4: Let rise again. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Brush the top with butter so that it stays soft.

This loaf ended up breaking, because I didn't let it rise above the level of the pan. So more patience next time. Other than that, it came out beautiful! I will be trying again soon for sure. I dream of the days of sandwiches on homemade bread, and dipping my own buttered bread in warm spaghetti sauce...