Country style breakfast skillet

Weekends are great for me, because I can both sleep in AND have lots of time for cooking awesome breakfasts. I'm not normally a 'breakfast person', but sometimes the mood strikes and I want something big and filling and delicious in the AM. I had plenty of potatoes, that's usually a staple in my breakfast favorites. I also had some frozen turkey bacon (go ahead and groan, any males reading this, but it tastes delicious. As long as you don't expect 'real' bacon taste) and ground beef. Kind of just making it up as I went, I came up with a restaurant-worthy breakfast skillet.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound turkey bacon (go ahead and use real if you have it)
1/2 cup corn or other veggie (if you like that kind of thing)
2 potatoes, diced
1/2 onion, diced
4 eggs
Spray on vegetable oil or 2 tbsp oil

Step 1: Dice up the potato and onion, spray the pan with oil. Microwave the potato for 5-8 minutes to soften. Cook on medium heat for at least 10-15 minutes, until the onion and potato chunks are soft.

 Step 2: Cut up the bacon and add it and the ground beef to the pan. Cook until the ground beef is thoroughly browned. Add vegetables if you're using any. Transfer the cooked skillet to another bowl and keep warm.

 Step 3: Spray the pan again and add 2 eggs. Let them cook a few minutes, until the whites thicken. Carefully flip them to cook the other side.

 Step 4: Put about a cup of the skillet mix into a bowl, slide the cooked sunny-side up eggs on top. Viola!

This was amazingly delicious, hearty and filling. If I had the time, I'd make breakfast like this every day! But then I'd also probably weigh 50 pounds more than I do now... Anyways, enjoy!

Potato Skins

A game-day classic, potato skins are always a hit. A friend was having a football party, I had a 5 pound bag of potatoes, guess what I made! They are very simple, though time-consuming.

Ingredients:

6-12 potatoes, washed and cut in half

Butter/margerine

Sea salt

1/2 pound bacon or turkey bacon

Cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Salsa

Green onion/chives

 Step 1: Rub potatoes with oil, and poke holes in them with a fork. Microwave potatoes on high for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Cut potatoes in half, cover outside and inside with butter and sea salt. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Step 3: Hollow out the potatoes. Flip upside down, bake for another 20 minutes. You can use the scooped-out part for mashed potatoes, soup, or just eat them because they're warm and salty and delicious.
Step 4: Flip back over, brush with more butter and bake a final 20 minutes. You're now ready to top them.

Step 5: Cook the bacon on both sides until brown. Drain on paper towels and break/cut into small pieces. Sprinkle a healthy tbsp into each potato skin. Cover with cheese, a dollop of sour cream, salsa and/or green onion. Made in your own home and not deep-fried, these are healthier for you than if you ordered them from a bar or restaurant. Leave off the bacon for a vegetarian treat.

Supercharged Turkey BLT!

I had some turkey lunchmeat that needed used, plus 1/2 an avocado, salad makings and turkey bacon. I had wanted to make a BLT, but now I knew that I could make it super-extra delicious!

You need:

2 oz turkey meat

2 slices whole wheat bread

1 slice cheese

1/2 tomato

Handful torn romaine

3 slices turkey bacon

1/4 avocado

4 slices cucumber

Step 1: Cook the turkey bacon, turning once.
Step 2: While cooking, pile on the meat, cheese, tomato slices. On the other piece of bread, add the greens, cucumber, avocado chunks and lettuce.

Step 3: Add the cooked bacon. Very carefully, flip the pieces of bread together. Excellent combinations of flavors, lots of fiber and vitamins from the veggies! As always, just omit the turkey for a vegetarian lunch option.