Tag: easy cooking

Weekend Breakfast: Potato Pancakes, Poached Eggs & Avocado Sauce

Potato Pancakes, Poached Egg, Avocado Sauce
Potato Pancakes, Poached Egg, Avocado Sauce

Recipes for me serve as general guidelines for inspiration, so this meal is the result of a recipe for avocado sauce and a fridge of leftover ingredients from cilantro lime marinated chicken skewers and homemade potato skins.

It was super easy to make and, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, I LOVE cooking weekend breakfast and brunch! Today’s religious experience was so simple and flavorful! It even got the complement comment  “this is SO good! I feel like I’m on vacation! “… Now that makes a chef happy!

The crispy texture of the pancake mixed with the creamy avocado sauce and the runny egg is just to die for! The lime in the avocado sauce and the spices made for a very refreshing meal. I couldn’t believe how the flavors  and textures mixed. Don’t get me wrong, I knew it would be good but I was actually surprised at how incredibly delicious it was! I regret that I have only one stomach! You can play around with different spices and ingredients, and you might get extra points if you find a way to mix in some tequila! 🙂 Breakfast drink anyone!?

Potato Pancakes, Poached Eggs & Avocado Sauce
a rough step by step guide

Potato Pancake & Poached Eggs Ingredients
Potato
Milk (you can use regular or an alternative)
Cheddar Cheese, grated (regular and/or alternative)
Eggs
Fresh Salt & Cracked Pepper
Cilantro (to garnish, if desired)
Green Onions (to garnish, if desired)
Sour Cream (to garnish, if desired)

Avocado Sauce Ingredients
Avocado
1 lime
Fresh Salt & Cracked Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Cumin
Garlic, minced
Cilantro

  1. Heat pan for potato pancakes. I swear by my Calphalon Crepe Pan! It heats evenly and the non-stick makes for quick and easy clean up!
  2. Mash together the potato, milk, salt & pepper to taste. Make sure to get it as smooth as you can without any potato lumps. While the potato pan is still heating, chop the green onion, cilantro and grate the cheese.
  3. To make the avocado sauce, mix together all listed ingredients to taste until smooth. Be mindful on the cumin, it’s a strong flavor and can easily overpower the flavors if you’re not careful!
  4. The potato pan should be hot by now, scoop in the potato and carefully flatten and shape into a circle. Cook until crispy on one side and flip. Add the cheese and allow it to melt. Once the cheese is fully melted, move to plate and smear avocado sauce on the top.
  5. Once you flip the pancakes, start the water for the eggs boiling and poach the eggs for 3 minutes. Have a small ramekin handy to drain the water from the eggs. I LOVE the CorningWare Ramekins, they’re so stylish and the perfect size for poached eggs. After 3 minutes, don’t let the eggs overcook, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and rest the spoon over the ramekin to allow the last drops of water to fall. If you don’t do this, the water will soak into the pancake and make it soggy.
  6. Place the poached egg on top of the avocado adorned pancake, and garnish with cilantro, green onion, sour cream, and spices as desired. You can add a little salsa if you wish, I wanted to bring out the flavor of the avocado sauce so we didn’t use it for this breakfast.

 

 

Weekend Breakfast: Eggplant and Scrambled Eggs

I love weekends! What’s better than waking up and realizing that the first of two day’s you’ve been looking forward to all week are finally here!

One of the best parts of the weekend, in our house, is weekend breakfast! During the week, breakfast is a chore and provides quite a bit of entertainment while I bang around opening cabinets and drawers in the attempt to find a suitable meal that can be made quickly or eaten on the go.

But Weekends…walking into the kitchen, opening the fridge and creating some delicious weekend masterpiece is nearly a religious experience for me! Today, however, there was little inspiration flowing so I gave creative powers the day off and opted for my simple “go-to” stand by’s of eggplant and and scrambled eggs.

Not only is this meal gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, low fat but it’s also incredibly simple and quite delicious!

Eggplant & Scrambled Eggs

  • Pre-heat oven to 450
  • Slice eggplant and lay on baking sheet covered with a sheet of Reynolds Wrap Non-stick aluminum foil 
  • Misto Spray olive oil  on the top of the eggplant and season with fresh cracked pepper
  • Cook for 15-17 minutes, or until eggplant is as cooked/crispy as you like
  • When there is about 5 minutes left on the oven timer, scramble one egg with garlic, cayenne pepper, fresh cracked pepper, dried parsley and cook.
  • Enjoy!!

Today I also tried something that we picked up last week and I haven’t yet tried, Reynolds Wrap Non-stick aluminum foil (also available through My Amazon.com Store). We make broiled veggies 3-5 times a week and no matter how much olive oil I lather on the veggies or Misto spray on foil the eggplant ALWAYS sticks! It drives me nuts and has caused a few choice words to escape on various occasions! So, last week we picked up a roll of the alleged “non-stick” foil and today was the day! I was skeptical as I pulled it out of the drawer mentally recounting the countless fights with the baking sheet and foil as it they tried to hold onto my precious eggplant with their sticky powers.

I am quite happy to report that I’m a believer! Foil CAN be non-stick! Ring the bells, sound the horns! That foil worked wonders and I actually liked that it wasn’t quite flawless, as you can see in the photo the end cut of the eggplant stuck to the sheet a bit. Full dramatically narrated product review posted here. This is now a STAPLE of my modest little kitchen! With the tiny space that we have, every utensil, pot, pan and gadget must earn it’s spot!

 

And on a completely non-related side note… have you ever tried to spell  “utensil” and gotten it right the first time!? I’ll shamelessly admit that it took me a few tries… what a strange word!

 

Broiled Eggplant

Simple Tapas Dinner

Everyone has had those days where you’d rather gnaw your own arm off than cook. No matter how much you usually adore it, there is just no inspirational energy left in your body. Those types of days pose a special problem for me because, surprise surprise, I’m picky. I like my food how I like it and when I want it and I want to use fresh ingredients. If you opened my freezer you wouldn’t find any Hungry Man dinners or Lean Cuisine Steamers.

But alas, last night I just did NOT want to cook and was so thankful that I’ve learned to plan ahead and stock the kitchen! It’s NOT hard to eat delicious enriching and nutritious meals, even on those days that come hell or high water you are NOT picking up a pan! Below is an illustration of a simple, healthy meal that I literally “threw” together from what was in the fridge.

Those are the days I’m thankful that it is so easy to eat wholesome food if you just plan ahead a bit and stock GOOD quality ingredients. Above is a little plate of broiled zucchini and yams, sliced heirloom tomatoes with cracked sea salt and pepper dusted with dried parsley, a few grapes, fresh basil and arugula and some balsamic drizzled grilled chicken breast and a few rosemary crackers. We recently tried a  salad at Bisato in Seattle (my review posted here) with 20 year aged balsamic dressing and it was INCREDIBLE! We wound up ordering another of the salads and that weekend went on a hunt to Pike Place to find a bottle! Stocking your pantry with fresh ingredients and using quality oils/vinegar and spices really does wonders for sprucing up a meal! Even a simple meal like chicken and veggies becomes a work of art with the right flavors!

Shown in this picture at left clockwise from the wine 🙂 is….
Rook Wine
La Panzonella Rosemary Croccantini (Whole Foods stocks them)
Oven Grilled Zucchini
Baked pepper chicken with 20 year balsamic drizzled over the top
Fresh Basil
Oven Grilled Yam Fries
Heirloom tomatoes with fresh cracked salt and pepper
Red Grapes

How do you spruce up a simple meal?

Roasted Fennel Pasta with Tomato Dressing

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, because if I did then my number one AND two would have been broken for the past few YEARS: cook through my recipes and cook with more diverse foods! Thanks to Presidents Day, a little holiday afforded me the time and the inspiration to try TWO new recipes! Something possessed me to pick up fennel at the market this week and while I can’t remember actually consciously eating fennel up to now something in me decided that we needed to cook it!

Keeping with the homemade and new recipes theme, I found a delicious tomato dressing/compote recipe  Martha Stewart.com (link below) and what was it drizzled over? That’s right…fennel. It was a sign from the cooking gods! Below I’ve worked in both recipes into the overall preparation of the meal but will have links to the specific recipes below.  The recipe below served 3 people healthy portions but there was only leftover pasta. If you want leftovers to enjoy I suggest doubling the fennel and sauce portion of the meal.

This meal is Meat-free, dairy-free (if you omit the Parmesan like I do) AND Vegan; if you use gluten-free bread & pasta it’s also a gluten-free option as well! Look at the endless possibilities!

 

 

Ingredients

Pasta

  • 1/2 package pasta of your choice ( I used Angel Hair)

Garlic Bread

  • Whatever rustic loaf you like
  • Optional- Parmesan or Dairy Free Cheese for the garlic bread.We love the grated blend  Parmesan from DeLaurenti that we pick up fresh from Pike Place

Roasted Fennel

  • 3 fennel bulbs (choose with thick base), stalks cut off, bulbs sliced
  • EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Tomato Dressing:

  • EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
  • 10 ounces (1-pint container) grape or cherry tomatoes
  • minced garlic (to taste in all recipes, I don’t measure much!)
  • 2/3 cup dry red wine
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
  2. Chop top of fennel stock off, wash bulb and cut as shown below. (Note, the lovely photography is from the Simply Recipes site, I didn’t remember to take a photo of this step). You can wash your tomatoes at this time also if you’d like.
  3. Lay out baking sheet with aluminum foil over it. Toss the fennel in olive oil. This time I used a bowl to coat, which resulted in a bit too much olive oil on the fennel, next time I suggest laying out on a baking sheet and brushing with an OXO Basting Brush.
  4. Crack fresh pepper over fennel and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
  5. Roast for 30-40 minutes, until fennel is caramelized.
  6. Prep the garlic bread on aluminum foil so it’s ready to put in the oven! I use my handy dandy Misto Sprayer and spray some EVOO over the bread, drizzle with minced garlic, fresh cracked pepper, and dried parsley. If you’re doing cheese (Being lactose intolerant I don’t use the cheese but it’s still quite delicious!)  add the cheese on the top.
  7. When fennel has about 25 minutes left start the water to  boil the water for the spaghetti. Add the spaghetti when the water boils and cook to your desired tenderness.
  8. In a medium pan, drizzle olive oil for the tomato dressing over medium heat. Add the tomatoes when the pan is hot. Make sure you keep swirling the pan around so that all the skins have a chance to cook.
  9. Add the garlic, red wine, and balsamic vinegar to the dressing pan, mixing well. Simmer until the liquid reduces and tomatoes start to get soft (about 5 minutes). At this step I cut the tomatoes in half with my spatula to allow the juices to mix.
  10. Stir in sugar, salt, and red-wine vinegar, and cook for 1 minute.
  11. When there is 10 minutes left on the fennel timer, stick the bread in the oven to toast and the cheese has melted.
  12. Serve and enjoy a culinary masterpiece!!

My overall review:  I think this is one of the best meals I’ve ever made!! The savory grilled and caramelized flavor complimented the liquorice taste of the fennel blended, which perfectly with the tomato balsamic sauce and the texture of the pasta. Add some grilled potato garlic bread and it was simple divine!!!

Recipes this meal was inspired from:
Roasted Fennel Recipe
Warm Tomato Dressing

Soup Season: Cauliflower Garlic Soup

It’s confirmed…Summer is on it’s last leg. The weather has turned, Pumpkin Spice lattes are back at Starbuck’s and I wore a sweater to work.  Here in Seattle we didn’t get very many sunny days but as life is rarely fair so here fall is in all it’s glory and so is my yearning for warm cozy comfort meals. That meal that will just warm the chill in the air right out of you and leave you cozied up to your favorite book enjoying the rain falling. Okay okay, so it’s not THAT cold yet in Seattle but I feel winter coming and tonight I wanted a comfort soup! I didn’t have the energy to cook up a feast so I went with my go-to Cauliflower Garlic soup.  Cauliflower is notoriously low in fat, but high high in dietary fiber and vitamin C and when mixed with garlic provides a host of anti-inflammatory agents as well as a tasty simple meal.

Cauliflower Garlic Soup

1 head cauliflower
minced garlic to taste, (I use about a spoonful)
cracked pepper, dried parsley and fresh ground salt to taste
water

  • cut up the cauliflower and microwave with about 1/3 cup water for 8-10 minutes
  • set out your blender (I swear by my vitamix) and add the garlic and herbs to taste
  • once the cauliflower is done steaming pour the veggies and the water into the blender and cover, mixing on medium/high until all ingredients are blended
  • add more water if needed to texture/consistency mixing
  • garnish with cracked pepper and enjoy
From time to time I add other ingredients like pulled chicken, or grilled onions, substitute the water for soy milk or butternut squash soup, or I add other spices I happen to be in the mood for. Please post with YOUR ideas!