Breakfast Pizza

I liked mine sprinkled with Frank's Red Hot Sauce.

This was a Sunday morning breakfast that really should have been a Sunday brunch.  Packed with protein and deliciousness, it also packs a bacon fat punch.  But hey, I had to give it a try. It was a treat.

My daughter had her friend J over.  Love giving her treats because she is such a full of gratitude kind of girl.  I love that about her.  Everyone loves seeing gratitude in people don't they?  Entitlement is such a turn off.  At least for me.  Seeing J enjoy a meal and smiling about it gives me such joy.  Isn't that what being a cook is all about.  At least for me, when I make a meal for someone and they really enjoy it, it makes me feel good.  I accomplished something.

BREAKFAST PIZZA
If your bacon and dough is already made then this pizza is a snap.  I will write it as if you don't. Pizza dough recipe underneath.  It is a make ahead pizza dough but if you want to make it the same day then you could use this recipe instead.

6-8 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
dash of Tabasco (optional)
1 pound bacon
1 pound mozzarella

Preheat your oven to 450F.  Make sure there is a rack on the bottom of the oven.

While the oven is heating, roll out your dough.  Either put cornmeal on your pan or nonstick cooking spray.

Top with mozzarella.

In a bowl, combine eggs with milk and beat with a fork or whisk.  Warm frying pan and put a little butter or oil in it, coating the bottom.  Pour eggs in.  Keep pulling the cooked egg on bottom to the top.  Don't over cook them, undercook!  The eggs will continue baking in the oven when they are on the pizza.  Season eggs with salt and pepper.  Even better with a dash of Tabasco.

Break up eggs into small pieces, scatter all over pizza.

Top with bacon all around.

Bake on bottom shelf of oven.

OVERNIGHT BASIC PIZZA DOUGH

Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour
1 3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces/60g) olive oil
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 tablespoon sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting


Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

On the second day:
8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Egg Rice Bowl

I just had the most amazing lunch.  I have made this rice before.  I love it.  This time I added a few different things since it was just me eating it.  No picky eaters saying I don't like this and I don't like that.  I love how it came out.

Rice and Egg Bowl

1 cup rice ( I used Basmati rice)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water

1 tablespoon butter 
1 tablespoon avocado oil (may be needed)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup pineapple, chopped 
2 green onions, chopped thinly
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger, grated
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 package mock crap chunks.

Cook the rice as normal but instead of adding just water, add half coconut milk and half water.

While the rice is cooking.  Cook mock crab chunks in butter.  Set aside when warmed.  In that same pan, cook bell peppers until tender.  Add in some oil if needed. Add in pineapple, heat until warmed through.  Add in garlic and ginger and heat until fragrant.  Add in the cooked rice.  Add in tamari and sriracha.    Sprinle with chopped green onions.

Add the cooked egg over top.

Creme Brulee

Color me impressed.  Creme brulee...

Some very dear friends of ours from the town in which we use to live let us have the company of their daughter for a few nights.  She is the same age as our daughter.  They were little together when we lived next door and always got along famously.  We all get along rather well. We see eye to eye on a lot of things.  We think they are some of the coolest people we know.  Cool as in not going with the flow, but cool as in having good values, among them, the importance of family.

Anyway this wonderful 12 year old girl and my daughter together made creme brulee.  Ahhhh-mazing! It was delicious.

Next time it is served in our house, I will be the one making it and probably will try out this pumpkin creme brulee that I saw on The Daily Meal.

Creme Brulee

6 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

Whisk together egg yolks, 4 tablespoons white sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.

In a saucepan, heat the cream, stirring over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Stir cream into the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined.

Pour cream mixture into the top pan of a double boiler. Stir over simmering water until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Remove mixture from heat immediately and pour into a shallow heat-proof dish.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to broil.

In a small bowl combine remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and brown sugar. Sift this mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes. Watch carefully, it will go from brown to burnt in seconds.

Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate until custard is set again.

Tender Zucchini Noodles with Scrambled Eggs

Zucchini is like miracle food when it comes to 200 or less.  You can really eat a lot of zucchini without eating too many calories.  Love it.

The hardest part of this dish is chopping up the zucchini.  I used the mandolin to cut thin slices and then I cut those into small strips.  If you have one of those ribbon cutters, that will work perfectly.

Salt the zucchini liberally and let sit for fifteen minutes.  Rinse and squeeze gently before adding to the pan.


Tender Zucchini Noodles with Scrambled Eggs

This makes two servings. Calories in italics.
Calories per person is 217

2 medium to large zucchinis.  You should end up with about 6 cups of zucchini (before salting) (114)
1 teaspoon olive oil (40)
4 eggs scrambled (280)
season with garlic powder, salt and pepper

In a large, non stick fry pan heat olive oil.  Add gently squeezed zucchini. Cook over medium heat until the zucchini has wilted.  Move aside and cook eggs.  Or you can cook your eggs in another frying pan.

Divide zucchini and eggs between two serving plates.

Asparagus With Eggs

Something easy, something delicious, and something oh-so-Spring like.

Asparagus is one of my favorite things to eat in Spring.  Pair it with some eggs - even better.  I saw this idea at The Kitchn.  I like that site a lot.  VIsit it often.  Very practical recipes and ideas. I liked the idea of addising some Parmesan cheese.  I threw in the radishes because I love them and they look awful pretty there, dont they.  They tasted great together.

This is a very low cal meal.  Even with two eggs, it is about 275 for the whole meal.  How can you go wrong?

Crab Stuffed Eggs

Not the prettiest as I was late getting dinner on and the natives were restless.

In another week or so there will be a lot of hard boiled eggs around this house due to Easter festivities.  Not that we don't usually have ahrd boiled eggs around because we often do.  Finding new and different ways to eat them is always fun.  This one is well worth any effort put forth.  They taste great.  You can use the canned variety of crab or fresh.  Obviously the fresher one will be amazing.  But the canned one is quite good too.

Crab Stuffed Eggs

6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and halved
1 small can (6 oz) salad crab meat, rinsed and drained well
3 ½ tablespoons mayonnaise
1 ½ tablespoons very finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
½ teaspoon onion powder or more if you like
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Hard boil eggs.  I put my eggs in cold water and then bring it to a boil (I heard that prevents cracking).  Simmer three minutes and turn off the heat.  Let the water cool a little.  Generally I run a little cold water on it and peel and then run cold water again on it to rinse of any remaining shell bits.

Remove the yolks and place in a small bowl, mash with a fork. Add mayonnaise, celery, mustard, onion powder, Old Bay, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and mix well. Fold in crab meat and mix thoroughly. Fill the empty egg white shells with the mixture.

Serve chilled or store covered in refrigerator until ready to serve.
about 75 calories per half.

*Next time I will add some chopped chives.

Daring Cooks: Poached Eggs

 

It' s Daring Cooks time!  I am a wee bit late as posting day was yesterday.  I had a broken modem. :(  So no internet.  Now, I am up and running.  It's amazing how addicted I am to the internet.  Have a medical question... go to the internet.  Want to look up a phone number... go to the internet.  Want to share a song with my girls like Dominic the Donkey... go to the internet.  It happended several times yesterday.

I was very happy to do this challenge.  I love eggs.  Oh man I love eggs!  Poaching them is a special thing for me.  Growing up my mother would always make these for us when we were sick.  It was love in a bowl when I wasn't feeling good.  She would break them up and stir in a little bread.  They were creamy and delicious and very soothing.

Jenn of Jenn Cuisine and Jill of Jillouci have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

The mandatory item for this months challenge was:

To use the technique of poaching an egg (or vegan substitute) in either one of the recipes listed below or your own creative take on the challenge. But whatever you do MUST involve the technique of poaching.

Lentil Sauce over Pasta
Adaped from Fix It and Forget It Lightly

1 cup lentils
1 1/2 quarts stewed tomatoes
2 carrots, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 onion , chopped
2 cups diced butternut squash
2 tablespoons pesto
1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning (I used Tuscan blend)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf

Mix all ingredients in a crock pot and set at low for 7 to 8 hours. You can place it at high for four hours as well.

Fill a asauce pan 3/4 full and add a tablespoon of vinegar.  Bring to a boil.  Crak one ro two eggs in a bowl, being careful not to break the yolk.  Gently dump the eggs one at a time into the sauce pan of boiling water.  Let the egg cook until firm.  Scoop out with a slotted spoon.

Place on top of lentils*.

* A dollop of sour cream is excellent on top as well.  But the egg was rich and creamy.

Huevos Rancheros

While this dish may not be the prettiest, it sure is the tastiest! It's quick, it's yummy and it's breakfast food that will stay with you a while. All that fiber from the beans will help you feel fuller longer.

I didn't have any corn tortillas so I just had the beans, salsa and egg. Add a toasted corn tortilla as the bottom layer if you want a little more.

I did the components seperate because I was making plain eggs for everyone else. The following "recipe" is the quickest way to do it.

Huevos Ranchero

1 egg
1/2 cup salsa, fire roasted has the most flavor
1/2 cup mashed beans

Place mashed beans in frying pan and heat through. Make a well in the center and add salsa, heat until salsa is warmed. Break egg right into the center. Cover with a lid to help the egg cook through.

The Portugese Dish with Broa

I did a search for the type of recipe that was suggested by Bernard Clayton to go with the Broa (click here for that). Not too many recipes out there like what he was talking about. But all I needed was one and I found it. Delicious. A very simple dish with some nice flavor. We really enjoyed this. I would like to make it again because you can prep everything ahead of time and then pop it in the oven. Have to love that type of recipe.

Baked Eggs with Ham, Sausage and Peas
Adapted from Regional Recipes


1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes (with liquid)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2.5 ounces fully cooked smoked ham, diced
2 smoked chicken chorizo sausage, sliced thinly
2 eggs
1/4 cup cooked green peas
2 tablespoons chopped pimento

Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in 2-quart saucepan until onion is tender. Add tomatoes, sugar and paprika; break up tomatoes with fork. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.Cook and stir ham and chorizo sausage in 8-inch skillet until sausage is done, about 5 minutes; drain.Divide tomato mixture evenly among 4 ungreased 1-ounce custard cups. Break 1 egg over mixture in each cup. Arrange ham mixture, peas and pimiento around each egg. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F until eggs are set, 12 to 15 minutes.Serve in custard cups.
Yields 2 servings.

My Notes:

I omitted the parsley because I didnt have any- definitely would use it next time.
The calories for half the recipe is about 350.

Crumble Broa into the mixture for more taste, flavor and texture.

DILL DAY

Dessert first, right? No, just kidding.



Today was a dilly of a day and I mean that in the most literal sense. I have a boat load of dill on hand just dying to be used in something. So today I made a Salmon and Dill Crustless Quiche with Zucchini Dill Muffins and even a salad with dill and buttermilk dressing. And guess what? I still have a ton of dill left. I guess I will dry it.

A momentous thing occured yesterday, I figured out where my macro button was on my camera. Yeah! Voila, I now have clear close up shots. I might even get a beautiful shot here and there! All of the blogs I read have such great photography. I am still amazed how many talented people there are out there in blog land!

Port and Fig Tart with Creme Fraiche

Creme Fraiche

1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups heavy cream

Combine in a non reactive bowl, cover and let sit for 24 hours in a warm spot. It should caogulate or gel quite a bit. If it is runny continue to keep it out of the fridge for another 12 hours.

You can sweeten it or flavor or leave it as is.

Fig Spread

24 dried figs, chopped small
1/2 cup port wine
1 cup orange juice
pinch of cinnamon

Combine in a heavy bottom sauce pan. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Process until relatively smooth.

Tart

I am sure you all have a good tart recipe or for sure can find one. I do not want to pass along this one as it came out kind of dry. I did a little experimentation with mine and used oats. I am not 100 percent happy with the results yet. I will keep you posted on an oat tart recipe when I find it!

Spread figs on tart. Sprinkle with toasted walnuts. Put a dollop of creme fraiche on top and drizzle with honey.

Dill Salmon Quiche

6 oz salmon, fillet or canned
1 cup cooked potatoes, cut up small
6 eggs
1 can evaporated milk, (I used fat free)
1/4 cup sour cream (I used 1/3 less fat)
3 tablespoons capers
1 small onion, diced and sauteed
1 cup peas (wouldnt put this in again, really did nothing for the dish)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
s and p
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Comine eggs and whisk. Add remaining ingredients and pour into sprayed pie pan. Fill 2/3 full. I made two from this recipe. Bake at 350 F.