Sunday Breakfast

Nothing extravagant. Just delicious.

Breakfast for the office

Every Friday, someone at our office makes breakfast for everyone. One signs up, gets a forty dollar budget, and presents a breakfast. I'm pretty sure I went over budget (imagine) but I just added the ingredients I needed and the $40 to the weekly grocery budget and made the numbers work.

First off, this is work. This is my first time cooking for 50. I believe I put in around 5 hours.

The Menu. Swine free Denver omelet.
Biscuits and gravy omelet. French toast cobbler.

Recipes are reduced down from 50 to 6-10 servings or so.

Swine free Denver omelet
Vegetarian option

I 16 oz carton egg beaters
2 8 ct. tube biscuits
1 red pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
10 mushrooms, sliced
1 package of shredded mexi cheese.
sprig of rosemary

Spray a 9x9 pan with non stick spray. Line the bottom with the biscuit dough, pressing it flat to fill the gaps and piercing repeatedly with a fork. Place in a 350 degree oven for 6 minutes or until the bottoms just start to brown.

Saute the veggies in some olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, crushed red peppers, and the rosemary. Stir in half the cheese and the egg beaters. stir until eggs JUST begin to set up, then pour over the biscuits. Top with remaining cheese. Place back into the oven for 45 minutes or until internal temp gets to 140. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. garnish with diced green stuff, salt and pepper.

Biscuits and gravy omelet

1 package smoked ham diced into half inch chunks
1 onion diced
2 potatoes, sliced
2 8 ct. tube biscuits
1 16 oz carton egg substitute
half stick of butter
3-5 tablespoons of flour
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups milk
1/2 cup buttermilk

Spray a 9x9 pan with non stick spray. Line the bottom with the biscuit dough, pressing it flat to fill the gaps and piercing repeatedly with a fork. Place in a 350 degree oven for 6 minutes or until the bottoms just start to brown.

Saute the potatoes until brown in olive oil. Layer them into the baking dish. Saute the onions and the ham until onions are translucent . Add to the baking dish on top of the potatoes. Now pour the eggs and cheese over the top and place into the oven for 20 minutes. Reduce stove heat to medium. Add the butter to the ham and onion pan then, stirring with a whisk, add flour. Once the flour browns just a little, add the stock, continuing to stir. Next add the milk and the buttermilk, still stirring. Raise the heat a Little until mixture comes to a soft boil. Stir until gravy is just a little thinner than your target as it will set up as it cools.

Remove baking dish from the oven and pour the gravy over the top. Top with remaining cheese. Return to the oven for a further 25 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. garnish with diced green stuff, salt and pepper.


French toast Cobbler.
6 granny smith apples, sliced
half stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 loaf french brioche Cut to 1/2 thick
3 packages frozen berries

french toast batter
1 cup milk
some nutmeg and cinnamon
4 eggs
a Little vanilla
Topping:

• 2 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch fine salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

Syrup topping
2 cups of sugar
4 tablespoons corn syrup
some cinnamon
water

Cut the bread and lay it out to dry. This will help the bread absorb the french toast batter. Grease a 9x9 baking dish.

Melt 1/2 sick of butter in medium low heat. Add the brown sugar. stir until incorporated. toss the apples in this mixture until warmed.

Dip the half of the bread slices in the batter, lining the bottom of the pan. Pour the apples over the top. Now dip and place the rest of the bread for a second layer of french toast. Top with both bags of frozen fruit. I used blackberries and blueberries.

In another large bowl, mix together the nuts, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the topping. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, gently work in the cold butter until pea-sized lumps are formed.

Top it evenly with mixture and bake until berries are bubbly and topping is golden brown, about 45 minutes, rotating once halfway through cooking.

While baking, make the syrup. In a pan add the sugar, frozen berries, and corn syrup into a sauce pan. Fill with water until it just covers the fruit. Boil until berries split, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly then liquefy the mixture in a blender. Add 1 1/2 cups of real maple syrup (this is the key secret ingredient.)

Remove pan from the oven. Let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon out portions, covering as liberally as you please with the berry syrup.

This is not a low calorie breakfast, but it is delicious comfort food.

Thanksgiving Feast. Or An auspicious time to begin writing on food.

As we race headlong into the holiday season and the dawning of a new year, we focus on family, giving, sharing thanks, and quite importantly, good food. This seems to be an excellent time to begin a blog discussing the merits of eating well, and my desire to do so, consistently.

As I enter this time of year and my own new chapter of life, in Atlanta, Georgia, I decided to celebrate these moments by inviting family to my home and hosting my first Thanksgiving feast.

Brunch: Those of you who know me well will not be surprised to learn that we started with Brunch. In a slight nod to the cuisine of the southern United States we began our day with Fried Green Tomatoes Eggs Benedict.




Once the time came to prepare dinner, we kept our bellies occupied with wine and some roasted fennel topped with Parmesan cheese.

The main course began with a warm frieze salad dressed with bacon and blue cheese.


Then it was on to our entree.


Wild mushroom and aged provolone turkey roulade.






This was topped with a cranberry pomegranate sauce and served along side some sauteed Brussels sprouts



and some butternut squash gnocchi.

It was, probably, the best meal I've ever been a part of preparing.

After resting up, drinking some more wine, and a fierce interlude to attack some dishes, we tucked into a sweet potato pecan pie (courtesy of Mom) with freshly whipped cream.

(if you can, note the Terra Trace, O-1 crew in the picture)

I would like to extend unending thanks to the two best sous chefs you could ask for. I had no idea how ambitious it all was and could never have pulled it off without the help of Mom and Cheryl. Major points to you two for hand whipping the cream!

It was an amazing holiday and a wonderful meal.

Now, what to cook?