BFMH: Avocado Chipotle Eggs Benedict

So with 52 Breakfasts completed I started another round of searching for things to make. Thanks to the all powerful Pinterest I found this recipe:

Avocado Eggs Benedict with Chipotle Hollandaise 
slightly adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride
2 English muffins
8 slices bacon
1 avocado
Juice of half a lime
Salt and pepper
4 eggs
Chipotle hollandaise sauce (recipe follows)
Heat a sauce pan with 2 inches of water to a simmer.
Split the English muffins in half and toast until browned.
Cook the bacon to a crisp and set aside.
Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and lime juice and mash with a fork.
Spread the avocado over the toasted English muffin halves and top with the bacon.
Crack 1 egg at a time into a separate small bowl or cup. Stir the simmering water with a spoon and gently pour the egg into the swirling water. Repeat with additional eggs.
Cook the eggs for 2 1/2 minutes, until the whites are cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain for a minute before placing on top of the bacon. Season each egg with salt and pepper, and top each serving with chipotle hollandaise.

Chipotle Hollandaise
slightly adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride
2 egg yolks
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon chipotle in adobo puree
1 stick of butter, melted
Place egg yolks, lime, salt, chipotle and adobo sauce in the blender. Blend for 30 seconds before streaming in the melted butter. Serve immediately.

There is no other way to describe this meal than a very special version of Bene. I had the pleasure of serving Husband, my dear friend BAM, her sister, and her sister's friend this past Saturday. BAM is an excellent cook as well and pretty much was my right hand woman. 

ALSO! I finally managed to successfully poach an egg! It is a big deal like my battle with bacon. 

This is an excellent choice to make for the spice lover in your family. There is just a little bit of a kick behind it and, as I have never made it via Blender, the Hollandaise was very easy.

BFMH: Eggs Clouds

Due to the Low Carb Diet I am following, my planned "Coffee Cake" For this morning, was no longer an option. While patrolling the streets of Pinterest I found this little ditty:

Egg Clouds

Ingredients

4 eggs

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup cooked bacon (leave off for Vegetarian version)

1/4 cup chives

Method

Separate eggs with the yolks in separate small bowls.

Whip whites until stiff white peaks occur.

Fold in bacon, cheese, and chives.

Spoon white out onto greased baking sheet.

Make a deep well in each mountain of eggs whites.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 3 minutes.

Put a yolk into each well and bake for 2-3 minutes. 

Enjoy

In my opinion, the yolk part only needs 2 minutes and a bit of sit time on the pan if you like your yolks running. I baked them for 3 minutes and they weren't quite runny still, but they were not hard cooked. 

Husband loved these. I thought they were a very good alternative to the usual ways to make eggs for breakfast. I will most certainly be making these for when we have guests for over for breakfast. The egg white being whipped made an excellent texture and look and with the "shakey Cheese" Parmesan it had a wonderful flavor.

Fold in the yummy.

Make the mountains with the deep wells.


Cooked egg white mountains.


Add a yolk to each.


Look at that yolk.


After the yolks were cooked as well.


Happy Breakfast: Happy Husband!

BFMH: "A Hobbiton Breakfast" Egg-In-The-Basket Grilled Cheese

Today for breakfast we had something I had never made before, but was very excited about making happen.

A Hobbiton Breakfast – Egg in the Basket Grilled Cheese

Ingredients

Egg - 2

bread -4 slices

butter – 1-2 tablespoon

Cheddar cheese – 6 slices

Bacon – 4 -6 slices (Sub Tomato for Vegetarian Version)

Method:

Cut a circle in the middle of a piece of 2 slices of bread.

If you don't have a round cookie cutter, the top of a glass will work.

Heat a skillet or griddle sprayed with Pam or Mazola.

Place the holed slices in the pan.

Put about 1/2 t butter in the hole in the bread.

Heat the butter until very hot.

Crack an egg in the hole.

Use a spatula to move the white around so it gets done.

When the egg is fairly well set, turn the bread and egg over to cook the other side, being careful not to break the yolk.

Remove eggie breads (preferable while a little under cooked as it will be  and begin to toast whole (not hole) slices of bread.

Flip when one side is toasted and the apply cheese.

(My bacon on required reheating so I through it in the pan while the bread toasted)

Use a lid to speed cheese melting.

When cheese is melted, put the cooked bacon on the cheese and apply the Eggie bread on top and allow to cook to desired doneness/temperature.  

Plate and eat for Elevensies. 

I don't feel like I need to review this dish. It was incredible and Husband Loved it. The egg yolk ended up a little overcooked, but next time, it'll be perfect. We will be having this one again in the future for sure.

Canadian nationalism isn't as insidious as American nationalism, though.

As we all know, I enjoy a good "wait, what is in that?" dessert reaction. I like my chocolate covered bacon and balsamic strawberries with ice cream sort of sweets. So this dessert was happily made (though time taking) by me.

Maple Bacon Cookie Dough Truffles

Ingredients - half order amounts

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature -  1/4 cup
3/4 cup packed brown sugar -  1/3 cup
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk - 7 ounces
1 tablespoon maple syrup - 1/2 Tbs
2 cups flour - 1 cup
1/2 teaspoon salt  - 1/4 tsp
1/2 cup candied bacon, chopped  - 1/4 cup
1 lb dark dipping chocolate - kept the same as I will still be dunking quite a few things.
Directions:
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment or wax paper.
Using a large standing mixer, cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the condensed milk and maple syrup and beat until well-mixed, then add the flour and salt and beat on low until combined. Stir in bacon.
Using a small scoop or a teaspoon, scoop up small round balls of the dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate for one hour. Remove from fridge and roll into balls. Place back in fridge for another hour.
Melt chocolate in double boiler, in the microwave or, as I prefer, in a Crock Pot on low. When you start melting the chocolate, put the balls into the freezer to ensure they will keep their shape while coating.
Dip balls one at a time and coat evenly.
Remove them with a fork and tap against the side of the pot to remove any excess chocolate. Place back on baking sheet and top with a piece of candied bacon, if desired.
Put truffles back in fridge until firm. Store in fridge.

Here are some process photos:

This turned out very well.
While not the smoothest of truffles, these will be well liked at the Super Bowl Party!
Husband likes them. I just gotta keep them hid from him until Sunday.

Until the next meal...


**Today's title is from Feist. "Canadian nationalism isn't as insidious as American nationalism, though. It's good natured. It's all about maple syrup, not war."**

BFMH: Bacon Quiche

We hit up Disneyland last night (Friday), hard, with our friends who then stayed the night. So Mimosas and a presentable breakfast was in order. Thus the Bacon Quiche was chosen.

Bacon Quiche
Ingredients
6 oz of bacon, cooked and the drippings (3 tablespoons)
1/3 cup Swiss
1/3 cup Parmesan
Broccoli, diced, sauteed
Mushrooms, diced, sauteed
1/2 of an onion, diced, sauteed
1 clove of garlic, crushed, sauteed
2 whole eggs
2 yolks
1 cup cream
salt and pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 400

Cook leeks in 3 tablespoons of drippings.

Spread leeks, shredded cheese and bacon in prebaked 9 inch tart crust. Whisk eggs, yolks, cup cream, and salt and pepper; pour over cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees 15 minutes.

This turned out really nice. the only problem is that the recipe says to prebake the crust, but the pie crust box said not too. I have since discovered to listen to the recipe in this case. it was still very yummy and totally worth the calories.

Though it was not made for Husband I made a GREAT breakfast the earlier this week:
A PB,B,&B Sandwich
Toast some bread, slather with Peanut Butter, apply several half slices of cooked bacon, sliced on some Banana, drizzle with honey and enjoy!

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds...

I am keeping with this bacon theme that I seem to have started. I am making one of my favorite things ever:

Chocolate Dipped Bacon
Ingredients
1/2 strips of cooked bacon
a bag of semisweet chocolate chips, melted in microwave
Method
Take cooked bacon which has been stored in the fridge and dip half of the strips into melted dark chocolate. Place on parchment paper and return the fridge until firm. Store in fridge.

This is SUPER simple, but remember, a little goes a long way. I cut my bacon in half when I bake it and I would say that 2 pieces of 1/2 strips dipped per person makes a lovely dessert. I dipped about 8 pieces 1/2 strips and melted about a 1/4 of a bag of chocolate chips.

Make this and love this and be the talk of your friends. I also enjoy wowing my friends with chocolate covered potato chips. Trust me. It isn't as hard as you'd think.


Until the next meal...


**Today's quote comes from the mysterious Doug Larson, a cartoonist, but no one seems to know his real identity. "Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."**

All I want...

A few of my friends and I who live in the Valley/come to the Valley on Tuesdays for Softball, have started making dinner with each other once a week. Last week was the first weekly dinner with some delish Turkey Chili and Corn Bread made by Janet. This week was my time to host. As I get off work at 5 and the Softball game is at 6:30, I figured having something ready prior to me returning home from work would be the least stressy way to host. As I am on a Bacon Kick with weekend, I decided to make a comfort food  and then amp it up a little. Here is what I came up with:

Crockpot Cheesy Swine Pasta Florentine (if you say it like I do in my head, it totally rhymes)

Ingredients

3 cups uncooked pasta (about 12 oz) I went with Fusilli as I had it in the pantry

¼ cup butter or margarine, cut into pieces

1 can condensed Cheddar cheese soup

1 ½ cups half-and-half (or whole milk)

½ cup sour cream

3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

8 oz Velveeta, cut into cubes

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ cup chopped packaged precooked bacon (about 8 slices from 2.1-oz package) (unfortunatelty we ran out so instead we threw in some cut up hot dogs!)

1 onion, chopped and caramelized (precooked from the Danger Dog)

1 cup spinach, chopped

Method

Spray 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.

Cook and drain pasta as directed on package, using minimum cook time as the pasta will be cooking more in the slow cooker.

Place pasta in slow cooker; immediately add butter and stir until melted.

Add soup, half-and-half, sour cream, 2 1/2 cups of the Cheddar cheese, the cubed cheese, mustard, salt and pepper; stir to blend well.

Cover; cook on Low heat setting 2 to 3 hours, stirring once halfway through cooking time.

During last 15 minutes of cooking, stir in bacon, onion, and spinach. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese.

This was amazing.

I have created some decent dishes in my time, but this recipe is winning right now. Granted, add caramelized onion and bacon to most anything and it will taste amazing. There was none left (besides the spoonful I saved for myself for after Yoga class) after the dinner feeding 6. Make this. Love this. Or make your own favorite Mac and Cheese Recipe, then add caramelized onions, bacon, and spinach.

Your mind = Blown.


** Today's title is from Kurt Cobain, "All I want...is mac and cheese." Truer words have naught yet been uttered.**

Come on down to the street and dance with me!

While on our trip to Brazil, I noticed that a popular treat there was Bacon Popcorn. It was sold on many of the street corners in Curitiba along with Caramel Popcorn. I never had a good chance to try it out, but I decided that I would make it when I returned home. Here is what I found on All Recipes.

Brazilan Bacon Popcorn

Ingredients

½ cup bacon grease

½ cup unpopped popcorn kernels

½ teaspoon seasoned salt (to taste)

2 tablespoons bacon bits (optional)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)

Method

Measure the bacon grease into a 6 quart pot and place over high heat.

Add one or two popcorn kernels as testers. 

When the test kernels pop, add the rest of the popcorn and cover with a lid. 

As the popcorn starts to pop, shake the pan back and forth constantly to keep the unpopped kernels on the bottom where they can pop. 

When the popping slows down, remove the pan from the heat and let it finish popping.

Pour the popcorn into a large bowl or paper sack.
Season with half of the seasoned salt and stir.
Taste before adding more salt if desired.
Toss with bacon bits and shredded Cheddar cheese for an extra special treat.
Store leftovers in lunch sacks or sandwich bags...if there is any.

So I made "third" order of this simply because if there is popcorn, I will eat it. ...And I didn't get enough bacon drippings.

It was decent. I think there was enough flavour just from the drippings, it didn't need all the cheese and bacon pieces.

While doing the research necessary for this recipe, I began thinking about street food in the States I have yet to try. The LA tradition I keep seeing but never eating is what is affectionately called an LA Danger Dog. They are often sold on small carts near bars and concert venues until the wee hours of the morning...and they smell amazing.
This is how it breaks down:
LA Danger Dog
It is a hot dog, wrapped with a slice of Bacon. fried up to juicy, crisp deliciousness...
Grill up some onion, tomato, bell pepper, and jalapeno.
Toast the bun and then dress with Ketchup, Mustard, and Mayo.
(Husband is not a Mayo fan, so that didn't make it on)
Apply hot dog bacon yum yum.
Top with onion/pepper mixutre.
Pray to the Heartburn Gods you survive this.

As you can see above, I did it all on the George Foreman. 

This was the healthiest Danger Dog I will ever eat. It was delicious and I have every  intention to think back on this meal with affection. Husband liked it too.

Until the next meal...

**Today's title is from Weezer's hit song El Scorcho with the lyrics reading: Why you wanna go and do me like that? Come on down to the street and dance with me!**

...if you bring home the bacon.

This past weekend, I made Idaho Sunrises for Husband. You might have noticed that I used Bacon, the most magical of meats. Most meat eaters I know believe in the statement that bacon makes everything better. While I really enjoy the salt sweetness of it, I think it only makes most things better, not everything.

Also, I have a deep, dark secret about bacon.

A secret I am so deeply embarrassed and frustrated that I have.

For some incredible, no good reason, I seem to have no luck in being able to make it. I have no clue why that is, but everything I try to fry it up, it is either a soggy mess, a bacon bits crispy, or burnt to a crisp. I have tried tons of different ways to fry it: cast iron, covered with water, a little water in the pan everything.

I just can't do it.

I have gotten to the point where I have given up on cooking a few slices at a time stove top. I have resulted to the more clean up, but better results tactic. A 350 degree oven, a rack on the baking sheet, and 12-15 minutes.

Ta-dah!

*You might notice where I checked that it wasn't poisoned*

I would rather reheat bacon that is well cooked than risk the edibleness of fresh bacon. Also, having the Bacon pre-cooked readies you for a week of quick breakfast sandwiches, BLTs, and salads that need a boost. I will probably be making things this week that have bacon in them and I know y'all will enjoy that.

Until the next meal...

**Today's title is from Weezer's hit song El Scorcho with the lyrics reading: I'll bring home the turkey if you bring home the bacon**

BFMH: Idaho Sunrise

So I got a BIG bag of russets this week. For some reason, both Husband and I have been craving the wholesome comfort of a baked potato. I had pinned a link to baking an egg in a potato shell when I first got onto Pinterest years ago. I have yet to make it so I decided that today would be the day.

Idaho Sunrise Recipe:
Ingredients

2 baked potatoes, slightly cooled
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup of shredded cheese, cheddar (or other of your choice)
2 slice of bacon, cooked and crumbled (leave off for vegetarian)
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
kosher salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 eggs
1/4 cup of sour cream
2 tablespoons of green onions, finely chopped
InstructionsSlice a layer off the top of each potato.
Use a spoon to gently scoop out insides, leaving a thin layer of potato against the skin and avoiding puncturing the bottom.  Reserve scooped potato for another use.
Brush inside of each potato with melted butter and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
Sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese, bacon, and onion into each potato.
Fill each potato about 3/4 full.
Crack one egg into each potato.
Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper.
 Top with additional cheese and toppings if desired.
Place potatoes on a baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes.
Egg whites should be set and yolks soft.
Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and green onions.

**Cook's note: Feel free to get creative with what goes into these bad boys. I put in what I had on hand and knew that Husband liked. **

I baked the potatoes the day prior in the Crockpot to save sometime in the morning since Husband ended up having to work this Saturday. Which is total fine as we just got through the holidays and that is always a bit of a strain on the savings account.

These turned out pretty well. I felt the yolk being fully cooked through was unappetizing, but with a bit of sour cream  it worked out a o k.

Husband liked them. So figure we are good! 31 Breakfasts Down, 21 Breakfasts to Go!

Rub Some Bacon On It!

Going to a holiday party? Need to bring a dish to share? Be the HIT of the NIGHT with these little buggers!

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's blog:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/flashback_1981_-_holiday_bacon_appetizers/

After finding this recipe, I excitedly told Husband about them. What does he tell me? That MiL has been making them for years! Obviously, the women in his life have great taste.

Here is the recipe for Holiday Bacon Appetizers:

Ingredients:

1 sleeve of club crackers

1 package of Parmesan cheese, grated

1 package of good quality bacon

Method:

Put a cooling rack in a jelly roll pan to create a space for the bacon drippings to go.

Cut bacon slices in half.

Take a cracker and pile a teaspoon of cheese on to it.

wrap the cracker carefully, with tension but not tightly with a half a piece of bacon, covering the cheese pile twice over as well as the ends. (See the link for visual aids)

Place on rack which is on the jelly roll pan.

Repeat until you have run out of bacon.

Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours.

Seriously good. The best part is that you can make a ton of these suckers and then FREEZE them! They are still yummy when they defrost. That will save you so much time (and money on all those veg plates you buy when you are in a bind for parties) if you get invited to a slew of different parties or events this season.

Until the next meal...

**Today's title comes from Rhett and Link's hit song. Click the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSReSGe200A to enjoy the greatness of this Burbank Peoples!**