Cookin' Up Breakfast at the Ranch

Mindy here. Last week my crew and I took an extended weekend at the ranch. The grass was high, the cattle were fat, and my men expected a big breakfast.

When we go to the ranch it's always a bit like a vacation. We eat differently there than we do at home. A little more down-home, a little more everything. And the one thing my men need before a day of manual labor is a hearty breakfast.

Their favorite is what we call traditional camphouse breakfast and it has three mainstays--homemade biscuits, REAL bacon, and what we've dubbed camphouse eggs.

Camphouse eggs are really just glorified scrambled eggs, but they love 'em. I love that they're easy.

They consist of three main ingredients--onion, jalapeno pepper, and, you guessed it, eggs.

Now before you go all wimpy on me about the jalapeno, these are not hot. Really. Oh, I suppose if you ate them straight up they might be, but sauteed, there's no heat. Only flavor.

The first thing you want to do is cut off the end and the tip. Then cut the jalapeno right down the middle.

Next, scrape out the seeds and the ribs. This is where the heat is. And whatever you do, DO NOT rub your eye after you've done this. It will sting like crazy. Right, Missy.

As soon as I'm done handling it, I usually wash my hands with dish soap. This seems to cut the oils pretty good.

Now slice that pepper into strips lengthwise and dice.

Now it's time to get you skillet ready. Spray it well with Pam, or something like that, or add a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil and heat over medium/medium-high burner. Chop your onions while waiting for it to heat.

I add the jalapeno first since it takes a tad longer than the onion to cook. While you're waiting for your onion to turn translucent, check on your bacon. Mmm...looks good to me.

You can adjust the amount of pepper, onion, and egg, depending on how many you're fixin' for. On this day, I used 7 farm-fresh eggs, courtesy of my friend, Cheryl. To the eggs I added about a teaspoon of salt, some black pepper, and 1/2 cup of milk. Whisk together and add to veggies. You can add more things if you like. Bacon bits, mushrooms, tomatoes....

Biscuits are ready. I love these things. First I gotta have one with my eggs, maybe sandwich some bacon in between. Then I have to have my dessert biscuit. You know, with jelly.

Cook eggs until set, stirring occasionally. (Like y'all don't know how to cook scrambled eggs :-)



Now these are some happy campers. They're so spoiled.

Do you have a special take on scrambled eggs? What's your favorite breakfast to make? Your family's?