Savory Breakfast Treat

Calving season has begun here at the ranch.

These little ones hadn't been spotted until yesterday. They're always so cute. But I hate it when they're born right before a cold snap. I suppose it makes them tougher, but it still makes me want to go out to the pasture and bundle them up in a nice, soft blanket. Though I can assure you their mamas would not stand for that. 

Today, we're talking breakfast. I am woman enough to admit that one of my favorite breakfasts comes from McDonalds. Let's face it, an Egg McMuffin is hard to beat. Not only is it tasty, using many of the same ingredients as Eggs Benedict, it's a good source of protein. There's just one little thing that gives this low-carb loving gal pause. 

The English muffin.

Okay, there's also one other teeny, tiny problem. I have to leave home to get it. 

Most days, I have either a high-protein smoothie or oatmeal for breakfast. But there are times when I crave something savory instead of sweet. So, as I stood in the kitchen one morning, longing for an Egg McMuffin, I was struck by genious. Not as painful as lightning, though much more rare.

What if I substituted a low-carb tortilla for the English muffin?

Tah, dah!

I would get my Egg McMuffin fix AND keep things low carb. 

Score!

Oh, and it didn't take much time. Simply start with a low-carb tortilla. I use the Mission brand with 4 net carbs per tortilla. Top that with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese.

This is my preference, but you can use whatever you like. Pepper Jack, mild cheddar, Havarti... You can even shred your own cheese, so you're not using as much. I just happen to like my cheese. 

Next, you'll want to fry up an egg, breaking the yolk and flipping it to cook it through.

That is unless you want it runny. Something I usually prefer, but not here. I'll end up with egg running down my chin and no one wants to see that. 

Set the cooked egg atop the cheese so the cheese will melt.

Now add two pieces of thin-sliced, deli-style ham to the same skillet. If you have Canadian bacon, go ahead and use that.

Cook those for a few seconds, only until hot, then place them over the egg.

And that's it. For ease of eating, though, I usually fold it in half like a taco.

This also makes it perfect for eating on the run. However, I do recommend a napkin in case of leaks. 

Okay, so I know this isn't rocket science, but maybe coming up a with a low-carb version of this favored breakfast treat never crossed your mind until now. But I love it when I can satisfy a craving with a healthier alternative that fits my lifestyle. 

Now it's your turn. Do you change-up recipes to fit your eating lifestyle? What are some favorites you've come up with?

Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Breakfast for dinner: Classy French Toast with Potatoes and Bacon

Some days it's just too hot to cook, but at the same time you want something filling.

Because too many days in a row of bologna sandwiches get pretty tiring.

The solution? Breakfast for dinner!

This meal takes a bit of planning, but not a lot of preparation time.

I'll skip the recipes for scrambled eggs and the bacon. Scrambled eggs are scrambled eggs, right? And we used Ruthy's Peppered Maple Bacon recipe. So delicious!

Now for the planning.

Start the potatoes first. I'm not sure this recipe has a name, so we're going to make one up: "Oven Bacon Potatoes." How does that sound?

Oven Bacon Potatoes

ingredients:
a pound or so of Golden Dutch Potatoes (or another baby potato variety)
4 or 5 garlic cloves, peeled
2-4 slices bacon
salt and pepper

Slice the itty bitty potatoes in half, or quarter them, and throw them in the skillet. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper.
Cut the bacon strips in half, then lay them on top of the potatoes.

Stick the skillet (or casserole dish) in the oven at 350° for about 30 minutes. You can put the bacon in at the same time. Recipe continued below....

Meanwhile, get ready to fix the Classy French Toast.

ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole milk (or 1 cup skim milk and 1/4 cup heavy cream)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each: ginger, nutmeg and cloves

Whisk the ingredients until everything is beaten together. When you stop whisking, the spices will float to the top, but that's all right.

Slice your bread of choice into 1" thick slices. We used Challah (such a rich, eggy bread - perfect for this French toast!), but you can use any bread you wish.

...now back to the potatoes!

After 30 minutes, stir your potatoes. Your Maple Pepper Bacon should be done. If it isn't, turn the slices and put them back in the oven.

Turn the oven heat up to 425° and bake the potatoes for an additional 15 minutes. (Don't forget to keep an eye on the Maple Pepper Bacon!!!

...and now back to the French Toast!

Pour the egg mixture into a dish big enough for your bread slices to fit in, but also has a flat bottom. I use a 9"x9" baking dish.

Lay the bread slices in the egg mixture, one or two pieces at a time, and let the bread soak up some of the liquid. Turn the slices over, wait for a bit, then put the slices on your griddle. Repeat until all the bread is gone.

The egg mixture above is enough is enough for 6-8 pieces of bread - big slices!

Cook on the griddle on medium heat (about 325° to 350°) until brown on both sides and cooked through - about 5 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, cook your eggs, check on the bacon, and stir the potatoes one more time.

Keep the potatoes in the oven until they're done - hopefully at the same time as your French toast and scrambled eggs!

Fruit is the perfect accompaniment to this meal. I had one of our fresh peaches, straight from Georgia!

What is your favorite hot weather meal?

Manly Breakfast Casserole

Today we're talking breakfast. But before we do that, I thought I'd share a couple of gratuitous puppy pictures.
I'm sure you remember Maddie, the puppy we adopted a year ago last Valentine's Day. Well, turns out Maddie is quite the ball player.

I mean this dog loves/lives to play ball.

Ever hear of Air Bud?

Meet Air Maddie.

This is one focused puppy. Pro ballplayers could learn a thing or two from her about keeping their eye on the ball. I've seen her leap four feet off of the ground, twist around and catch the ball.

Uh-mazing.

So last weekend we were at the ranch and, aside from playing ball, I found myself needing to prepare breakfast for 15 hungry men. Since it needed to be ready by 6AM, I immediately thought of breakfast casserole, my go-to dish for holidays and those  mornings when I don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen, but still want a stick-to-your-ribs, eggs-and-bacon kind of start to my day.
However, I feared my usual breakfast casserole wasn't going to be enough for these hard working fellows. I needed to take things up a notch. 

As you will see, I made two extra large batches, but I'm giving you the ingredients for a single, regular batch.

Here's what you'll need:

6 slices of bread, cubed

6 eggs

1 lb. of your favorite breakfast sausage

Half a pound of bacon, cooked and coarsely chopped

2 cups whole milk

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. ground mustard 

First, you'll need to brown your sausage and cook your bacon. I've found the easiest way to cook up a lot of bacon is to do it in the oven. Place the slices in a single layer on a large foil-covered baking sheet (the foil makes for easy cleanup) and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Then I simply drain and chop the bacon before stirring it into the drained sausage.

Next, I mix together my milk, eggs and seasonings.

Sometimes I'll add a dash or two of cayenne for nice little kick. 

Then it's on to the assembly.

Place your cubed bread into a greased pan.

Top with your meat mixture.

And pour the egg mixture over that, making sure to wet everything.

Finally, top it all with cheese.

Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.

When you're ready to bake it, place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, or until set. The cheese will be slightly golden and the edges bubbly, even a bit crisp.

But, of course, I forgot to take a pic of the finished product. I just hurriedly covered them with foil and was on my merry way out to the pasture. Because when one has hungry men waiting, there's no time to waste.

Adding bacon to the classic breakfast casserole really ramped up the flavor. Of course, as we all know, everything's better with bacon (sorry, Kav, but it's true), so I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. 

The guys loved it and I was happy to fill their tummies. And on the way back to the camp house, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise.

An experience that was far more pleasant than what happened later in the day. I was picking dewberries, minding my own business, when a red wasp decided to take aim at me.

Stupid little critter nailed me right between the thumb and index finger. Two days later, my hand still looked like this. Next time, I'm taking bug spray.

What's your go-to when making breakfast for a crowd?

Cold Mornings, Hearty Breakfasts

So we spent the last week at the ranch, hubby, the boys plus one of their friends and me. It was a nice time of relaxing and enjoying each other. Which really is sort of a feat since, for all practical purposes, it's a one-room camphouse. 

You should have seen the steam rolling off the water a few hours earlier.

I spent most of my time writing and cooking, two of the things I love most. 

Hubby wasn't exactly thrilled with the weather, though. Temps stayed in the low to mid forties and it was rainy and drizzly much of the time.

"I don't like cold, " he said. "I don't like wet. And I especially don't like cold and wet."

Ah, the poor fella. Almost sixty-five years old and he doesn't know how to dress for the cold.

Rainy weather means full tanks.

But mama's got to take care of her men, so I made sure to send them off with a good breakfast. Something that'd really stick to their ribs and warm their tummies. 

Something like breakfast burritos.

These are so easy to make. You can even prepare everything ahead of time and assemble later.

First thing you want to do is brown a pound of your favorite breakfast sausage. 

Regular or hot, whatever you please.

I like to throw in some onion, bell pepper and jalapeno. 

Once the meat is cooked, drain and return pan to the heat.

Now, mix together 8-10 eggs, a little bit of milk, salt, pepper and whatever seasonings you like and add to the sausage.

(Can you tell there's no exact science to this?)

Cook over medium to medium-high heat until eggs are set.

Remove from heat. Spoon into tortillas of your choice (usually flour), add some cheese, salsa, whatever you like, and roll, tucking in the sides.

Goober me accidentally picked up the fajita-size tortillas, so we had lots of mini-breakfast burritos.

Normally, you would use the burrito size tortillas.

(For those of you asking, yes, they do make different size tortillas for different purposes.)

And as you can see, by the time my men were done, there was only one burrito left for me.

Of course, that was all I needed.

Now that my boys are getting older, they can take care of lots of things for us.

Like building the bonfire on New Year's Eve.

All I had to do was show up--loaded for bear.

Oatmeal Panic in the Southeast!

As I type this, we are preparing for the storm. I may edit later but, just in case we don't have power for a while, I am setting up the post now. Yup, I'm already looking at the worst possible scenario. ( Ruthy says it's a writer trait, looking for that worst case possibility). Having lived through major ice storms in NC for decades, I don't hold out hope.

The birdometer has been telling me the weather is going to be rough. What is the birdometer, you ask? When I am going through a ten pound bag of birdseed a DAY and the birdfeeders look like Grand Central Station, it means trouble is on the way!

You may not see the crowd of birds. Most are blending in. That's what they do in the winter.

 
People posted a lot of  LEP (Losing Electricity Preparation), things I hadn't thought of:

• Turn up your thermostat so your powerless house will hold heat longer.
• Make sure to run your taps even if the temps aren't that cold. You don't have heat inside the house keeping them warm anymore.
• Where is your caffeine source coming from?
• Do you have cash? ATMs and credit card machines won't work even if the gas stations and stores are open.
• Make sure to take a shower and wash and dry your hair beforehand.
• Have you done the laundry? Do you have clean underwear?  (My personal fave.)

I ticked off my list of survival grub. I had the milk (it can stay on the screened porch), the bread, Girl Scout cookies for ManO.

But if the power was off, how would I get my cholesterol lowering Gluten Free Oatmeal and fiber without a hot, piping bowl of oatmeal?  I quickly searched the Internet, ran up to the grocery (the panicked crowd hadn't deluged Fresh Market, just the regular stores) and came back home to bake before the storm. I hit a winning recipe on the first try! I adapted my recipe to make it less sweet, more breakfasty than dessert or snack.

Before: I do love my cookie scoop and parchment paper.

After: If I give the snowman a cookie, will he keep the snow and ice at bay?

Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies (Recipe adapted from Delectably Gluten Free Blog)

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla extract

1 cup Pamela's Baking Mix

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups gluten free oats

1/2 cup chopped  pecans (feel free to add other ingredients like chips or dried fruit)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed. 
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth. Slowly add the baking mix and cinnamon and blend on low, adding oats.

Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts until evenly distributed. 
Drop by the spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the cookie (until golden brown).  
Let cool on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. 

The birds were right. And so were the weather people. Storm started as I finished my post and added almost half a foot of snow and ice. 

Epilogue

 The big news, you may have seen it. Picture of gridlock in Raleigh goes viral  ManO went back to work part time this week, saw the snow and left work. Along with the rest of the Triangle. It took him an hour and a half to go a quarter of a mile. My daughter's twenty minute commute took 3.5 hours. The snow started hard and stuck quickly. Everyone was leaving at the same time. Thank goodness most folks got home safely. This wasn't a matter of people not knowing how to drive in snow but not being able to go uphills when traffic was at a standstill. 

We didn't lose power but our son and family did (their survival food was pizza delivered). About five inches and an inch of ice stopped the world for 36 hours. But we took advantage of not being able to go anywhere, caught up on tv shows and carb loaded (hey, I had my blog technically done). It could have been worse. My sister in MD got 20 inches. My sister in NYC got a ton. Both had ice. 

And next week they are calling for temperatures in the 70s.

Oh, and the funnier version of the picture of our calamity is here. Staypuff Man attacks Raleigh  

So what about you? Do you have a plan of attack when the power goes out? Go to foods? Tricks to make the time bearable? How many quilts are going on your bed if necessary?