Melt in your mouth: Eggplant Parmesan Omelet.

I love summertime, I love getting fresh stuff from the local stands, farmers market, friends gardens and my own back yard.

I frequent a little fruit stand Gift shop down the street and she had some eggplant that I couldn't resist! I grabbed one and the next morning I knew what I was going to do.

Somewhere along the line I have to have some Italian in me because my love for Italian flavors is enormous (and I can eat garlic raw) I love eggplant parmesan but I am so picky about it, I never order it out because it is always over sauced and soggy. I knew I could make an omelet that was sure to please my picky palate.






What you need:

2 slices of eggplant (1/2" thick)- diced. ( I did not peel my eggplant because I knew frying it like this wouldn't make it so tough, it was also a small locally grown plant so the skin wasn't so waxy- If you are unsure as to what to do, I suggest you peel it so you don't get turned off by the possibility of tough skin)
Plain bread crumbs (about a cup or so)
2 eggs (one for the omelet one for the egg wash to batter the eggplant (that is the word egg in one sentence too many times :) )
Fresh Thyme, dried Oregano, dried or fresh Parsley & fresh basil (dried spices will do fine as well for all of them but you may need to adjust the amounts)
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
hand full of cherry tomatoes
garlic clove
shallot (small piece of one)

Put your diced eggplant in one egg (well beaten)

To your bread crumbs add thyme (I used two twigs) oregano (about a TBSP) Dried parsley (about a TBSP) fresh grated parmesan (about 2 TBSP but probably a little more- eyeball it. I always taste my bread crumbs to be sure that they are seasoned well before I roll anything in it)

Now put your eggplant into the bread crumbs and coat well


In a small skillet with a bit of olive oil fry the eggplant and half the shallot until golden brown (salt and pepper to taste).


(I own one small skillet so I would wipe it clean and use the same on for each step, you can use 2 skillets if you like :) )

Now I made my omelet, one egg with a splash of melt beaten well. in a skillet on medium heat melt tbsp of butter. once butter is melted swirl around to coat entire pan well. add egg, cook slowly- I use number 4 on my burner and it works perfect- cook the omelet constantly removing and swirling to ensure thoroughly cooked. Once done add the eggplant and mozzarella cheese

Slide the omelet on a plate and flip it in half

in the skillet saute the other half of shallot & garlic when they are done add the tomatoes (halved) some fresh basil and parsley cook just until heated (salt and pepper to taste). I added a pinch of the bread crumbs for texture. Top the omelet with saute mixture and some more parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Loveocado

Avocado. You either love it or hate it. There is no in between. Well me, yeah I love it!

This meal will serve two if you do this with both avocado halves.

I have been absent from the blogging world because I have been cheating on blogger with pinterest, I have an addiction. :) Recently this pin has been floating around It is a baked egg in an avocado. Well if you know me you know I can't do anything by following instructions I have to make it mine! (and you should too!) I saw this as awesome potential. So here is what I did. I baked my egg and avocado (per instructions) but then popped it under the broiler to get that "crisp" outside but ooey gooey inside...

I prepared my bacon drained and crumbled it. In a skillet just before the egg was done I put the teeniest dab of olive oil and threw my minced garlic in there until tender (don't burn it!!!) once it was done I turned off the heat added 2 diced cocktail tomatoes and one large leaf of basil chopped and the crumbled bacon, removed it from the heat and swirled it around so that the tomatoes juice just started flowing (not to slimey though- yuck) topped my Eggvocado then topped with some fresh paremsan cheese.

Let me tell you, it was amazingness.

Cinnamon Struesel Muffins

So my Cousins came in to stay with me for a few days. I Feed 'em pretty good I think :) We had leftover chili with Chips Thursday night and Seafood Alfredo last night (recipe coming soon). Then last night while we were talking one said how she loved cinnamon struesel so I made a mental note and this morning got to work.

These were so moist and good warm right out of the oven with a tad of butter.

Streusel I eyeballed most of this. (see I told you I eyeball a LOT)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 pads of salted butter (about a TBSP each)

Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2-2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (I actually used a healthy pinch of kosher salt)
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled a bit
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 400°F with the oven rack in middle. I used liners but you could just use your muffin tin but spray or grease them generously

Streusel
Combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork or like me use your hands until the mixture is coarse crumbs (some will be larger than others)

Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

Mix the milk, melted butter, vanilla, and egg in another bowl Make a well into your dry ingredients and Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, only mix until the flour is moistened, scrape down the sides of the bowl, batter will NOT be smooth.

Divide the batter into prepared muffin tins then top evenly with the struesel topping.

18-20 minutes until greatness is done (or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, we really need an abbreviation for the toothpick method.)

potato cakes Breakfast for under $3

Potato cakes. Man these things take me way back. I loved having mashed potatoes with supper because I knew mom would make Potato cakes for breakfast in the morning. I would (as a child) smoother it in ketchup luckily my palate has matured a tad now :)

For potato cakes you need Left over Mashed potatoes (I had oh about 2 1/2 -3 cups left over) 1 egg beaten About 1/4 - 1/2 cup flour (plus some for light coating), salt and pepper to taste and optional diced onion (they are really good with onion in them but I used my last one in chili last night) *to make these gluten free substitute flour for rice flour or your favorite blend, lightly coat the potato cakes in either your flour blend or corn meal)

In a bowl combine your potatoes beaten egg, salt and pepper and about 1/4 cup of flour (add it a little at a time) you want it to get a little thick but it will still be sticky.

on a shallow pan or plate have flour ready for coating (season this with a bit of salt and pepper as well). With an ice cream scoop, scoop some potatoes and place in the flour plate shake around coating the entire ball.

In a skillet heat about 1 tbsp of oil (I used vegetable oil today some people use shortening or bacon grease but I am trying not to die of heart failure) Place the coated balls in the heated oil and

gently press down into "cakes"

Do not flip until a golden "crust forms" (don't do this on high gear medium heat is sufficient) Flip them once.

Place on platter (with a paper towel if you wish to drain them).

Fry an egg to put on top

Or top with Cheese and sour cream

The potatoes are leftovers so they are actually free the eggs are only about 10 cents each you could even use a little bit of sausage to patty up some mini patties you don't need a lot because the potato cakes are very filling!

This meal is easily made for under $3.

Dutch baby with fruit for under $4

This is a great Sunday morning food. It is super cheap and so so easy, I had forgotten about this little dish until I saw it on Food network the other day.

If you are familiar with popovers then this will look super similar.

The best thing about these are you can make them your own. Top them with whatever you want. Fruit and Powdered sugar are my favorite toppers.

We have a nice little strawberry patch out back and Strawberries make the perfect topper. Blueberries are another fave with a bit of lemon zest but sometimes blueberries can be expensive!

The rule to this little beauty is 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of milk for each egg.

So here is what I do.

First make sure your pan is cast Iron OR Oven safe!

3TBS butter (.25)
3 Eggs (room temp) (.30)
3/4 cup whole milk (room temp) (.25)
3/4 cup flour (.14)
Heaping (and I mean heaping, don't be shy now) TBS of sugar (negligible)
2 tsp of Vanilla I eye ball it (you will find I am famous for "eyeballing") (.25-.50 depending on your vanilla quality/cost)
a pinch of Kosher salt (I always use kosher or sea salt but a pinch of table salt is fine as well)(negligible)
Fruit of your choice (assuming it is out of season we will say 2.00 a pint for berries)
Lemon (.33)
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400°

Place your butter in your skillet on medium- med/low heat (or stick it in your preheating oven) to melt the butter in the pan. This will grease your pan and melt the butter to be placed in your dutch baby batter. Now you can do this by hand if you want to but if you want to do it the easy way, pull that blender out (or food processor) Add everything but the butter and blend on medium speed until uniform. (if mixing by hand combine your milk and eggs first then add your other ingredients making sure to mix out all the lumps) Now grab that butter, swirl it around in the pan to coat it all and then pour into your batter, whisk to combine. Pour mixture into the pan and place in oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until puffy in the middle and golden brown around the edges.

While it is cooking prepare your fruit. You can use any fruit blueberries, strawberries, apples (baked), peaches.. Whatever is in season and that will cut your cost immensely. With berries, zest the lemon and add half the juice to the berries sprinkle with a tad of sugar. When it is done, pull it out of the oven and dust it with powdered sugar, cut into pizza like slices and top with the fruit of your choice. The possibilities are endless and the reward is, well so sweet.

You can change up the dutch baby by changing your extract, try lemon extract topped with blueberries, or maple extract topped with baked apples, or even with chopped nuts and drizzled with caramel. Don't like fresh fruit? Top it with some nutella or just some pancake syrup.

Want something more savory? use maple extract and serve with sausage patties!

You won't be disappointed and neither will your family!

I will be making this twice this week so be sure to check back and see the pictures of this baby!!