eggs Archives - Authentic Simplicity

Savory Oven Pancake to Keep You Happy

March 28, 2012 By Anne Simpson

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So ladies, I’ve already reminded you of your need to eat your breakfast, and that a healthy, well-balanced diet can help reduce your PMS symptoms. Both things significantly affect your mood, and you know what they say about when Mama ain’t happy. Yeah. Ain’t nobody happy.

So let’s remember to eat breakfast and to eat well. I’ve got a great recipe for you that will help you out with both things. It’s a twist on a traditional breakfast recipe that makes it suitable for any meal, and it’s jam-packed with proteins, healthy fats, and whole grains. I will admit it’s low on the greens and veggies side of things, so strongly consider serving it with a leafy green salad or some sauteed greens (if you happen to enjoy eating those disgusting slimy things).

I’m sure you’ve heard of “oven pancakes“, also called Dutch pancakes. They’re usually just a little bit sweet, and served with syrup, jam, powdered sugar, or fried apples. There’s nothing wrong with a touch of sweetness on occasion; I just wanted to get creative and see if I could turn this traditional breakfast food into something different that would make it even more appropriate for dinner as well as breakfast.

Recipe: Savory Oven Pancake

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 scant cup (4 oz) white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP green onion
1-2 slices bacon, crumbled
shaved parmesan cheese

Instructions

Put the butter in a 12″ cast iron (or other oven safe) skillet. Set the oven to 425F degrees and place the pan in the oven.
While the butter is melting, mix together the remaining ingredients in a large bow. When the butter is melted, remove the pan from the oven, and pour in the batter.
Bake the oven pancake for 15-20 minutes or until the pancake is high and puffy and a golden brown color.
Top with shaved parmesan before serving.

You can do a lot more with this recipe, of course: add some cheese, spinach or other greens, or other herbs and spices.

It’s a great QUICK dinner (or weekend breakfast or brunch), ready in half an hour or less.

It’s so EASY, too.

It’s a great CHEAP meal, too, cheaper than a meat-based meal at any rate.

As long as it’s accompanied by some fruits and veggies (greens like I recommended, especially), it makes a great HEALTHY meal.

What’s your favorite breakfast-for-dinner?

Sharing at Tastetastic Thursday, Katherine Martinelli, and…

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14 Comments Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: eggs, women's wellness

Better than Fast Food: Waffle Breakfast Sandwiches

July 8, 2011 By Anne Simpson

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of fast food breakfast. Besides the fact that fast food is terribly bad for you anyway, I find most fast food breakfasts to be either too sweet, too fluffy, or too chicken-y. (Chicken for breakfast? No, thank you.) Give me a home-cooked breakfast any day!

This breakfast takes the best of both worlds: the brain-child of the fast-food industry, seeking to lure customers with ever newer and more creative ideas, with the goodness of homemade, healthy ingredients.

I’m talking about the waffle sandwich. Take three favorite breakfast entrees -waffles, sausage, and eggs - and combine them into one whopper of a sandwich! Filling and delicious.

There’s no real recipe here, more of a procedure:

Waffle Breakfast Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 batch waffles
1 package sausage patties (or easy homemade sausage), cooked
4-6 eggs, fried over hard
4-6 slices cheese

Instructions

Divide the waffles into quarters. Place one sausage patty on one quarter, then top with an egg, a slice of cheese, and another waffle quarter. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.

This can be QUICK if you have the waffles and sausage pre-cooked and ready in your freezer. Here’s a tip: make a double batch of waffles next time, and buy extra sausage; cook them all up, and freeze the extra. Now you have the makings of another meal ready to go at a moment’s notice.

This is super EASY! And very kid-friendly, too.

Considering that there are 3 entrees in one, I suppose it’s not the CHEAP-est breakfast around. That’s why I save it for holidays or an occasional dinner.

HEALTHY? All depends on the ingredients you use, really! If you use a waffle mix, sausage with unknown additives, and processed American cheese, then no, it’s not healthy. Make your own waffles with whole grains, fry up your own sausage with the easy recipe I linked to above, choose pastured eggs and healthy cheese… THEN it’s healthy! A little indulgent, but healthy.

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2 Comments Filed Under: Breakfast, On The Table Tagged With: eggs, sandwiches

Put All Your Eggs in a Basket! Then Bake.

December 9, 2010 By Anne Simpson

When it comes to holidays and days off, I always think big breakfast. I don’t know why that is, to be honest, because growing up I don’t think my mom really made anything big or fancy for breakfast on holidays and days off. She DID make her famous Sticky Buns for Christmas, but that’s all I remember.

At any rate, this time of year, I’ve been thinking a lot about yummy big breakfasts. I’ve already shared with you my idea for Festive French Toast, which was a delicious and easy adaptation of a traditional breakfast food.

Today, we’re going in a slightly different and slightly more complicated direction, one that’s definitely fit for a holiday! Holidays are meant to be special, so it’s only fitting to take a little more time and effort (and perhaps even expense) than you would on just any ol’ day.

Having said that, these little eggs-in-baskets still manage to fall more or less within my parameters of QUICK, EASY, CHEAP and HEALTHY. The big plus is that they are also elegant enough to serve to guests or to make any holiday special. Oh, and they’re delicious, too: always very important!

So go put your eggs in baskets! Then bake. And proceed to have a very happy holiday.

Eggs in Baskets
For each serving, you will need:
1 dinner roll
1 egg
1 tsp heavy cream
1 tsp grated Parmesan
salt and pepper
a sprinkling of mixed herbs (suggestions: parsley, chives, tarragon, thyme)

Slice the tops off the dinner rolls, then use a grapefruit spoon (or your fingers) to gently remove the middle of each roll. Your goal is to create enough room to put an entire egg in the space, but leave the shell of the roll intact. Place the rolls on a greased cookie sheet. Crack one egg into each dinner roll, then carefully pour the cream on top of the egg. Sprinkle each egg with salt and pepper, seasonings and Parmesan. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, or until the eggs are set and the bread is lightly toasted.

Serve with bacon, fresh fruit and yogurt.

I found this recipe to be very QUICK, actually. From beginning to end, it takes approximately half an hour. Perhaps that’s too much to spare on a regular weekday morning, but for holidays, evenings or days off, it’s just the right amount of time!

It’s super EASY, too. I will tell you a little secret: my DH actually did most of it! I made the rolls and prepped them for him, but he did the rest. And he said it was easy, so I think it’s pretty safe to say that it is easy indeed.

It’s also very CHEAP, especially if you make your own rolls and find the eggs at a good price. Sure, heavy cream is expensive, but you don’t need very much of it at all for this recipe (I currently get my cream at Costco for a great price. I don’t remember exactly what it is, but I’ve noticed that their price for 1 quart is the same as many stores’ price for a pint).

It’s HEALTHY, too, IF you make your own rolls. Of course, store-bought white flour dinner rolls would look much more elegant, but I kind of like the rustic beauty of my homemade oat and whole wheat rolls.

Find more holiday brunch ideas at:

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Leave a Comment Filed Under: Breakfast, Home, On The Table Tagged With: eggs

Frittata Frittata

April 23, 2010 By Anne Simpson

It’s a fun word to say: frittata. Or to sing: frittaaaaata, frittaaaataaaaaaaaaa, friiiiiiittataaa-aaa-aaa-aah!

Oops. Sorry. Got a little carried away there.

Ahem, back to the frittata, which sounds very fancy and very Italian opera but is really just a baked omelet. Which is very appealing to me, because, well, my omelets always eventually turn into scrambled eggs. Leaving the omelet to bake safely on its own in the oven instead of trying to flip it at just the right moment on the stove-top results in a beautifully fluffy, round, easy-to-slice-and-serve, very elegant, very Italian (not really) frittata. Looks better. Sounds better. Tastes just as good. What more can you ask?

Not-an-Omelet Frittata
8 eggs
2 TBSP water
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 TBSP fresh cilantro (or 2 tsp dried)
1 TBSP fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Crack the eggs open into a medium bowl. Add water, and whisk or beat until well blended. Stir in the goat cheese, bacon and seasonings. Top with cheddar cheese and place in a greased pie pan. Cook at 350F for 30 minutes or until golden and puffy.

Of course, you can substitute whatever you have on hand or whatever you like for the cheeses, bacon and seasonings. Sausage or diced ham work very well instead of the bacon, and mozzarella is a delicious alternative to the goat and cheddar cheese.

Since it has to cook for 30 minutes, it’s not as QUICK as an omelet or scrambled eggs, but it’s still a pretty quick dinner.

Certainly EASY, that’s for sure - no flipping required!

Eggs are always a great CHEAP main dish for dinner or breakfast. I can occasionally get a dozen eggs on sale for .99, and I can often get an 18ct package of eggs for $1.50. Either way, it’s less than $1 for the eggs in this recipe, and not too much more for the bacon and cheese. I try not to pay more than $2 for a package of bacon, and 4 slices is a quarter or less of most packages, meaning about .50 for this recipe. I buy my cheese in 2 lb blocks at the warehouse for around $5, so I would estimate less than $1 for the portion used in this recipe. Add some toast and fresh fruit, and you have a well-balanced delicious and inexpensive meal.

It’s very HEALTHY, too, notwithstanding the bacon and/or sausage. To be honest, what concerns me most about bacon is the nitrites and nitrates used to preserve it, so if you can get nitrate-free bacon, so much the better. Also, 3 slices of bacon is considered one serving, and since this recipe uses only 4 slices, each serving of frittata has only a partial serving of bacon in it. You probably already know that eggs are a great source of protein and healthy fat, but did you know they are also an excellent source of vitamin D? Experts say vitamin D deficiency is on the rise, so what are you waiting for? Get crackin’!