Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Chicken Sausage with Eggs

I know, I know, it's quite a mouthful, but so so delicious! I had this really tasty sun-dried tomato and basil chicken sausage that I bought at Woodmans. I sliced it up into small pieces, and nuked it. I was in a rush this morning, don't knock my methods! The nuker is designed to make things easier and more convenient. Then I topped the tasty sausage pieces with some shredded Romano cheese, as you know how I feel about cheese. I nuked it a little longer for melty goodness. I made some delightfully over-medium eggs to top my meaty cheesy goodness with, and voila! Breakfast!

Of course, I had a few mishaps...

I may have overcooked the sausage just a teensy bit. It still tasted delish. Also, I had mad issues with the eggs this morning. they wouldn't flip right, so it was just a big ole mess. Both eggs broke in the pan before I could put them on to the sausage. Of course, they still had some gooey goodness, but they didn't look pretty enough for a picture.

Guess I should have used PAM. ;-)

Chilequiles Are My Favorite Breakfast

 

Can I just say that this was pretty much a fiesta in my mouth. Fiesta. The flavors. The colors. The fun! 

Seriously, I savored every last bite of my newest creation. 

So, this morning, I did a mental inventory of what ingredients were available in the bf's kitchen. As always, chips and pico (a staple in this house) were among my options...

Chilequiles it is! 

I used the Tostitos Hint of Jalapeno for a little extra flavor in my breakfast (like I actually needed it). I softened them up in a pan with some of the pico (and all of the juice from the pico). Then, I put them on the plate, added some horseradish havarti and some queso crumble cheese (yum!). I melted the cheese on top in the microwave for 30 seconds. I cooked up some eggs over medium (I have seriously been having problems with cooking eggs lately! They kept sticking to the pan...I'm going to go buy some PAM and see what happens. 

I put the eggs on top of the cheesy tortilla chips, diced half an avocado on top, added the rest of the pico, and as a final garnish, a small dollop of light sour cream. I also used some medium garlic salsa (like I needed more flavor). 

Let's just say I was a happy breakfaster this morning.

Apple and Swiss Egg White Omelet with Walnuts

 

So, after two mornings of cold Chinese food for breakfast (taking one out of the BF's breakfast book), I decided it was time for a real breakfast. But what to eat...

After trolling the fridge, I happened upon Amish Baby Swiss, from the Cheese People, of course and apples. These two delightful items happen to go very well together on a regular basis...so I thought to myself, this is a brilliant plan.

I busted out the eggs, and decided on an egg white omelet with apples and Swiss cheese. I chopped the apples into small pieces and shredded the cheese. Let's just say I was very generous with that cheese... :)
I then scrambled up the egg whites (and I cheated a little bit with just a smidge of yolk.)

Then I heated up a non-stick pan with some cooking spray (I don't trust non-stick pans) and tossed in the apples for a little warming. I poured in my egg mixture and let the magic happen.

After a few mishaps with not so perfect omelet gone scrambled eggs, I decided that I'd use this sneaky little trick I learned about omelets. After it was mostly cooked, instead of flipping the whole thing over, I piled on the cheese into half of the flat egg, folded it over, laid it on a plate, and.... I nuked it. Yeah, I put it in the microwave to ensure melted cheese and fully cooked egg... It tastes great that way, I promise. After nuking the omelet, I added a few more apple pieces to the top for garnish.

While I was taking my initial picture of breakfast, I thought to myself, I should add something and I wished I had a little rosemary to garnish it with. But I didn't. So instead, I added some walnuts to my delightful omelet of joy. It was, to say the least, happiness. The walnuts were an excellent decision. Overall, two thumbs up. Fine breakfast fun. I love a good omelet. :)

 

Hangover Breakfast

 "And last but not least, the wonderful crew at McDonald's for spending hours making those Egg McMuffins, without which I might never be tardy." -Travis Clueless

So last night was a bit rough on my system...Thanks to a six pack of Grimbergen (*drool*), a Blue Moon, aaaand an Oktoberfest...Whoops. Woke up this morning to rain, rain, rain...and wanted to go back to sleep. Unfortunately hangover won't let me sleep until I've consumed some water, some advil, and some breakfast.

Cue McDonald's for the catchall cure-all. I have a general plan of attack when it comes to hangovers. If I'm totally nauseated, then I bring in the big guns with Alkaseltzer morning relief. Otherwise, I go straight for McDonald's Breakfast. I know I know. Bad...but so so good! There's a non-essential amino acid in eggs (cysteine) that breaks down the toxins that cause the hangover. Also containing this substance is pork (mmmm insert sausage McMuffin with egg here) so your hangover is on the way to recovery with this happy breakfast. Although greasy food doesn't actually help hangovers, I always seem in better spirits the morning after drinking with a nice crispy hash brown...or two... In college it was always about those delicious potato triangles (sometimes dipped in liquid cheese sauce...I know sounds gross...but come on...it was college).

If the McD's breakfast ceases to work or isn't your thing, bring out the big guns with a vanilla frozen custard shake from Culver's. It helps. Really. I can't explain why, though I think it has something to do with that cysteine stuff again...


Regardless, I had a delightfully bad for me breakfast, and I'm okay with that.

Breakfast Recap

Sorry kids! It's been awhile since I've had time to write for my own blog...you know getting paid to write the ImIn.com blog kinda takes a lot of my writing time...Then there's my new obsession with Yelp reviews.. You can check my breakfast section for reviews of tasty and not-so-tasty morning meal eateries. I've been doing a lot of McDonald's breakfast, thanks to Monopoly: Both McMuffins, hashbrowns, and medium drinks are all on the game piece list....So of course I make the occasional breakfast visit.

This morning was pretty rockstar breakfast though. Now that I'm on a limited budget (Oh yeah, I got T-boned by a freaking doe on Monday night...and have a $1000 deductible), I have to spend well...nothing most of the time. So no more McD's for a while...maybe ;-)  So I did an egg scramble with egg whites, red potatoes, horseradish and chive havarti (thanks to-you guessed it- Rick and the Cheese People of Beloit, and called it a meal of JOY.

Another choice meal that I created for the bf and bestie, A last weekend:

Italian Breakfast scramble with canadian bacon, tuscan herb cheese curds (Thanks again Rick!), fresh basil, and topped with a drizzle of the tomato soup I made from scratch with the recipe from Alex's Day Off. I changed a few things (I added fresh basil chiffonade, and used white wine instead of vermouth. We also didn't do the melty cheese because we had grilled cheese and steak sammiches. Yum Yum Yum.)

I promise I'll stay motivated and write more. I will I will.

Italian Breakfast Scramble

Tuscan cheese curds. In my eggs? Delicious? You don't say. Well, you don't, because you don't know. You. Don't. Even. Know. But I do. And it rocked. Om nom nom. So I started with some fresh chopped red onion (a staple in the fridge) and sliced grape tomatoes from the Aurora Farmer's Market (also a staple in the fridge). Let it heat up in a pan. The add 3 egg whites, and let that cook up for a bit. Mix it up, top it with the Tuscan cheese curds, and garnish (yes, I said garnish) it with a fresh chiffonade of basil and voila! Breakfast is served.

The cheese curds, obviously from The Cheese People of Beloit, purchased at the aforementioned market...yum yum yum. Have you ever cooked relatively fresh cheese curds? Still freaking squeakin' in my dang mouth. Holy delightfulness, Batman!

I've had some pretty great breakfasts this past week, but haven't had time to log them all. Let's just say that the cheese and I are gettin' pretty creative in the kitchen. And I'm sure that you'll hear all about some of my tasty treats eventually when I remake/perfect them. *drool*

In other news, yesterday's breakfast was a homage to McDonald's Monopoly, which of course, I'm not too thrilled with...they changed the game on me. and there were kinks in the system. and it was un-fun. But last year, I won a $50 gas card to Shell...so I'll keep playing. Gotta get my SASE ready for mailin'! In case you're wondering, here is the list of breakfast items to get your grubby little hands on game pieces:

medium drink
McCafe bevs (smoothies and frappes, but not coffee!)
Egg McMuffin
Sausage McMuffin with Egg
Hashbrowns (2 for $1.49, people)
Oatmeal

I'm thrilled that I don't have to get any of the strange breakfast sandwiches and I can enjoy a less than terrible for me egg McMuffin of joy.

Breakfast Wrap

Last night, headed to dinner with V. So this morning, I had a bunch of leftover Flat Top food...the girl gave us a ton of roti bread to take home with our entree (apparently, you can take the food home for an extra couple of bucks (like $2.50 more than the unlimited trips price). That's a $2.50 lunch. sweet.

Clearly, I love turning my leftovers into amazing breakfast concoctions. It's one of my favorite ways to get creative with my breakfast. There are very few things that aren't improved upon with cheese or eggs. Very few. By the way, just wait until one day I tell you about my White Castle breakfast scramble. It's a heart attack on your plate but MAN is it good! One day, my friends. One day.

So, for breakfast, I took one of the roti breads, nuked it for 30 seconds with a little bit of water so it doesn't dry out. Then I topped it with my egg scramble. The egg scramble consisted of Mom's homemade giardinara (which by the way is a little like a spicy muffaletta with peppers, olives, celery, carrots, olive oil, and spices), turkey ham and 1 egg. The flavor combination was outstanding. I wrapped the scramble into the roti and ate the delightful breakfast like an Asian-Italian taco (talk about fusion cuisine!)

Overall, it was a really delicious breakfast, and I highly recommend you try something to the likeness of this joyous breakfast combination. More tasty early morning meals to come!

Have a great day, kids!