Eggs!

I love eggs!  They're so versatile, and an inexpensive source of protein, that I usually make some sort of egg-centered dish for dinner at least one night each week.  Below are a few of the recipes I've made recently, plus an original concoction I came up with for lunch this week. 

This first recipe came from Williams-Sonoma's blog.  They called it a Breakfast Tart, but I've never been one to box food into specific times of day. It's a puff pastry crust with eggs and bacon baked on top of it.  How can you go wrong?  :-)

This dish is Baked Eggs with Spinach, Tomatoes and Garlic from the $5 Dinners website.  It was easy to prepare and really tasty!  I substituted kale for the spinach called for in the original recipe, because that's what I had.  :-)

This was breakfast one morning: Pumpernickel bread (a German brand that uses whole grain, no wheat gluten. It's really dense and chewy and I really like it), toasted and topped with avocado and tomato slices and scrambled eggs.  With a dash of sriracha sauce, of course, because eggs and hot sauce just go together!  Also, I have been told that I make the best scrambled eggs ever, so I'm going to give you my secret (and maybe if I get my act together to do a video, I will show you, too): low heat.  It takes a little longer to cook the eggs, but cooking them over low heat, and whisking often, will produce creamy eggs.  Of course, if you prefer a drier scrambled egg, then you may not like the way I make them, anyway.  It's all a matter of taste, really.

The final egg dish is something I came up with for lunch, which seems to be the bane of my existence.  I'm always at a loss for what to make for lunches on the weekends.  On weekdays, the kids eat lunch at school, and my husband and I usually just eat leftovers from last night's dinner.  So, on weekends, I just don't know what to do for lunch beyond sandwiches and/or soup.  Sandwiches are pretty versatile, but I'm trying to limit my refined carb intake, so salads and soups start to get a little boring.  What to do?

You may have already seen, especially if you're on Pinterest, a recipe for making a fried egg inside a pepper slice.   I was intrigued, so thought I'd give it a try.  I didn't have a recipe, though, just kind of made it from memory.  So here's what I did:

I sliced a red bell pepper in rings about 1/2 inch thick, cleaned off the portobello mushrooms and fired up my griddle.

Once the griddle was warmed up, I put a little olive oil on the griddle, then slapped the mushroom tops and the bell pepper rings on it.  Once the bell peppers cooked for a minute, I flipped the ring over, then cracked an egg into the middle. I ended up flipping the egg over again (for an over-easy type egg), because the whites weren't cooking on the top. I also flipped over the mushroom tops after about 3 minutes.

Egg, Pepper and Portobello Sandwich

Ingredients (makes 2 open-faced sandwiches)

1 red bell pepper

2 portobello mushroom caps

2 eggs

olive oil

salt and pepper

mayo or honey mustard sauce

bacon, cooked

Heat up a griddle or large frying pan.  Slice the bell pepper into 1/2 inch slices (use the two slices that make the biggest middle space -- the egg will spread when you crack it in the middle) and clean out any of the white rib flesh.  Wipe off the portobello caps. Brush griddle with olive oil (extra virgin or the sluttier kind), place portobello caps and red pepper rings onto griddle.  Grill for about 2 minutes, then flip.  Carefully break one egg into the middle of each red pepper ring, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  When the egg white has set, carefully flip the egg/pepper ring and cook for another minute.

Put the mushroom cap on a plate, rib side facing up (smooth part touching the plate), then spread with a bit of mayonnaise (or mustard, or whatever condiment you think might be tasty - I happened to have an extra pack of Chik-fil-A sauce, so I used that -- it makes anything taste better!). Top the mushroom with the egg and bell pepper.  Serve with bacon on the side (or on top, whatever floats your boat).