Breakfast: Avocado and Egg Toast

Normally, throughout the week the wife makes us a smoothie for breakfast.  You can check out the recipe for that here.  However, sometimes you need a break from the smoothies and bust out something different.

The wife got the idea for these things a while ago from another blog she reads.  I wasn’t sure how avocado and a hard boiled egg would go together, but after the first bite I was sold.  It was delicious.  It is a breakfast that I could eat just about every day of the week.

The nice thing about the breakfast is that it’s super simple to put together as well.  Especially, since the wife figured out a really easy way to make the hardboiled eggs.  After looking online, we now just put the eggs into a muffin tin, and pop them into the oven.  She looks up the directions each time, but it looks like a majority of the web throws them into the oven at 325 for 30 minutes.  After they come out, put them in and ice bath…and done.  They’ve come out perfect every time.

Once the eggs are done it’s really just a matter of assembling everything.  To try and save on calories we skip the toast and use some Thomas Plain Bagel Thins.  Throw those things in the toaster for a few minutes and get them nice and crisp.  On top of the toast/bagel thin spread half of an avocado.  We just mash the avocado up with a fork in a bowl to allow it to spread easily, but still have some chunks left in it.

One of the kitchen tools that comes in handy here is the egg slicer.  It makes it easy to cut the egg up in even slices.  Take your cut up egg and place it all over the toast/bagel.  Once you have the egg and avocado on, it’s time to season.  Go ahead and put a liberal helping of salt and pepper on top.  The kicker here are the red pepper flakes.  It gives the toast/bagel a bit of a bite and heat that really works well.

I can’t tell you how happy this breakfast makes me.  It’s satisfying, healthy, and delicious.  With the ability to make a bunch of eggs at once, you can easily have this a couple of mornings in a row.  Remember…keep the pit of the avocado in any extra you may have to keep it from turning brown.  This way when you go back for seconds or the next day, your avocado isn’t brown.

Now excuse me while I make sure we have the stuff we need for this in the house…because I have a craving again.

Hardboiled Eggs.

Avocado.

Dinner: Spinach, Ham, and Gruyére Frittata

Busting open one of the Cooking Light to look for things to make for dinner and we came across a spread of different frittatas that we could make.  Having wanted to try a frittata for a while and seeing one with prosciutto in it…we were pretty much sold.  A trip to the store to pick up the ingredients and it was time to start cooking things up.  We had the help of my mom during this one, so I just stood around and snapped pictures and tasted.

There was a bit more prep and managing of the recipe, but it still seemed to come together pretty easily.  In this case it was throw everything into a pan and cook it up.  We love our Le Creuset braising pan which we used to make up most of the meal.  It’s nice to have a pan that allows you to cook everything up and throw directly into the oven.  Literally the most used pan that we have in the kitchen (thanks mom!).

Once everything was sautéed it went straight into the oven.  After cooking and broiling the frittata it was ready to go.  Along side the frittata we cooked up some red potatoes.  These were simple potatoes that we roasted with some salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil.  When the potatoes hit a nice golden brown we took them out of the oven and slapped them onto the plate with the frittata.

I’m pretty much a fan of everything that went into the frittata, so it’s no surprise that it was pretty delicious to eat.  It was a hit all around the table.  Showing my appreciation for the well cooked meal, I went ahead and helped myself to seconds.  I can’t argue when the meal is full of eggs, cheese, and meat.  We haven’t made a frittata before, but they will most likely be in the rotation now.  You can’t argue with a meal that you can pretty much doctor up with whatever you would want.  One of the best parts here is that it heats up super well the next morning for breakfast!

So, pick up a pan, pick up some ingredients and get to cooking.

Spinach, Ham, and Gruyére Frittata

Ingredients

2 large egg whites

6 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/3 cup 1% milk

3 cups spinach

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 ounce prosciutto, crisped and crumbled

1/4 cup caramelized onions

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

2 ounces shredded Gruyere cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler to high. Combine egg whites, eggs, salt, pepper, and milk; stir with a whisk.
2. Heat a 9-inch cast-iron skillet over ­medium heat. Sauté spinach and minced garlic in olive oil until tender.
3. Layer in prosciutto, caramelized onions, and chives.
4. Sprinkle with shredded Gruyere cheese.
5. Carefully pour egg mixture over cheese. Cook over medium heat 5 to 6 ­minutes or until eggs are partially set; then broil 5 inches from heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned and almost set.

Proscuitto in the pan.

Sautéing up onion and tomatoes.

Throw in the spinach.

Gobs of cheese.

Add in the egg.

Roasted potatoes.

Finished product!

Dinner: Smoky Beef Tacos

I’m surprised we haven’t made this recipe sooner, but it’s due time that we cooked up this favorite of ours.  The wife found this recipe a long time ago and we’ve made it a bunch, but it seems like it’s been a while since it’s made it’s way into the rotation.  That being said, all we needed was apparently a friend’s birthday to come around and smoky beef tacos were on the table.

As with most of the meals we make, simplicity comes into play…and if I can be put in charge of making dinner, then you know it’s easy.  Literally, the directions are three steps long people.  Mix ingredients together, coat meat, shove in preheated oven, cook.  It’s pretty hard to get off track with three steps (I would be the one that could do it…but thankfully this turned out great).  Really, the only hard part, or part that takes some time, is shredding the meat once it is done cooking.  Full disclosure, the meat wasn’t as tender as previous times we’ve made this…but we just chalk that up to me making it.  The chiles in adobo sauce really make the dish.  It’s the slightly smoky, slightly spicy taste that really is pretty amazing.  Plus, as the meat cooks, the smell that starts to come from the oven could make a vegetarian drool.