Breakfast Quinoa
I saw a recipe for savory oatmeal somewhere, and I thought, “That would be much better with quinoa, which I happen to have gallons of from my Costco trip“. So I did it, cause I’m cool like that. You will need:
1 cup quinoa (I used red quinoa this time)
2 cups broth or water
1/2-1 cup shredded cheese
2 green onions, chopped
3-4 eggs
optional: leftover cooked veggies
Cook the quinoa according to the instructions, using broth or water. While that’s cooking, either fry or poach your eggs. You could scramble them also, I guess. I won’t judge. I will judge if you hard boil them though, and harshly. When the quinoa is done, mix in the shredded cheese and chopped green onions. I also happened to have some cooked zucchini in the fridge, so I heated it up, and threw it on top, then dropped the egg on top of that. The whole process takes ~20 minutes or so, and yields 3-4 servings. This is a great hearty breakfast, perfect for those days when you have a lot to get done. It will stick with you for hours.
Also, keep in mind, I’m not a food photographer. I make my food, take a picture, then eat it. I don’t sit around, posing it for hours, analyzing lighting, etc. I’m usually starving, and barely remembered to take a picture in the first place. I still think this one came out pretty good, though:
Egg Salad
I have an odd fascination with egg salad. It seems like it should be good – I mean, I like deviled eggs, and it’s essentially the same – but it’s always so bland. I decided I would learn how to make it, and make it tasty. The recipe calls for: 8 eggs, 1/2 cup mayo (I used less than that), 1 tsp mustard, 1/4 cup green onions, 1/2 tsp paprika (I used more than that), salt and pepper to taste.
First things first: boil those eggs. I think I cooked mine 15 minutes, but I googled it so I don’t remember. When they were done, I drained the hot water and rinsed them in cold.
Oh yeah, while they were boiling I chopped my onions.
Here’s a picture of ingredients!
I read online that an easy way to peel hard boiled eggs is to put the lid on the pan, and shake it around a bunch, and you have magically peeled eggs. Too good to be true? Judge for yourself:
I still managed to peel the eggs, rinse off the extra shell bits, and make eggs salad. I found it was a lot easier to peel them once that had completely cooled, as opposed to once they were cool enough to handle, which was my impatient method. Once they’re actually cool, you can get the membrane under the shell to peel off, which takes a whole bunch of shell with it. I did this yesterday while watching TV, which is my favorite way to be productive.
After the egg-peeling debacle, I rinsed and chopped up the eggs. I recommend rinsing even for people who aren’t as peel-challenged as I am. Nothing kills my appetite faster than rogue bits of egg shell in my mouth. I can never seem to get them out of my teeth once they’re in there. Even talking about it is grossing me out!!
So chop eggs, mix ingredients, tada, food. BUT STILL BLAND. So I took it upon myself to get creative. I tried 2 variations, both of which are good. Not amazing, but good.
I divided the batch in half and added about 1 tablespoon of blue cheese crumbles to one half. The blue cheese blended in well, and the flavor was really good without being over-powering, unless you don’t like blue cheese. In that case, you’re nuts, and probably shouldn’t be allowed near knives or boiling water anyway.
If you are nuts but still determined to make flavorful egg salad, you can try the second variation: Sriracha. What can that beautiful chili sauce not do? It is spicy, so you should probably taste your egg salad frequently to make sure you don’t make it too strong. I also added a big spoonful of chopped garlic, and a bit more salt. Both of these options are much better than traditional egg salad, and I will continue my quest for mix-ins. I want egg salad so good I can eat it with a fork or just rolled up in lettuce, so I can avoid the carbs from bread. I wonder if green olives would be good?
More Breakfast Ideas
I am on a continuing quest for the perfect breakfast. I need to be able to make it in advance and reheat it at work, it has to be cheap, high protein, low carb, and healthy. Eggs fit these criteria, but I honestly don’t like eggs much. I’ve tried a few different ways to dress them up, and here’s another attempt.
I found this picture on pinterest, and it looks like something I can not only manage to cook, but would also eat. The original post is a little vague on the details, and after making them myself, I have some advice. Don’t I always?
- Use the biggest onion rings possible, or tiny eggs. I had a lot of trouble fitting the eggs into the rings.
- Cut your onion rings at least 1/2 inch thick, to help hold in the eggs.
- It might help if the pan is pretty hot when you crack the egg into the onion, because I had egg running out the bottom all over the place.
Basically, I had egg running out the top and bottom, and all over the pan. These were pretty good when freshly made, and they’re ok reheated. I put American cheese on top, then microwave them, and they’re edible. I think I’m going to stick with my mini frittatas in the future, though.
Mini Frittatas
Technically, I’ve already posted this recipe, but I’m trying something new with it I thought was cool. In the original recipe, you simply bake eggs in a muffin tin, then put them inside an english muffin or mini bagel to make a breakfast sandwich. I decided to get a bit creative.
I’m always harping on cutting carbs (but then I just consume them in the form of cake or beer instead), so I wanted to avoid the mini bagels. The thing is, I pretty much hate how eggs taste, so I needed to do something to disguise them as much as possible.
I started by scrambling them up in their tins, then adding a variety of ingredients directly into the eggs. I had some cocktail weenies in the fridge, so I sliced some up and dropped them in. I also used diced onions, cheese, salsa, Sriracha, and frozen spinach. Each one has a different combination of those things in it. Like the salads I’ve been having for lunch every day, variety is important.
They baked up just fine, the same as in the original recipe.
They came out pretty good, but still taste like eggs. Next time I will be adding way more diced onion, cheese, and maybe mushrooms.
I have eaten them all for work though. When I reheat them, I put a small amount of cheese on top, and sometimes salsa, and they’re actually really good. God, I love cheese. Maybe next time I’ll skip the eggs altogether and just make a big ball of baked cheese filled with onions and mushrooms. *drools*
Generic Breakfast Egg Sandwiches
This is another amazing idea I found on Pinterest. If you haven’t been on there, be careful. It’s addictive. If you ever wanted to make your own McMuffins generic breakfast egg sandwiches this is the perfect recipe.
Spray some baking spray into a muffin tin, and crack an egg into each muffin cup (or however many you want to make). Bake it at 350 for 15-20 minutes. These bad boys pop out looking just like this:
Well, I semi-scrambled mine. On hers the yolks were intact. These are the perfect size to fit on a mini bagel, with a little cheese!
The author of the recipe was pre-assembling whole sandwiches, wrapping them individually and freezing them for fast breakfasts during the week. She used english muffins also, but the eggs fit better on mini-bagels.
Here are my ideas (as yet untried) for variations that could be mixed into the raw eggs before baking: chunky salsa, cheese, diced onion, spinach and romano cheese, bacon or sausage bits, chorizo or soy-rizo, and sauteed mushrooms and onions. I would mix in ingredients that have low water content, so things don’t get mushy, but it seems like having it mixed in would make these so much easier to reheat.
She recommends reheating in the oven, but if you keep the bun separate from the egg, that’s not necessary. I just toast my bagel and microwave my egg for about 30 seconds on 50% power, or else exploding happens and I get teased.
Broccoli for Breakfast
I usually make a nice breakfast on weekends, even if it occurs at 2 in the afternoon. This last weekend I wanted to try something a little different. I decided to make a sort of crust-less quiche. I started by chopping up a small head of fresh broccoli.
I diced up a small amount of onion.
I sauteed the two together in olive oil with a dash of garlic salt.
While that was cooking, I shredded a little over a quarter cup of parmesan cheese.
I cracked open and scrambled 4 eggs. I threw in a dash of pepper, and about half the cheese.
I then threw the eggs into the pan on top of the veggies. I stirred it around, and made sure all the egg was thoroughly cooked.
I used the rest of the cheese to top the eggs. It was AMAZING. I started stealing off Hubby’s plate, it was so good. I may make it for dinner tonight. I think the key was making sure the broccoli was well-seasoned before the eggs were ever introduced. Plus, this type of cheese is very flavorful, and I want more right this second.
That Clever Hangover Cure
First off, I have to tell you all that something very serious has happened. I’m almost out of coffee. There’s enough for right now, but after that I have to go to the store!! I’ll try to be strong and plow ahead, because that’s how much I love you little minions. Enough to inflict my barely-awake, nonsensical ramblings on you. You’re welcome.
Friday night, I had a fantastic night. Me and Samantha went dancing at our favorite place, Barbarella, and it was everything girls’ night should be: dancing, drinking, gabbing, and pretending to be a lesbian couple so the people hitting on us would go away.
Saturday morning (and by “morning” I mean 2 pm) I paid the price. Not only were my legs sore from jumping around, I was dehydrated and *un-caffeinated*. I know, I don’t know how I survived either. I usually function based on a large number of caffeine injections throughout the day, starting at 9am, so I was well below my daily quota by the time I woke up. I am honestly surprised I even regained consciousness.
After scrabbling around in the kitchen blindly, coffee was created, and I gradually fought off my zombie-like state. I then realized food was the other cure for what ailed me, but again, I need to go to the store. I decided finding pants (other than my Mr. Bubble pajama pants) was a ridiculously monumental task, akin to getting the ring back to Mount Doom, so simple food would have to do. This is a recipe I’ve made before, and I really like it. You will need 2 eggs, 1 cup (uncooked) rice, 1/4 cup onion (or more depending on your preference), and this stuff:
The teriyaki sauce totally makes this dish. It’s similar to soy sauce, but with a more complex, savory flavor. I use instant rice, so I start it in the microwave first thing. Then dice up the onion; I like rather large chunks. Start the onion sauteeing in a frying pan in some olive oil or butter. Once they start to get a teeny bit cooked, throw in some of the teriyaki sauce, and stir.
Let the onions cook to your preference. I like mine a little golden, but still crispy. When the onions make you happy, crack the two eggs into the pan, and stir them around. As the eggs are cooking, throw in another tablespoon or two of teriyaki. Let’s all keep in mind that when I took the pictures I had not had any caffeine for about 15 hours, so the pictures are a bit blurry. You should all just be amazed at the fact I had the presence of mind to take pictures at all in my handicapped state.
Put half the rice in a bowl, and throw a dash of teriyaki on it, then put half the egg mixture on top. This recipe makes enough for two servings, so you can either share, or eat half, pass out, and reheat the rest when you regain your mental faculties.
I know it sounds weird, but this is really good, simple food, and I’ve made it many times when I was not hungover in the slightest. It is easy enough to make when brain no workee, which makes it great hangover food.
My Attempts at Cleverness 