breakfast blogger

Sir Inland of Shipwreck a.k.a. Will, planted a bug in my mind the other day. He was telling me all about having an omelette for breakfast. I quickly realized that it has been a long time since I have prepared an omelette in my kitchen. I realized even faster that if I did prepare an omelette, I would have some new blog material for breakfast blogger!!! YIPPIE!!
So here I go. My blog on the making on an omelette.

Step 1
Preheat your oven to broil.
Grab a couple eggs, cheese, pan lube of your choice and tools of omelette construction. If you are like me, you need a mixer. I’m kinda lazy. I’m not really into beating egg whites by hand. I could be doing other things, like watching the butter in my pan melt, or chasing my cat around the kitchen with chopsticks.

Step 2.
Separate the white into the mixer and the yolk into another bowl. Be sure to pick the big white chunk of under developed chick embryo umbilical cord off your yolk. Eeeeeww. I hate that bit.

Step 3.
Beat the living *&$% out of your egg whites. Give your yolks a good whoppin’ too. Feel free to add your seasonings to your yolks while you are massacring them. They like that. Then, when your whites are nice and fluffy and stiff, fold in your yolks gently, very gently, they have been through a lot, be nice. You can throw in some over junk too if you like. Things like shredded ham, peppers or herbs are nice, but I was lacking in appropriate fillings today. I had some wieners in the fridge, but somehow, I can’t see that working so well.

Step 4.
Pour your still fluffy puffy eggs onto a preheated frying pan, greased with your lube of choice. Let them cook there for a little while, but just until the sides are starting to look like they are dry and the bottom is browning.

Step 5.
Add cheese. LOTS of cheese. Man do I love cheese!! WOOOO! Then stick it under your broiler till cheese is all gooey. Mmmmmm cheese.

Step 6.
Cut yourself off a slab of your fluffy puffy omelette and enjoy with the usual breakkie sides.
My sides of choice today consist of: Bacon (cause you can never have too much bacon!), a banana muffin with some butter (which went oddly well with the bacon), some strawberry yogurt with banana in it and a glass of apple juice. Yum. Well balanced and nutritious. Oh.. and some Frank’s hot sauce on the omelette. Life is just better with a little Frank’s.

I did learn a few things this morning tho and I’d like to share with you.

First of all, I’m a poor judge of cheese. I used a little too much and my fluffy puffy omelette went PPBBTT. The cheese was a little heavy. It was still pretty awesome, just not as fluffy and puffy as it usually is.

Secondly, I need some new place mats. I’m getting bored with these one.

Thirdly, I should stop bothering to put a knife out. I never use it… I just use the side of my fork. I only really put it out for B.B. pics and that’s just silly.
But then again, I’m a silly gal.

And last but not least, I need to clean my oven. The light burnt out a long time ago and I didn’t realize how dirty it looked until I looked at the pic. The flash really lit up the crusty burnt goodness inside. MMmmmMMm

MONEY SHOT!!

Burp.

This past weekend was the Grand Okanagan Resorts annual Breakfast with Santa. Every year the Grand host a breakfast and such for all the employees with children.
With the Grand being the prestigious facility that it is, I was expecting quite a shindig..I was not dissapointed.
The banquet room was formally set, the lights low and the chandelier sparkled above our heads. In the back of the room was 2 large blow up jungle gym thingies for the kiddies, a craft corner and face painting, which were quickly flooded with all the little nose pickers.
But of course, being the breakfast fanatic that I am, I was drawn to the buffet style breakfast laid out across the middle of the room. It was nothing short of impressive.
Massive stacks of plates and bowls greeted you at the head of the table, beckoning you to start shoveling your plates full.

Just past the stacks of white plates were cereal and yogurts, muffins and jams. (yawn).

My real interest was in the shiny silver food warmers in the middle.
The smell of them permiated the room and gave away thier contents. The guests and thier spawn mobbed the table as the chefs came to unveil the delicious bounty inside.

The first one contain pancakes and belgian waffles. There was huge punch bowls of whipped cream and berry topping to accompany them. I had to forfit my waffle to some pathetic lookin doe eyed brat. Its a good thing she was cute or I would have gnawed her arm off for it.

The next held a mess of hashbrowns. They were simple, onionless (thank god, I have a freakish hatred for them) and really quite good. They went great with syrup.

The thrid was scrambled eggs. More pale than I am accustomed to, but thats only becasue I’m a firm believer that scrambled eggs should have cheese in them. I couldn’t help but think about the poor kitchen helper that got screwed into cracking all the eggs for a batch of eggs like that. Poor poor egg cracker guy…

And last but not least came the pig oriented breakafst meats. Cant have brekky without salty cured pig meats. Yum. Again, something that goes well with syrup.

I loaded up my plate with the free bounty and headed for the beverage table, which was also rather impressive in its organization.

But instead of ruining the lovely display, I opted for a classic childhood fav… a carton of chocolate milk. Seen here beside my free heaping plate of buffet food. I was very dissapointed in the fruit salad. It was remminicent of wet sandpaper and butt. Not very appealing at all.

Over all it was not all THAT remarkable of a breakfast, but for a free one, I really can’t complain.

I woke up before my young one this morning for a change. I enjoyed a nice leisurely stretch and a thorough butt scratching as I wandered my quiet house. I thought to myself, “self, it seems rather bright in here this morning, we should open the windows and see why..” Good idea self.

I rather awkwardly headed across the living room to the pull chain thingy on the blinds, tripping over a few toys and banging my shin on the table along the way. Off to a good start this morning aren’t we Az. Your grace never ceases to amaze me.

I pulled the chain and was blinded by retina burning white light. Crap. It snowed. I hate snow. With every fibre of my being, I hate snow. It’s wet, and slippery, and cold, and gets in my shoes and makes my hair frizzy. Evil stuff it is.

After a few unrepeatable words and some more scratching, I came to the conclusion that I was in need of more than my usual eggs for breakfast this morning. I needed the kind of consoling that can only come from a comfort food from my youth. Time to pull out the big guns. Its time for Cream of Wheat.

Cream of Wheat was one of my all time favorite breakfast foods from my youth. So warm and filling and delicious. So many ways to top it, so many flavours to add. Nothing could make me happier this morning than a nice hot bowl of it in my tummy.

I got my ingredients together in my pot and set it to boil on the stove while I went for the box of Cream of Wheat in the cupboard. *Shake Shake* uh oh….. the box was nearly empty. The panic set in. Thankfully there was exactly enough left to make myself a pot of the yummy breakfast mush. For a moment I thought I was going to be having some Cream of Wheat/oatmeal for breakfast, which, now that I think of it, just might be an interesting idea.

Now I’m quite particular about how my C.o.W is prepared. It has to be thick. None of this runny sloppy, viscous nonsense. I want to be able to cut the stuff if I wanted to. It’s the kind of meal that sticks with you all day.

As a child I used to like it with a bit of butter and sprinkled with sugar, but as I grew up, my tastes changed. I have grown to prefer butter and some fruit preserves or jam of sorts. But considering the way the weather personally insulted me this morning by snowing, I decided I needed something else to combat my disgust. That something else was a handful of chocolate chips.

Two parts insanity, one part genius and one part breakfast blogger decided that chocolate chips were the perfect accompaniment with the usual strawberry jam and butter. There is no wrong way to combine strawberries and chocolate, and this was no exception.

The chips got all nice and gooey on the warm, solidified C.o.W and mixed beautifully with the warmed strawberry jam. I was in heaven. Chocolate should be incorporated with every meal: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I decided it was a good idea to balance out my sweet breakfast with some apple juice and an orange. I could use some extra vitamin C to get me through cold and flu season. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after taking a big bite of an orange wedge and almost having my mouth sucked into the back of my head in an unexpected burst of sour, I realized I should have thought it out a little more.

The intense sweetness of my C.o.W concoction made the slightly sour, acidic orange seem unbearably sour and caused my face to contort in ways only appropriate for a circus side show.

I ended up leaving the oranges for last to spare my son the horror of seeing me in such a state. But despite the shock to my taste buds, it was just what I needed to fight off the winter blahs.
Bon appetite

One of the staples in our home has always been the egg sandwich. It has taken many forms and reflected personal preferences, but the basic concept is always the same: Bread of choice, egg, cheese, and bacon if the mood strikes. This is how I like to prepare mine:

Toast 1 (or 2) english muffins, butter if you feel the need.

Add one slice of Kraft singles processed cheese food. Normally I don’t enjoy these weak excuses for cheese products, but on a McAzwich, it just seems to work. Don’t question it, just go with it.

Fold up corners of processed cheese food slice to keep things neat. Too many times have I had those corners melt off and end up down my shirt. I’m just sparing you the humility of picking cheese outta your cleavage.. well those of you with cleavage anyway.

Add one over easy or over medium egg on top of processed cheese food slice. Salt and Pepper to taste. I recommend a little hot sauce for interest.

If you feel your arteries are a little too free flowing, add a few strips of bacon. Mmmmm bacon.

Then cap with other half of english muffin and be sure to smoosh it. Smooshing makes every sandwich better. Enjoy!

            BURP..

Yes… Along with my toast, golden crisp McCain hashbrown patty, Omega 3 eggs over medium with some Franks Red Hot Sauce and my fresh from concentrate orange juice, I had a piece of apple pie.

I thought the rich flaky pastry and semi sweet apple filling was a nice compliment to the heat from the hot sauce on my eggs. I also felt the cold pie lead a nice contrast to the standard warm breakfast. Over all it was a successful and delicious morning treat.

It was no chocolate cake cereal, (to which I am repulsed yet strangely curious about), but it was fantastic none the less.

MMmmmmmMMMmmmmm Pie!

*burp*

Im having a rough morning this morning.

Snack cake and the first of many Best Western travel mugs worth of coffee.

Why can’t coffee come in I.V. drip form? That would be so much more convenient for mornings like this.

..now where did I put that bag of chips….

Simple yet effective.

On the menu this morning:

-Whole wheat bread toasted to perfection and lightly lubed with some becel margarine.

-A quarter of cantalope, soft, juicy and bursting with fresh summer taste.

-A half cup of creamy strawberry yogurt generously sprinkled with honey almond granola.

-3 grade A, large, Omega 3 eggs, boiled for 10 min. The perfect hard boiled egg.

Much yumminess was had.

I.. am Az
I like to cook breakfast.

I enjoy eating out *snicker*, but really like showing off at home. Crepes are my personal specialty. Been making them since I was old enough to pull up a chair next to my father while he made then.

Incidently, he enjoyed breakfast as well.

Its nothing fancy… just crepes with an orange strawberry sauce and freshy whipped cream (none of that “whip cream” in a can garbage!) The flowers and whatnot are just to impress you. It’s working isn’t it? Yeah.. I know it is.. you don’t have to tell me.