Spaghetti and Eggs

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Andrea

When one arrives back home from a trip away, I fully believe that a warm and comforting meal is a must. Whatever food is your favorite, whatever dinner makes you content, that’s what you should be eating.

When Scott got back home from being gone for a week, he said he was ready to eat some good food. He said he missed my cooking and couldn’t wait to sit down to a lovely dinner.

Is he fab or what?

And because of my belief mentioned above, I knew he needed something comforting. Scott has a lot of comfort foods and two of them happen to be pasta and fried eggs. I was going back and forth about what to make him.

Breakfast? Or a pasta dish?

Then it occured to me, why not combine them?

The measurements aren’t exact because this is a recipe that can easily be adjusted to serve one or 20.

Andrea’s Spaghetti and Eggs

Try New Combinations

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Andrea

There’s a little diner here that serves the best black beans I have ever had. I dream about these black beans.

Scott and I went one day for breakfast and I got a side order of beans. Yeah, beans for breakfast, don’t knock it! I had eggs with my breakfast and decided to just plop the beans right on top. With a little hot sauce on top, I was a very happy lady.

Had I not ordered beans with my breakfast, it probably never would have occurred to me to try mixing them with eggs.

Once I did, I couldn’t figure out why this hadn’t done this before! Now black beans over eggs is one of my very favorite combinations.

I scramble up eggs and season them with garlic and chili powder. Then I top with:

Black Beans
Cheese
Salsa
Hot Sauce

You can even add in some sour cream as well!

It’s an easy dish to put together and is also very budget friendly. Eggs and beans are inexpensive and pantry staples.

Kale Hash

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Andrea

Friends, what I’m about to share with you is one of my favorite meals. It came into my life not all that long ago and will be with me forever and ever, amen.

We all know that I love potatoes, right? So this dish is full of my favorite things.

Potatoes
Kale
Eggs

And it’s eaten out of a bowl

It’s heaven. And so easy! I was flipping through a Ray Ray magazine a few months back and saw the title, Kale Hash. I didn’t even read the recipe because I created my own right on the spot. I think I even made it that same night.

Kale hash is pure genius. It’s also purely delicious and completely perfect.

Life will never be the same again.

Andrea’s Kale Hash

2 Idaho Potatoes, scrubbed, and cut into bite sized cubes

1 Large bunch of kale, stemmed and chopped

1/2 Onion, chopped

1/2 Green pepper, chopped

4 eggs, beaten

Pantry Staple: Eggs

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Andrea

Eggs, in this house we love them. We eat them a lot and in fact, Scott sometimes has a hardboiled egg as his nighttime snack. I always have eggs on hand and consider them an official Food Embrace Pantry Staple.

Yes, I realize they don’t reside in the pantry but because they are a “must have”, I consider them one of the most important staples to have on hand.

Eggs possess qualities that all pantry staples should have, being budget friendly and being quick to make.

Let’s face it, we all have a budget when we go grocery shopping and we all like having the ability to make a quick meal when short on time or super hungry.

I had a HUGE craving for eggs most recently and much to my dismay I was out of them.

Ack!

I try to plan my shopping trips so that I have replenished the supply before it totally runs dry. With the past several weeks being really busy around here, grocery shopping was put on the back burner. I had food on hand for meals but my egg supply had gone to empty.

Unfried Green Tomatoes

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Andrea

The first time I ever heard about fried green tomatoes was because of the movie by the same name. Before that they had not crossed my radar. Like most things from the south, I was not exposed to them until much later in my adult life. Thank goodness for college, traveling, and cooking shows!

The idea of a fried green tomato intrigued me. The closest thing to it I did have was fried zucchini. There was good fried zucchini and then there was horrible fried zucchini. If you’ve ever had fried zucchini, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I looked into making fried green tomatoes and realized the technique between the two was very similar.

Plus what a great way to use up unripe tomatoes! They are always in abundance come the end of summer, right? Breaded warm tomatoes are amazing, maybe with a little cheese on top and you’ve got a really great side dish.

Farm House Tossed Salad

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Andrea

I had on Food TV in the background, not really paying attention to it when I heard Claire Robinson talk about a salad that had a warm bacon dressing and was topped with a fried egg.

Oh really?

Now that did have my attention! Sadly not enough to stop what I was doing and see how she did it though. Admittedly I have always been intrigued by the “warm bacon dressing” trend and was never really sure how to achieve. I did notice that the bacon grease was used a lot and as much as I love bacon, I really don’t want to eat the drippings.

I know it sounds weird but well there it is. I couldn’t escape this idea though of a tossed salad with an egg on top and bacon dressing so I decided to make my own version for lunch.

I’m guessing on the measurements for you as this is more of a concept type of dish and can be adjusted how you see fit.

Salmon Patties

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Andrea

all mixed up

My mom used to make salmon patties all the time and admittedly I didn’t really care for them (sorry Mom!). They were a little too on the fishy tasting side for me. A little potent. Once I left and was on my own for meals I forgot about them.

And then I picked them back up again. I’m not sure how it happened. If I was watching a cooking show maybe and saw someone make something simliar or what, but my interest was renewed. I realized I didn’t have to make them the way my mom had, I could make them however I wanted and jazz them up a bit.

Sometimes it is really interesting to see the differences in the types of foods Scott and I each grew up with. He did not have salmon patties as a staple growing up or even had them before I started making them. This was something totally new for him. He loves fish, so I was sure he was going to like it. Over the years I have come up with a standard salmon patty recipe that isn’t overly fishy tasting and results in a light flavor not leaving you weighted down.

Leftover Idea: Stuffing Frittata

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Andrea

The cast

Still plowing your way through leftovers? This is one of my very favorite leftover recipes. I look forward to this all year long! I started doing this a few years back with leftover stuffing and have made it every year since. It’s so easy and so yummy! Perfect if you are hosting guests at your house and they are threatening bodily harm if you feed them another leftover. Disguise it!

Andrea’s Stuffing Frittata

1 C overloaded with stuffing

1 C of leftover chopped turkey

4 eggs

1 TBSP of olive oil

Shredded Cheddar for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, drizzle in the olive oil and heat over medium heat. Then add in the turkey and stuffing. Whisk the four eggs and pour that mixture over the turkey and stuffing. Making sure the egg mixture covers the whole thing. Turn off heat and plop in the oven for about 5 minutes until just slightly shy of being set. Turn off oven and remove frittata. Sprinkle top with as much shredded cheddar as you like. Put back in the oven for about 3 minutes until the cheese is melted and frittata is fully set.

Steak and Potato Frittata

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Andrea

Frittata on the way to the oven

One of our favorite meals is a nice steak dinner. Marinated grilled steak with a baked potato and all the fixins. Classic. However, I cannot eat an entire steak. And depending on the size of the baked potato, I might not be able to eat a whole one of those either. We always have leftovers and I try to come up with different ways I can transform that classic meal into something else.

Enter the frittata. A frittata is a quick dish to make and it can take on any flavor or style you want to throw at it. So many different things one can do with a skillet and some eggs. The day after a nice dinner of grilled steak and baked potato, I decided to use those leftovers in a frittata. This is my version of a steak and eggs breakfast with a side of homefries.

Read more on Steak and Potato Frittata…

Sour Cream and Chive Deviled Eggs

Posted on October 5, 2008 by Andrea

Simple

One of my favorite type of egg dishes are deviled eggs. Growing up in western Pennsylvania, deviled eggs were a common dish that made appearances at every barbecue, football party, or general gathering of friends and family. It was a constant. And I’m not talking about the fancy-putting-on-airs deviled eggs where a piping bag was used to create a frilly filling. These were simple honest deviled eggs where an everyday spoon was used to fill them.

To me that’s how deviled eggs should remain and I guess the appropriate term that’s used nowadays is Rustic. To me, deviled eggs are not meant to look fancy but look rustic and homemade. So that it stirs up thoughts of watermelon and bbq chicken and a bucket full of drinks submerged in ice.

For some reason, living in the Midwest, deviled eggs do not seem popular here. I have yet to see them at any gathering we have been to and when I have made them, they sit untouched (except for the ones Scott and I eat). Perhaps deviled eggs are a regional thing?