Last Week's Recipe Wrap-Up

Monday: Black bean burritos, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese. I took freshly made black beans and "re-fried" them in olive oil and then seasoned them with adobo and cumin and mashed them with a potato masher.

Tuesday: Spinach egg strata, chilled pear halves. I diced two types of slightly stale bread, one a multi-grain artisan loaf and the other crusty french bread. I defrosted some spinach and layered it over the bread pieces. I put about 2 cups of cheese over the bread and spinach, I used a combination of grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I beat 8 eggs with 2 cups of milk, about 2 generous squirts of grainy mustard and a dash or two of tabasco sauce and poured that over all. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until puffed and golden. You can make this the night before and leave it in the fridge and then bake it in the morning too.

Wednesday: Dirty Rice Mix with kielbasa sausage. I was at cheerleading camp with my daughters and hubby sauteed some onions and green peppers, added it to the dirty rice mix and then sauteed some kielbasa to go with it. Yum!

Thursday: Driving to my brother and sister-in-law's to see the world's cutest baby. We had to eat on the road. But we also received (just for showing up!) five fresh and delicious avocados from my amazing in-laws. My friend Kayla gave me a tip to try Avocado Chocolate Mousse, but only after you make guacamole, BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwich), shrimp salad with avocado, and using the avocado to garnish spicy bowls of tortilla soup. I also had an Eggs Benedict Florentine made with slices of fresh tomato (in place of english muffins) fresh leaves of spinach and slices of avocado. YUM!!!

Friday: Football game, the kids were cheering at half time and dinner with my Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law. They took us out to dinner where I had a pretty tasty beer cheese soup. This one had pieces of sausage in it, but the kind I make at home is vegetarian. Use a beer that you like to drink and one that you would pair naturally with any nice selection of cheeses. I make a mirepoix in the bottom of a stock pot in some butter or olive oil, then I add some flour and let it cook a bit and add a quart of veggie stock, several shakes of worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper and a 12 oz beer and let it come to a boil. I reduce the heat and then add in handfuls of shredded cheeses (usually mostly cheddar cheese, but blended with monterrey jack, mozzarella, maybe colby if I have some) stirring constantly, then I finish it off with a bit of cream, but that is optional. Between you and me, my soup is waaay better than the soup I got at the restaurant.

Thanks for putting up with the paltry posting, in addition to traveling with my family this week, my husband's asthma flared up really badly and my older girl got a 48 hour fever. So it was a little bit hectic.

Weird Wednesday: English Muffin Egg Strata

I love breakfast for dinner, which is weird because I will barely tolerate breakfast for breakfast. I am such a committed morning-phobe that I really can't eat until 10 a.m. or later because even if I am up, moving, feeding the kids, etc. my stomach cannot support the idea of eating until it is almost lunch time. So the only way I really get to enjoy breakfast foods is when we serve them at a normal wake-up time, like 5 p.m.

I miss being a night-owl.

Anyway, when I went to make my normal egg strata I had that sad, Florida realization. The bread had all gone moldy whilst still in the bag! It happens occasionally, you don't even get a chance to eat it because the humidity and heat are such that it makes normal shelf-lives laughable. So I pitched the bread and thought about what to do. My mother in-law makes a wonderful "oven omelet" by beating lots of eggs with milk, salt, pepper, a dash ground mustard and onion and cheese, but I had really set my mind on having a "strata" or layers of bread, veggies and cheese covered in beaten egg and baked.

I decided to use the English Muffins I had just purchased. Here's what I came up with for dinner.

English Muffin Egg Strata:

6 English Muffins
1-2 C shredded cheese
1 C of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 C of chopped onion
8 oz of sliced mushrooms
12 eggs beaten
1/3 C of milk
salt
pepper
dash of Tabasco
1 tsp of dried Italian herbs

I greased the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan with butter and set it aside. In a medium bowl I beat the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, herbs and Tabasco. I cut up the english muffins into small cubes and took half of them and covered the bottom of the pan. I thawed the spinach in the microwave on low, just enough so I could wrap it in a towel and wrong out the excess water. I sauteed the onions and mushrooms in a skillet until the onions were fragrant and mushrooms had released their liquid (which I poured off). I put a good handful of grated mozzarella over the bread cubes and then put on all the vegetables. I topped that with the rest of the bread, then another good handful of shredded cheese, over all I poured the beaten eggs and let them sit for a few minutes and then right before putting them into the 350 degree oven I topped the whole thing with a bit more cheese. I set it in the oven for 20 minutes. Your oven might cook them faster or slower, check for doneness by seeing if the casserole has pulled away from the sides and if it is still slightly jiggly in the center; it will firm up once it is out of the oven and cooling. I served this with bacon strips I cooked in the microwave and wine glasses filled with orange juice.

It was delicious, I also think it would pair well with sliced Canadian bacon, or any of your favorite Omelet fillers.