Brunch

Pumpkin Jam

Pumpkin Butter_2

Can we talk about Pumpkins for a minute? From the day after Labor Day through Halloween you can’t escape pumpkins. They’re everywhere – the grocery stores, the malls, the 7-11, people’s porches – everywhere. Come the beginning of November and magically we’ve transformed from pumpkin everything to Christmas two months early. It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy pumpkins during the season with my pumpkin spice coffee creamer, pumpkin cheesecake and a day trip to the Pumpkin Farm. I’m all about enjoying what every season has to offer. What I do find frustrating is when on November 8, I’m looking to make a from-scratch pumpkin recipe, I get to my local grocery store and there are literally no pumpkins in sight. What is a girl to do?! I may or may not have had a slight panic attack and called none other than my mother (because as we all know, moms have the answers to everything). Lucky for me, she reminded me that there’s a nursery not too far from home that had a ton of pumpkins left. In that moment I was saved from having to use canned pumpkin puree for my homemade pumpkin jam. (more…)

Ground Beef Skillet Hash

Ground Beef Hash_2

I’ve been on a short hiatus from blogging. Not intentionally. Every once in a while I get caught up with other things in my life—namely, my day job, and other life events.

For those who follow me on Instagram and Snapchat, you know I’ve been busy on travel to Turkey and counting down to my birthday! Another year older and hopefully a little bit wiser. (more…)

Croissant Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast Casserole

It’s graduation day! Our youngest brother, Tarik, is leaving high school behind to start his journey in college.

It’s a big day for us all. It always seems like the youngest takes forever to catch up to the rest of us who have already found our career paths, or are finishing up college in that first step towards adulthood and responsibility. So when the youngest of the pack is growing up and reaching a major benchmark, that’s a pretty big deal. (more…)

Eggs Benedict

Last weekend, I mentioned in my post Let’s Do Brunch my affinity for a certain brunch food item, eggs Benedict. It’s my go-to brunch menu item at almost any restaurant. The perfect mix of yolky eggs, hollandaise, and bread, and any other items you want to top it off with.

This weekend, I was on a mission  to perfect the art of poaching an egg. Naturally, I bought two individual egg poachers – how else are you supposed to get the egg to poach? The cashier at Crate&Barrel, a woman who regularly poaches eggs, pointed me to the right gadget, and gave me some tips.

With family on their way over, I began poaching. Let me tell you, even with an egg poacher, it was not easy. First, I brought water in a pot to a simmer, I then added a few drops of vinegar. Vinegar keeps the egg whites from splattering all over. I cracked my eggs into the poachers, placed them carefully into the water and covered them for 10 minutes.

The impatient person that I am, I kept checking the eggs. I had no idea when they would be done. So I watched them carefully until white film covered the yolks. When I decided it was time to take them out, I was faced with a problem – how do I get the eggs out of the egg poacher? Enter the spoon. Since the poacher was so hot that I burned my finger, my solution was to hold the egg poacher in one hand with an oven mitt, and with my non-dominant hand, try to ease the egg out with a spoon. You can imagine that they didn’t turn out perfectly.

After placing the egg on a lightly toasted English muffin, I made some hollandaise sauce from an easy mix, layered on smoked salmon and capers, and then poured the hollandaise on top.

 

I was surprised that they turned out delicious.

 

In all, it was a stressful experience. I’m going to leave the egg poaching, and resulting eggs Benedict to the pros.

 

Let’s Do Brunch

Brunch is my favorite meal of the week. It’s not quite breakfast and not quite lunch. It’s the perfect blend of savory and sweet. So why is brunch the one meal I look forward to all week?

After running around all week trying to catch my breath between work, errands, the gym, dinner planning and preparation, and mandatory family gatherings, brunch is a meal for relaxation. It’s about catching up on the events of the previous week, or a once-every-two month reunion. Life stories, little known secrets and advice are always shared.

Let’s not forget about the food. There are so many delicious options – my favorite being Eggs Benedict. Disclaimer: I’m absolutely awful at poaching eggs. I’m great at scrambled with cheese and sunny-side up, but poached; that’s a-whole-nother story. Luckily Crate&Barrel makes this great individual egg poacher which I plan to buy, and use to make my own Eggs Benedict. Recipe and photo to follow next week.

In the meantime, I make a mad stovetop eggs frittata.

 

Ingredients

4 oz Fresh baby spinach
4 Eggs
4 tablespoons shredded cheese of your choice (Mozzarella, cheddar, etc.)
½ Green Pepper
½ Red pepper
1 cup Broccoli
(other veggies can be used)
 

Directions

Spray cooking spray in a nonstick skillet.
Wilt the spinach with 1 Tbsp water for 5 minutes, stir as it’s cooking.
Add broccoli, green pepper, red pepper.
Let cook for another 3-5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs (lightly)
Pour eggs over veggies. Do not stir.
Cover and cook until eggs are set (5-8 minutes)
Serve in the skillet.

Servings: 4