Strawberry Challah French Toast

Some dishes need no introduction.  Strawberry challah French toast - I think it speaks for itself.  Think fluffy, slightly sweet and cinnamony French toast kissed with super-ripe, juicy strawberries.   Now you can stop drooling and make it for your breakfast.

Challah is by far the best bread for any French toast, in my opinion, but of course you can use whatever you have on hand and see how it goes.  Cut the slices of bread nice and thick, about half an inch, so that it can soak up the egg mixture without getting soggy too fast. 

French toast is good.  Strawberry challah French toast is better.  Welcome to the weekend!

Strawberry Challah French Toast

makes 2 slices

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 medium sized strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 teaspoon sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon ground cinammon

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 thick slices Challah or similar bread

DIRECTIONS:

1.  In a medium bowl, sprinkle the sugar over the sliced strawberries and toss gently.  Let sit while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

2.  In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon to combine well.  

3.  Place the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat and let it melt.  

4.  Dip the slices of bread in the egg mixture to coat both sides and the edges, and transfer to the skillet after the butter has melted.  Don't be tempted to raise the heat from medium.  Let cook for about 3 minutes on the first side, then flip to cook the other side.  If it resists when you try to lift it with a spatula, wait another minute or so before flipping.  Then you can flip back and forth every minute or so until both sides are golden-brown and the bread no longer looks soggy.

5.  Serve the French toast topped with the strawberries.

Enjoy!

Veggie Hash and Eggs

There is something incredibly satisfying about eggs for meals other than breakfast.  This meal can, of course, be breakfast, but it is so easy to whip up that it's an excellent candidate for a quick after-work supper.  You take whatever veggies happen to be in your fridge, chop them up, saute them in olive oil, and fry up a couple of eggs to put on top.  Voila. 

I had some leftover cooked beets from the other night's salad, so I used those, as well as some spinach and zucchini.  I threw in some feta too, but this meal certainly didn't need cheese to complete it.  It's healthy, easy, and different enough that you can forget it is basically the easiest meal on earth.  Use whatever veggies you like.

It also would be excellent hangover food, if you happen to have had a bit too much to drink the night before.   Just sayin'.

Veggie Hash and Eggs

serves 1

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cooked and peeled medium-sized beet, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 baby zucchini, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 cups loosely packed spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

salt to taste

1/4 cup cubed feta cheese

2 tablespoons chopped chives

2 large eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the beet, zucchini, and spinach and saute until the spinach is wilted and the zucchini is getting tender.  

2.  Push the veggies to the side of the pan and crack the two eggs into the vacant space.  Fry them up - cook until starting to set, then flip with a spatula and cook on the other side, about 1 minute per side.  Toss the chives and feta with the veggies just before removing from the pan.

3.  Put the veggies in a bowl and top with the eggs.

Enjoy!

Avgolemono Soup (CEIMB)

When I was in law school, we often went to a Greek restaurant called Taverna Tony for lunch.  It was right down the street, and it had (free!) excellent bread and taramasalata dip. There was one menu item that we always had to get.  It was the lemony, creamy soup known as avgolemono - or chicken lemon soup.  It was my favorite soup of all time, and I still get the hankering now and again to drive up the coast to Malibu for a bowl.  No other Greek restaurant makes it quite as well as Taverna Tony, and believe me, I've looked.

It just so happens that this week's Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe is for avgolemono soup (or "Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo," as Ellie calls it).   I was so excited that this was the pick of the week!  I have to say that it is remarkably like the version I grew to know and love in law school, only with thyme instead of parsley.  I think next time I make this recipe (and there *will* be a next time), I will use parsley and see just how close to Tony's recipe this one is. 

This is a magical, lemony soup that tastes creamy and decadent, but the source of its creaminess is tempered eggs, rather than cream, flour, or any other typical soup ingredient.  It's a rather unassuming variation on chicken noodle soup, but it is so incredibly good, you can't even believe it until you try it yourself.

Avgolemono Soup

adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave

serves 3

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into small chunks

pinch of salt, plus more to taste

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme

3 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup orzo

1 large egg

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat.  Season chicken with the salt, add to the pot, and cook, stirring often, until just cooked through, about 4 minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a dish and set aside.

2.  Add remaining teaspoon of oil to the pot.  Add onion, celery, carrot and thyme and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until the veggies are tender, about 5 minutes.  Add 2 1/2 cups of the broth and bring to a boil.  Add orzo and let simmer until tender, about 6 minutes.  Turn heat down to low to keep the soup hot but not boiling.

3.  Warm the remaining 1/2 cup broth in a small saucepan until hot, but not boiling.  In a medium bowl, beat the egg.  Gradually whisk the lemon juice into the egg.  Then gradually add the hot broth to the egg-lemon mixture, whisking all the while.  (You are tempering the egg, as opposed to cooking it).

4.  Add the egg-broth mixture to the soup, stirring well until the soup is thickened.  Do not let the soup come to a boil.  If any bits of scrambled egg form, fish them out, but this shouldn't happen if you have the heat all the way down.  Add cooked chicken to the soup, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Enjoy!

Asparagus Breakfast Casserole

The best way I can think to describe this dish is as a savory French toast.  It has a deep, buttery and delicious flavor that highlights the freshness of just-in-season asparagus spears and creamy havarti cheese.  I served this for brunch this morning along with a lovely coffee cake (to be posted another day) and it was definitely a success.

You can substitute any combination of cheese and vegetable here - the recipe that inspired me featured broccoli and cheddar, which is of course a classic combination.  I wanted to go with something spring-y, since we're just starting to get gorgeous spring produce at the farmers market.  Enter crisp and beautiful thin asparagus spears.  I thought havarti would suit asparagus a bit better than cheddar would, but gruyere would also be excellent for a nuttier flavor.  The point is there's a world of variety here.  This comes together very easily and it tastes fantastic.

Asparagus Breakfast Casserole

adapted from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper

serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

4 slices whole wheat bread, cut into bite-size cubes

3 large eggs

1/4 cup skim milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup grated havarti cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 small bunch thin asparagus spears, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and butter an 8 x 8 baking dish.  Cover the bottom of the dish generously with the bread cubes.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, butter, cheese, salt and sugar.  Mix until combined.  Stir in the asparagus, and pour the mixture over the bread.

3.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown on top.  Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Mediterranean Scramble

I haven't posted a lot of breakfast recipes in this blog, and the item that is most notoriously absent thus far is the egg. My husband is not a fan, so I generally only eat eggs when we go out to breakfast. Today I decided to spoil myself and make an utterly selfish breakfast for just little old me. I also wanted to use my brand new Le Creuset skillet, which I am pleased to say performed very well!









The first thing I ever cooked with any regularity was scrambled eggs. As I got better at it, I experimented with adding things, and to this day I still have the same basic formula. First I cook the veggies and meat, if any, then I pour the eggs over them; when the eggs start to set, I add cheese, scramble everything together, and end with seasonings. It's a pretty easy repertoire.

This version has delicious Mediterranean flavors - salty prosciutto, crunchy sweet red bell peppers, melty mozzarella, and grassy flat-leaf parsley. Everything comes together quite simply and makes for a beautiful weekend breakfast. I had it with some fresh baguette slices. Yum.

Mediterranean Scramble
serves 1

INGREDIENTS:

olive oil cooking spray
1 small (or 1/2 large) red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons diced prosciutto
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a splash of water
3 tablespoons part skim shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
pinch of salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Coat skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. When hot, add bell pepper and prosciutto. Cook, stirring only occasionally, for a minute or two, until prosciutto is just starting to brown and bell peppers are crisp-tender.

2. Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and let it cook untouched for about a minute, until eggs are starting to set (i.e. the part touching the skillet bottom is solidifying). Add cheese and stir everything up with a spatula.

3. As the eggs become almost cooked through, stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Go easy on the salt; prosciutto is already pretty salty). Serve with bread, pita, or whatever floats your boat.

Enjoy!

Savory Vegetarian Bread and Butter Pudding

I am a huge fan of bread and butter pudding. Huge. There are so many variations, both savory and sweet. This one is more like a breakfast casserole. I made it for our mother's day brunch on Saturday, and it went over very well. Best of all, it was so easy!

The idea is to use stale bread, though I'll admit I actually bought a loaf of bread with this recipe in mind. I made sure to buy it a few days in advance so I'd feel less guilty about "wasting" fresh bread on a bread and butter pudding - but once you taste this, any concern about waste will be right out the window. It's tangy and gorgeous. Make it for your next brunch!

You can put in just about any vegetable, or even add meat and make it non-vegetarian (crumbled bacon, anyone?). No matter what you put in, it will be delicious. Promise.

And a note - the reason I put 8-14 as the range for servings is because it all depends on whether this is one of many brunch offerings, as it was for us, or if it is your entire meal. Plan accordingly!

Savory Vegetarian Bread and Butter Pudding
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
serves 8-14

INGREDIENTS:

9 large eggs
1 cup skim milk
1 cup plan low fat yogurt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper
6+ slices of whole wheat bread, cut into quarters
2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
1 bunch of baby spinach
2 scallions, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and yogurt. Stir in the cheese, dijon, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until smooth.

2. Coat a large baking pan (preferably pyrex or similar) with cooking spray. Put in a single layer of bread quarters, making sure there are no gaps and the entire base of your baking pan is covered. Overlapping is okay. Evenly distribute the tomato slices and then the spinach. Pour in the egg mixture, making sure all the surface area is covered. Sprinkle with scallions.

3. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the eggs are set and don't wiggle too much when you move the pan. Serve hot.

Enjoy, and happy mother's day!