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Food, Savory

Breakfast Sandwiches – Chicken Sausage

Chicken Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

Last year at this time, I was waking up early every day to make myself a breakfast of eggs, fruit, and chicken sausage. But in the last few months I’ve started sleeping in more, not leaving enough time to make food before work. Ultimately, it just made me snack more because I was hungry before lunch time. So I’m making a stand to stop that.

So I’m gong to try a few things, like breakfast sandwiches to spice things up. Starting with a taco-seasoned chicken sausage one. Easy, simple, and delicious. Also figured out a trick to melt the cheese. Just cook your egg over hard, add the cheese on top, splash a half a tablespoon of water in the hot pan and add a lid. The steam will help melt the cheese!

So at only 315 calories, I got this:

Chicken Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

I could have dropped a few more calories by removing the yolk from the sandwich, but I read that if you remove the yolks, you lose a lot of vitamins: A, B12, D, E, and K. And being that I’m trying to eat better, I figured keeping the yolks, and reducing the calories in other places makes sense. So I used a 100 calorie English Muffin and low-fat shredded taco cheese. Basically the cheddar is tossed with a dash of cumin, chili powder, garlic, paprika, and salt. Add half of a link of Al Fresco chicken sausage that’s been grilled, and there ya go!

February 9, 2014 by Roni

Food, Savory

Twice Baked Bacon Cheddar Potatoes

So my roommate came downstairs last night as I was cooking dinner, looked at me and said, “You know, you’ve been cooking with bacon a lot lately.”

I didn’t know how to respond, was this a bad thing?

“I’m sorry,” was my immediate response (although I really wasn’t).

He looked at me, shocked. “No, it smells better than that apple wax burner thing in the bathroom.”

Oh. So apparently bacon overrules apples in my house. Who knew?

Anyway, the reason I was cooking with bacon again was because we wanted twice baked potatoes for dinner. And to be honest, I only really knew what they were from the frozen food aisle and had a faint notion on how to do it. So with a working theory, I whipped up what turned out to be an amazing side dish – with some casualities along the way.

Turns out scooping out the insides of microwaved potatoes is a bit harder than I expected. After the fourth attempt, I was making mini canoes instead of ripping apart the skin and losing what was meant to be the “bowl” for the remixed insides.

Basically, a twice-baked potato starts with a regular spud. Microwave it until it’s soft, then cut it in half and scoop out the insides, leaving enough of it left to serve as a bowl.

Mix the insides with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, black pepper, garlic powder, and a splash of milk. You basically have mashed potatoes. Spoon it back into the potato skins – it’s ok if you spill over – and cover with a sprinkling of cheese. Put in the oven to bake and voila! Twice baked potatoes.

Twice Baked Bacon Cheddar Potatoes

Gather:
3 Russet Potatoes
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
4 strips of cooked and crumbled bacon
3 tablespoons of milk
5 tablespoons of margarine
Black pepper
Garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350. Microwave potatoes until soft, about 8-15 minutes. Cut in half. Scoop insides of potato out, creating a “bowl” and placing potato insides into a large mixing bowl with 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and bacon. Set “potato bowls” in a glass baking dish.

Stir bacon/cheddar/potato with margarine, milk, and black pepper and garlic powder to taste. Once mixed, scoop back into potato “bowls” and sprinkle top with remaining cheese. Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and top is slightly crisp.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

January 21, 2014 by Roni

Food, Sweet

Peppermint Fudge

Are you in candy cane overload yet?

No? That’s good, because I’ve got a recipe for you for a last minute gift. Peppermint fudge. I know what you’re thinking. Fudge? Come on, let’s be more creative than that. Well, I’ve never made fudge before, so this was an experiment all on its own. So I scoured the Internet until I found something that seemed easy enough that I could tweak to fit my needs.

Then I went peppermint crazy. And I got some pretty sweet chocolate goodness. All with just a simple double boiler (a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water) and some chocolate to melt. Yum!

Gather:

1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 candy cane, crushed into small pieces for topping

Line an 8×8 inch pan with a piece of wax paper.

In a double boiler, melt butter. Then add chocolate chips, condensed milk, and salt. Stir until mixture is smooth, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts and stir until combined.

Remove bowl from heat and pour into prepared pan. Careful, the bowl will be hot. Use a rubber spatula to evenly spread the fudge to the edges and smooth the top. Sprinkle crushed candy cane pieces over the top.
Refrigerate the fudge for about 2 hours or until firm enough to cut. Remove from pan. Using a heated knife (run under hot water and dry), cut fudge into pieces. Refrigerate.

December 22, 2013 by Roni

Food, Sweet

Monkey Bread

Spent a fabulous Saturday cooking and crafting yesterday with two of my favorites. When we get together, we’re always looking for something to do in the kitchen. And since my oven is working again (!) we decided we had to bake something. That’s when the term “monkey bread” came up.

I have a confession to make. I’ve never made Monkey Bread before. I feel like it’s a New England thing or New Hampshire thing or something, but all of my friends around here know what it is and know how to make it. I did not grow up eating Monkey Bread, so it’s been one of those things that I’ve always wondered about.

What is it? Basically it’s cinnamon and sugar doughy baked goodness. So not good for you. That, however, did not stop us.

Want to make your own? Follow this:

Gather:
1 can of 16.3 oz PIllsbury Grands Buttermilk Biscuits
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of brown sugar
6 tablespoons of melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease or butter a glass baking dish. In a large bowl, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Separate biscuits and cut into quarters. Place in the cinnamon-sugar bowl. Mix until biscuits are completely covered. Place into baking dish.

In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and melted butter. Pour over biscuits.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer doughy in the center. Let cool for 10 minutes. Pull apart and serve.

You’ll see that the biscuits fall apart all delicious and flaky when you eat them:

Enjoy!

December 8, 2013 by Roni

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