If you’ve never tried baked eggs before you might find the thought a little odd. While it takes a longer to make baked eggs, you’ll find that the texture of the baked eggs is much different then you get from fried eggs, almost like that of hard boiled eggs. It’s easy to make baked eggs, but you’ll need to have a couple if items to do so. First, you will need an oven safe ceramic bowl, such as a ramekin or a small Corning Corelle dish. Second, you’ll need an 12″ x 9″ x 2″ baking pan that you’ll fill halfway with water.

To make baked eggs, place a 12″ x 9″ x 2″ pan on the middle rack of your oven, and fill the pan half way with water. Preheat the oven to 350° F. While the oven is warming, lightly grease a ramekin or other oven safe small dish. You may add a round piece of ham or Canadian bacon to the bottom of the dish if you like. Then break 2 eggs into the ramekin, and place the ramekin into the pan of water. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes, until the eggs are set on top. Don’t try to rush the baking. Let them cook slowly in the water until the whites and yolk are firm. Then carefully remove the ramekin from the pan, leaving the pan of hot water on the rack in the oven (DON’T TRY TO CARRY THE PAN OF HOT WATER – LET IT COOL BEFORE REMOVING THE PAN). Immediately sprinkle the top of the eggs with grated white or yellow Cheddar cheese, and serve. Make one ramekin per serving, and you can fit 2 ramekins into the pan of water.

There is something to be said about enjoying fresh citrus fruit on a cold winter’s morning. When I look outside, and see the bare trees and the leaves all over the ground, the tropical grapefruit sections on the kitchen table brings thoughts of warm summer days, and bring flowers. We slice our grapefruit in half cutting across the fruit perpendicular to the stem end. Then we use a sharp paring knife to cut the grapefruit sections along each side of the membrane the separates the sections. Next, we use the same paring knife to free the sections by cutting the grapefruit along the rind. To serve, place the grapefruit sections in a cereal bowl, sprinkle the tops of the fruit with a little sugar or non-sugar sweetener, and serve with a small spoon. Use the spoon to dig out the grapefruit sections. When all of the sections have been eaten, grab the grapefruit in one hand, and squeeze the remaining juice out, catching in on the spoon. Repeat until no more grapefruit juice can be squeezed out.

1. Cut Grapefruit along each side of membrane.

2. Then cut along each section along rind and sprinkle with sugar.

3. After eating the sections there will be lots of juice left over. Simply squeeze the grapefruit in half, and catch the juice on a spoon to enjoy.

Looking for a change of pace in your breakfast meal? The typical breakfast omelet is made by pouring scrambled eggs into a hot frying pan, cooking the egg until firm, and then adding filling ingredients such as ham, cheese, tomatoes, green pepper and even blanched fresh asparagus. We regularly make omelets this way and have a post in our blog about the exact steps needed to make a good omelet.  We’re always seeking change and variety in our meals, so todays post is about making an omelet in a different way.

By adding the ham or pepper into the eggs when the eggs are first added to the frying pan, you’ll end up with an omelet with the filler ingredients imbedded into the eggs.  If you like, you can think of this method of making an omelet as an inverted omelet. It’s basically taking the same ingredients that you’d add to the omelet after the eggs were firm and mixing them into the eggs.  The only exception is cheese which we sprinkle on top of the omelet just before removing the omelet from the pan.

To make this type of omelet, first chop up what ever you want to add to the omelet.  We like ham, green pepper, red pepper, tomatoes, asparagus, and carrots. Start with a 10″ non-stick skillet that has been lightly greased with olive or canola oil.  Heat the pan to medium heat. Scramble 3 eggs, and pour the eggs into the pan. Immediately add the ham or other items you like to the eggs, distributing them evenly.

 Lower heat to medium low, and cover the pan.  The eggs will cook through faster with the cover.  Take a peek into the pan after 2 minutes to see how the omelet is progressing.  You may need to lower or raise the amount of heat.  When the eggs are done, they’ll be rising from the bottom of the pan.

When the eggs are cooked through, then it’s time to add cheese.  We use shredded Cheddar Cheese often, either white or orange. Other cheeses we’ve used include Mozzerella and Blue Cheese.  Whatever cheese you choose, it should be grated and spread evenly over top of the omelet. For the 10″ skillet we use, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese is plenty.  Once the cheese is on top of the eggs, replace the cover and without the heat of the stove let the cheese melt, about 1 minute.

The picture to the right here is of the finished omelet before adding the cheese as  discussed above. If you look closely, you’ll see how the ham is in the cooked egg mixture which is different from the standard omelet.  This is a great way to serve the same omelet, and yet have it be different.

Here’s a list of foods we use to fill omelets:

• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes
• Ham
• Sausage
• Cheese
• Green Bell Pepper
• Red Bell Pepper
• Cubanelle Pepper
• Asparagus
• Carrot Slices
• Onion
• Salsa
• Potatoes

It is said that variety is the spice of life and variety is something we actively seek in our breakfast meals. Yesterday, we made poached eggs with ham on whole wheat toast topped with white cheddar cheese. This was a nice change of pace for us and we can’t remember the last time we made poached eggs.

For those that are not familiar with poached eggs, they are simply eggs that are cracked open into a frying pan filled about 1″ deep with boiling water. The eggs are cooked in the boiling water until the desired doneness is reached. Some like the yolks runny, and other like their poached eggs with a firm yolk. The poached eggs end up with an egg white with a consistency like you find with hard boiled eggs.

One of the common recipes using poached eggs is Eggs Benedict, which is very simliar with our recipe we will describe here with the exception that Eggs Benedict is served with Hollandaise Sauce. Hollandaise Sauce is a very rich and fat filled sauce made with egg yolks and butter so it’s not something we cook with. The eggs themselves already are loaded with fat so it’s our opinion that there is no reason to add insult to injury and add tons of fat to an egg dish.

When cooking poached eggs, you can speed up the cooking time by covering the pan. But watch the pan closely because as the water boils and mixes with the egg whites it can easily boil over. If you’re standing nearby when that happens, you can prevent a mess by simply lifting the lid from the pan and the boil over will stop immediately. You don’t have to cook the eggs covered and can gently turn the eggs over once in the pan to allow the top to cook through. One last tip for cooking poached eggs is it’s helpful to have a slotted spoon to lift the cooked poached eggs from the water and allow the eggs to drain before serving. There will be some thin egg white surrounding the poached eggs when they’re removed from the pan and these should be discarded.

Poached Eggs with Ham on Whole Wheat Toast Recipe
For each serving you’ll need:
2 eggs
1 slice of luncheon ham
1 slice toasted whole wheat bread
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Begin to make poached eggs by filling a 10 inch skillet with 1 inch water, cover and bring to a boil.
2. Break up to 4 eggs into this pan of water. Cook eggs in the boiling water to your desired yolk doneness. Turn the eggs once; or cook covered and watch pan carefully for boil over.
3. Meanwhile toast whole wheat bread; heat ham in microwave or in another skillet.
4. Butter toast very lightly, place toast on plate, top with a slice of ham.
5. Remove poached eggs from boiling water with a slotted spoon, drain and place 2 eggs on top of each slice of bread.
6. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. If desired, microwave poached eggs for 20 seconds to melt cheese

We are always trying to add variety to our breakfast meals. So this recipe ranks high among our favorite new breakfast dishes. This last weekend we thought we would experiment with McCormick Greek Seasoning with our breakfast. What we came up with was a Mediterranean Tomato and Scrambled Egg dish that was wonderful.

In a 10 inch non-stick skillet, add a 1 tbsp olive oil, and heat. Then add 3/4 cup of fresh chopped tomatoes (or a 3/4 cup of canned diced tomatoes). Add 1 tsp McCormick Greek Seasoning, sprinkling widely over the tomatoes. Add 1/2 tsp chopped garlic. Cook the tomatoes and seasonings for about 10 – 15 minutes over a low heat until most of the water in the tomatoes has evaporated. Chop 1/2 cup ham, and add to skillet. In a medium bowl, scramble 4 or 5 eggs, and add to the skillet. Cook, stirring carefully to mix eggs with tomatoes and ham until eggs are cooked through. Serve with fresh toasted and buttered rolls.

Our favorite all around hot sauce is Tabasco Sauce. It’s great in lots of recipes, Tabasco is a key ingredient in the Buffalo Wing recipe in our last post. Besides it’s use in the Buffalo Wings recipe, it’s a necessity in Gumbo, Chili, and Nacho Cheese recipes. But we try to experiment with Tabasco, and find interesting uses for this pepper sauce.

You can always mix 4 or 5 drops of Tabasco into scrambled eggs. Break 2 eggs into a small bowl, add 4 or 5 drops of Tabasco Sauce, and beat well. Pour into a lightly greased non-stick pan, such as T-Fal, or Circulon, and cook just until the eggs begin to set. Then using a spatula, stir the eggs so that they cook evenly. When cooked through, season with a little salt and black pepper and serve.

Making a Tabasco Seasoned Ham and Cheese Omelet
Today, we made a Ham and Cheese Omelet that is pictured above along with hash brown potatoes. We have a post with complete instructions on how to make an omelet in a prior post, so we won’t go into those details. For our Tabasco Seasoned Omelet, add 1/4 tsp of Tabasco Sauce^* to 3 eggs in a small bowl, and beat well. Add the egg mixture to a heated lightly oiled non-stick pan over medium heat, cover, and cook until set, then top 1/2 side of the omelet with chopped ham, and shredded Cheddar cheese. Cover, to let cheese melt, then flip the plain half on top of the ham and cheese hal.. Cut the omelet in half before serving. Makes 2 servings.

^* You may want to start with 5 drops of Tabasco and adjust to taste to not make this recipe too hot for you and your family.

We enjoy making breakfast on the weekends. It’s a nice break to take the time to cook in the morning instead of rushing to get to work. And so while we always try to vary our diet and to cook different meals, one we have quite often is the good old Ham and Cheese Omelet. I learned to cook this dish when I was in the service and had to help out in the kitchen. For the most part the work in making a ham and cheese omelet is in the preparation. So here is how we make a ham and cheese omelet for two.

Making a Ham and Cheese Omelet
Start with 3 free range chicken eggs^*. Break the eggs by rapping them on the kitchen counter, and drop the egg white and yolk into a small bowl. Repeat for the other two eggs. Some cooks crack eggs on a sharp edge but we feel that increases the chance of getting shell into the eggs. Once you’ve got all 3 eggs in the bowl, use a fork to beat the eggs vigorously for 10 – 15 seconds until the whites blend with the yolks to an almost even yellow color.

Take two slices of luncheon ham such as DAK. If using large ham slices from the deli counter, adjust down to one slice. What you want is to end up with about 1/3 cup of chopped ham. We simply place the ham on a cutting board, and cut long ways across several times about 1/2 inch apart, rotate the cutting board, and cut the short way across at 1/2 inch widths. The end result should be a pile of ham chunks containing about 1/3 cup of ham. We’ve also had wonderful results using leftover dinner ham slices that are about a 1/2 thick. If you’re using that type of ham, then make the cubes of ham about 1/4 inch wide instead. Once we used a dinner ham slice that we had for dinner and had been cooked with pineapple. That made a very nice tasting omelet.

The final ingredient you’ll need for the ham and cheese omelet is Cheddar cheese. You might be tempted to use American processed cheese, but in our opinion, real Cheddar cheese is best. You may use pre-shredded Cheddar cheese, shred it yourself on a grater, or use slices of Cheddar. All will produce a nice omelet since the cheese is going to melt and spread. Using shredded Cheddar helps you somewhat since you can spread it evenly, but sliced Cheddar works fine. For our omelet, you will need to have about 1/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese or 1 1/2 to 2 slices of Cheddar cheese.

Time to cook the omelet
Now that everything is prepared, place about 1/2 to 1 tbsp of olive oil or canola oil in a 9″ non-stick skillet, such as T-Fal. Using the corner of a paper towel, spread the oil around in the pan. Then place the pan over low heat. Beat the eggs another time for about 5 seconds, then add to the pan and make sure the eggs run over the entire bottom of the pan. Cook the eggs over low heat until the top sets up.

We’re going to fold the egg over on top of itself to form a half circle. So add the ham to only one half of the omelet. Which ever side you choose will become the bottom of the omelet. [Note: You’re going to be tempted to over fill the omelet with lots of ham and cheese, but resist the temptation. You only need about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of each to make a nice omelet]. Top the ham with the Cheddar cheese, then carefully, using a spatula flip the other half of the omelet over top of the half of the omelet with the ham and cheese on it. You should make sure the omelet is loose from the bottom of the pan first by slipping the spatula under the omelet all the way around. Once you flip the egg over top of the ham and cheese, let the cheese melt about 20 seconds before serving.

We cut the ham and cheese omelet in half to make two servings.

We served the omelet in the picture with Old Bay Hash Brown Potatoes and a glass of orange juice.

^*We always buy free range chicken eggs because we feel it’s inhumane to place 7 chickens in a 7″ x 8″ cage as is done in non-free range chicken farms. Certainly free range eggs cost more than factory produced eggs, but the chickens are living creatures so we choose not to support low cost inhumane farming practices.

Since it was Christmas Day today, and everyone wanted to open their gifts as soon as possible we thought a quick and easy breakfast was in order. So today’s breakfast fare was Home Made Egg Muffins and Old Bay Hash Brown Potatoes. Both of these recipes are quick and easy to make. Start the Old Bay Hash Browns first as they take a little longer to cook. If you don’t have Old Bay Seasoning on hand, you can substitute Lawry’s Seasoned Salt for the Old Bay and have just as interesting meal.

The real Egg McMuffins are made with English Muffins, Rounded Ham or Canadian Bacon, and Cheese. As is often the case with cooking meals at home, we didn’t have either the rounded ham or Canadian bacon on hand, so we had to improvise since it was Christmas Day and the stores were closed. We did have some wonderful sliced Black Forest ham available, so using an old donut cutter with the center removed, we cut the ham into round slices.

Once we made up enough slices of the round ham, we were in business to start making the muffins. The next order of business was to toast the muffins we needed. We had bought two different types of English muffins to suit the tastes of our guest so we toasted equal number of both the whole wheat and plain English muffins. Now, this isn’t a meal that’s easy to make as for everyone to sit down at the table and eat because you’d need a commercial griddle to be able to cook all of the eggs needed for the muffins. It’s more of a short order cook type breakfast, so once we had the Old Bay Hash Browns within a few minutes of being done it was time to take orders, and begin making the Egg Muffins.

One of our favorite additions to scrambled eggs is a little bit of Tabasco Sauce. But, that’s a taste that not everyone enjoys. Since we we’re cooking short order today, we were able to offer the extra treat of Tabasco to the eggs for those that enjoyed interesting changes to their meals.

To assemble the Egg Muffins, we first scrambled an egg in a small bowl, adding Tabasco for those that wanted it, and mixing well. We then cooked the eggs over low-medium heat, turned and cooked until done. Then we placed the cooked egg on the toasted English muffin, folding the egg as needed to fit the muffin. We topped the egg with some shredded Cheddar cheese, quickly heated the ham slices in the pan. Since the ham is already cooked we only need to heat it until it’s warm to taste, then place the slice on the muffin and serve with the Old Bay Hash Browns.