Breakfast Sandwich

For a while now I have been on the hunt for a protein filled breakfast that my son would enjoy. His current favorite breakfast is a single pancake. I felt that we could do better for this growing boy. So I was elated when he tried a breakfast sandwich made from my homemade sourdough english muffins and pronounced it a winner. 

Awhile back, I had purchased this little doohicky in the hopes that it would help me make breakfasts for my son that imitate the egg on the McGriddle sandwiches that he enjoys. So I dug that back out, and spritzed it with a little cooking spray.  (The picture below is when I was making a second sandwich, which is why the left side of the container has steam droplets on it. You needn't put water in there with your egg unless you want to.)

Put an egg in the bottom of the container, and pierce the yolk with a fork.

If you do not pierce the yolk, your egg (and microwave) will end up looking something like this.  This is how not to cook your egg in the microwave.  I provide this non-example as a warning.  What a mess!

Add a bit of salt and pepper, or some bacon bits, if you like

Close the lid and put it in the microwave.

Set the microwave for 37 seconds and start cooking the egg.

While the egg cooks, go ahead and pop your english muffin in the toaster, and spread it with butter.

This will take longer than 37 seconds.  This is good.  Leave the egg in the microwave, finishing off cooking in its own steam. Then remove the container from the microwave.

Now you have a tasty egg to go on your breakfast sandwich.

If you can have cheese, I strongly recommend you either add a slice now, or put some shreds in with the ingredients above.  Yum!

I'm curious, what are some good breakfast suggestions for growing kiddos?  If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments below.

Happy cooking!

The Humble Omelette

 

This morning I awoke thinking of the lovely, complimentary omelette breakfasts we would have when we were traveling on points across Europe and Japan.  I've not made enough omelettes to really master it, so I looked up a recipe (which has much prettier pictures than mine, incidentally, if you are interested) and started chopping up ingredients.

I placed three eggs in the bowl,

added two tablespoons of water,

a generous pinch of kosher salt

and some pepper

and mixed it all together with a fork.

Not having an "eight inch skillet" that was recommended, I improvised, and melted margarine onto the bottom of a pot that seemed about that size across the bottom instead.

I used my spatula as directed to move the egg away from the side and let the uncooked egg have a turn on the hot surface. Once I judged the egg was about "75% cooked" I added my ingredients, adding turkey and chopped bell pepper to the recommended cheese.

Then I attempted the fold.  Ahem.  There are no pictures of what happened next. The cooked egg on the outside tore open while the egg in the middle remained gooey and rather than serve uncooked egg to my husband, I scrambled the thing and plated it in disgust.

On my second go round, I used olive oil spray on the pot instead. I only used two eggs, since I wasn't that hungry, and reduced the water to one tablespoon. I (sadly) omitted the cheese (since I have a dairy allergy).  With only two eggs, the omelette cooked nicely.  Without as much fat in the pan it browned a bit on the outside.

However, the fold went much better, the egg was cooked, and it had a nice omelette-y texture which was a pleasant change from my normal scrambled eggs. And, with just a spritz of cooking spray, this was a zero point breakfast. Yum!

If only I had been able to resist following it up with the last of the cinnamon rolls, it would have been a very healthy choice indeed.

I'm curious, do you have a method you prefer for making omelettes?  I seem to remember putting the lid on and letting the steam complete the cook the last method I used.

Happy cooking!

Bird in Nest Bento

For Bento #11, I boiled my first egg (except for Easter, and maybe that one time I made potato salad) and fashioned it into a little chicken. This is easier said than done, I found. To look where I got this crazy idea, check out Christina's blog and the how to garnish website she has linked to.

Here is my bento:


The "bird" is a hard boiled egg (with the yolk removed, because I don't much like the texture). The eyes are tiny bits of olive, and the rest is carrot. The "nest" is made of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, cucumber slivers, and parsley. On the right is more cucumber and carrot in the shape of a little sideways flower, two cherry tomatoes, some Wheatables crackers, a plumb, grapes, and the gaps are filled with salted almonds.


My co-workers have taken to asking me how long these lunches are taking me to create. So I looked at the clock today, and have to own spending 50 minutes in creating this lunch. I can only get faster at this, right??