Poached Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Start your day off right with a fancy looking open faced sandwich!  I was inspired to make this after watching Bobby Flay make something similiar.  This would be perfect for a brunch- super easy to make and filling yet not heavy.

Poaching eggs are so easy and really lends itself well to the roll it sits on.

There are lots of ways to make this sandwich, so if you want to make substitions, feel free.

Ingredients
(1 sandwich)

• 1 egg, poached
• 1/3 cup of cheese, shredded (I used parmesean)
• 2-3 tomato slices
• kaiser roll, split in half (you'll only need one half for each sandwich)
• oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
• handful of arugula
• white vinegar

Directions

1. To Poach Eggs:  Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil.  Once it comes to a boil reduce heat so it is right before a rolling boil (you want the water with basically no bubbles, just really hot).  Add 2-3 tbsp of vinegar to the water.  Break the egg in a small bowl first so its easy to transfer to the water.  Add the egg gently to the water and swirl the water around the egg a bit so the whites form around the yolk.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and lay gently on a paper towel to dry off excess water.
2. To assemble the sandwich:  Brush or drizzle oil on the bread and season with salt and pepper.  Toast under the broiler until brown and crispy.  Then top with cheese- put under the broiler again to melt cheese.  Lay sliced tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Add the arugula and then gently lay the egg on top.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes if you want. 
3. Cut a small slit in the egg and let the yolk run down all over the sandwich.

Enjoy with a bloody mary!

Spicy Southwest Deviled Eggs

So here is what you do with all those left over Easter eggs (or you can throw them into salads which is one of my favs too).  I've tried a lot of different versions of deviled eggs and haven't had a bad egg yet (haha).  Deviled eggs are awesome because as long as you make the perfect hard boiled egg- you can do whatever you want with the rest!

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:

Take cold eggs and cover with cold water in a pot.  Cover the pot and bring up to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, shut off the heat and let sit covered for 10 mins. Then carefully remove the eggs and let sit in cold water until cool enough to handle, then either refrigerate or peel and eat!

Perfect eggs every time, with no gross grey lining in the yolk!

This recipe I went for a lighter version, but used big flavors so you wouldn't notice the lack of yolks or mayo traditionally used.  This recipe can be doubled for a larger crowd, but this worked very well for 10 people.

Ingredients

• 8 hard boiled eggs, sliced in half long ways and yolks removed and reserved
• 10 yolks (which is really 10 halves of yolks), or 5 whole yolks
• 2 tbsp of low fat mayo
• 1 tsp of prepared horseradish
• 1 tbsp of mustard (whatever you have, yellow, dijon, whole grain etc)
• 2 tbsp of roasted red pepper, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp of pickled jalapenos, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup of non fat plain yogurt
• 1 big pinch of salt (can adjust to your taste later)
• fresh cracked pepper
• a pinch (about 1/2 tsp) of garlic powder
• ground chipolte powder- sprinkle a pinch on each egg for garnish
• I also garnished with slices of jalapenos, roasted red pepper and parsley leaves (cilantro would have been nice here too)

Directions

1. After you make the hard boiled eggs and split them in half length wise, remove the yolks and set aside.
2. Add 10 yolk halves to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, except the garnish pieces and chipolte powder.

3. Combine until smooth. Taste and see if it needs more salt- adjust to your liking.
4. Put yolk mixture in a small ziplock bag and cut off the tip to make a piping bag.  Pipe the mixture back into the hollowed out egg whites. 
5. Sprinkle a small pinch of chipolte powder in each egg and garnish to your liking.
6. Refrigerate up to a day or serve right away.

California Chicken Burgers with Cabbage Carrot Slaw

I know I have been slacking! Just realized my last post was the beginning of the month! Tomorrow I hope to post some cookie recipes I will be trying out.  I don't do much baking, so we will see how good they come out.

Here in New York it definitely doesn't feel like winter and if the BBQ wasn't all packed away I just might have broke it out.  So instead I got the trusty George Foreman grill going and made some of these tasty tasty burgers.  Chicken burgers are not the same as beef, because 1) they have no flavor on their own and 2) you MUST cook them all the way through.  Both reasons might make chicken burgers a bit tricky but with all these big flavors and my trusty meat thermometer we are ready to go.  I also have to add that these are pretty healthy- we ground boneless skinless chicken breasts ourselves, flavored with spices and low calorie items and used turkey bacon.  The slaw is good for you too- no mayo and we used heart healthy extra virgin olive oil. (I can only hate on the bread because of the carb count- but what the heck- it's the holidays right?)

A chicken burger is not exactly an original but I couldn't find a recipe that was exactly what I wanted so obviously I just made up my own with all the flavors I liked the best.  This idea came from a wrap that was on the menu at one of our favorite diners, that unfortunately closed down :(  But now will live on in this recipe :)

For 6 burgers:

• 2 ½ boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons of McCormick Montreal Grill Seasoning
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ red onion, diced
• 1 ½ carrots, shredded (shred 3 all together if making the slaw too)
• 2 chipolte in adobo, chopped

1. In a food processor (or a meat grinder) grind up the chicken.  If you want to buy already ground chicken, I would say this came out to about 2 pounds worth.

2. Then mix the meat and all the other ingredients in.  Then form the patties (I got about 6, it might vary on the size of your chicken breasts)
3. Get your grill or frying pan hot and cook until done- about 160 degrees, the carry over heat will cook it to the safe 165 degree mark.  About 6-8 minutes each side if in a frying pan.  The GF grill took about 6-8 mins all together (obviously because it cooks both sides at once)

For the Red Cabbage and Carrot Slaw:

• ½ of a medium sized head of red cabbage, shredded
• 1 ½ carrots, shredded
• the other ½ of that red onion, sliced thin
• juice of one orange
• extra virgin olive oil to coat
• 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (or red wine vinegar would be good too)
• salt and lots of fresh cracked pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, cover and let marinate in the fridge while you make your burgers.

Toppings

Really they are whatever you want- BUT when people classify something as "Californian" for some reason it always has avocado. So this is what I topped mine with:

• Turkey bacon or regular bacon
• Avocado, sliced
• Tomato, sliced
• Cabbage and carrot slaw
• Baby spinach

If you needed a dressing of some sort I would go with a honey mustard or blue cheese.  OR instead of mixing the chipolte in with the meat- you could mix it up with some mayo and use that as a dressing.  I skipped the cheese but a spicy monteray jack cheese would be awesome (because it originates from CA!) or maybe a tangy provolone.

Pile it high on a crusty but soft bun and this is one burger you will be making again!

Asparagus with "Healthy Hollandaise"



Hollandaise is an emulsion (blend) of egg yolks and butter, usually seasoned with lemon juice.  It is also usually hailed as a difficult sauce to make because you don't want to scramble the yolks with the heat of the butter.  The sauce is very classic, but I feel it's so heavy and unhealthy plus it's a pain to make. So here is a fancy looking dish that is SUPER easy to make.  I actually just made it for myself for dinner tonight.  Serve with some toasty bread so you can soak up all the rest of the runny egg and lemon juice.  This is for ONE serving, so it's really easy to make for one or many.

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of white vinegar (to help the egg whites coagulate)
• One egg
• 1/2 bunch of asparagus (about 1/2 lb)
• 1/2 lemon, juice and zest
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• Parmesan or peccorino romano cheese, shaved

Directions

1. Blanch and shock the asparagus.  (Boil in salty water for a couple mins until bright green, them drain and run under some cold water) Set aside for now.
2. In a small pan we are going to poach the egg, but first I wanted to infuse the water with a couple spices- smash 2 garlic cloves, the vinegar, 2 tbs of salt and a couple grinds of fresh black pepper.  (I threw in 2 small sprigs of fresh thyme-if you have it throw that in too, if not, don't worry)
3. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 5 mins.  Reduce the heat to low, where you just have a few bubbles, and poach your egg for 2-3 mins. Just until the egg sets, then turn off the heat and let sit for about a min.
4. Zest the lemon half and reserve.
5. Toss the asparagus with the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Plate them.
6. Top the asparagus with the poached egg- top with a pinch of salt and pepper and the lemon zest.
7. Top with pieces of shaved Parmesan or peccorino romano.

When you cut it open the egg runs and coats the asparagus. Use the bread to soak up all the extra sauce. It was seriously delicious, and it's a full complete meal- protein, veggie, and carb/starch.