Breakfast Chorizo Hash

Breakfast is one of my all time favorite meals.  I love eggs and sausage and bacon (duh), and so I jump on any opportunity to incorporate these foods into my weekly menu.  Sometimes they manifest as an easy, quick dinner, and sometimes Stud and I capitalize on the few relaxing weekend mornings we get to spend together.  I was going through my iPhone (sorry, those are the pictures the blog gets these days) and I realized I have several breakfast recipes I hadn’t posted.  They acted as motivation for me to type up some easy recipes and get them up here! 

 Breakfast Hash

2 chorizo sausages

½ bag frozen hash browns (we had the little cubes)

2 eggs

Toppings: Sour cream, salsa, guacamole, pickled red onions (my new favorite thing)

Remove the casings from the chorizo and break apart the meat.  Sauté until hot and aromatic.  Add in the potatoes (I just tossed them in frozen) with some butter, bacon fat (!!), or oil to help grease the pan.  Follow the stovetop instructions for the hash browns.  While the hash browns are cooking, heat up the broiler.  Once the potatoes are good and crispy, make two holes (or more if you want more eggs), and crack two eggs into the holes.  Lower the heat to low and let whites cook most of the way through on the stovetop.  Once they are mostly cooked, put the whole pan under the broiler for a few minutes until the whites of the eggs are cooked.  Remove the pan and dish out the hash and cover with toppings of your choice!

Pretty quick brunch for a Saturday morning.  I was originally planning to make this with leftover corned beef, but what can you do when someone gets a little hungry and eats it all, so I resorted to the chorizo stock in our freezer.  Having a well stocked freezer is the best.  Stud and I were feeling exceptionally lazy the other night and thawed some gumbo for dinner, and it was super easy.  Makes those Sunday’s spent making soup worth it!!

 

Food for Beau

Since I always represent the dietary choices of Stud and me here on this little blog, I wanted to make sure you all knew that Beau Fluff was not abandoned in my culinary adventures.  99.9% of the time, he does not get any human food.  Sometimes his brown eyes get to me and he gets a little nibble, but always out of his bowl.  Beau also wanted to give all of his furry friends some Christmas presents, he is such a kind spirit.  So, I made these extremely easy cookies, and they seemed to be a hit.

 Pumpkin Dog Treats
2 1/2 c. flour
2 eggs
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
2 T. smooth peanut butter
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients together, the dough should be really dry. Roll out the dough to about 1/4-1/2" thick and cut the cookies out in any shape (I used holiday shapes!).  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, until the cookies are dry.  I think mine were a little thick, so I had to bake them for about an 75 minutes.

These were a huge hit, but they should be used up pretty quickly since they are not full of preservatives.  Beau loved them and would run away if we gave him one so he could nibble on it without being disturbed.

Daily Fluff

Beau is very sad the holidays are over and he is home alone again. Good thing he has Santa to console him.

Cajun Gravy

I dog-eared this recipe when reading the November issue of Bon Appétit because it sounded like Stud’s idea meal.  So one night we both had off from school/life (a rarity around here these days), Stud and I hit the kitchen and whipped this up for dinner.  We managed to make it on a weeknight, but it was a rush to get it on the table by a reasonable hour.  I would recommend saving this one for the weekend when there is more time to prep and get things ready.  The recipe in Bon Appétit actually calls for crawfish tails, but this is Kentucky and I had shrimp in the freezer, so we used shrimp instead and it was delicious!

Cajun Gravy

1 lb bacon, cut into small slices

6 T. flour

½ c. finely chopped onion, green pepper, and celery

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped

3 T. garlic

1 T. thyme

1 T. Tony Chachere’s spice mix

½ t. cayenne

3 c. chicken broth

1 lb. uncooked shrimp (tails removed), coarsely chopped

Salt, Pepper

This can all be made in a large (about 10”) cast iron skillet, probably Stud’s favorite part about this recipe.  He has a weird obsession with seasoning our cast iron skillet.  Anyways…. Cook the bacon until crisp and pour off all but 6 T. of the bacon fat.  Set the skillet over medium heat and add the flour to the bacon fat to form a roux.  Reduce the heat to low and cook the roux, whisking constantly, until the roux is a shade darker than peanut butter, about ten minutes.  Stud and I took turns stirring, you have to do it constantly to prevent the roux from burning, and it gets tiring!  Add the onion, pepper, jalapeño, and garlic (I actually pureed mine in the food processor) to the skillet and cook until everything is soft, about twenty minutes.  Increase the heat to high and add the bacon, spices, and broth and simmer until thickened, about twenty minutes.  Add in the shrimp and cook for about three minutes, until they are opaque. 

Stud and I served this over rice with broccoli and Stud actually ate the broccoli since he could smother it in gravy!!  And since we are obsessed with gumbo, this was right up our ally, but with shrimp and bacon instead of sausage and turkey!  Adding some variety into the menu rotation!

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone enjoys a great holiday weekend!

Chocolate Crinkles

One of the many reasons I love these cookies (my brother and I called them Crack Cookies when we were little...this recipe comes from my mom's amazing recipe vault) is that once you make the dough, they can be baked fresh whenever you want one...or a few!  I made one batch this past Sunday night and then the rest on Tuesday to take into work for a Holiday Treat.  They are also incredibly simple, and not toooo chocolatey so they get Stud's seal of approval.

Chocolate Crinkles
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 c. all purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
1 c. powdered sugar

Combine the vegetable oil, melted chocolate, and sugar in a bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined.  Add the vanilla.  In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together and add to  egg mixture.  Mix just until combined.  Put in the refrigerator and chill the dough.  Once it's chilled, form into balls about the size of a walnut (about 1" across, a walnut is all I could come up with!) and roll in the powdered sugar until coated.  Bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The dough can chill for a few days, if you would like to keep the dough longer, I would stick it in the freezer and pull it out to thaw when you want some cookies.  This recipe made about three dozen, plenty of cookies for family and work!

I'm still here!

Stud and I are alive and well, just very busy!!  We have still been cooking, so I will try and get some posts up over our break from school (alas, not from work), so stay tuned!!