Breakfast and Brunch

Breakfast scramble

/ Christina Moore / Leave a comment

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tbs avacado oil
  • 1 tbs butter
  • 1 C chopped veggies (I used bell peppers, onion, and yellow squash)
  • 1/4 C pepper jack cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 tsp dill
  • Salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

Directions

  • Stir fry the veggies in the oil until tender
  • Move the veggies to one side of the pan
  • Add the butter to the empty side
  • Season the veggies, and to them with the cheese
  • Add the eggs to the buttered side, and scramble them
  • When the eggs are done, stir everything in the pan to combine

Hard Boiled Eggs

/ Christina Moore / Leave a comment

Ok, you might think it’s silly to write about such an easy thing to do. You might be surprised to find that a lot of people are not sure how to do basic things such as prepare an egg, or make a grilled cheese sandwich, or cook a pot of rice. If it turns out that people want more simple recipes like this, I’ll add more in the future. Just let me know!

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Ingredients

  • Eggs!

Directions

Put all the eggs you want to boil into the pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 13 minutes. Cool by running cold water over the eggs in the sink.

That’s all folks!

Notes

  • I’ve heard all kinds of more complicated methods: adding vinegar, cooling in ice water, cooking for more time. I just like to keep it super simple. These will stay fresh in the fridge for at least a week.
  • Here’s an interesting way to tell the difference between boiled and raw eggs: spin it on the counter. The hard boiled egg will spin easily. The raw one will wobble.
  • You can tell how fresh your eggs are if they float on end. When they float, they are not exactly fresh. :)

Granola

/ Christina Moore / Leave a comment

Making your own granola is really easy, and tastes so much better than store-bought.

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Ingredients

  • ½ cup coconut oil
  • 6 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
  • 1 cup dried fruit, diced (apricots, dates, raisins and apples all work well)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°.

In a roasting pan, heat the coconut oil until melted. Add all ingredients except the dried fruit, and stir to combine.

Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and stir in the dried fruit. Cool for 30 minutes before storing.

Notes

  • This will keep at room temperature for a month and 3 months in the fridge.
  • Makes an awesome ice cream topper.

Seafood Quiche

/ Christina Moore / 1 Comment

This recipe is from my mother-in-law. We made it one year for Mother’s Day brunch when she was in town. The recipe is for 2 quiches, but I make a half recipe and freeze the extra crab.

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Ingredients

  • 2 rolls of pre-made pie dough
  • 1 lb. cooked deveined shrimp, chopped
  • 1 16 ounce can lump claw meat crab
  • 6 eggs, beaten
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon
  • ½ teaspoon Worcestershire
  • 2 dashes Tabasco
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the oven to 450°. Roll out the pie dough into your pie pan, and line it with foil. Bake the pie crust for 5 minutes with the foil. Remove the foil, and bake for 7 more minutes. While the oven is coming up to temp, and you’re pre-baking the shell, you can get the rest of the recipe prepared.

Beat the eggs. Combine all of the ingredients with the eggs: milk, whipping cream, cheese, green onion, Worcestershire, Tabasco, crab, shrimp, dijon, salt and pepper.

Take the pie shell out of the oven, and turn the temperature down to 325°. Pour the egg mixture into the hot pie shell, and cook uncovered for 40 minutes. Let the quiche rest on the counter for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

  • Whenever you are using eggs in a recipe, make sure to break them in a bowl of their own first. That way if any eggshells fall into the bowl, you have a chance to fish them out.
  • I’m actually not much of a baker, so I skip the hard part and buy the pie crust pre-made. If you’re great at baking, just make one pie crust.
  • If you want to make this gluten free, just substitute with gluten-free pie crust, and gluten-free flour.

Spiced Potatoes

/ Christina Moore / 1 Comment

These go with just about any egg dish. We have them almost every weekend. It takes a while to prepare, since it’s slow to get fresh potatoes cooked through and then perfectly crunchy, but it’s worth the wait.

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Ingredients

  • 4 cups red potatoes, cut into wedges
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon dried dill
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
  • dollop of sour cream for each plate
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cut the potatoes into similarly sized wedges. Put the potatoes into a large frying pan and cover with water. Bring to boil, and simmer for 10 minutes or until fork tender.

Drain the water from the potatoes, and put the pan with the potatoes back on the element to dry out in the heat. Once dry, add the butter and fry for about 10 minutes, or until browned.

Add all of the seasonings to the potatoes and stir to combine. Serve with the sour cream.

Notes

  • Not a fan of spicy? Don’t add the cayenne, and cut the curry in half.
  • This combination of spices works great for fish or chicken too.
  • Want to make this Paleo? Use coconut oil instead of butter, and sweet potatoes instead of red.

The Easiest Way to Make Bacon

/ Christina Moore / 1 Comment

I really hate the mess of making bacon. So whenever I buy bacon, I make it all at once, in the oven. You can freeze it for a really long time, without any noticeable difference. That way you are only stinking up your house, and making a big mess once. Here’s how we used to make bacon in the restaurant.

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Ingredients

  • Bacon!

Directions

Heat your oven to 375°. Put a drying rack over a baking sheet. Lay your bacon out. If you’re cooking the whole package, you’ll need two pans and racks.

Pop em in the oven, and check after 15 minutes. It usually takes me about 25 minutes to get the perfect doneness.

Notes

  • Save the drippings if you like, eat what you want that day, and freeze the rest in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag in the freezer.
  • Optional: You can brush the bacon at the beginning with maple syrup. Super yummy!
  • If you don’t want to mess up your drying racks, you can cook the bacon on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. It makes for a much easier cleanup.

Quiche Lorraine

/ Christina Moore / 1 Comment

Back in the day, I used to work at The Depot Deli, in Sisters, Oregon. One of the perks was the free food. Quiche Lorraine was one of my favorite brunches to have. There is something so satisfying about the nutty flavor of the Swiss cheese, combined with the bacon, and flaky pie crust. The leftovers keep amazingly well. Making a quiche takes a little bit of time to prepare and bake, but it’s a super simple process.

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Ingredients

  • 1 roll of pre-made pie dough
  • 8 slices of thick bacon, chopped
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 ½ cup whole milk
  • 1 ¾ cup shredded Swiss cheese
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1 pinch ground nutmeg
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the oven to 450°. Roll out the pie dough into your pie pan, and line it with foil. Bake the pie crust for 5 minutes with the foil. Remove the foil, and bake for 7 more minutes. While the oven is coming up to temp, and you’re pre-baking the shell, you can get the rest of the recipe prepared.

Chop up the bacon into cubes, and brown in a frying pan. When it’s done, reserve 2 tbs of the bacon drippings. (I keep the rest of the drippings in a bacon grease container in the fridge for future recipes.) Drain the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate.

Slice the onion, and cook in the reserved bacon drippings until translucent. Combine the cheese with the flour. Combine all of the ingredients with the eggs: Cheese/flour mixture, onion, bacon, nutmeg, milk, salt and pepper.

Take the pie shell out of the oven, and turn the temperature down to 325°. Pour the egg mixture into the hot pie shell, and cook uncovered for 40 minutes. Let the quiche rest on the counter for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

  • Whenever you are using eggs in a recipe, make sure to break them in a bowl of their own first. That way if any eggshells fall into the bowl, you have a chance to fish them out.
  • I’m actually not much of a baker, so I skip the hard part and buy the pie crust pre-made. If you’re great at baking, just make one pie crust.
  • If you want to make this gluten free, just substitute with gluten-free pie crust, and gluten-free flour.
  • Many recipes will have you cook the bacon, and then crumble. I like to make it a little easier on myself and chop the slices up first, and then sauté them.
  • I dislike shredding cheese, but it’s hard to find shredded Swiss. So I buy a whole brick of Swiss, and shred it all. Whatever I don’t use, I put into a gallon size Ziplock bag, and I freeze it for future use. It defrosts on the counter within 10 minutes, while you’re preparing the rest of the ingredients.