Breakfast week continues, late.

This recipe is super easy, and I don’t think you’ll miss the crust. Without the crust, I guess it’s more like a frittata than a quiche, but even easier than that I think (no bothering with cooking it first on the stove, then in the oven). It’s a great for entertaining or bringing to a potluck, because you can put everything together the night before, bake it the morning of, and serve it hot, room temp, or even cold. Just as good the next day, too.

No-Crust Quiche

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
6 eggs
3 cups shredded Muenster cheese (other cheeses work fine too. Try swiss!)
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-inch pie dish (or any similarly sized dish)
2. Sautee onions in the olive oil until translucent, add spinach, season with some salt and pepper, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
3. Beat eggs in a bowl, add cheese and some salt and pepper (not too much if you were generous when seasoning the vegetables)
4. Stir in spinach and onion mixture, pour into baking dish, bake until brown on top and eggs are set, about 30 minutes.

Trader Joe, say it isn't so!

I went to Trader Joe's last Thursday with the intent of stocking up on my favorite salsa, only to find it wasn't there. No gaping hole in the salsa shelf to indicate it was just out of stock, either. Its place had been taken by yet more salsa verdes and that mediocre habanero lime stuff. Where oh where is Salsa Autentica?! If anyone sees this at their local TJ's, let me know because I'll be there in a flash.

PS: I know I fell off the ball on Breakfast Week. Typical. I'll post more breakfasty recipes to make up for it as soon as I come up with something.

Pancake Breakfast

Ah, college. Many a Friday morning in my college years was spent executing Pancake Breakfast at ye olde 2632 Warring Street with Bina and Erin. I really should be posting this tomorrow, since Pancake Breakfast was always on Friday, but this will give you time to get ready for your own Friday breakfast. These pancakes are easy to make, hard to mess up, and once you start doing it this way, you’ll never go back that Bisquick crap. Trust me.

2632 Pancake Breakfast Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tblsp sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 Tblsp vegetable oil
1 cup milk

1. Whisk together dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add everything else. Whisk together quickly (don’t stir any more than necessary). Optional: add a handful of frozen blueberries or other fruit. SO good with the blueberries.
2. Heat up griddle plan (I find a bit above medium works best). Make sure it’s hot before you start so you don’t have that first lame batch that you have to feed to the dog (sucks when you don’t have a dog).
3. Use about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake; flip when they start to bubble on top and look dry at the edges.

Serve with maple syrup (that Log Cabin you’ve been using is shite), fruit salad, and, ideally, Erin’s breakfast potatoes. Go to class late and with that lethargic, glazed-over look in your eyes.

Day two of breakfast week

This breakfast recipe is in honor of my dad, Jon, whose birthday is today. Whenever put in charge of breakfast for us bratty kids, this is what he would make. We were resistant at the time (I said we were bratty), but I've since revisited it, and it has become quite the staple of my work week (in a slightly updated version). Thanks dad, and happy birthday.

Microwave Scrambled Eggs (dad version)

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 slice American cheese
1 Maraschino cherry

1. Break eggs into a tupperware container. Beat until blended.
2. Microwave on high until cooked through (don't stir, that ruins the square shape that the tupperware gives it)
3. Top with American cheese and Maraschino cherry, serve with heavily buttered toast to whining, ungrateful children.


Microwave Scrambled Eggs (slightly updated version)

Ingredients
2 eggs
chopped onion
dash salt and black pepper
splash milk
a little bit of grated cheddar cheese

1. Beat eggs in a glass bowl; stir in onion, salt, pepper, and milk.
2. Microwave at intervals of 45 seconds until cooked through, stirring in between. Add cheese before last interval.
3. Optional: top with cilantro, sour cream, and salsa.

The most important meal of the day.

Gee-EEZ snack blog is getting boring. Okay, in order to encourage myself to post something more regularly, welcome to Breakfast Week on the snack blog. A new "recipe" for breakfast every day this week (good thing it's a short week). Maybe I'll try to come up with something special by the time Sunday brunch rolls around, but don't get your hopes up. If anyone else has a groovy (or lame, I don't care) breakfast idea, feel free to post (ahem, Suz, remember that green chile casserole thing I ate about five pounds of last time I was at your house? Feel FREE.)

Tuesday Special: Microwave Cheese Quesadilla

This breakfast got me through that post-college year when I refused to spend any more time at the grocery store than it took to pick up a case of Coors Light. Maybe it was the fact that there was never any room in the fridge at my mom's house, maybe it was the pain of shopping at that giant San Ramon Safeway, but I just wasn't into it. This is the result:

Ingredients
corn tortillas
cheddar cheese (important: Tillamook medium)
salsa (I prefer Herdez salsa verde or Trader Joe's traditional taqueria salsa)
sour cream

1. Slice cheese, place between two tortillas
2. Microwave for 66 seconds (multiples of 11 seconds save button-punching time)
3. Top with sour cream and salsa

Like any ersatz Mexican dish, this can be fancied up with some fresh cilantro, chopped tomato, or avocado. But really, that's too much work for breakfast.