Breakfast

Breakfast Pizza

December 6, 2015

breakfastpizza

All right, Sunday morning blogs are for the birds.  I just finished this post and hit “move to trash”….yes deleted it.  This, after I downloaded all the photos, and nothing is in focus….seriously considering going back to bed, if only the Christmas Tree could put itself up. Now on to recreating my thoughts this morning!

I make eggs every Saturday and waffles or pancakes every Sunday.  Yesterday morning, I shook it up and made pancakes (on a Saturday!), so I am confident today would be eggs (yes that is the extent of my breakfast creativity). I’m laying in bed this morning, thinking about food and looking for inspiration.  6:30am inspiration has to include on hand ingredients and be quick so my family doesn’t starve waiting for breakfast.

I remember the last tube of refrigerated pizza dough left over from my Harvest Cornucopia last week, is still sitting in the fridge along with Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage.  I am totally going to make a breakfast pizza.  I love pizza (and often blog about it) and can not believe I have never made one.

I preheat the oven to 400 degrees and heat my pizza stone.  While heating, I cook up the sausage, remove from pan and drain.  I remove the pizza pan from the oven and put the rolled pizza dough on it, place back in oven and cook for about 10 minutes (remove right before it starts to get brown).

While the crust is baking, cook the eggs until they are almost done (do not over cook, they will finish in the oven).

Remove the crust, top with sausage, eggs, veggies and cheese.  Place back in oven and bake another 15 minutes or until done.

Easy, awesome and a great way to mix up the morning!

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Breakfast Pizza
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
A great way to mix up the morning. Feel free to use your favorite ingredients!
Ingredients
  • 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough
  • ½ package Jimmy Dean's Breakfast Sausage (I used hot)
  • ½ red bell pepper - diced
  • ¼ yellow onion - diced
  • ¼ Roma tomato - diced
  • 6 eggs - beaten
  • ½ - 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Cook sausage per directions on package, drain, set aside.
  3. Place rolled pizza crust onto a greased pizza pan - bake 10 minutes
  4. While baking - cook eggs until almost done, 3-5 minutes (I used same pan as sausage)
  5. Remove pizza dough, top with cooked sausage, eggs, veggies and cheese
  6. Bake in oven another 15 minutes

 

Sauces

Beef Tenderloin with Cherry Merlot Sauce

November 30, 2015

cherry

I am hosting a small dinner party.  The table is decorated from the holiday and the china is still out, so I decide to keep it fancy for this gathering.

I start with beef tenderloin.  It has been a while since I have cooked this, super easy, but super fabulous. I found one already trimmed at Costco for a reasonable price (for future reference Black Friday is dead at Costco – great time to get shopping done).  Since I am using a flavorful sauce, I go extra simple with the meat. I tie up the roast every 2″ and add a little olive oil and salt throw it on a roasting pan in the oven 400 degrees until it gets to an internal temp of 145 ( I let it sit for about 20 min before serving).

My Cherry Merlot sauce (compliments of Chef Lisa Stalvey) calls for 2 sticks of butter.  It is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I really can’t be putting 2 sticks of butter in a sauce….I need to lighten this up.  I add a package of dried cherries, a little (1 cup) Merlot, a little balsamic, a little rosemary (recently dried from my garden) a couple tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and pepper to a saucepan over medium heat until reduced and thickened.  It was very sweet and wasn’t quite what I was looking for, so a threw in a 1/2 stick of unsalted butter (much better!)  I’m not adding a recipe here…everything to taste!

Love this sauce….Oh and the meat was perfectly cooked able to cut with a butter knife.  I wish I had more pictures (yum).

 

Appetizers Entertaining

Harvest Cornucopia

November 29, 2015

Harvest Cornucopia

I love Pinterest.  I am always searching for recipes, crafts, gardening, outfits…the possibilities are endless.  While looking for ideas to decorate my Thanksgiving table, I came across a beautifully baked cornucopia and thought “I can do that”.  I immediately put it on my schedule (yes, I have a Thanksgiving schedule).  I started prepping 4 days early. Because I work full time and this is my busy time of the year, I needed a game plan to ensure I didn’t spend the entire holiday in the kitchen.

Wednesday night, I called an audible and decided I couldn’t squeeze the cornucopia into my plans.  However, all was not lost, I was having a dinner party on Saturday and it would be the centerpiece.

Now, I consider myself pretty crafty and can follow directions fairly well.  This project seemed easy.  First the directions said to use a water bottle to form the cone.  This didn’t produce the results I was looking for.  I got creative and used a butternut squash (part of tonight’s menu).  This worked like a charm.  I covered the squash with foil until I had the right shape.

pizzacrust

I was ready for step two.  I bought 5 tubes of pizza dough, in case I ran into trouble (which I did). Directions said to roll out the dough and cut into 1″ strips.  This did not go as planned.  1″ was too thin and I didn’t roll the dough out enough.  I trashed 1 tube immediately.  Next tube, I cut into wider strips and then stretched them to fit.  Much better. I used a total 2 tubes.

doughBecause I sprayed the foil cone with a layer of oil, this step was messier than expected.  At this point, I am fairly confident this project will be a disaster, I see myself posting one of those epic Pinterest fails.  But, not one to give up, I forged on and even add the braided edge!

inoven

I coated with a light egg wash to hopefully turn it golden brown, sprinkled with salt and baked 325 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Halfway through, I had to cover the top with foil to not burn.

doneoven

I let completely cool before filling with all the good stuff!  Once seeing the finished project, I am looking forward to making again!

frontdone

Side Dishes

Balsamic Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta

November 18, 2015

brussel-sprouts

I have always loved Brussels Sprouts.  They must totally be the trendy new veggie on the market….seems like everything you read or see, out with Kale and in with Brussels Sprouts.  They are every where.  Last week in Napa, I made sure I tried the Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad at the awesome Bottega (yum).

I have been trying to make Brussels Sprouts, like the kind I have a restaurant, with little luck.  I want them cooked right, lots of flavor and the little crispy pieces.  Pretty sure this is my fourth attempt, I really want these to be good.  I sliced them in half and then peeled the leaves off a dozen or so (I wanted crispy little pieces  – my favorite).

I coated them with a little olive oil and balsamic balsamic glaze ( I didn’t try and make my own…just used store bought).  Added 2 oz of cubed pancetta and a couple tablespoons of Asiago (I used one with rosemary and olive oil).

Laid it out on a cookie sheet and baked at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Save Print
Balsamic Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: Vegetables
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Yummy delish. Prep sprouts ahead of time and cook when you get home.
Ingredients
  • 2-3 cups Brussels Sprouts. I bought pre-bagged pre washed.
  • 1-2 tsp of balsamic glaze
  • 2-3 tblsp oilve oil
  • 2 oz of pancetta (cubed)
  • 1-2 tblsp grated Asiago cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
  2. Wash and slice Brussels Sprouts, legthwise.
  3. Mix Brussels Sprouts, olive oli, balsamic glaze, pancetta and 1 tblsp of Asiago.
  4. Spread sprouts single layer on a cookie sheets and bake 40 minutes.

Found my new recipe….now I wish I was home the next two days to eat the leftovers.

 

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