Roast Asparagus + Egg Sandwich {and a Liebster award}

Asparagus is practically a requirement of my spring eating and cooking repertoire. Never mind that the only thing around here right now that says spring is the calendar. Remember last week when I bragged about the unusually warm weather and even showed off my stellar grilling skills with this sweet potato and kale grilled pizza? Well…things have changed. The temperature dropped over the weekend and on Sunday night a bit of snow came down, leaving a fine layer of cold white stuff on my freshly raked lawn and budded daffodils. So much for summer-like weather in March. I’m a practical person though so I did what any hardened northerner would do. I turned up the heat and spent the week eating the most spring-ish food I could find- strawberries and asparagus.
My strawberry recipe needs a little refining before I can share it with you (translation: I had a recipe flop), but the roasted asparagus atop scrambled eggs with chives is was just divine! Simple fresh flavors and a super easy preparation have just made this my go to spring meal. There are two components to this sandwich. First the asparagus is roasted with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a  dusting of freshly grated parmesan.
Next the eggs are mixed with chives and a tiny bit of milk and scrambled until fluffy. At the end a bit more parmesan is added because…well because it’s cheese and more cheese is always better.
A scoop of egg goes on top of a whole wheat English muffin.
Pile on the asparagus.
There you have it. The perfect spring breakfast, lunch or dinner sandwich.

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An award and a confession:
I was given an award..twice. And I feel kind of bad about it. See the thing is you’re not supposed to get this award twice. A Liebster (it means favorite or beloved in German) Award is given to bloggers from other bloggers. I was first given the award from Gerlinde at Cooking Weekends. The idea is that you give the award to 5 bloggers and they in turn give the award to 5 more bloggers. It’s a great way to acknowledge the blogs you love and share them with others. Of course, this chain of blog love only works when everyone follows the rules. It’s been over a month since Gerlinde gave me the award and I’m just now doing my part by announcing it here and in turn giving out my five awards. I know, I know, it’s ridiculous and I have no good excuse for waiting this long. What finally spurred me into action was when last week Julie over at Tastefully Julie also awarded me the Liebster!

So here’s a big Thank You to both Gerlinde and Julie for nominating me ♥

There are a few conditions of accepting this award:
Thank the person (or persons) who gave you the award and link back to them
Copy and paste the Liebster Blog award onto your blog
Give the award to 5 blogs with 200 followers or less and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog

Here are my choices in no particular order:
Texanerin Baking
My Little Table
Seaweed & Sassafras
Sweet and Salty
Cupcake Design

Hope you all enjoy these blogs as much as I do!

Maple Biscuits- Valentine’s Day Breakfast

Valentine’s Day is a stay at home holiday around here. We’re not dress up and go out to a fancy restaurant kind of people anyway, and the thought of trudging out on Valentine’s Day when the restaurants are all packed and the menu prices are sky high is frankly quite unappealing. Besides, I like to cook and Tim likes to eat what I cook… so it’s a win win for everyone. But that doesn’t mean I spend all day preparing a five course meal. Just the opposite in fact. Our Valentine’s Day meal is usually a simple affair. It’s more about favorite foods than fancy foods. This approach means that the Valentine’s Day meal really can last all day. I’m talking breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Okay, maybe lunch is only a sandwich cut into a heart shape or soup with a cute note taped to the lid, but it still counts in my book. Valentine’s Day breakfast is the real deal though. Homemade biscuits, crispy bacon, fluffy eggs, and fresh melon!
The best part of this Valentine’s day breakfast is how little time it took to make something that tastes sooo good. I probably only spent a total of 25 minutes on this meal and that includes the five to ten minutes it took me to dig out my heart shaped cookie cutters from the box I stashed them in last year.

First I made these simple maple biscuits. They would have tasted just as scrumptious round or square, but to make them Valentine’s Day appropriate I used a heart shaped cookie cutter.
I always use the same recipe for “Basic Rolled Biscuits” from my tattered and stained copy of the Joy of Cooking. Depending on how I want the biscuits to taste, or what I am serving them with, I add or change the ingredients as needed. This time I was going for a slightly sweet flavor so I substituted out a 1/4 cup of milk for the same amount of maple syrup. The syrup gave the dough a faint brownish hue and when I pulled them out of the oven they had deepened to the most gorgeous golden brown color.
You can certainly eat these sweet feathery biscuits on their own. I couldn’t resist the aroma of maple mixed with butter and I bit into one straight out of the oven, burning the tips of my fingers in the process. As I took a bite the soft, buttery dough melted in my mouth and the complex sweetness that only comes from real maple syrup made my taste buds step up and take notice. I could have easily consumed them all this way, leaning against the counter and licking my scorched fingers, but since this was supposed to be a meal for two I somehow summoned up enough self control to resist scarfing down the entire batch. Instead I sliced the biscuits in half and layered them with a few slabs of crispy bacon and a spoonful of scrambled eggs.
I topped them with the second half of the biscuit and there you have it- a Valentine’s Day breakfast sandwich!
We ate ours with heart shaped melon and fresh OJ…mmmm.

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Frittata – 101 Ways

I have breakfast on the brain. Or rather, I have brunch on the brain. We’re having a group of friends over for a holiday brunch this weekend and I have been trying to decide what to make. Well, actually I have been trying to decide what not to make. I am one of those people who invites friends over for a pot-luck style gathering and then worries that there might not be enough food so I end up making enough dishes to feed an army! I’ve gotten better though- I really have. This time I am only making two dishes, well maybe three. Okay, maybe four if you count the Pomegranate Mimosas. A drink doesn’t count as a dish though…right?

Anyway, I narrowed down the options and my beloved frittata didn’t make the cut. I couldn’t let this marvelous dish feel left out though, so I decided to make it for dinner instead. Actually, frittata is one of those dishes that we normally have for dinner. In fact, any breakfast food that requires more than popping it in the toaster or pouring it in the bowl is usually a dinner food around here. Most weeks we have ‘breakfast for dinner’ at least once, and the frittata has become my favorite breakfast-dinner dishI used to make quiche but let’s be honest, any dish that wraps itself in pastry crust is not the healthiest option – for breakfast or dinner. Delicious, but not healthy. Many years ago a fell upon a recipe for frittata and since then the quiche has gone out the window. I love how with a frittata you still get that irresistible combination of egg and veggies, but without the guilt of feeling like you’re eating a pie as a meal. The other thing I love about frittata is how you can put almost anything in it. It’s great for using up leftover veggies or little bits of herbs and cheeses that you might have laying around. Some time ago I discovered a guide to making a frittata in a Fine Cooking magazine. Since then it’s pretty rare that I make a recipe without consulting this guide first. It’s quite simple. You choose your ingredients from the lists of veggies & meats, herbs, aromatics and cheese. Then you make the basic recipe, add in your choices, cook on the stove top and finish in the oven. Simple, yummy, and versatile- my kind of dish!
Vegetables & Meats

Up to 3 in any combination for a total of 3 cups
(the quantities given below each yield about 1 cup)
½ to 2/3- pound Asparagus – steamed and cut into 1 ½ – inch pieces
2 large Sweet bell peppers – roasted, peeled and cut into 1/4 – inch strips, or cut into strips and sautéed
1 medium Potato – peeled, boiled and cut into ¼-inch thick slices
½ -pound Fresh Mushrooms – cut into ¼- inch slices, sautéed
1/2 – pound Hearty greens such as Kale or Collards – trimmed, cooked until tender, drained and squeezed to remove excess liquid, coarsely chopped
2 medium Leeks – white & light green parts, thinly sliced and sautéed
1 large Onion – thinly sliced and sautéed
1 pound Spinach or Swiss Chard – trimmed, sautéed, drained and squeezed to remove excess liquid, coarsely chopped
6 to 7 ounces of Zucchini – cut into ¼ -inch slices, sautéed
½ -pound Italian Sausage – casings removed, crumbled and browned
½ – pound Chorizo – cut into small dice and browned
¼ – pound Pancetta or Bacon – cut into ¼ – inch dice and sautéed
¼ – pound cooked Ham – cut into ¼ – inch dice

Fresh Herbs (optional)
Choose 1 or 2 for a total of ¼ cup
Basil – cut into thin strips
Chives – thinly sliced
Parsley – chopped
Thyme – stripped off stems (1 tablespoon maximum)
Marjoram – chopped (1 tablespoon maximum)

Aromatics & Spices (optional)
Choose 1 or 2
1 medium clove Garlic – minced & sautéed
½ – teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest – finely grated
A pinch of Nutmeg – finely grated or ground
¼ – cup Scallions – thinly sliced and sautéed

Cheese (optional)
Choose 1 0r 2 for a total of ½ cup
Feta – crumbled
Fontina – shredded
Goat cheese – crumbled
Cheddar or Monterey Jack – shredded
Parmigiano-Reggiano– grated
Fresh Ricotta – in dollops

Below is one of my favorite combinations:

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