Breakfast Grilled Cheese

I made a delicious breakfast grilled cheese this morning using black rye bread. I heated my griddle to medium and buttered one side of two slices of black rye. I put them on the griddle. I added thinly sliced cheese on one piece of the bread and thinly sliced ham on the other.

Meanwhile in a separate pan, I cooked two eggs over easy. Ideally, I would not have broken the yolk on either egg, but I did. Oh well, it makes it less pretty, but no less tasty.

I love black rye because it has a rich flavor that is never happier than when paired with eggs. Egg salad on rye is amazing! And of course ham on rye and cheese on rye are also perfect. Eggs, ham and cheese on rye are the trifecta.

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Salad with Egg Dressing

Rinse and chop up 4 leaves of romaine lettuce. Slice two thin slices from a Spanish onion and break into fine circles and scatter over the lettuce. Slice 3 oz of ham and spread on top of the onions. Drizzle very lightly with olive oil and splash a bit of balsamic over everything. Meanwhile, poach an egg and place it on top. Add some salt and pepper and serve. When eating, break the yolk and mix it well with the oil and vinegar. Yummy!

This is great comfort food and irresistibly delicious.

How to Poach an Egg.

Put an inch of water in a small skillet and bring to a near boil. Add a dash of vinegar. Crack an egg into a small bowl and transfer the egg to the simmering water. Use a slotted spoon to push the white together and put a lid on it and remove from the heat. Check it in 4 minutes to see if it’s done. It should be, but if you like it a little more done, just keep the lid on a bit longer. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the egg from the skillet.

Lentil Soup & Apple – Cabbage Slaw

For the salad, I shredded a small head of red cabbage using a mandoline for a fine cut. I chopped up 2 apples and 1.2 of a yellow onion and added them to the cabbage. For the dressing, I squeezed 3 lemons in a bowl with 1.4 cup olive oil and 1 tsp caraway seed, salt and pepper. I mixed these together and dressed the veggies and let marinate overnight before serving. Makes a luscious, tart vegan salad.

For the soup, in a a big stew pot, I heated 1 tbsp of olive oil and sauteed 1 chopped onion and 4 cloves of garlic until browned. I added 1/4 tsp of fresh grated nutmeg and 2 bay leaves, 2 quarts of water and two ham hocks and brought it to a boil before turning the heat down to simmer for 1.5 hours. Removing the ham hocks, I added 1 pound of dry lentils (washed) and let cook until tender. I removed the meat from the bones and added the ham back into the soup. I added salt and pepper to taste. It made about 12 servings.

Ham & Egg Salad Sandwich

Considering that there are egg salad sandwiches, ham salad sandwiches, egg sandwiches, ham sandwiches, ham & egg sandwiches and ham and eggs, I wondered why I had never seen and egg and ham salad sandwich. Resolving to address that lack, I mixed up a sandwich for lunch the other day.

I already had hard-boiled a half dozen eggs for salads and breakfast, so they were sitting nice and cold in a bowl in my fridge. I also had a peeled onion in the fridge that I had used in a few things and cut one 1/4 inch slice off it and diced it up. I chopped up one baby dill and added that. I sliced off about 2 ounces of ham and chopped it into cubes. Then I peeled a boiled egg and quartered it and cut the quarters in half. In a small bowl I mixed a TBSP of mayo with a dash of apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp of mustard, salt, pepper, a sprinkle of cayenne and a couple shakes from the celery seed jar. I mixed that up and stirred into the ham, egg and onions and spread on a toasted ciabatta. I served with the Chicken Tortellini Soup from the day before.

It was tasty, but doesn’t supplant a plain egg salad sandwich which is one of my favorite sandwiches of them all.

Lentil Soup and Roasted Veggies

I put two ham shanks into my stock pot along with 1 yellow onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, salt, pepper and two quarts of water and let simmer until the water reduced by half. I added more water and let it cook some more, until I had a rich, dark broth. I added 2 cups of lentils, some salt, pepper and cumin and let it continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped up 2 carrots and half a head of celery and tossed them in. I removed the shanks and let them cool, took the meat off the bone and chopped it up before adding it back.

When I added the lentils to the soup, I turned the oven to 450 F and put some brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes in a baking pan with some olive oil and kosher salt salt and let bake until the potatoes were done and beginning to caramelize.

The soup has a rich, meaty flavor and was deliciously filling. The potatoes and brussels sprouts added a nice fresh taste, especially lovely with the toasty, slightly salty seasoning.

Spicy Black Bean Soup

I put 2 TBSP of olive oil, heated in bottom of my stock pot. Then, I tossed in about 10 peppercorns and let them pop. Added 1.5 onions diced, 1 serrano pepper and 5 cloves of garlic crushed and cooked until softened. Then I threw in 2 ham shanks and added water until they were covered. Added 2 bay leaves. Covered and simmered for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, I added 2 cups of rinsed black beans, salt, pepper and cumin and covered and let simmer for 1.5 hours.

I removed shanks, let them cool and removed the meat from the bone and added meat back to the stock.

Then I chopped up 2 sweet red peppers and tossed in along with 1 cup of frozen corn, overed and let cook for 10 more minutes. I removed the bay leaves before serving.

Three Egg Omelet

I like many-layered omelets and luckily I have a lefse griddle with a surface large enough to let me make them. I heat the griddle to 300° F and spray olive oil on the surface. While it’s heating I mix up my eggs.

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp mustard
• 1 TBSP mayonnaise
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp dill weed

I whisk these together until the eggs turns pale yellow, but not until it begins to loft. I know mayo sounds like an odd thing to use. Most people use milk. I used mayo once when I didn’t have any nonfat dry milk to mix up and loved the tang it added to the omelet. It has replaced milk ever since.

I pour it on the griddle and using the handles, turn the griddle to spread it out to the full 16 inch diameter of the griddle.  Then add the fixings. In this case, I added 3 thin slices of deli ham and 1 oz of cheese sliced super-thin.  As soon as the omelet is cooked through – about a minute, I start rolling it up. I first turn in the sides like a burrito. You can use a spatula for this, but I have a lefse turner and it was made for the job. Then I begin rolling it up from one end of the griddle to the other. It was too big to fit on my plate, so I had to cut it in half which made it a bit messy. I added a thin bagel to eat with the omelet, though you can see I over-toasted it just a bit. My toaster has quit popping up on its own and I have to watch it like a hawk.

Ham & Veggie Frittata

I was craving something hearty for breakfast so I decided to make a frittata. I turned the oven on to Broil. I diced 2 TBSP on onions, and thawed  1/4 cup of frozen winter vegetables, cutting the bigger pieces of broccoli and cauliflower in  half. I sauteed this in 1 tsp of olive oil. I sliced 3 pieces of thin cut deli ham into small pieces and added to the mixtures. Meanwhile I hunted high and low for my can opener. Then I opened a small can of sliced black olives and put 1 TBSP in the veggie mix. In a small bowl I mixed up 2 eggs with 2 TBSP of water and 1 slice of cheddar cheese cut into small pieces. I added some salt, pepper and paprika and poured over the cooked ham and veggies. Using a spatula to turn up the edges and then rolling the pan to force the uncooked egg into the edges, I cooked on the burner until all the shiny gloss was gone and egg was fully cooked. I popped the eggs in the oven for 2 minutes or so to get a nice brown on top.