Showing posts with label dried beef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dried beef. Show all posts

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Breakfast is Better When Someone Else Makes It!

Scrapple with Eggs and Toast
TG asked me this morning what it is about breakfast that makes me enjoy it so much to want to go out to eat it. Frankly, I enjoy eating breakfast any time of the day, but when I'm in the mood for a full breakfast in the morning and I'm out, I would much rather stop to eat than make it at home. I'm just not ready to be standing at the stove cooking first thing in the morning. Even when I was growing up, when we had a full breakfast, it was later in the morning that we had it. Early morning was more toast and coffee. When I made big breakfasts for my kids when they were little, it was on weekends when I could make more at a later time. During school days, they had cereal and juice or grilled cheese or PBJ sandwiches before heading off to school. So, when I took TG to the airport this morning, I was looking forward to stopping and getting something to eat.

I've eaten breakfast at the Metro Diner two days in a row now. Yesterday, TG and I stopped for breakfast before doing some errands for him before he left today for Arizona to see a friend. I had scrambled eggs with scrapple and wheat toast and a side of grits
Buttered Grits
instead of potatoes. TG had Eggs Benedict with a side of scrapple. We shared a side of bacon.


Today, after dropping TG off at the airport, I stopped again at the Metro mainly because I wasn't able to find my glasses and thought I'd left them there yesterday morning. I didn't, but I still stayed for breakfast. Today I had a bowl of dried beef gravy with grits instead of potatoes and wheat toast. Of course, coffee is a given on both
Crispy Bacon
days. I had originally planned to stop at Wawa and get a bowl of eggs or a sausage egg and cheese croissant with coffee. 


I'll eat the gravy over toast, but I prefer it over potatoes. But, in recent years, potatoes haven't been kind to me, so I've been avoiding them when the option is available. So, when I have the option of grits instead, I take it. I eat grits like I eat other hot cereals. I put butter on it and I add a little sugar. Not a huge amount since I'm diabetic, but enough to keep the grits from being too bland. I've tried it with artificial sweetener, but it's not the same.
Chipped Beef on Toast


What's your favorite breakfast? Do you like any of these things?

Dave Milsom, Flickr - scrapple
Paul McRae, Flickr - grits
Wikimedia Commons - chipped beef
Wikimedia Commons - bacon

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Breakfast for Supper

by DBPSmith on Wikimedia
Although I have cooked a couple of times this week, breakfast for supper wasn't done by me. I was invited to my landlord's for supper on Tuesday and they were having dried beef gravy with toast (aka creamed chipped beef or SOS). I love dried beef gravy, so I accepted the invite. I had my gravy in a bowl and dunked my toast rather than soaking my toast under the gravy. I like the combination of the toasty crunch of the bread with the thick sauciness of the gravy.


My friend who made the kedgeree the other day was there and decided in the middle of us getting our food that he would make another batch of kedgeree. Kedgeree is a British breakfast dish that consists of smoked fish boiled with the water used to cook the Basmati rice that goes in the dish all of which is blended together with diced cooked onions and boiled eggs, curry powder (or garam masala), cumin and turmeric. The first time he made it, he didn't get all the bones out of the fish, so the pleasure of eating was ruined by the concern over when the next piece of bone would appear in my mouth. And, there was just a bit too much heat the first time because he put a bit more garam masala in that it called for. So, he decided the night I was there eating another breakfast dish for supper to make another batch of kedgeree. Don't ask because I can tell you I don't have the answer. All I can say is that the second batch was far superior to the first batch. And, he hadn't even used smoked fish. He bought boneless whiting and made it with that and used the proper amount of garam masala. It was delicious! Of course, I was a bit too full when I left the house that night since I had eaten two different dishes (the "some" he gave me to try was a bowlful!) The curry flavor was obvious, it wasn't fishy, there were no bones, it didn't taste "eggy" (which is good because I detest hard boiled eggs) and the cumin and turmeric added just enough smoky flavor that I didn't know he didn't use smoked fish until after I'd eaten it.


Image from RecipeKey.com
But, just so you know, I have cooked this week, even if it wasn't much. I made scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa on Monday for breakfast, grilled cheese for supper using shredded cheese I had on hand (no sliced cheese on hand) and then apple-cinnamon oatmeal pancakes for breakfast this morning. I want to share with you that adding fiber to your pancakes is so easy! And, heart healthy, too. The thing I like is that the texture of the pancakes doesn't change at all. They're still the light and fluffy pancakes you would expect to get from a mix (I use the complete kind of mix - just add water), but they get an added element of fiber and oats when I add the dry oatmeal (or in this case, Irish porridge). I don't do anything special - I just mix the oats in with the mix and cinnamon before adding water. So, it's a great way to "sneak" added fiber and nutrition into pancakes for your family. Unless they see you making them, they won't know.