Darn Perfect Sunday Breakfast at Home

Just a quick snapshot of my perfect no fuss Sunday breakfast this weekend. Two pancakes, fresh strawberries and pure honey for a dash of sweetness.

Toss in a perfect cup of coffee like this and your breakfast just became a little more perfect.

Hoping your weekend eating was just as great!

Prosciutto Egg Breakfast Tarts

Seriously, a very simple dish and quite delicious. Great for breakfast and also easy if you're need to serve for 10+ people. Each person should get at least two.  The directions and photos below are for prosciutto and egg.  However, I made these again for a family gathering and used turkey bacon with the addition of green onions and they were much better; sorry no pictures. Recommend you add in the chopped green onions.

Prosciutto Egg Breakfast Tarts

Serves 2 (2 tarts each)

4 slices of prosciutto (you can also use bacon)

2 egg

Pepper

*1 stalk chopped green onions (entire thing - whites and greens)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

2. Spray a mini muffin in (if it's not non-stick or if your bacon/prosciutto isn't very fatty).  Using one strip and form into the shape of the muffin cup.  I cut the slice into two pieces as it was easier to mold. 

3. Crack an egg into a bowl. One egg will fill two cups with one holding the yolk and the other of egg whites. Slowly pour the egg into two cups.  Add chopped green scallions if you have and then top with a little bit of pepper.  I don't add salt as the prosciutto is salty as will your bacon if you use that.

4. Bake for 10 minutes. Bake a little less if you want the yolk to be a little runny. Carefully scoop out the tart with a fork and eat immediately while it is still hot!

Smile for Breakfast: Strawberry Nutella Tarts

Remember when I had several pounds of strawberries?  Well, here is another recipe to use up a few more strawberries you have laying around.  These don't take many berries - probably about 1.5 strawberries for each tart but are so simple and quick to make. What is great is that you can freeze each one if you don't want them right away. They are perfect for breakfast if you have 25 minutes for them to bake - or an afternoon snack!

Nutella is golden. I love love love nutella. Did I mention that I love nutella?  I have a few bananas in the freezer, and I think I'll be making some banana and nutella tarts soon.

Strawberry Nutella Tarts

(Makes 9 tarts) 

1 lb strawberries, sliced 

Nutella spread (however much you need)

2 puff pastry sheets (can be found in the frozen pastry section of the grocery store)

3 tbsp sugar

1. Thoroughly wash the strawberries. Cut the stem out and slice. 

2. Unroll the puff pastry sheet.  Cut into 9 equal squares/rectangles.  For half of the squares, spread a good serving of nutella leaving a clean edge. 

 

3. Stack a few slices of strawberries on top. You can sprinkle sugar on the strawberries if you like it super sweet, but for me, the nutella is sweet enough for the tart.

  

4.  Take the un-nutella squares and put on top of the strawberries. Using your finger, make sure that the edges are all sealed. I used a fork to create a fun edging around each tart. Sprinkle sugar on top of each one and using a toothpick, poke a few holes on the top of each tart.

  

5. I put these on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and tossed them in the freezer. Once frozen, I was able to easily bag several in one bag without the worry of them sticking to each other.  When you are ready to eat, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Put in a pan and cook for at least 25 minutes. As you can see below, I didn't do a very good job about sealing the edges and lost a little bit of nutella.

Breakfast for Champions

I will get back to Thanksgiving recipes in a bit, but I had to write about the best breakfast I've had in months.  You may think I'm going to write about my love for bacon, eggs and waffles - the typical breakfast for champions.  Nope!  For the past week, breakfast for the Tso's have been Nutella toast with bananas.  Protein:  Nutella.  Fruit: Bananas.  Bread: Toast.  Check, check and check!  Plus, this is super fast to make and only requires three ingredients!  (Note, don't use butter on your toast!)

Let me talk about Nutella for a moment.  I adore Nutella.  If you don't know what this is, I'm incredibly sorry and order you to go to the store immediately, have a taste and then you will understand the greatness that is Nutella.  I first discovered this when I was in London several years ago and would have it with anything and everything.  Nutella on toast after a late night out, Nutella crepe with fruit, Nutella on a spoon.  I die.  I love the creaminess, the hazelnut flavor and how it isn't too overly sweet. I love it so much, it deserves a picture on its own:

Hearty Breakfast Casserole

At my previous job, we use to have Friday breakfast and would occasionally eat together.  Oh, how I looked forward to Friday breakfast. What is it going to be this week?  Bagels? Fruit? Cereal? Kolaches? Breakfast Tacos?  Always a surprise and then I hit an early food coma at around 1030 a.m.  Loves.

Some lucky Fridays, someone would actually bake something for breakfast.  Laurie brought in a delicious breakfast casserole and I had to beg a little for the recipe.  So easy and good!  My sister and brother-in-law came in for a weekend visit and stayed with me and this was the perfect opportunity to make this breakfast.  Just beware, when you have a hungry and pregnant sister....do the preparation the night before so it's ready to bake when you get up! 

Hearty Breakfast Casserole
Recipe from Laurie Williford
Serves 6

2 cups dry chicken stove top stuffing mix
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups ham (I had honey baked ham, sliced at the thickest in the deli section and it was about 3 slices)
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (from the bag is perfect but I'm sure fresh cheddar would be even better)
S&P

*Sorry for the lack of photos. I forgot to take photos until the very end.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your casserole dish with buttah!
2. Mix all the ingredients together and pour into the dish.
3. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes until golden brown on the top and a chopstick comes out clean when you poke it.
4. Let it lightly cool and serve in slices!

Banana Nut Loaf

My Auntie Chien is a killer cook. No really, I kid not. She makes spectacular dishes and everytime there is a family reunion, she either brings her homecooked goodies or cooks for us. I even joke that she needs to host a family cooking weekend where we go to visit her in L.A. and she teaches us all how to cook some of her delicious recipes. Well, I'm actually not joking. So, Auntie if you are reading, I'm ready for a cooking weekend whenever you are. =)

I also have to note that not only is she a spectacular cook, she's an amazing florists. For the past few family weddings, she's handled the arrangements of all the flowers from wedding ceremony arrangements, to bride and bridesmaid bouquets, flower girls and table settings. She's amazing!

She shared three recipes including this banana nut bread and it definitely wasn't a disappointment. Delicious. I especially love the crispy, sweet topping on this dessert or breakfast, in my case. I always buy a bunch of green bananas when I go on my weekly grocery store trip (I love raw, hard bananas versus the ripe bananas where they get a tad too mushy and too sweet), and I almost always end up with one or two left that are a tad overripe. Perfect time to make Auntie's recipe!

Banana Nut Loaf w/Streusel Topping

Recipe from Auntie Chien

Makes 2 loaves

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup finely copped walnuts

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon (you can add less but I love the flavor of cinnamon and almost always double the recipe)

1 tbsp butter

1. In a food processor, add all ingredients together so it's a crumbly mixture. Set aside.

Banana Loaf

2 cups chopped walnuts (You can use pecans too)

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 cup flour (I used cake flour)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter, cold (2 sticks)

1 1/2 cup bananas mashed (4-5 very ripe bananas)

1/2 cup milk

4 eggs

1 half can of pineapple cubes

1/2 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make sure your butter is very cold and quickly cut into cubes. In the mixer, add the butter, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt until nice and crumbly.

3. Add the mashed bananas and nuts. Give it a few seconds to mix making sure not to overmix!

4. Measure milk in a measuring cup then crack in the eggs. Give it a quick mix and then add to the mixer. Let it mix for about 30 seconds then add in the pineapple and raisins. 

5. Spray and flour two loaf pans. Pour mixture evenly into the two pans and then sprinkle the streusel topping that you made earlier on top.  

6. Cook for 45 minutes until a toothpick (or in my case a chopstick) comes out cleanly.

Love Me Some Eggs - Eggs en Cocette

I love eggs. I can probably attribute this to my dad who loves eggs just as much as I do. When I was little and my mom was in Taiwan for the summer, it was the pops and me alone for an entire summer. Pretty fantastic - from getting Burger King Whoppers, learning to sing Taiwan music in the car to having eggs for breakfast, lunch or dinner, it was a pretty memorable two months. He'd put eggs in soup, pan fry eggs for dinner, add an egg to an onion pancake for breakfast.

So I found this recipe from Cooking Light and immediately made this the next morning for brunch. It reminds me of a dish my mom would make for lunch - a salty steamed egg custard that served as a side dish when she'd make rice porridge. Hrm, I need to ask her how for that recipe!

So what is Eggs en Cocette. Baked eggs with cream where the yolks is warm and deliciously runny. Why do you need to have runny yolks? So you can dip your toast and sop up all the goodness! Ack, so good.

These things are popular! Not only did Wednesday Chef make a recent post, Liz Chuk also mentioned how delicious this would be. Too bad our BFs don't appreciate the goodness of such a decadent dish. Le sigh. It's okay, more for us! Wednesday Chef had a good idea to add in some veggies to the dish so I will try that next time. I made one slight adaptation to this recipe and cut down on the butter.

Simple Baked Eggs
Need: 6 oz ramekins (one per serving but I was able to eat two!)
Butter
2 large eggs
S&P
2 tsp heavy cream
fresh grated parmessan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Rub the inside of the ramekins with butter (take 1/2 tablespoon cube and lightly rub). I tried to use as little as possible. Sprinkle a tad bit of parmessan cheese at the bottom then carefully break the egg into the ramekin making sure not to break the yolk. Add a pinch of S&P (be care on salt especially if you add the cheese which has its own amount of saltiness) and a teaspoon of cream. Sprinkle a tad more cheese on top. 3. Put the ramekins into a deep baking dish and fill the baking dish with hot water until it comes up half way of the ramekins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy! Serve with toast so you can sop up the runny goodness of such dish!