Scrambling for Breakfast

When it’s cold outside, I tend to want something warm for breakfast.  Oatmeal is great and all, but I also like having more savory options.  For that, one of my favorite things is a scramble.  What’s a scramble?  Think omelet, but all mixed up.  I’m going to show you how to make everything you need ahead of time so you can throw it together in just a few minutes.  It’s more of a technique than an actual recipe.  Here’s what you have to ask yourself.  “What do I like in an omelet?”  For me, the answer is broccoli, zucchini, and ham. 

Your answer might be something completely different, and that’s ok.  Onion, bell pepper, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, chicken, sausage… you can use any combination of ingredients you like.  Just make sure any meat is cooked before you begin.  Then, just cut everything into little pieces.  I had about 2 cups each of the zucchini and broccoli, and maybe 1 ½ cups of the ham. 

In a pan, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter over medium heat. 

Add your veg. 

Sprinkle on ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.  Stir it all together and pop on the lid. 

Allow it to cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.  You want the vegetables to just begin to soften and give off a bit of their liquid.  You don’t want them cooked all the way because they’re going to do a bit more cooking later.  Remove the lid and add the meat. 

Stir that in and turn off the heat.  Allow it to cool, and then separate it into individual portions.  Scoop out ½ cup of the mixture. 

Then just put it into a little zip top bag.  The snack size ones work great for this.  They’ll be fine in the fridge for 2 or 3 days, or in the freezer for probably a month or two. 

When you’re ready, you can pull them straight from either the fridge or freezer.  Butter a pan over medium heat and dump one in.  Place the lid on and give it a couple minutes to warm up.  When everything is nice and hot, pour in two scrambled eggs. 

Stir until the eggs are cooked.  For me, there is a fine line between cooked and overcooked.  My eggs cannot show the slightest sign of slime, nor can they be even remotely browned.  This is why I prefer scrambles over omelets.  It’s hard to get an omelet cooked all the way through and not browned at all on the outside. 

I like to add a little sprinkle of cheese.  Do this right at the end after you’ve turned off the heat.  Then just stir briefly and place on the lid.  Allow it to melt while you’re waiting for the toaster to do its thing. 

Serve with some whole wheat toast and a glass of fresh squeezed juice and you have a fabulous, (dare I say gourmet?) breakfast, and it took less than 10 minutes to make. 

What do you like in your omelet? 

All Natural Purple Frosting

Did you know you can buy purple sweet potatoes?  I didn’t.  I was actually looking for white ones, which my store didn’t have, but they did have purple ones.  Well, purple is my very favorite color, so I wasn’t about to pass up on those.  Not only did I make sweet potato crisp out of them for Thanksgiving, but the color was just too gorgeous not to use it for something else.  These are the sweet potatoes after being baked.  Seriously amazing, huh? 

I did some reading and discovered that baking them in something like cupcakes changes the color to a greenish hue.  Some sort of chemical reaction with the baking soda or something, I assume.  Buttercream was the answer, then.  For frosting, I needed to make sure the sweet potato was nice and smooth.  I only needed a couple of tablespoons, though, and really didn’t want to dirty the food processor for that.  Since I don’t have a food mill or ricer, I decided to just press the baked sweet potato through a fine mesh strainer.  It worked beautifully. 

I used my basic buttercream recipe.  Just add about 2 tablespoons of sweet potato before adding any cream, and adjust the consistency from there.  Who needs artificial colors when nature provides something so perfect already? 

What is your favorite color?