Huevos Rancheros

I know, I know. Hell apparently has frozen over. I’m blogging! Crazy, right? Just know that I’m going to start making more of an effort. I promise.

Now, let’s get back to the food. If you’ve ever had huevos rancheros at more than one restaurant, you’ll know they never taste the same twice. They can include a multitude of ingredients. And be served many different ways. Since I’m too lazy to find out how you’re really supposed to make them, I went with a pretty fool proof recipe. I’m pretty sure this recipe isn’t exactly authentic, but you know what? When it tastes this good, I’m not too concerned about how authentic it is.

Huevos Rancheros
(serves 2)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
12 oz ground chorizo (since I didn’t go hunting for chorizo, I used spicy Italian sausage, out of the case, diced into small chunks)
1/2 can refried beans
1/2 can fire roasted tomatoes (which you can find at any grocery store on the canned tomato aisle)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 corn tortillas
1 tbsp butter
5 eggs
1 tbsp milk

Additional:
sour cream
mexican cheese blend
(3 skillets)

The original recipe can be found here, on Life’s Ambrosia, but again, I switched a few things up.

To make:
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 of the diced onions and cook until softened. Stir in sausage/chorizo. Cook 5-7 minutes until sausage is cooked through. Stir in refried beans. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

In another skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Add in remaining onions and cook until softened. Stir in fire roasted tomatoes and add salt. Cook for 5 minutes over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low.

Heat last remaining tbsp of oil in yet another skillet. Cook tortillas for 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Once tortillas are cooked, drain oil from skillet. Melt butter over low to medium heat. Meanwhile, scramble up eggs using the tbsp of milk. Add to the skillet and scramble until eggs are done. Top with cheese and melt through. Remove from heat.

To assemble:
Place one tortilla on a plate, top with sausage/refried beans. Top with second tortilla. Add scrambled eggs. Spoon tomatoes over top. Add cheese and sour cream.

Enjoy!

{Smashing} Pumpkin(s) Bread

The title of this blog post was originally going to be “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Fall”, but I was missing just one whole syllable so I opted for the more obvious title…”smashing pumpkins bread”.

It worked.
Okay, maybe not. But I like linking foods and songs/artists together. Makes me appear cheesily clever.
Or not.

So I spent the weekend visiting a sweet, sweet friend up in Nashville. And the weather was nothing short of perfect, thus the reason for the original post title. Highs ranging between the mid 70s- low 80s. In other words, I was in heaven. I was able to sit on her back patio and enjoy a slight crisp breeze without having to worry about whether or not my deodorant was strong enough.
(Don’t judge me. You know it happens.)

We spent the weekend taking walks with her incredibly awesome dog, Lady.
We ate at a little place called Germantown Cafe.
We wandered around the Parthenon.
Yes, the Parthenon.

And hung out with the arts and crafts kids down at TACA.

But the highlight of the weekend came in the form of Pumpkin Bread.
It screams fall, doesn’t it?
It’s baking, it’s pumpkin. It’s awesome.

And it should be known that I’ve already scarfed down two pieces today. It’s only 1020am.
It’s gonna be a good day.

 

Pumpkin Bread
{printable recipe}
2 cups (all purpose) flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup water

Sift dry ingredients together. Mix remaining ingredients and add all at once to flour mixture. Beat well until mixture is smooth. Pour into greased, floured loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

The Georgian…The End

Figure I’ve bored you enough with the Santa Monica stories this week so I promise, this will be the last one.
But I had to show you our hotel…
And the food we ate at that hotel.
And some scenes from the Santa Monica Pier (where I ate cotton candy. There is no proof of that though.)

(oatmeal)

(french toast souffle. seriously. french toast, as a souffle.)

And just think, this is how we started our day, everyday. (Tell me again why I had to go home?)

Especially when the views were exactly like this…everywhere you looked. Ugh…

And because I took something like 400 pictures of the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, I’m making you suffer through these next few…

Thanks for indulging me this week in my futile attempt to mentally remain on vacation. It’s been far more entertaining than acknowledging the obvious fact that I’ve been back in reality this whole time…
ps. T-8 days until my next out of town adventure.

WTW – black ‘n blue pancakes

Have I mentioned how much I love it when you guys send me your recipes? No? Well, I do.
Like, a lot.

Friday afternoon I received this email from Becki D , (an insanely talented baker and precious mother of two):

Hey Katie!

So I had a great breakfast this morning, but when I started thinking about submitting it to PW’s Tasty Kitchen, it occurred to me (especially after I decided on the name) that this particular recipe was probably better suited to WTW.  Yes, my breakfast qualifies for WTW.  

Black n Blue Pancakes:
{printable version here}

1c Bisquick
1/2c Milk
1 Egg
1 handful (roughly a cup) of blueberries (fresh, or frozen)
1 handful mini chocolate chips (roughly a cup) 

Grab your favorite plastic bowl, stir up the first 3 ingredients til the egg is pretty well beaten but the lumps ain’t showin, then drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a hot, buttered skillet.  Drop a few blueberries and a good sprinkling of chocolate chips on top, then cook til the batter starts bubbling.  Flip, and tan the other side of that pancake’s hide.

Scoop onto a plate and slather with your favorite imitation syrup.

From one connoisseur to another,

Becki D.
**************************************************************
So, I did exactly as Becki D. said.  Picked up my favorite plastic bowl and went to town. And white trash or not, these pancakes were good.  Seriously good.

Thanks so much to Becki D. for sending the recipe my way. I told her I felt honored that she’d think of my site in the same thought process as The Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen. (Yes, kids, that’s a big deal.)

You guys keep ’em coming…and I’ll keep on making ’em!
Happy Wednesday everybody!

Stumble It!

Another Atlanta Spot…Highland Bakery

Of course, being me, I’m a little late to most everything. The first time I checked out Highland Bakery wasn’t until I did the Sugar Coma tour a few months back.  Yet, the restaurant has been around since 2003.  Kind of pathetic, right?

So, I went back for a real sit down visit a few weeks back.  And now I’m kicking myself that it took me so long to get there.  It’s yet another fabulously tasty spot in Atlanta.  I tell ya, we’ve got a few.

Anyway, Highland Bakery is obviously known for well, their bakery, but the breakfast, brunch, lunch selection is equally as good.

Okay, so the wait to be seated can be a bit lengthy…
But the food, my friends, is worth it.

I’m still not sure why I’m such a slacker at trying new places. Especially when the food looks like this.

So tell me…
Do you get stuck in a restaurant rut?
What new places are you dying to try in your city?

Stumble It!

Baked French Toast Casserole

How do you feel about using up your daily allotted calories by 10am?
If you’re okay with it, then keep reading. If you’re not, then go here.

For those of you brave enough to keep going, you’ll be happy to know this recipe involves bread, pecans, sugar, butter and a whole hecukva lot of other tasty ingredients.

You still with me?

Good.

Because this is what your Saturday morning is going to look like.

You’re welcome.

Recipe adapted from Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast Casserole.

 

mama’s boy, athens, ga

 

Guys, it was a good weekend.  No. Scratch that. It was a fantastic weekend.  Because I visited my sweet little Athens, GA.

Just so you understand, I went to the University of Georgia.  In Athens.  And Athens is truly my own little piece of heaven. Without sounding like a love sick bumbling idiot, I’ll just say this….
The campus is pristine (albeit insanely hilly), the downtown scene is noteworthy (thank you 40 Watt, Georgia Theatre), and the food is pretty much on par with any major city around.  Not bad for a little college town.

So I think you’ll understand my excitement in visiting one of the most glorious of cities on earth.
And…it should come as no surprise that we ate well. Because we love food.
Especially breakfast food.
And that’s why we hit up Mama’s Boy.
Because when a restaurant serves food that looks like this…

You know you are right where you belong.

west egg cafe

Thanks to this nation’s fabulous 44 Presidents, I had a day off. And I took full advantage of it. I grabbed my friend Natalie

and we ate…
and ate…
and ate..
And if eating was an Olympic sport, I think I would have taken home the gold.

But luckily, it’s not.

And not sure if you’ve noticed, but I officially drag my camera everywhere.
I think people are starting to get annoyed.

But I don’t care. Because faces like this need to be photographed.

While coffee like this needs to be sipped.

And food like this needs to be taken down.

So thank you West Egg for a great afternoon of food, friends, photo ops and darn good conversation.

Pumpkin Bread

I would like to introduce Sister, aka Jennifer, as a new contributing cook / writer.
She was kind enough to share her pumpkin bread recipe and was clever enough to take photos with her snazzy iPhone. Seriously. I want one.

 

Makeshift mortar and pestle. Couldn’t find ground allspice so I had to make do.

Makeshift sieve. Apparently my kitchen is less equipped than I think.

 

To make Pumpkin Bread:

You’ll need…

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin purée
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sift flour, salt, sugar and baking soda
Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup water and spices together, then combine with dry ingredients. Don’t mix too thoroughly. Stir in walnuts.
Pour into a well buttered pan (dust with flour, at least that’s what I did) 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 mins until a thin skewer poked into the center comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on rack.

 

Or for a different take, pour into muffin tins, bake 25-30 minutes.  Move to wire rack and let cool.

To step it up a notch, add cream cheese frosting.

may i have another?