Pages

Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Oxymoron Breakfast Sandwich and Creamed Hashbrowns



I've written before about southern breakfasts, and about the incredible, special times when Zach has surprised me with breakfast... Today, I'm writing about breakfast again - about a southern breakfast feast! This morning, Zach and I had the best of well-intentioned plans to wake up early and study. Last night, however, we tossed and turned and didn't fall asleep until late, and amidst our tossing and turning, and deciding to get up and make a batch of hummus, and Zach reinstalling all the programs on his laptop while I watched and was thoroughly impressed, I somehow forgot to set the alarm clock... Needless to say, we woke up entirely later than we had planned... but it was storming outside, and we felt delightfully refreshed and cozy from the much-needed sleep, so rather than lamenting our late arising we fixed steaming mugs of coffee, prepared a leisurely, fortifying breakfast, turned out all the lights in the kitchen and dining room, lit candles, and watched the storm!

(by the way, the best part about this breakfast is the Oxymoron Sandwich - a Sausage, Egg, Bacon, and Cheese English Muffin - that's light, packed with fiber and protein, still manages to be quite a bit lower in fat than it sounds - and tastes positively dreamy and decadent! How is this magic realized? I'll tell you... ;-)

For a classic southern breakfast, all you need is...

Grits



~ Prepare according to package directions, then stir in a bit of butter, cheese, salt, and pepper...


Creamed Hashbrowns



5 potatoes, shredded
1 onion, shredded
3 T olive oil
3/4 cup milk
2 T flour or brown gravy mix
Salt and Cajun seasoning to taste
~ Saute the potatoes and onion in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, tossing occasionally.
~ When the potatoes have begun to stick to the bottom of the skillet with a vengeance, and you've begun to despair ever getting the pan clean again, scoop out the hashbrowns into a bowl and set aside.
~ Increase the heat to medium high, and pour in the milk. Stir vigerously, scraping the bottom of the dish vigerously, until the pan has "deglazed" - more like de-crisped, in this case!
~ Reduce the heat to medium-low again, and return the hashbrowns to the pan, along with the flour or brown gravy mix. Stir until thickened, and serve warm...

The Oxymoron Breakfast Sandwich
(directions are for making one, repeated as many times as called for by the occasion!)
~ Toast a whole wheat English Muffin
~ Heat a vegetarian, soy-based "breakfast sausage patty" in the microwave or oven.
~ Meanwhile, coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium. Add two slices of turkey bacon OR vegetarian "bacon style" tempeh and cook on each side until browned, turning once. Remove from the pan, and set aside.
~ To the same skillet, still over medium heat, add another spritz of cooking spray, then add an egg, straight from the shell, and cover the pan. When the top of the yolk just begins to turn transparently white, remove the cover, flip the egg, and remove the skillet from the heat.
~ Immediately sprinkle the egg with shredded fat free cheddar cheese.
~ To assemble, pread a bit of light, cholesterol-free mayo on the English muffin before assembly, then simply stack the veggie "sausage" patty, the cheese-graced egg, and the turkey bacon or veggie "bacon" in the English muffin! Mmmm... Divine...


5 comments:

  1. A hearty breakfast sandwich that's also "lite"?? That IS an oxymoron, haha - but a delicious one :0)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I still don't quite get this "English muffin" phenomenon. If you say muffin over here, you think of a little individual sponge cake (usually chocolate chips!)

    It looks a bit like either a scone or an oven bottom muffin to me.

    I totally envy your morning - stuck in with a storm outside eating lovely food. Yum!

    p.s. what on earth is a grit (apart from what they put on roads when it's snowing!)?

    ReplyDelete
  3. VeggieGirl, thank you so much! I love the way you phrased "a delicious oxymoron..." :-)

    Miss Bliss, your question is an awesome one... I have no idea why "English" muffins are called English muffins - they're certainly not English or a muffin... *giggles* My grandmother's personal theory is that one morning someone in the US set out to make bread, messed up the recipe and wound up with something with way too rough a texture to be called bread, and, to disguise their mistake, called them "English muffins" to try and make them sound fancy and distinguished... :-) Who knows! :-)
    Grits (and here your comment completely cracked me up and made my day :-), on the other hand, is actually just a southern way of saying "soft polenta" - coarsely ground cornmeal cooked in milk until it's rather like oatmeal... Yum...

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's been too long since I've had grits. I love those little guys ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChocolateCoveredVegan, hooray for a fellow grits fan! :-) Three cheers for grits! :-)

    ReplyDelete