Banana Waffles

Smashed half a banana...

Add it into waffle batter that is enough for one waffle...

Ooopppssss...I put too much batter again and it over flowed.

Serve with sliced banana, butter and warm maple syrup on top. Yes that is bacon on the side!

Bacon Zuchinni Frittata

Why was I ever afraid of making frittata? They are so easy!

With breakfast/brunch like this, you don't need to pair anything with it because it is that filling. I like to crumble my bacon on top so that it will stay crispy and the cheese on top of the bacon so that it will not burn.  Season with a little salt and tons of fresh cracked peppers and you are good to go!

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup zuchinni, diced
• 1/4 cup bell pepper and onion, chopped
• 3 slices of crispy
• 3 tablespoons cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt butter in a cast iron pan, then pour in the eggs.
3. After a minute, pour in the vegetables.
4. Crumble the bacon on top and sprinkle the cheese over the whole thing.
5. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until it is set.

The reason why I do not saute the vegetables because the cooking in the oven will cook it to perfection.  I do not like my vegetables overcook, I like it to still snap when I bite into them.

Fried Egg on Toast

Back to the basic, fry eggs on toast.

Yum, I love the crispy edges!

I love the runny center on the toast.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper
• 2 toasts

Directions

1. On a very hot cast iron pan, melt butter and fry one egg at a time.
2. Do not over cook, the center must be runny for this recipe.
3. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

I like to break the yolk before I start to chomp on it.  It is an amazing quick breakfast and very filling.

Spinach Frittata

Yum! If the cheddar cheese is not brown enough from the baking, broil it for a minute or two.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup baby spinach
• 1/4 cup bell peppers, chopped
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons onion, chopped
• 4 strips of crispy bacon, chopped
• 3 tablespoons cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Heat cast iron pan and melt butter.
3. Pour egg and let it stand for a minute before pouring in the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the cheese.
4. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
5. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the egg mixture is set.
6. Season with salt and pepper.

Baby spinach was on sale so I got 2 bags of it to make fresh salad with.   So while making breakfast, I decided to throw a hand full of fresh spinach into the mix. Came out very tasty!

Grits

 I've always wanted to try grits, so I finally bought some instant Quakers Grit.  It was definitely one of the weirdest things I have ever tasted. I will try with cheese next.

White Chocolate Chips Scones

This is the first time I have ever try to bake scones. I usually buy my scones from the supermarket.  I would not say what I made was great.  It was definitely edible and sweet because of the chocolate chips.  I would not make it with this recipe again so I am not even going to post it.  I am still proud of myself of making it.  It kind of tasted like doughy bread but hey, I had no eggs and used almond milk on this.

 

A Very Loaded Frittata

This is a great way to empty your refrigerator of the left over vegetables and meat you have.  That is why this frittata is so loaded with everything! It is a really tasty way to have your vegetables.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 1/4 cup cooked ham, diced
• 1/5 cup peppers, diced
• 2 tablespoon onion, diced
• 1 plum tomato, diced an seeded
• 3 tablespoons Mexican blend cheese 
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.  Melt butter in a 8 inch cast iron pan.
3. Pour beaten egg into the cast iron pan and let it stand for half a minute.
4. Then add the broccoli, ham, peppers, onion, and tomato into the pan.
5. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This serves two and it is so filling that you really do not need to pair it with toast or an English muffin. So yummy and so good for you.

Green Tea Pancakes

The first batch of batter I made for the pancakes had to be thrown out because I added too much the the green tea matcha powder.  The batter was dark green and smelled really strong of green tea. I made one pancake and it tasted bitter. So I had to make it again and added just a small amount of powder.  For 1/2 of cup of pancake powder, I added 1/2 a teaspoon. Instead of a dark green batter, it was light green.

Earl Grey Tea Waffle

I love Earl Grey Tea, there is nothing better than having a hot cup of tea with honey on a cold winter day.  This taste like hot tea with honey when you add the syrup on it.

I just added a whole Earl Grey Tea bag into my pancake and waffle mix. 

Bacon & Fresh Vegetables Fritatta

Cooking the frittata in the cast iron pan brown the bottom and edge.


Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 4 strips of crispy bacon, chopped
• 1/2 cup broccoli
• 1 Roma tomato, chopped
• 1/4 cup mushrooms, diced
• 1/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 1/5 cup onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a cast iron pan saute mushrooms in butter for about 5 minutes.
3. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt then broccoli and saute for 3 minutes.
4. Add tomato, onion and bacon into the pan.
5. Add water to the beaten eggs, then add the egg mixture into the pan.
6. Sprinkle the cheese into the egg mixture and stir gently.
7. Take it off heat after 1 minute and bake it in oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Sunday’s brunch consisted of half a frittata and a toasted English muffin with apricot preserves really starts the day beautifully.

Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Everything for breakfast in a sandwich!  The Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich is such a popular on the go breakfast that you know when someone around you is eating it because of the smell.  Buying it in the deli can get expensive costing $3 to $4 a sandwich.  Even though it is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I almost never eat it during the week.  So during the weekend, I indulge on everything from waffles to this BE&C. 

Earl Grey Tea Pancakes, Eggs & Bacon

Aunt Jemima Buttermilk Pancake Mix & Early Grey Tea 

I only added half a bag of Earl Grey tea.

Mix with water.

Pour batter into a hot pan, when it starts bubbling ...

Flip the pancake, I always lift the edge just to check the color of the pancake before flipping.

Sunday big breakfast on a Saturday!  I have every other weekend off so I just could not wait for my Sunday big breakfast.  I was introduced to Earl Grey Tea a few years ago and I found a recipe for Earl Grey flavored  cupcakes which I love.  So after making Green Tea Waffles, I wanted to jazz up my pancakes or waffle with other flavors.  Why did I not think of Earl Grey flavored pancakes?  I just could not wait to make them so Big Sunday breakfast came early.  

I only added half a bag of Earl Grey because this is the first time I was making this. The smell was wonderful after stirring water into the mix.  However the taste was mild, so I will add the whole bag next time.  So you should adjust the recipe to your taste.  Earl Grey Tea comes in both caffeinated and decaffeinated.  Some people said that the caffeinated cupcakes gave them a slight caffeine buzz so if you are sensitive to caffeine get the decaf version.  I, however is a caffeine-holic so the more the better.

I served the pancakes with scrumptious scramble eggs and bacon.  I recently bought 3 8 inch cast iron pans. One order from Amazon.com came with 3 pans, so it's not like I bought 3 pans at once. The price was amazing, it was around $10. If your order is more than $25, shipping and handling is free.  That is an amazing deal considering the fact that the 3 pans were more than 10 pounds in weight.  Cooking eggs in a cast iron pan is much different than cooking it in a non-stick or stainless steel pan.  The taste of the scramble eggs are AMAZING! I need to stress the fact that it is indeed AMAZING! That is the reason why diner's eggs taste so good, it is cook on cast iron.

My drink of choice was a ice vanilla latte since it is summer.  However, it is winter, this would be great with a hot cup of Earl Grey Tea with honey.

Blueberry Waffle

It is summer time and blueberries are in season.  This is great for Sunday brunch, I suppose it is great for breakfast too but I am never up before noon on Sunday. I added 1/3 cup of blueberries to my Aunt Jemima Pancake mix that is enough for two waffles.  I know I added too much blueberries because when it started to cook, hot blueberry juices started spewing out from the side! Made a small mess but the clean up was definitely worth it because it was delicious! I served it with real Maple syrup and a few fresh berries on it.  Pair it with scramble eggs and bacon, and you will be full for hours!

Cast Iron Frittata

 There was not much in my fridge in the form of fresh vegetables.  However I always have tomatoes, cheese and onion.  So that is what is in my frittata.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons shredded cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt butter in the cast iron pan.
3. Pour eggs into the pan, let it cook on stove top for a minute before adding tomatoes and onion.
4. Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

Pair it with bacon and toast and you will have a filling breakfast.
 

Green Tea Waffle

I love waffles and warm syrup!  What is better than waffles, warm syrup, bacon and eggs as breakfast?  I like the Aunt Jemina Buttermilk pancake mix.  For this morning breakfast, I decided to add some matcha green tea powder into the mix.  I only added a tablespoon of matcha green tea powder and the waffles didn't really taste as I thought it would.  Next time I would add two tablespoon and hope it will taste like green tea.  It was pretty green color though.

Another weekend is here and a big breakfast with green tea waffle, scramble eggs, and bacon is a must.  This time I added double the amount of green tea matcha powder into the batter ( 1 1/2 tablespoon ) than I did the last time and the waffle came out much greener and you can definitely taste the green tea flavoring!  I do not put a overflowing amount of batter on my waffle maker because I hate the mess and the exposed part of the waffle shows off the color!  I do eat with my eyes too.