Tartine with Eggs and Asparagus

How is everyone feeling after last week? Good because you behaved yourself and ate well? Or bad because you ate way too many cookies, along with anything else you could get your hands on? I’m in the second category and while I loved every little morsel that touched my lips, the guilt has set in and I’m not waiting for the calendar to hit January to get things back to normal. I got home from visiting my sister on Saturday and yesterday I decided no more cookies, no more chocolate, and no more throwing restraint out the window. I woke up and the first thing I did was go over to the produce stand and load up on fruits and veggies. I have found that when I commit to eating some kind of fruit or veggie with every meal or snack, I always do better. So now I have a loaded fridge and I’m feeling good going into this week. I’m starting it off right today with this Tartine with Eggs & Asparagus.

Asparagus, which is cooked until perfectly crisp and bright green, is partially chopped and added to eggs mixed with milk and Parmesan cheese. Thin slices of bread (I used leftover sourdough) is broiled until golden and toasted and then rubbed with garlic. Once the egg/asparagus mixture is scrambled to your ideal consistency, it is piled on top of the toast and garnished with the remaining asparagus tips. To keep the calories down, I used skim milk instead of whole milk and not as much Parmesan cheese. The best part of this open-faced breakfast sandwich in my opinion? The garlic! Just a little rubbed onto the toasted bread provides such a pleasant flavor to the eggs that I devoured this dish in an embarrassingly short period of time. Getting some veggies in with my breakfast feels like a step in the right direction – especially after eating cookies for breakfast last week.

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In a skillet, bring 2 inches of water to a boil. Salt the water, add the asparagus and simmer until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to a large bowl of ice water; let cool and drain. Cut the top 4 inches from the asparagus spears and set aside. Thinly slice the bottom halves of the asparagus spears.

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Preheat the broiler or a grill pan over high. Cook the bread until toasted and charred in spots. Rub the toasts with the cut sides of the garlic clove. Drizzle with the EVOO and sprinkle with flaky salt.

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In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, thinly sliced asparagus and cheese. Season with pepper.

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In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium. Add the egg mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggs begin to firm up.

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Mound the eggs on the toasts and arrange the asparagus tips on top.

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Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

  • Skim milk
  • Sourdough bread

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

Caramelized Banana Bread with Browned Butter Glaze

I can’t make Banana Bread. And by can’t, I mean shouldn’t. Does anyone else have a problem not eating an entire loaf of banana bread in one sitting? I think I have everything under control until I pull the pan out of the oven and the aroma that envelopes the entire house cradles me and slides me into the Land of Absolutely No Willpower. I’ll just cut a slice off the end. I’ll just slice one more piece. Okay, just one more and I’m done. Well, that piece was lopsided so I might as slice this off. Now, that looks weird so I should cut another piece. Have I really almost eaten half of this bread? What’s one more slice? You know what I mean. When I see a recipe like this Caramelized Banana Bread with Browned Butter Glaze, I tell myself I shouldn’t make it. I even convince myself I won’t make it and consider for a second not keeping the recipe. But then when I have those dark brown bananas sitting on my counter, well, I’m not going to throw them out. And putting them in the freezer for smoothies is just not a train I can get on. I hunt down that recipe.

The bananas are sautéed in butter with brown sugar until thick and caramelized. The gooey goodness is mixed with your standard quick bread ingredients (oh, and a little rum) and baked until puffy and golden. Then, to take things over the top, butter that is cooked until toasty brown is mixed with half-and-half and powdered sugar. This brown butter glaze isn’t needed, but you’ll be glad you added it. When you slide that glaze over the bread and watch it as it seeps into it’s deep, crusty crevices, you’ll be thankful. Just try to contain yourself and eat one piece. Just. Try.

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Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar and bananas; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool 10 minutes. Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

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Combine buttermilk, oil, rum and eggs. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.

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Scrape batter into a 9 x 5-inch metal loaf pan coated with baking spray. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan, and cool on wire rack.

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Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook 3 minutes or until butter begins to brown; remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and half-and-half, stirring with a whisk until smooth.

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Drizzle glaze over bread. Let stand until glaze sets.

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Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Sausage and Sourdough Bread Stuffing

Isn’t stuffing usually the best part of Thanksgiving? Why do we only eat it at this time of year? Sure, I guess you could argue that sage is more of a fall herb so it’s weird to eat it in the spring or summer. But who cares? Is anyone with me in getting stuffing out of the Thanksgiving rut and into mainstream life? Plus, there are so many different and exciting stuffing recipes out there that if you only eat it once a year, it will take years to try them all. Well, I’m having a small Thanksgiving dinner this week and my friend offered to bring the stuffing so it was one less thing for me to do. But since I love making stuffing, I made a batch of this Sausage and Sourdough Bread Stuffing last weekend, just for me. Shh, don’t tell anyone!

Sourdough bread is toasted in the oven before being mixed with cooked onion, celery and spicy turkey sausage. Fresh fragrant herbs of thyme, sage, and parsley bring this mixture to life and send it over the top. A quick soaking of broth, egg and water and this stuffing bakes until perfectly tender on the inside and golden and crusty on top. A helping of this served with a side veggie and you’ve got a happy dinner for any night of the week, Thanksgiving or not.

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Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange bread in single layers on 2 jelly-roll pans. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until golden, rotating pans after 10 minutes. Turn oven off; leave pans in oven for 30 minutes or until bread is crisp.

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Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery; cook 11 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

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Transfer vegetables to a large bowl. Add sausage to pan. Increase heat; sauté 8 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan using a slotted spoon; add sausage to vegetable mixture.

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Stir in bread, herbs, and pepper; toss. Combine broth, 1 cup water, and egg, stirring well. Drizzle broth mixture over bread mixture; toss.

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Spoon mixture into a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray; cover with foil. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Uncover and cook 20 minutes or until browned.

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Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

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