...only it was a Saturday. Of the 39 years I’ve spent being single, one thing’s for sure--I never feel more alive, content even...as when I’m preparing a meal for myself–Dinah Washington never failing me with candles aglow, wafts of a freshly-picked bouquet of flowers, while enjoying a slightly chilled glass of Zin–Cellar 98 to be exact. Saturday morning it happened to be breakfast, which now that I’m thinking about it, is definitely one of my favorite meals to chef!
With Edie’s purring of La Vie En Rose in the background, I can’t help but smile as my sweet Luke is well-aware of the joy that resounds throughout the living room and kitchen, his tail being living proof. I’m not sure why making breakfast makes us so happy, but it does--just something different in the air. Could it be that it’s a new morning, thus making the day’s possibilities endless? While most Saturdays my cooking is for both, my roomie and I, this particular Sabbath is solely for one (although I definitely enjoy the company and laughter that accompanies my usual early morning cooking). This morning I stared in the refrigerator as I chilled in the slightly crisp kitchen while still in my jammies. This coffee is no ordinary coffee–the first time I experienced it, I described it to my girlfriends as a bit of heaven in my mouth...if you like coffee, you haven’t lived a full-coffee-life until you’ve had a cup. The brewing aroma alone leaves me in dire need of that perfect first sip.
Being that I was only cooking for one, I decided that this morning’s beverage of choice would only be the coffee as I couldn’t bear the thought of hosting an entire bottle of champagne avec Orange Juice only for me...although the thought did occur. I think one of things that made this Saturday morning’s breakfast so much fun is that I decided to pull out whatever ingredients I found in the fridge, determining how much to mix in based on my taste-buds, which is pretty much how I cook regardless. Based on what I found, I opted for yet another egg dish–an omelette via egg whites, breakfast potatoes, veggie sausage and once again, the ever-so-faithful corn tortillas.
Now one of things I love most about Saturday morning cooking, is my breakfast potatoes...and according to my roomate, they are quite the deal! The thing I don’t like about making potatoes is that it takes them about 20 - 25 minutes in total, making it nearly impossible to not "snack" before the full course is ready for me to devour. In order to aide in this, I decided to take full advantage of some of the fruit I found–a banana, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes and an orange, to which I thoroughly enjoyed while preparing the garlic-breakfast potatoes. Starbuck’s has met it’s match–at least in my mouth, it does as my fruit salad was the best I’ve had in a very long time.
What made the morning’s meal easy to prepare was that I had frozen bell peppers & onions already packaged from Trader Joe’s to saute with olive oil as I diced the mushrooms, green olives. The nice thing about using their frozen veggie-mix is not only are they tasty and full of flavor, they don’t go bad or spoil if you happen not to use them for another week or two, unlike what usually ends up happening with my mushrooms. So once my veggies were all goin’, it wasn’t even four minutes before the dish was ready and topped with the cheese of choice, which I had decided would be Sargento’s Authentic Mexican. Of course, I never forget the corresponding carbs, but rather than the usual 7-grain or rye toast, yesterday morning’s happened to be two corn tortillas sauteed (if you will) in a tablespoon of Olive Oil. Maybe most would consider it a "fry", however the way I prepare them leaves them still very soft. My mom would be upset if she knew–she prefers me to warm them up the good ole Mexican way–right on the burner...hands-on! But you know...I just LOVE the grease!!! I know, I know...it’s bad for the arteries. This is something I should be somewhat concerned about seeing as how both of my grandfathers died of coronary attacks. Maybe next week I’ll start doing them mom’s way–which is really my grandma’s if I think about it!
So back to the cheese portion. The nice thing about Sargento’s Cheese is they provide a huge variety of cheese that’s pretty tasty–to which, in many cases I ‘m able to buy three or four at an extremely reasonable price at the supermarket. The other thing I like about this cheese is not only that they have so many different recipes, but there low-fat cheese tastes is faithful to keep the flavor, unlike others I will not mention. That being said, they deserve a little promo! Now I do like deli cheese of course, but this particular morning, the only chunk I found was a little bit of my left-over low-fat Gouda cheese, which had a texture of something almost plastic. That made it to the trash once I realized that I wouldn’t be using it even to throw a last-minute omelette together. From now on, I stick to the real stuff! No diet is worth substituting real cheese for low-fat–especially if you’re a cheese-a-holic like me!
Breakfast was perfect. The taste was amazing with nice flavors of green olives giving it just that right amount of salt. Although I managed to sit it off, breakfast filled me up just right. How do I know that I have managed to make the perfect meal? Because both, my dog and I, retired for a late morning nap, which is exactly what my new diet didn’t need. The dishes? Yes, there were plenty, and they were dirty! Thank God for dishwashers!
Recipes:
Honey-Drizzled Fruit Salad (serves 1 - 2):
Cut and/or slice to your preference. With fruit mixed in bowl, drizzle honey over the top.
1 Banana
½ Cantaloupe
1/4 cup Strawberries
1 Orange
A handful of Red Seedless Grapes
2 Tbsp. Honey dripped on top of the fruit
Cyndi’s Breakfast Potatoes (serves 1 -2):
In a pan, preheat Olive Oil with Garlic Salt and a dash of pepper on med-high. Once potatoes have been washed and peeled (or not, if you prefer the skin), place sliced potatoes in pan, flipping over as needed. Potatoes should be ready in about 8 - 10 minutes. Blot off excess oil and service.
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
2 or 3 potatoes
Egg-Omelette (serves 1 - 2):
In a sautee pan or skillet, preheat 2 Tbsp. of Olive Oil. Add frozen bell-pepper mix, until thawed. Once thawed, add chopped mushrooms, mixing together until ready to add green olives. Once all are well-sauteed, add egg whites, flipping over as needed. Add cheese to melt before serving.
3 egg whites
1/4 cup of Mexican Cheese
1/8 cup of Mushrooms
1/8 cup of Trader Joe’s Bell Pepper Variety (includes Yellow, Red, Green and onions)
3 green olives
Vegetarian Sausage - Morning Star Farms
Corn Tortillas
Links:
http://www.sargentocheese.com/
http://www.traderjoes.com/
With Edie’s purring of La Vie En Rose in the background, I can’t help but smile as my sweet Luke is well-aware of the joy that resounds throughout the living room and kitchen, his tail being living proof. I’m not sure why making breakfast makes us so happy, but it does--just something different in the air. Could it be that it’s a new morning, thus making the day’s possibilities endless? While most Saturdays my cooking is for both, my roomie and I, this particular Sabbath is solely for one (although I definitely enjoy the company and laughter that accompanies my usual early morning cooking). This morning I stared in the refrigerator as I chilled in the slightly crisp kitchen while still in my jammies. This coffee is no ordinary coffee–the first time I experienced it, I described it to my girlfriends as a bit of heaven in my mouth...if you like coffee, you haven’t lived a full-coffee-life until you’ve had a cup. The brewing aroma alone leaves me in dire need of that perfect first sip.
Being that I was only cooking for one, I decided that this morning’s beverage of choice would only be the coffee as I couldn’t bear the thought of hosting an entire bottle of champagne avec Orange Juice only for me...although the thought did occur. I think one of things that made this Saturday morning’s breakfast so much fun is that I decided to pull out whatever ingredients I found in the fridge, determining how much to mix in based on my taste-buds, which is pretty much how I cook regardless. Based on what I found, I opted for yet another egg dish–an omelette via egg whites, breakfast potatoes, veggie sausage and once again, the ever-so-faithful corn tortillas.
Now one of things I love most about Saturday morning cooking, is my breakfast potatoes...and according to my roomate, they are quite the deal! The thing I don’t like about making potatoes is that it takes them about 20 - 25 minutes in total, making it nearly impossible to not "snack" before the full course is ready for me to devour. In order to aide in this, I decided to take full advantage of some of the fruit I found–a banana, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes and an orange, to which I thoroughly enjoyed while preparing the garlic-breakfast potatoes. Starbuck’s has met it’s match–at least in my mouth, it does as my fruit salad was the best I’ve had in a very long time.
What made the morning’s meal easy to prepare was that I had frozen bell peppers & onions already packaged from Trader Joe’s to saute with olive oil as I diced the mushrooms, green olives. The nice thing about using their frozen veggie-mix is not only are they tasty and full of flavor, they don’t go bad or spoil if you happen not to use them for another week or two, unlike what usually ends up happening with my mushrooms. So once my veggies were all goin’, it wasn’t even four minutes before the dish was ready and topped with the cheese of choice, which I had decided would be Sargento’s Authentic Mexican. Of course, I never forget the corresponding carbs, but rather than the usual 7-grain or rye toast, yesterday morning’s happened to be two corn tortillas sauteed (if you will) in a tablespoon of Olive Oil. Maybe most would consider it a "fry", however the way I prepare them leaves them still very soft. My mom would be upset if she knew–she prefers me to warm them up the good ole Mexican way–right on the burner...hands-on! But you know...I just LOVE the grease!!! I know, I know...it’s bad for the arteries. This is something I should be somewhat concerned about seeing as how both of my grandfathers died of coronary attacks. Maybe next week I’ll start doing them mom’s way–which is really my grandma’s if I think about it!
So back to the cheese portion. The nice thing about Sargento’s Cheese is they provide a huge variety of cheese that’s pretty tasty–to which, in many cases I ‘m able to buy three or four at an extremely reasonable price at the supermarket. The other thing I like about this cheese is not only that they have so many different recipes, but there low-fat cheese tastes is faithful to keep the flavor, unlike others I will not mention. That being said, they deserve a little promo! Now I do like deli cheese of course, but this particular morning, the only chunk I found was a little bit of my left-over low-fat Gouda cheese, which had a texture of something almost plastic. That made it to the trash once I realized that I wouldn’t be using it even to throw a last-minute omelette together. From now on, I stick to the real stuff! No diet is worth substituting real cheese for low-fat–especially if you’re a cheese-a-holic like me!
Breakfast was perfect. The taste was amazing with nice flavors of green olives giving it just that right amount of salt. Although I managed to sit it off, breakfast filled me up just right. How do I know that I have managed to make the perfect meal? Because both, my dog and I, retired for a late morning nap, which is exactly what my new diet didn’t need. The dishes? Yes, there were plenty, and they were dirty! Thank God for dishwashers!
Recipes:
Honey-Drizzled Fruit Salad (serves 1 - 2):
Cut and/or slice to your preference. With fruit mixed in bowl, drizzle honey over the top.
1 Banana
½ Cantaloupe
1/4 cup Strawberries
1 Orange
A handful of Red Seedless Grapes
2 Tbsp. Honey dripped on top of the fruit
Cyndi’s Breakfast Potatoes (serves 1 -2):
In a pan, preheat Olive Oil with Garlic Salt and a dash of pepper on med-high. Once potatoes have been washed and peeled (or not, if you prefer the skin), place sliced potatoes in pan, flipping over as needed. Potatoes should be ready in about 8 - 10 minutes. Blot off excess oil and service.
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
2 or 3 potatoes
Egg-Omelette (serves 1 - 2):
In a sautee pan or skillet, preheat 2 Tbsp. of Olive Oil. Add frozen bell-pepper mix, until thawed. Once thawed, add chopped mushrooms, mixing together until ready to add green olives. Once all are well-sauteed, add egg whites, flipping over as needed. Add cheese to melt before serving.
3 egg whites
1/4 cup of Mexican Cheese
1/8 cup of Mushrooms
1/8 cup of Trader Joe’s Bell Pepper Variety (includes Yellow, Red, Green and onions)
3 green olives
Vegetarian Sausage - Morning Star Farms
Corn Tortillas
Links:
http://www.sargentocheese.com/
http://www.traderjoes.com/
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