Spicy Egg Scramble with Fresh Tortilla

Posted by CK in bread, easy, eggs, onion, recipe, sausage, tomato, tortilla

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When you try to live frugally, you try to find any opportunity you have to use up the food you have before you do the groceries again. That was the case for me a few days ago. I had a few left overs in my fridge and decided to put them together.

My dad used to cook up a very similar scramble for us when we were kids and remembered how easy it was to put together. Putting the scramble together was going to be easy enough, except I didn't have any bread. To resolve that problem, I pulled out a tortilla recipe I had been wanting to try. Best part is that it only took me 30 minutes to put together! yes yes, cooking up the scramble AND making the tortillas. Perfect recipe for a last minute meal but still full of flavour! Follow the steps below to get it just right :)

Flour Tortilla - Part 1 (yields 2 tortillas)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup warm water

Method:

1. Combine flour, salt, baking powder in a bowl
2. Add oil and water and mix until the mixture comes together
3. Knead on a clean surface sprinkled with flour until you create a smooth ball
4. Divid dough in half and roll each half into flat tortillas (note: making them very thin will make them tortillas; making them slightly thicker will make them naan bread - both delicious options!)
5. Cover your tortillas for 15 minutes (note: don't stack your tortillas, it will make them soggy)

Spicy Egg Scramble

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks and 1 egg white
• 2 spicy italian sausages, outside their casing
• 1 tbsp green onion
• 1 italian tomato
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. While the dough for your tortillas is resting, start frying your sausage meat in the olive oil
2. Once the meat is 3/4 cooked, add your eggs and mix well until your eggs are fully cooked
3. Reduce the head and add the onions and tomatoes. Mix until the vegetables are warm.
4. Salt and pepper to taste
5. Cover and let rest until your bread is ready

Flour Tortillas - Part 2

1. After the rest period, heat a large pan over medium-high heat.
2. Once the pan is hot, place one dough tortilla and cook for about 1 minute - until the bottom browns slightly and bubbles start to form
3. Flip your tortilla and cook the same way
4. Remove from the pan and do the same with your second tortilla

These tortillas were so easy to make that I made a batch of 16 and have kept them in my fridge. They stay just as fresh for quite a long time! I would suggest you give it a try!

Enjoy! :)

- CK

Whole Wheat Homemade Bread

Posted by CK in bread, easy, healthy, recipe, vegetarian, whole wheat

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*DISCLAIMER: This is a perfect recipe for a nice breakfast in bed on Valentine's Day morning! <3*

For quite some time now, C and I have been wanting to make our own bread but were honestly a little too scared to try it out. I knew how time-consuming bread could be and quite frankly didn't want to spend time waiting for dough to rise, or put in the effort to knead the dough. When A suggested that we spend our Sundays cooking though, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out since I would be spending my day in the kitchen anyways. So I found a very simple recipe, and followed the instructions (with a few changes) to make 3 loaves:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 (1.5 packs) tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Preparation:

1. In a very large bowl, put together your flour, yeast, and salt.
2. Pour in your water and stir until combined, just a few minutes.
3. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and a dry towel for 2-5 hours. (We left it for approximately 5 hours - pretty much all day while we were cooking up our other meals)
4. Divide your dough into 3 loaves. Cover each loaf with flour and form it into a ball. (If you don't want to make all your loaves at once, wrap 2 of them with plastic wrap and freeze)
5. Lay the remaining loaf onto a baking sheet or onto a pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Let this dough rest for about 30 or so minutes.
6. With a sharp knife, slash the top of the loaf into 3 lines or a criss-cross pattern. This helps let out some steam in the dough. If you don’t slash your bread, the bread will most likely make it’s own tear somewhere during cooking.
7. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and add a small pan filled with 1 cup of water on a lower rack for a water bath. Bake for 30-35 minutes - until it becomes golden. The water bath is super important, it avoids your bread sticking to your baking sheet!

This might look like a long process, but it's really just the waiting that takes a while. Our bread turned out quite dense and full of wheat flavour, but C and I really enjoyed the result nonetheless! If you want your bread to expand a little bit and so be a little fluffier (and less dense in taste), subsitute 2 cups (or up to half) of the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour.

Don't forget your 2 loaves in the freezer! Once you want to use them, thaw them overnight on the counter in a bowl covered with a dry towel, bake in the morning and wake up to a fresh and healthy breakfast! :)

Enjoy!

- CK

Mayonnaise and bananas you say? NEVER?! Welcome to Miracle Bread

Posted by amanda in banana, bread, breakfast, recipe, vegetarian

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Image by L. Kelly Lyles

I love to bake banana bread. I love the smell, the batter's texture, the endless rotation of possible ingredients, the way it slowly chips away at the mountain of brown frozen bananas in my freezer door. This afternoon it was so chilly that I decided it was the perfect day for the first baking session of the season. It's been so hot this summer that our bananas haven't been keeping worth anything, so there were about 25 frozen fruits calling my name, and baby their time had come.

I wanted to hang on to the few eggs we had kicking around the fridge for breakfast tomorrow, so I made a few substitutions to my traditional recipe. Usually, I go the yogurt route, but having only fat free yogurt on hand means giving up on any kind of rising so guess what I did :) M couldn't, but it turned out great! This bread is just chewy enough but not wet like some healthy banana breads, certainly not too dry, and just sweet enough to make it feel like a treat!

Preheat your oven to 350.

Lightly grease a standard loaf pan (I always cheat and use cooking spray to keep this step really easy. If you do this though, reduce the salt in your recipe: I find cooking spray flavors the loaf more than other options, though it's still a much healthier way to do it).

• Mash 3 large overripe or frozen-and-then-defrosted bananas in a medium bowl.
• Stir in 1 tbsp warm water
• Stir in 1-2 heaping tbsp of Miracle Whip
• If you have it on hand, mix in 1 tbsp of your favorite low-fat-low-sugar yogurt for a little extra sweetness

In a larger bowl mix

• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• .5 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• .5 cup sugar

Make a well in the bowl of dry ingredients and pour the wet mix into it. Mix only until dry ingredients are absorbed. Fold in a small handful of chocolate chips, nuts, or whatever your creative little heart desires. Pour that beauty into your loaf pan and bake on the middle rack for about 35-45 minutes depending on your over. Take the opportunity here to check on it every once in awhile and let the deliciousness waft into your kitchen. Mmmm. WHIP IT GOOD!