Very gourmet scrambled omelets

2011-4-29

Very Gourmet Scrambled Omelets

My sister and her two kiddos are visiting from California. You may have already gathered, if you follow this blog in any way or form, that I'm a bit of a food snob. Perhaps "foodie" is a more friendly term. Add to that my being pregnant, and you have one picky lady. Even though being pregnant with two (yes, twins) has been challenging on my taste buds, nausea, and acid reflux, bland foods have never quite sold me.

In terms of typical breakfast foods, such as eggs, I have always hated, HATED, cafeteria style scrambled eggs. So tasteless. So bland. So disgusting. The day before yesterday, I decided to make the adults a delicious, taste-bud-tingling breakfast, using what we had available in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• eggs
  
• garlic, diced into rather small chunks
• olive oil
• (fresh) mushrooms
• (fresh) tomatoes
• sea salt
• freshly ground black peppercorns
• Trader Joe's everyday seasoning with grinder

Since the day before yesterday, I've been making this breakfast every morning. In fact, my sister was so hungry this morning, she was nearly physically ill waiting (famished) for my breakfast. But, she didn't want something else to take up room in her belly. She was desperate for my, what she calls "very gourmet" scrambled omelets. Fourteen eggs worth of scrambled omelets disappeared among three adults and four very small children (ages 4 and under) within seconds; I kid you not.

I believe key to making this very gourmet breakfast is timing. The garlic, for instance, must be cooked just so. The mushrooms must be cooked and seasoned on its own before being married to the rest of the ingredients (eggs, tomatoes, and what not).

Salivating, yet?

Instructions:

• On low medium heat, with approximately 1 1/2 cloves of garlic (diced) and olive oil, wait until the garlic has been sizzling a few minutes before dropping in the small mushrooms (cut thinly). Season with a bit of salt and Trader Joe's everyday seasoning. Cover. Cook until tender (no longer crunchy). Stir intermittently. Set to the side when done.
  
• In the same pan, drop the remainder of the cut garlic (approximately another 1 1/2 cloves, diced), adding perhaps just a bit of olive oil, still on low medium heat. Once again, once the garlic has been sizzling for a few minutes, drop in the beaten raw eggs. When the eggs are nearly cooked, but some liquid is still present, add in the diced tomatoes; and stir. Add in sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and stir. Once the eggs are cooked to liking, add in the mushrooms; stir, and viola!

The photograph really doesn't do the food justice. Literally, this breakfast leaves the persons eating the food wanting more, more, and more. I'm so pleased how popular this dish is, at some point, I may post a photo essay of this recipe, even though I'm too tired and too busy to do much of anything these days. May you have a blessed evening dreaming about this dish.

2011-4-29

Beef and mushroom lasagna

Friends of ours came over last night for dinner. Their days here in the States are numbered, as they prepare for their return to Australia. Decided to make them lasagna during a less than cool part of summer. Lack of foresight on my part. However, to my credit, I was thinking about a food that many of our friends seem to appreciate - lasagna. If left to my own devices and preferences, I probably would have made a vegetarian lasagna. Or a soup. Or Asian food.

When I've made lasagna in the past, I made it without boiling the pasta first. Doing so required a fair amount of additional liquid (insert added water here) and I went without a third layer of lasagna pasta when made this way in the past. This time, I boiled the lasagna pasta first.

The following is the brief recipe, followed by a photo essay of the recipe. Should you choose to follow the latter, I warn you ahead of time and apologize for the tremendous number of photographs that follow.

***

Beef Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 9 pieces of lasagna pasta.
• 1 family size package of lean ground beef.
• 1 small package of baby portabella mushrooms - presliced.
• 1/2 red onion, diced.
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced.
• olive oil, just enough to stir fry the beef, mushrooms, and onion.
• 2 24 oz jars of marinara sauce - I like Barilla's marinara sauce.
• 1 1/2 24 oz containers of cottage cheese.
• shredded cheese - I happened to use 2 different packages this time: mozzarella and Mexican style.

Instructions:

• Pan fry each of the three - onion, ground beef, and mushrooms - separately.
• Then combine the three with the pasta sauce and let marinate overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375.
  
• Drop some marinara sauce here and there, at the bottom of the 9 x 13 pan.
  
• Line up three pieces of lasagna pasta; followed by the sauce combination, layer cottage cheese, and pay shredded cheese on top.
• Repeat previous step.
• Line up three pieces of lasagna pasta on top. Cover that last layer with shredded cheese.
• Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil.
• Bake on 475 for 50 minutes, covered. Add shredded parmesan cheese or Mexican cheese and place back in the oven covered for 10 minutes.
• Let lasagna cool for 10 minutes. Cut and serve.

***

Ingredients:

Lasagna noodles


Lean ground beef


Sliced baby portabella mushrooms


Half a red onion


2 cloves of garlic


a little bit of olive oil


2 jars of 24 oz jars of marinara sauce

1 1/2 containers (24 oz) of cottage cheese


shredded cheese


The process:

Skin and cut a red onion in half


Slice thinly one way

like so.

Then slice thinly in the perpendicular direction.

Diced onion is what we're wanting.

After peeling the garlic, I used a garlic press to mince the garlic cloves.



Use just a bit of olive oil (I used no more than a few table spoons) to cook the onion until it's transparent. Then remove the onion, leaving behind remaining the olive oil.


Cook the ground beef on higher heat. Once well done, let cook off. Remove the beef, leaving behind any grease, fat, or juice. I put that liquid stuff in a different container.


Place the minced garlic with a bit of fresh olive oil on medium heat. Then add the mushrooms. I added a bit of sea salt, so it wouldn't be too dry.


Combine the three aforementioned ingredients. Also add the marinara sauce; both jars.

Mix and let sit over night.

Next day, I boiled the lasagna noodles for about 9 minutes.


The marinara sauce mixture after it's been sitting overnight.


Dabble the bottom of the pan with some marinara sauce.

Put in one layer of lasagna pasta.


Cover with thin layer of marinara meat sauce.


Add cottage cheese.


Followed by shredded cheese.


Repeat the last 4 steps: add a layer or lasagna pasta.


Add meat marinara sauce.


Add shredded cheese.


Followed by cottage cheese.


Add a last layer of lasagna past along with shredded cheese on the very top.

Cook at 375, covered, for 50 minutes. Uncover, added Mexican shredded cheese or shredded parmesan cheese, cover, and cook for 10 more minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting or serving.

Viola. Fertig.