Finally Got To Use It!

All I have to say is OMG I LOVE THE NEW STOVE!!!

Check out the centre griddle action!

I had decided to celebrate the new stove by making a big breakfast for everyone vs the usual easy oatmeal or toast options that we gravitate towards.

Bacon, eggs & blueberry pancakes it was! (Coffee too of course 😉 )

Breakfast Casserole

Over the holidays, I decided to try my hand at making a breakfast casserole.   Having never really made one, it sounded simple enough. As usual, I took to the internet and found that a lot of the recipes called for cream cheese or a can of  cream of ___ soup.   I skipped over those recipes as I was hoping for something somewhat healthy.  It was hard to find one recipe that I liked as a whole so I decided to wing it instead.

This is what I came up with:  started with a layer of hash brown style potatoes, a thin layer of shredded cheese followed by a mixed layer of diced onions, bell peppers & green onions, then a layer of seasoned browned ground pork topped with cheese & remainder of diced veggies to make it look purdy on top. 😉   I poured a mixture of seasoned eggs & milk over top and gave the pan a lil shake and a couple of bangs on the counter to help the egg mixture coat everything with its yummy goodness.

Looks pretty good if you ask me.

Baked for about an hour at 350*F.
I used the knife test to ensure that the eggs had cooked through.

Voila!

As delicious as it was, I’ll admit that I’ll be making a few tweaks for round two. The wonderful hubster said it was tasty and it was but for some reason, I thought it was going to be super spectacular.  I guess this is where the cream cheese/cream of ___ soups come into play?

Going forward, I think I’ll use less potatoes and mix the cooked meat, cheese & veggies into the egg mixture before pouring over the potato layer, ensuring that everything is submerged in the egg mixture.

Since I made the casserole from scratch, I knew every ingredient that went into it and was also able to control the fat and salt content. Bonus if you ask me.   Would I make this again? Oh heck yes! Especially since it made 8 good sized portions.   We had plenty of leftovers and those my friends, made my weekend even easier. 🙂

Have you tried making a breakfast casserole? Do you have a favourite recipe?

Cora’s & Dim Sum

Last week seemed to be pretty hectic in terms of errands and appointments.  Quite a few times dad and I happened to be out and about around key meal times.  We’re both diabetics and its key for us to eat meals around the same times daily.   We could’ve packed a snack and waited until we got back home to eat (which we did a few times)  but decided to go the easy route as the week carried on.

One very early morning, dad and I had to do our fasting blood test and we were unbelievably starved so we just headed out to a restaurant.   We ended up at Cora’s.   I chose their crepeomellete (bottom of pic) while dad had a more traditional breakfast of eggs, sausage, taters & toast. (top right)  I love how you get a serving (or two or three) of fresh fruit included depending on what you order.

Later in the week, dad and I decided to have dim sum while in Chinatown picking up groceries.  Usually we order about 3-4 dishes but on this day, dad seemed to be overwhelmed with the ambiance and ordered a plethora of dishes.

This pic was taken just after round two of his ordering frenzy. I think we ended up with about 10 dishes total and yes there were leftovers coming home with us LOL.

Traditional dim sum includes an elderly lady pushing around a cart of freshly steamed/cooked dishes from the kitchen while calling shouting what she has to offer.  You could be the only table in the restaurant, they will still (usually) shout. At you.  While standing right next to you.   Most places now, in order to avoid waste, offer a listing of what is available for dim sum and you check off how many dishes you’d like then they bring it to your table as its ready. No “ambiance” if you will but a classier dining environment?

I will admit that I do LOVE dim sum egg tarts. They’re not the same as the kind you can buy from a Chinese bakery. The crust is super flaky vs a pie shell type from the bakery.  And what baked treat doesn’t taste better right out of the oven?!  To die for!  Each time we do dim sum, I ALWAYS order egg tarts, sometimes two orders – one to eat there and one to take home.  One of the rare occasions that I’ll admit that I’m a piglet. 😀