Turkey Bacon, Spinach and Smoked Cheese Egg Muffins

When I don’t have time to make breakfast at home, I end up eating a croissant and hot chocolate in front of my computer at work and feeling like I failed myself. I came across an article in Bon Appetit about the genius of egg muffins and thought they’d be a great way for me to get my morning protein all week long even when I hit the snooze button too many times.

Crispy Pan Fried Fennel

I'm not sure why I've never breaded and pan fried fennel before now. Fennel is one of my favorite vegetables, and anything tastes ten times better when covered in bread and fried in oil. Since I'm going on a beach vacation in about nine weeks, I have to hold off on covering foods in bread and frying them in oil. But if your beach vacation has already passed, you should immediately buy a head of fennel and try this recipe, even if you don't like fennel.

 

Tamagoyaki

I’m baaaaack. I really dropped the ball on this whole blog thing didn’t I? I’ve been eating boatloads of delivery pizza and salads from Chop’t lately and haven’t been cooking enough. I did make another round of salmon fritters but I certainly couldn’t post those again. But a recipe for Tamagoyaki has been staring me in the face for weeks and on a rainy Saturday I decided I was finally going to make it happen. Tamagoyaki is a Japanese egg log that is slightly sweet and totally fun to make and eat.
 

Cold Ramen Salad with Egg

Noodles are one of the first foods on my mind once the weather reaches “Feels like 15 Degrees”. I love a hot bowl of thick, buttery ramen at Chucko Ramen in Prospect Heights or a pile of pad thai at Cheers Thai in Williamsburg. My brother’s been raving about Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles in Chinatown which I’m hoping to try soon. Here’s a cold noodle salad I made with some leftover ramen; it makes for an easy lunch. What's your favorite noodle shop?

Bacon and Eggs with Kale

Here's a way to make kale unhealthy. By cooking everything in bacon grease, we can infuse rich salty goodness into our eggs and kale, making them a little less boring for the weekend. Trust me, I don't eat like this every day. For the past two weeks, I've been saying NO to wheat, dairy and sugar on weekdays and have shed a few pounds just in time for the Thanksgiving binge. Aside from that, I just feel energized and healthy. You'll be seeing some of my wheat-free, dairy-free, sugar-free recipes as soon as I stop being so busy ("busy" meaning that I spent all last weekend reading Gone Girl in time to see it in the theater this weekend).

Sweet Ham and Gouda Crepes

Crepes are my kryptonite. I make homemade crepes once every 4 or 5 months, always on a weekend. And I eat those crepes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast, I’ll top a stack of crepes with fresh strawberries or bananas and a hefty pour of maple syrup. For lunch and dinner, I’ll use crepes as a blanket in which to wrap savory things. For dessert, I’ll have crepes with maple syrup again, or Nutella if it’s on hand. 

 

Salmon Fritters

I've always had a fear of leftover cooked fish and all its cold clamminess. That is, until, when recently faced with some leftover salmon, I searched the internet for “what to do with leftover fish” and changed my world forever. Leftover cooked fish can be used in fish tacos, stews, salads, sandwiches and fish cakes. Who knew? The key is to either gently bring the fish up to room temperature or reheat it for a very short amount of time.  Salmon cakes sounded the most appealing to me so I faced my fear. 

Hotel Chopped Salad

I stopped liking blue cheese about ten years ago.  I've always been slightly grossed out by eggs in salads and I typically don't go for salads with corn in them even though I like corn.  And I can take or leave walnuts.  When Alan and I went on vacation to St. Martin last week, our first meal was at the beachfront C Le Restaurant at the Radisson Blu where we stayed for four sun-filled days.

Two Ingredient Banana Pancakes

Did you know that you can make pancakes out of just a banana and a few eggs?  I was shocked too.  I’ve been sticking to my fitness routine thanks to all the free exercise videos on Blogilates.com.  Pilates instructor, Cassie Ho has been keeping me motivated and also turning me on to really cool, diet-friendly recipes like this one.  I’ve been making these pancakes before work, because that’s how quick they are to make from start to finish (about 20 minutes from start to clean plate).  They have a slightly sweet banana flavor and they’re super moist on the inside.  With no white flour, you’re getting great protein and potassium that’ll fuel you all morning long.  I was bad today because I had some wine and didn’t do my pilates, but I was busy pulling this post together because I want you to make these two-ingredient pancakes right away.

Spigarello with Poached Eggs

This weekend my goals were to sell my old books at Strand Book Store and to buy a dense, sunflower seed-filled loaf of North Sea Rye bread from Breads Bakery in Union Square because it’s so good and hearty.  I carried 50 pounds worth of books on to the train into Manhattan and walked over to Strand in the sweltering heat only to find that they weren’t buying books on that day.  I walked out of Strand with that huge, sweaty bag of dead weight in my arms and almost went straight back to Brooklyn...but the pull of the North Sea Rye was too strong.

Matzo Brei

The first time I had matzo brei and matzo ball soup was just a year ago when friends of ours invited us to their family’s home in Charleston, South Carolina for Passover.  We hopped in the car after work and drove 15 hours straight, taking shifts and fueling up on rest stop coffee, candy and regional chip flavors.  We arrived in Charleston the next morning, took a long nap and then headed into town to explore Charleston’s main strip, lined with palm trees and pastel shops.  The next night I had my first Passover meal.  

Grandpa Irv’s Cheesy Eggs

Oops, I did it again.  I tried to cook, entertain, recipe-write and photograph all at the same time.  It just doesn’t work.  I planned a “simple” brunch of cheesy eggs, bacon, arugula salad and berry clafouti for my friend and her daughter.  In my head I pictured my brunch photographs turning out like a spread from Bon Appetit magazine, every plate and person styled and lit perfectly.  Instead, I got overexposed iPhone shots of a clutter of clunky Ikea bowls under-filled with messy eggs and lifeless bacon.  I also made my guests wait patiently while I frantically styled and snapped; a hosting no-no.  

Escarole, Poached Egg and Siracha Soup

There was a blister on my finger from an hour of brunoise-ing vegetables with a dull knife for my mom’s dressing on Wednesday.  But Thursday’s Thanksgiving feast was a tasty reward for the hard work, complete with jalapeno cranberry sauce, sugary yams, juicy turkey, bitter greens and Prosecco.  By the end of the gorge-fest, I only had room for one “Dead Bone” (or “Bone of the Dead”), an Italian clove-spiced cookie that is virtually as hard as bone.  If you heard thunder that night, it was probably just the sound of a bunch of Sicilians in Long Island crunching on Dead Bones in unison.  By some miracle, I still have all my teeth.

Scrambled Egg Tacos

I’m not sure if it was elementary school or middle school, but I remember searching for four leaf clovers at recess and anxiously standing in line to play “wall ball”, a game for the cool kids which involved hitting a bouncy ball against a wall repeatedly.  One of my fondest, most vivid grade school memories is of Taco Tuesdays.  I loved school tacos even though they were a dripping, bright orange mess of grease and ground mystery meat soaking into a hard tortilla shell which would inevitably split at the seam and send hot oil down your arms.

Poached Egg with Crispy Prosciutto

I’m intimidated by a package of bacon.  There are too many strips of it (which I know I’ll be eating all by myself), it leaves a big pan of oil that I never know how to discard correctly (my boyfriend used to pour his bacon drippings in the potted plants outside) and it showers the entire kitchen in a greasy mist (stove, counters, walls, shirt, everywhere).

Farmers Market Crustless Quiche

* From the "A Week of Farmers Market Meals" Collection:  Quiche...what a wonderful way to use your farmers market finds.  Take a slice of this to work or on a picnic, serve it warm or at room temperature with tons of fresh parsley on top and you've got a complete meal with all the essentials!

The Perfect Egg Sandwich

My boyfriend’s step-father “Bud” was known for his Caribbean-style lemon soaked, pepper crusted bacon.  This bacon made my heart sing and added a ferocious zing to my eggy, cheesy sandwich.  If I had any business sense or any money, I’d open a weekend stand and sell only this sandwich!  I urge you to try it on a sunny Sunday morning with a perspiring glass of chilled iced tea. 

Egg Pillows

This breakfast is simple yet magic.  Whipped cheesy egg whites create a soft meringue-like pillow for a creamy egg yolk.  Beautiful and tasty!

Poached Egg on Yesterday’s Pizza

The markets in my neighborhood are so packed when I get home from work, that I quickly gave up on buying a piece of bread for my poached egg craving earlier this evening.  Bread, bread, how can I get my hands on some bread?  Ah ha!  The leftover pepperoni pizza in the refrigerator! The egg's delicate texture paired so well with my cheesy pizza square.  I suggest you fancy up your leftover pizza tonight with this recipe!

Use What You Got: Cannellini Bean, Escarole and Egg Linguini

Tonight I returned from work way too lazy to go to the market and figure out what to make so I decided to create dinner out of whatever ingredients I had laying around the kitchen.  Here’s what I had:  ½ can of cannellini beans, small head of escarole, chicken stock, basil, eggs, parmesan cheese, garlic and a shallot.  So I invented this pasta dish which came out pretty darn good and decided to share it with you all.