Tomato and Cheddar Grits

We do enjoy grits at our house. It's kind of like a blank canvas that you can add so many things to What ever you like, or have on hand. So as always here is just one version that I made and enjoyed, then you can make it the way you like it.

Tomato and Cheddar Grits

•  1 1/4 cup grits
•  2 cups water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic bread seasoning
• 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• dashes of your favorite hot sauce (I used Peri Peri hot sauce)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese

Heat up the water, milk and butter to a simmer, add the marinara sauce, worcestershire sauce and seasoning. Slowly add the grits while you are stirring so you won't get any lumps. Continue to cook on a low heat until it thickens. I like mine a little thinner, but if you like thick grits you can use 1 cup grits to 3 cups liquid (water/milk).

When it thickens add the cheese until it  melts and salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm, I garnished with some asiago shavings. Remember to rinse off the spoon before it dries and gums on the spoon!


This was very good with a fried egg. It reminded me of the Rum Tums we always eat at Christmas time. When you refrigerate the leftovers it become quite thick, I just fry it up in a pan, if you like it like polenta, you need to make it with less milk, and have a thicker grits to begin with. Then cut it in squares and fry it up. Yum!

Hash Brown Potato Cups

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Let's face it, anything in muffin tins or individual cups are more fun! These hash brown cups are so versatile you can make them the way you like it. I added spinach and small diced tomatoes to mine. Here is the guideline of ingredients and method...of course do what works for you.

• 1 20 oz bag of refrigerated shredded hash browns, (or 3 cups shredded potatoes, or frozen hash browns thawed)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, (or more to taste)
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup fresh spinach, then I shredded it
• 1 small tomato, diced 
• 1 tsp seasoning (I use a Tuscany blend, Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning is good for this too)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cheddar cheese (to top after it bakes)
• Now here is where you can use what you like...a little spicy add some red pepper flakes, or add some green onions, onions, or onion powder....or sausage! Chopped chives or any fresh herbs for garnish.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Press into the prepared muffin tins. If you are adding a lot of toppings or an egg save some room for that. If adding and egg you can crack an egg and add it to the top before baking.

 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and add some cheddar cheese and place it back in the oven until the cheese melts and is bubbly.

Remove from the oven and let them rest a little. Slide a knife around the edges to make sure they will come out of the tins.

Top with your choice of topping, bacon, scrambled eggs, sour cream, chives....we actually liked them like this...except my daughter who puts sour cream on everything!

Green Mango Salad

The sun has come out and stayed with us pretty much all day yesterday...we can again enjoy the out doors without getting wet...unless we want to jump in the pool. The temperature is still in the 80's and the humidity is down. Very pleasant here in south west Florida.

After the storm I gathered some more green mangoes that fell off the tree. The Kent mango which is the kind of tree I have stays green (the skin) even when it is ripe so it looks pretty much the same you just have to touch it to see how firm it is.I received a few good ideas from my friends on what to do with green mangoes...

After collecting the firm mangoes wash them very well, they drip a sap from the stem when they are picked even when they are ripe. If you are allergic to mangoes you will be itchy from the sap if it gets on you. After doing some research I gathered some info and made the green mango salad they way I would want to eat it...not too sweet, but first I had to taste it to see how I liked it. Erica was right they taste so good with just some lime juice squeezed over the top.

This is what I came up with after looking at loads of ideas 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1large firm green mango washed peeled and julienned
• steamed or cooked shrimp (optional)
• 1 carrot peeled and julienned
• 1 small shallot sliced or diced or not you can skip it or use green onion
• 1 teaspoon ginger fresh grated
• 1 sprig of mint chopped
• 1 chili chopped ( or chili flakes to taste, I used shichimi togarashi)
• FOR THE DRESSING:
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar (you can use more)
• 1 teaspoon chili sauce or chili flakes (optional)

Mix the mango, carrots, shallots, ginger, mint and chili in a large bowl.  In a small bowl whisk together the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chili sauce until sugar is dissolved. Pour over the salad and toss with the shrimp or just add them on top.

Garnish with black sesame seeds, (or you could use poppy seeds) and julienned shiso leaves or chili flakes...or really anything you want!!

It was pretty easy to make and I really liked the tart taste of the green mango...who knew?! :) I think this salad would be great with jicama, it would give it another texture and slightly sweet, or you could add beans sprouts. I like the mint here instead of cilantro and I didn't go very sweet, it's just my personal preference. You can go as spicy and sweet as you like. I wonder how avocado would work with this?! Well any way you make it...it's a wonderful summer salad.

Breakfast Burritos

For Mother's Day we took the boat out...we probably would of taken it out any way, but he did clean it all up and get it ready to go. I didn't have to do much of anything. We wanted to get out there early so we could get a parking spot at the boat ramp, being Siesta Key it's usually busy whether it's a holiday or not. He said we could pick up some breakfast burritos on the way....nah, I couldn't let that happen...and I have been into wraps lately, just like a few other blogger friends out there.

I had some farm fresh eggs, and scrambled them up with some home grown chives and organic half and half.

I pulled out some left overs, bacon from the staff appreciation breakfast at school, cooked red potatoes, some rice from Jose's Authentic Cuban Food restaurant that we went to Friday night, and some garlic chives. Warmed it all up in a skillet.

Pulled out the cotija cheese also known as Queso Anejado or "aged cheese" and our new favorite cheese, we use it all the time. It can be used like Parmesan cheese. The home made salsa from the Cuban restaurant..

...back to the kitchen...I made mine with breakfast sausage that I had cooked up. (I did make them roll their own, but then they get it the way they like it).



Wrap it all up and it's good to go...and so much better than what we could pick up on the way, even if I did have to make it myself! At least I didn't have to make lunch.

Crepes with Chicken, Avocado and Bacon

My turn to once again choose for Martha Mondays, my pick was crepes! but I am just posting it now! Almost a week late. I did  make them on Monday, but couldn't get a good photo after dark, so I saved some and had them the next day too. My computer is so slow and old I am getting a new one. In the meanwhile I have to use my husbands on the weekends or evenings. I feel so neglectful to you all...
I'll be back in full swing soon, and back to my regular visits and posts.

We had FCAT testing the last two weeks and everyone is on edge...teacher, students, and parents. In the clinic we get the kids come in when the test is done because they came to school sick just for the test. We try to encourage them do satay home and do the make up test. You can almost hear the sigh of relief from everyone. Now we are working on field trips, and school end stuff, getting ready for next year.

Now back to the crepes my choice this week was made because this was another things I have always wanted to make and really have no idea why I haven't. I like to order savory crepes when we go to a favorite breakfast place in town...turkey dill. Since I don't have that recipe for their sauce, it reminded me of a hollandaise with dill...anyway, I decided to make up my own to go with chicken, bacon, avocado and tomatoes. I also added some green onions to a couple of them for the savory breakfast crepe.

I made a creamy dill with yogurt and a chipotle mayo sauce. The crepe recipe was easy to follow and I first tried making them on my 13" round griddle that I use to make dosa on and it's good for quesadillas. It did not work that well for the crepes because it needed the edge of the pan to create the round edge of the crepe, so I pulled out my 9.5" green pan and that one worked out great. Just lightly buttered the pan and it didn't stick at all.
For the Chipotle Sauce: 1/2 cup Greek Style yogurt, 2 tablespoons mayo, 2 teaspoons chopped chipotle in adobo sauce or chipotle powder.
 

Yogurt Dill Sauce: 1/2 cup Greek style yogurt 2 tablespoons fresh dill (chopped) or 1 teaspoon dried dill 2-4 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon key lime juice pinch of garlic powder salt and pepper to taste.
I used the sauce on the inside and out.

I now know how to make crepes and found out how well the keep in the fridge for a couple of days. I will see how well they freeze. Next I'm making dessert crepes, with Nutella, strawberries and bananas!

French Toast -with Chickpea Flour - no eggs

I didn't have a chance to post my breakfast post this weekend...a little busy...(I'll get into that later) I made this Saturday immediately after I saw it on Yummy Tummy So excited that I had most of the ingredients already so I was good to go! She is like me ...not liking sweets for breakfast... I used what I had on hand and this, like most of the recipes I make is so versatile to make it the way you like it.

Ingredients:

4 slices of bread
2 tablespoons oil (for the pan, actually butter would be good here)
1 cup chickpea flour (gram flour)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder (make it as spicy as you like...or not)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tablespoon fresh snipped chives
1 shallot chopped
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
water

In a shallow bowl mix the chickpea flour and dry spices...




add the remaining ingredients and slowly add some water and stir it all up until it makes a thin batter.


dip a slice of bread ...just like you would if making French toast...



flip it to coat both sides...

I had the batter too thick at first...it was okay, but I liked it better when I added more water to thin batter.


Heat a griddle with a little oil(oil with butter will work)...I just picked this cast iron griddle at Macy's on Black Friday! My Christmas gift to myself...or I should say to my family, because we all can use it for pancakes, tortillas, burgers, grilled sandwiches...well just about anything! So this is my first try out with my new pan!!!


Toast them like you would making French toast, then flip to the other side.. I added butter on the second batch I made, since that is what I like about making French toast...cooking it in butter.



I thought it was a little bitter so I added a touch of honey...maybe it could use a little lemon or lime juice...or yogurt?

It was a very satisfying breakfast, and my daughter even liked it. She is so good about trying new things!

A little finishing salt on top...I forgot to add salt into the first ones. Mmm, so good and so hearty! I'm sure you can find many other things to add to this savory, egg-less French toast! So I learned a few things along the way, and it was easy to try out a few different things. What you you add?

Brunch Arepas - with scrambled eggs and tomatillos

We love eating arepas on the weekends, we have them for breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper. It all depends on how you fill it or top it. It is almost like when making fried rice or quiche...let's see what we have in the fridge.

For this one I made the herbed arepas , once you are able to find the masarepa flour you will use it plenty, it's so easy to throw together a batch.
Scramble some eggs while you are cooking the arepa...this is the hardest part, but do-able with two pans. I use my flat quesadilla pan for the arepa (and many other things like flatbreads). I'm sure you all have a favorite pan that you use when making eggs.


This time I topped the arepa instead of stuffing them...topped with the scrambled eggs, fresh diced tomatoes, tomatillo salsa, queso fresco or any Mexican cheese, and cilantro. You can use jarred salsa or make your own tomatillo sauce.
Sliced avocado would be nice with this too.

See how easy it is? So quick and easy I can sit on the lanai with my family and enjoy eating a meal together...after I get the photos that is!

I will share this at Let's Do Brunch!

Breakfast Egg and Toast Cups

If you know me you know that I like to get more savory breakfast ideas. The weekends are when I spend a little more time making breakfast, rather than the whole grain toast with almond butter and ginger jam! The typical breakfast on the run out the door! So here is another one that I happened to catch on Jaden's Steamy Kitchen ...bacon, egg, and toast cups she used muffin tins to make hers. I thought I would change it up a little...(ha! what did you expect?)

I used individual cups for these, I have several different size ramekins, so I used one that would hold the goodies... I didn't have a crowd to feed so I just made three of them.

First cut a out a circle in the slice of bread, use a cookie cutter, tuna can or anything round that would work here. You were supposed to flatten it out slightly, I didn't, but it still worked fine.



Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Lightly butter 6 standard-sized muffin cups or the individual cups that you plan to use.



Cut each round, then press into each muffin cup, the halves will overlap slightly, but in these ramekins they didn't so I just added some more bread.



Make use of extra bread to patch any gaps, press into place.



Brush the tops of the bread in each muffin cup with melted butter.




Lay in some spinach and sprinkle with some shredded cheese. I used some organic chopped frozen spinach that I always have on hand, you don't have to thaw it first. If you are frying up some bacon and you have the pan out already go ahead and toss some fresh spinach and saute, or chopped tomatoes, even onions if you like then add them to the bottom here.



Crack one egg into each cup and season with salt, pepper and a little herb blend, then bake until the egg whites are just set, about 20 to 25 minutes.


I made one with the egg whole...



...and another with the egg mixed up a little and a dash of cream added.




...sprinkle some grated cheese and fresh chives, and serve while still warm...



..or run a knife around cups to loosen and serve immediately.



So easy and a perfect way to make breakfast a little special!