Café de Olla

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On Sundays, we occasionally indulge by making Tartine’s French toast recipe using our homemade sourdough bread. Despite the clash in cultural origin, nothing goes better with a slice of French toast than a cup of Cafe de Olla, in our opinion. We first tried this sweet coffee drink when we dined at Pujol on our trip to Mexico City. We consumed many cups of coffee but the uniqueness of this traditional drink really stands out to me. The bitterness of coffee and the spiciness of cinnamon marries well with the sweetness of piloncillo. Piloncillo is an un-refined brown sugar that is usually shaped in a cone form. When we don’t have it lying around, we substitute brown sugar, but cut the amount to reduce the sweet factor. This coffee is very easy to make, and is the perfect activity while the French toast souffles in the oven.

It is a very easy recipe and the richness of the drink is lovingly understated. In order to make the drink, we use the following kitchen items:

Scale – I own this one, because it weighs heavy-enough things for bread-making as well. I also like this because I can toggle between grams and ounces. Mike has this one that he uses for coffee exclusively, which is what we mostly use when measuring coffee bean and water weight. It is especially useful since it has that timer, essential to latte pulls and drip-coffee!
Grinder – The grinder plays a huge role in the quality of your brew (or espresso, or latte, or what-have-you). We used to just live with the results of a sub-par grinder, until last Christmas, when our gift to each other was a high quality grinder that has been spewing out delicious cups of Joe ever since.
Chemex – You can use any drip-coffee vessel, but we love our Chemex. We like the style with the glass handle, but there are ones with a wooden middle, if aesthetics are more of a concern.
Gooseneck Kettle – Precision is key when making a pour-over cup of coffee. We own the Fellow’s stovetop Stagg Kettle and love its slender gooseneck. It allows us to pour water slowly and with control. Plus there is a thermometer lid which ensures the correct water temperature each time (a must!). I would recommend this brand to anyone who wants to make a good pour-over. If you would like, they have an electric version too!
Filter – We used to buy disposable paper filters for our Chemex. Over the holidays, Mike’s sister gifted us a pair of reusable hemp filter, and we have never thrown a filter out since then. Surprisingly, it is such an easy clean up process. You simply wash it like you would a towel and hang to dry.
A similar one, here.

Ingredients:

1L water
50 g piloncillo (unrefined brown sugar)
1 cinnamon sticks
25 g coarsely ground coffee

Instructions:

Add the water, cinnamon, and piloncillo in a saucepan.
Bring the water to a boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
Add ground coffee and stir.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, and allow to steep for five minutes.
Filter the liquid using a Chemex.
Pour into a mug and enjoy.

Bostock Recipe from Tartine

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Bostock is such a funny word. I was perusing the Tartine book when I first came upon this recipe. I’ve heard of french toast, but not of it’s equivalent, which is this quirkily named french pastry. As usual, I was first attracted to the photo in the book, but upon quickly skimming the ingredients, I was intrigued, and at the same time, in love with the idea. The recipe suggested taking day-old brioche bread slices and soaking them with an orange syrup. Once soaked, a layer of jam was spread on top, followed by an even thicker layer of almond cream, which I later learned was referred to as frangipane. On top of that was a sprinkling of sliced almonds. The bread slices are placed in an oven and allowed to bake until the almond topping has caramelized and the almond slices have toasted.

So when we brought home a loaf of Japanese milk bread from Craftsman and Wolves last week, I had an idea, which stems from the realization that along with the Tartine Country Loaf we had also bought, we had WAY too much bread to finish off all by ourselves. I decided to take the Japanese milk bread and substitute it for the brioche! Bread is not to be wasted in our house.

Japanese milk bread, courtesy of Craftsman and Wolves.

At first, this recipe may sound like something entirely too sweet. Brioche bread on its own has that aspect in it. But I ask that you try it anyway, because you may be as surprised as I to find the nuttiness in this recipe. We had placed a very small layer of jam, but loaded the thing with our frangipane. Once caramelized, the almond really plays a huge role in balancing out the fruitier aspects of this dish. Mike and I have now become huge fans! Plus, this feeds a huge group of people way easier than french toast. It’s easy to prepare everything ahead of time, and assembly is quick. Pop the tray in the oven as the guests arrive, and let the heat do its thing while you entertain. Serve piping hot, with cold brewed coffees, and it’s a perfect Sunday brunch.

This recipe made 8 slices. Believe it or not, Mike and I were not able to finish them all. So we placed them in the fridge and have been sticking a slice into the toaster oven every morning for the past few days, for an easy breakfast before work. They have been reheating very well! Whether you are a brunch host, a busy mom, an entrepreneur, or just a lazy cook who wants to eat great tasting food, this is a must try.

Below is a very similar recipe to the one in the Tartine book, with only a few minor changes.

A slice of bostock, oozing with caramel goodness.

Ingredients:

Orange Syrup

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
Grated zest of 1 tangerine
2 tbs Triple Sec (or any other orange liquer)

Almond Cream

1 3/4 cups sliced almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tbs Grand Marnier

Bostock

8 slices of Japanese milk bread, about 1/2 inch thick
Boysenberry jam
Optional: Confectioner’s sugar

The Process:

Orange Syrup:

In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar, juice, and zest and bring to a simmer, while constantly stirring.
When the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat.
Stir in the Triple Sec and allow to cool to room temperature.

Almond Cream

Combine 1 cup of the sliced almonds, the sugar, and the salt in a food processor and process until finely ground. Reserve 3/4 cup of the sliced almonds for the topping.
Add the eggs and butter to the food processor and continue to process until a paste forms.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in Grand Marnier.
Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to three days.

Bostock

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Arrange the brioche toasts on a baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, thoroughly soak the toasts with the syrup until they are very moist.
Spread with a thin layer of jam.
Follow with a thicker layer of almond cream. Think double the later of the jam, or more, because there can never be too much almonds.
Top with the remained 3/4 cup of sliced almonds.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until deep golden brown. The cream should have caramelized and the almond slices should have toasted.
Optional: Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving. We skipped this last step, relishing the toasted almonds, as is.

For more awesome recipes such as this, all related to homemade bread, I highly recommend Tartine’s book, to start.

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Zero Waste Tumeric Red Lentil Fritters Tomato Bowl with Tahini Dill Sauce

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Rumor has it that my co-worker’s wife makes the best lentil soup, and vegan friends have sworn that lentils make for an amazing alternative to meat, whether in burgers or in meat-less meatloaves. So when Mike came across a recipe for Lentil Fritters and voiced a willingness to try a vegetarian alternative to meatballs, I decided to give it a go. This recipe in particular included tumeric, a spice that previous to this post, I have not tried for myself, despite seeing it on every shelf at Mother’s Market and Whole Foods in every edible form imaginable. The benefits of tumeric still escapes me, so anybody able to shed light on this is entirely welcome to! Either way, while curiosity killed the cat, in this case, it got two humans to try a vegan meal in a normally very-non-vegan house.

Happily, I was able to get all ingredients in zero-waste fashion from the bulk aisle of our local Whole Foods. Initially, there was no inkling amongst the both of us that lentil was a grain. For some reason, I always imagined a leafy green. But we finally found it after a quick Google search, and carted away red lentils, chia seeds, and unhulled sesame seeds in self-brought containers. Determined not to buy pre-packaged tahini sauce, I decided to be generous in the sesame seed purchase, so that I could make tahini from scratch at home. And in my efforts to continue with the zero waste, we used some day old bread to create the bread crumbs that we needed to add some texture to the fritters. Biased-ly enough, any recipe that allows me to curb landfill waste is a great one! So I hope you enjoy the nutty, seedy, earthy fritters atop a refreshing bed of salad as much as we did.

Ingredients:

Seedy Lentil Fritters

1 tsp oil
1/2 cup onion
5 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1/3 tsp ground cardamom
1/3 tsp or more cayenne
1/2 cup red lentils, washed and drained
1.5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 cup packed chopped spinach
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Tahini Dill Sauce

3/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
3 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne

Bowl

Lettuce
Chopped tomatoes & cucumbers

The Process:

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook until translucent, stirring occasionally.
Add all the spices and drained lentils. mix and cook for only a minute.
Add salt and water and cook for 11 minutes partially covered. Uncover, fold in spinach and parlsey and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the lentils are cooked and all the liquid is absorbed. The mixture will be soft. Taste and adjust salt and heat.
Add chia seeds and sesame seeds and mix in. Chill the lentil mixture for half an hour (in our case, we just placed it right in the fridge!)
Meanwhile, make croutons from day old bread using our Basic Crouton Recipe. Once croutons come out of the oven, crush them using either mortar and pestle, or a rolling pin.
Preheat the oven to 425 deg F / 220ºc. Mix in 1/4 cup breadcrumbs in the lentil mixture. The mixture will be soft but should get easily shaped into soft balls without too much sticking or squishing.
Once the lentil mixtures have been shaped into fritters, place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to rub olive oil over the surfaces, for an extra crisp texture. Bake for 20 minutes.
Blend everything under tahini sauce in a food processor, starting with toasted sesame seeds and olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients after the tahini sauce has reached the desired consistency. Taste and adjust, adding salt and lemon as needed. For a garlicky dressing mix in 1/4 tsp garlic powder.
Assemble the bowl with greens, juicy tomatoes or cucumbers, and as many Lentil fritters as you like. Drizzle dressing generously.

This makes way more fritters than necessary for a party of two. Good news is that they refrigerate quite well. Reheating in a toaster oven makes them good as new, so batch cooking these babies can really come in handy on a busy day. I would also venture to predict that future self will be substituting these for beef patties, on the regular.

Cherry Compote

With our recent bread baking habit, we have the privilege of having left-over starter around every single day. In case you are not familiar with baking bread using a live starter, a starter is pretty much a yeast culture in a mason jar that we feed on a daily basis on a set schedule so that the yeast continues to grow. We refer to our starter as our baby. And since feeding requires only a portion of the existing starter to continue growing, the rest is discarded in the trash. Or as is the case in our household, refashioned into a number of different baked goods, sourdough pancakes being one of them.

While the post regarding our entire bread baking experience will be saved for another day, this post is all about what we drizzle over that delicious pancake recipe. Cherry Compote! When I think of cherries, I think of warm summer days, with handfuls of this red, juicy fruit in a bowl, twined together by common, wispy limbs. I think of juice dribbling down chins, and fingers, and for some, shirts while we sit in basic tees and sneakers on the sidewalk or in the grass, picnic style. I envision a collection of pits, delicately eaten around, or more enjoyably, chewed and spit back out. I don’t associate the word cherry with the winter time, but winter time seems to be when I crave it the most.

This compote recipe is perfect for winter. Warm cherries should be as coveted as their cold summer counterpart, and the combination with something as earthy and aromatic as thyme really makes this recipe a simple yet special one. Even though we drizzle this mostly over our sourdough pancakes, it would also be a great addition to scoops of vanilla ice cream, a slice of cheesecake, or as a topping for a Thanksgiving pie. It’s officially Spring, but the weather is still cool enough that this recipe remains relevant, for another few months more.

Ingredients:

1 pound of cherries
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup honey
Pinch of Salt

Procedure:

The first part is the fun part. Remove the cherry pits from the cherries! I usually just use a pairing knife, although a cherry pitter would probably be quicker. But you know, minimalist household. The less tools the merrier in our book.
Slice the cherries into halves or quarters, depending on the size you want.
Add the cherries, water, and thyme in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Make sure to stir frequently, and continue to cook until they start to break down (approximately 3 minutes).
Stir in the honey and salt and remove from the heat. The compote is all done! Set aside until you are ready for use and rewarm as necessary. Sprinkle in some blueberries, and top with powdered sugar, more honey, or melted butter.

Zuppa Toscana

While Mike and I continue to wait for winter to hit, we are doing away with some make-believe in this 85 degreee California heat. There isn’t much to complain about regarding these summery temperatures, except for the fact that the sourdough country loaves that I’ve been making have been with nary a partner-in-crime. And now, with Mike getting interested in the bread baking as well, with the plan to begin fermenting his own starter tomorrow, bread consumption must increase, preferably with the help of some accompaniment such as soup.

In light of that, we made Zuppa Toscana to pair with the bread batches that resulted from my two days off. Mike is not fond of soup as a meal, unless they are of a hearty variety. I, on the other hand, can eat soup for days, as long as it comes hand-in-hand with some gluttonous friend. Luckily, this soup fills one up quite nicely, leaving bellies satisfied and hearts full.

The Ingredients:

1.5-2 pds. bulk hot Italian sausage
1.25 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 large onion, diced
1 tbs . garlic, minced
5 (130z) can chicken broth
4 Russett potatoes, thinly sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch fresh spinach, tough stems removed

The Process:

Remove the skin from the Italian sausage,and cook with red pepper flakes in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crumbly, and no longer pink. I like to cook a bit longer until browned, usually about 10-15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Cook the onions and garlic until onions are soft, usually on low heat so the garlic does not burn.
Pour chicken broth into Dutch oven with onion mixture. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Add the potatoes, and boil until fork tender, about twenty minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the heavy cream and the cooked sausage. Heat through. Mix spinach into the soup just before serving.
Most importantly, serve with fresh, warm bread.

Home-made Granola

There’s something special about sharing recipes from one person to another. Perhaps it’s the coming together that makes the whole thing so great. Acknowledgement that we need to share pieces of ourselves with each other, one of the most valuable being our time. Maybe its the activity producing something sustainable, a necessity ingrained into our very beings. Whatever it is, there is something to be said of gathering over the makings of a meal, the way it connects people on multiple levels.

I always feel joy when I learn a new recipe from someone I know. Even more so when I’ve already tasted said recipe and have decidedly fallen in love with the taste (smell, and sight) of it. Today, I had the privilege of learning my sister-in-law’s delicious home-made granola recipe. I’ve been asking her to come over and teach me how it’s done ever since she handed me a mason jar full of this home-made goodness a few months ago. We finished the jar in just a few days, strewn over yogurt, or eaten simply by the handful. Since then, I’ve been craving it, and so for the past few weeks, I’ve consistently asked for any spare moment she may have so that I might learn to make it on my own. Today was my lucky day.

She came over mid-afternoon, bearing all the ingredients we needed, with her own additional twist: Coconut flakes. The great thing about the ingredients in this recipe is that they can be purchased in bulk, allowing you to make the crunchy goodness without waste. Plus the recipe is flexible, in the sense that the maker can add whatever ingredients they want. Creativity can reign in the production of something as simple as granola. Some of her alternative suggestions included pecans or walnuts. Sometimes you can simply make do with whatever left over nuts and seeds you may have in the pantry. Either way, there’s very few ways to really mess this up. I mean, it’s granola!

The honest truth: It’s more than granola. It’s magic. It’s versatile. It’s simple. It’s healthy. It’s a great arsenal to have in the pantry. Considered a year-round ingredient in our household, it seems appropriate that we address its production early on in this virtual recipe book. The greatest part is the ease with which the process can be executed. Once in the oven, there is nothing left for you to do, except to rotate the granola every 12 minutes. Now you’ve got time on your hands to read a book, write a novel, or chat like we did, over espresso in the waning afternoon light. Additionally, each batch makes a hefty amount (more than six cups of granola!), thus allowing you to be quite liberal with how you choose to spend it.

Additional things I loved when making this:

The smell of brown sugar caramelizing on the stove top.
The sound of granola shifting, when raking it to get an even toasting.
The scent of coconut toasting.
The earthy colors of the combination of grains, seeds, and coconut flakes.
The warmth of the baking pan as you take it out of the oven to cool.
The “plink” of well-toasted pieces being transferred to a glass mason jar.
The crunch of your very first bite.
The subtle sweetness it lends to whatever meal your gracing with its presence.

Home-made Granola

Ingredients:

5 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)

The Process:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Boil brown sugar, canola oil, water, and vanilla extract for two minutes. Careful not to burn the mixture. We allowed it to heat over medium heat.
Combine all the dry ingredients until the sunflower seeds in a bowl. We will add the coconut flakes at a later time.
Mix all ingredients (wet and dry) together and spread on a cookie sheet.
Bake granola for 36 minutes, stirring the granola once every 12 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and turn the oven off (very important, lest you burn the upcoming coconut flakes).
Sprinkle 1 cup of coconut flakes on top of the granola and return the baking sheet back into the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes (or until desired crispiness has been reached), stirring once in the middle of the 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and cool before transferring to a container of your choice.

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Easy Slow-Cooker Quinoa Enchilada Casserole Recipe

As temperatures cool, I find myself embracing warm comforts. The urge to jump up and start my day becomes subdued, replaced by the need to hunker down and cozy up. I am choosing yoga videos with titles such as “Salve” and “Soften”. Winter is a time for self-love. A time to take everything at a steadier pace than usual. A time to pull out that one easy recipe in your back pocket, and call it a day. This one happens to be a clow-cooker quinoa enchilada casserole. You can pin it for safe-keeping.

Other Easy Recipes

I would say that wintry times call for easy-to-make recipes that allow me to enjoy more of, well, me-time. In particular, I am drawn to comfort foods, ones that would come out of my mom’s kitchen. Something warm to my belly, as well as my heart. I draw upon soups, pastas, and casseroles for that additional comfort that I’m looking for. I like to think that this is also the grub yearned for by our friends and family who gather indoors with us during this cooler season. Possibly only because it’s what I want to serve.

When feeding a large group of people, the easiest way to prepare is hours beforehand. It’s never any fun trying to entertain while also stirring a pot of boiling soup that may overflow at a moment’s notice. I don’t enjoy the rush of moving about the kitchen and adding ingredients last minute in an effort to make the salad taste fresh. I like the kitchen to already be clean as my guests arrive, and I like to have a calm mindset. I much rather prefer an atmosphere where I could place 100% of my focus on the entertaining rather than the cooking.

So when board game night came around this past week, and I was looking to feed a group of seven, I pulled out my recipe for slow-cooker Quinoa Enchilada Casserole, placed all ingredients in a pot, and let my friend, the slow-cooker, do all the work. Made with ground turkey, quinoa, black beans, and other veggies, it’s a much healthier option than ordering pizza. Served in a bowl right when the guests are ready to eat, and topped with an avocado slice (or three), this is the perfect meal to sit down with over a board game. Guests can opt to eat it like a soup, or as a dip for tortilla chips. Let them choose!

I keep the slow-cooker on warm all night long, so guests can go back for seconds. And after the last friend has left in the wee hours of the night, the slow-cooker’s ceramic pot is an easy clean up after a good soak overnight. Let that be tomorrow’s problem. We’re taking it slow over here.

This happens to be the slow-cooker I own, which was gifted to us on our wedding night by one of our closest friends.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
15-ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn
15-ounce can of diced fire roasted tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup water
10-ounce can of enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper (optional)
Tortilla Chips

The Process:

Cook the ground turkey in a skillet prior to placing in the slow-cooker.
Add all ingredients until the optional jalapeno pepper in the slow-cooker. Stir to combine. Cover and allow the pot to do the work on high for 3 hours or until the liquid is all absorbed into the mixture.
Remove the lid and stir everything again. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Stir in the half the cheese and sprinkle the other half on top. Replace the lid and let the cheese melt. Top with the chopped green onions, avocado, and cilantro.
Serve with the chips at the center of the table. Enjoy!

Photographed is the Everyday Bowl by East Fork Pottery.

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Mike’s House Potatoes with Sam’s Omelets

It’s Sunday, and you know what that means. Brunch! Well, for a bunch of millennials, that is. Sunday brunch is the hip thing to do, and there are many ways to pull off a successful one.

With a group of friends, or as an early morning date with your significant other.

With mimosas in hand, or over much needed cups of Joe.

With baby in tow, or your favorite furry friend by your side.

At a neighborhood café, or the next new restaurant in town.

Breakfast burritos, or croissants and parfaits.

Dressed up in your Sunday best, or dressed down in loungewear sweats.

After church, or after your morning jog.

And many more.

I know, because Sunday brunch used to be what we did best. For me, it was all about going out with a group of friends, mimosas in hand, eating breakfast burritos at the next new restaurant in town dressed up in my Sunday best. Alternatively, it was early morning coffee dates with Mike at the neighborhood café over croissants after our morning jog, in our loungewear sweats. Either way you spin it, it ended in Instagram posts of photos of our food, staged to perfection, taken from the most perfect angle. It ended in “just one more round” of drinks for everyone. It was appetizers and dessert, too. There was a perceived “grown up” eloquence that came with the beautifully plated dishes, but isn’t it just another social status symbol? It’s not that we didn’t enjoy the time with our friends, or the taste of the food itself. But wasn’t it more about being able to say that you ate at the newly acclaimed chef’s restaurant? Or to one up each other in how many drinks you downed at the bar last night. Or to compete in who took the best Instagram photo? Sometimes I wonder which came first, the popularity of brunch itself, or the aspiration to be Sunday chic.

At some point, Mike and I stopped brunching. I think it was an effort to live more frugally, coinciding with the time we decided to eat out less and cook more. Eventually, we discovered simple breakfast recipes of our own, and made them in ways that were more appealing to us. No longer is it the time of $8 avocado toasts. Do people realize how much an avocado costs? A slice of bread? Do they realize that a single avocado can be split between two toasts, sometimes three depending on the size of the avocado in question? Add lime, salt, pepper, or pickled red onions, and you’ve got something much more gourmet. Likely saved yourself $5 (each) too!

Recently, we were feeling lazy and stepped out to grab sandwiches at a corner bakery next to our house. We both ordered sandwiches and soup, and decided that the soup was too salty, the bread too greasy. We looked down at our meal, which cost $20, and confirmed that we could make this way better ourselves. That’s the funny thing. You go back to eating out and realize that it’s not even worth it, most times. The money goes towards the experience and the convenience, more than anything. We aren’t the greatest cooks by any means, but we’ve gotten to the point where we know how to make most dishes, well, better. And cheaper. And healthier.

So in addition to the list above, Sunday brunch, two ways. Out and in. Here are two simple recipes that could cost you $10-15 a plate, if you choose to go out. Possibly $5 total, if you choose to stay in. It’s Mike’s House Potatoes, and Sam’s Omelets. Honestly, everyone has their own way of making these, and ours is considerably much simpler than others. The great thing is, you really can’t mess this up too bad. It’s easy.

Mike’s House Potatoes

Ingredients:

-1 potato, diced into small cubes

– ¼ small onion, diced

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1/4 tsp parsley

-1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

-Salt and pepper, to taste

-Teensy amount of vegetable oil

The process:

Fry the potatoes in the smallest amount of vegetable needed until they’re brown and soft.
Throw in onions and garlic around halfway through (7-8 minutes in).
Add spices, and voila.

Sam’s Omelets

Ingredients:

2 eggs
¼ small red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
½ roma tomato, diced (optional)
Cheese of choice (optional)
Avocado (to top)

NOTE: You can literally put anything you want in omelets, so do what you will. Last week it was cheese and spinach for me. This week, it was no tomatoes for Mike. So make do with what you already have or add whatever your heart desires.

The process:

Mix eggs in a bowl with a whisk (or fork).
Heat a small amount of vegetable oil on the frying pan.
Pour eggs into the center of the oil.
Sprinkle the top with whatever ingredients you like.
Wait for the bottom to fully cook before folding half of the omelet onto itself.
Cook for another minute, then flip.
Plate after complete cooking of the egg, to your discretion. Top with avocado.

Part of the purpose of the food section in my blog is to share recipes that are simple in nature, and not at all difficult to make. We kill two birds with one stone by realizing that its saves money, too. Plus, it’s kind of fun when you share the responsibility, and work around each other, in sync, to music, using shared ingredients. And if you miss eating with friends, then why don’t you invite them over too?

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