Tag Archives: breakfast

Stuffed Strawberry French Toast Roll-Ups

DSC_6715I have to apologize to you guys because I neglected a very important meal of the day: breakfast. I’ve posted over 500 amazing recipes on here since starting Smart Cookie almost 2 years ago, but a very small portion of them are breakfast-related. I didn’t plan for that, nor were there any anti-breakfast biases involved; I just don’t cook breakfast as often as I do other meals.

It’s so easy to give breakfast the cold shoulder. You just rolled out of the bed, and you’re usually in a rush to get going with the day, so why would you want to soak up valuable time preparing an elaborate meal in the early hours? Most of the time, we save our energy and tricks for a fancy dinner or dessert instead. But it’s important to give your tummy some love at every meal, and it’s not as hard to craft a magnificent meal in the a.m. as you think. We’ve got no excuse to neglect breakfast any longer.

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Eggs in Pepper Rings + How-To Video

I grew up eating the classic Egg in Bread, or Egg in a Hole, Egg in a Window, whatever-the-heck you prefer to call it. Such a simple little meal, but so darn delicious all the same. As is the case with most classics, you start to wonder if there’s a way to revamp or reinvent the tried and true dishes you love so much. Bread’s a great vehicle for little eggs, but what other kind of vessels are out there?

Pretty little pepper rings make the perfect carriage for an egg in these Eggs in Pepper Rings. They add a pop of color, plus bold and fresh flavor. These cute little guys will wake you right up with their pepper power. Plus, all that protein in the tender, filling eggs gives you the energy you need to get your butt in action in the morning (and to make it to lunch without eating your arm).

Don’t feel limited to breakfast though; make this colorful meal any time of day. Delectable and vibrant, they’re a great snack, lunch, or even dinner. Break(fast) the rules!

Check out my video for a step-by-step breakdown for making these beautifully easy eggs. It’s eggcellent!

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. Although these eggs are great as is, you can dress them up with cheese, fresh herbs, or slap ‘em on a sandwich. Also feel free to serve with sausage or bacon.
  2. If you don’t like a runny egg, then you’ll have to flip the eggs & cook on both sides to get it thoroughly cooked through.
  3. Fresh herbs make all the difference here.
  4. Any cheese would be tasty on here: parmesan, cheddar, or mozzarella.
  5. Serve over hashbrowns for an extra special treat.
  6. Letting the peppers cook for a few minutes before adding the eggs gets them nice and hot so they act as a wall when you add the egg and keep it from spreading.

Eggs in Pepper Rings
By The Smart Cookie Cook

Yield: 4 eggs

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp. olive oil or butter
  • 1 red pepper, sliced into 2 1-inch thick rings
  • 1 green pepper, sliced into 2 1-inch thick rings
  • 4 large eggs
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  • 2 tsp. fresh chopped basil

Directions:

  1. Bring a large skillet to medium heat. Drizzle with olive oil. Lay a ring down on the hot pan and let cook for 2-5 minutes, or until nice and hot.
  2. Reduce heat to medium low. Crack an egg directly in the center of the egg. Let cook for 5-10 minutes, or until set. You can set a lid over top to steam it and cook it through quicker. If you like your eggs less runny, flip the egg halfway through.
  3. Garnish with salt, pepper, and basil. Plate and serve.

Egg in a Waffle Window

Are you familiar with an Egg in a Window? You may also know it as an Egg in Bread or an Egg in a Basket. The classic Egg in a Window is the most basic yet beloved of breakfast treats. I grew up on those things, and I’d be willing to bet most of you did too. My mother would whip one up for me in the morning, and I would devour the tasty little sucker with pleasure. In case you just moved here from Mars and you don’t know what an Egg in a Window is (or perhaps you’re reading this from Mars; in which case, greetings from Earth!), a classic Egg in Bread is a simple but delicious breakfast dish. It’s comprised of a slice of bread, with a little circle gone from the center into which an egg is cracked. The whole thing is fried in butter and typically seasoned with salt and pepper. Sometimes, it’s topped with melted cheese. What you wind up with is a fried egg fused into a slice of bread, creating some kind of buttery, golden brown breakfast hybrid. You can almost say the egg and the bread become one.

It’s definitely an occasion in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. How else could you describe something so tasty that results from such minimal time, effort, and ingredients? Treats like these don’t come around often; for something to be so good but so quick and easy is rare. Perhaps that is why the Egg in a Window is so widely loved by all.

I, of course, am a fan of these egg-stuffed slices of bread myself. One day, I found myself staring into the freezer with my usual conundrum: what on Earth should I eat? My eyes fell on a box of Eggo Waffles, and suddenly, my Smart Cookie gears began to turn. If an egg cooked inside of bread is delicious, then how impossibly good would it be to cook the egg inside of a waffle?

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Healthy Cookie: Cheesy Broccoli & Potato Scramble

Eggs are awesome. Know why?

  1. They’re so versatile. You can scramble ‘em, fry ‘em, bake ‘em into a quiche or frittata, slap ‘em on a breakfast sandwich, or even drink ‘em raw from a cup.
  2. The add-ins are endless: veggies, cheese, potatoes, meat, fresh herbs, and more!
  3. You can cook up an egg in mere minutes.
  4. They’re packed with protein and therefore great for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.
  5. They’re good for you. They help your eyesight, they’ve got choline for your brain (which means they keeps you smart cookies smart!), and they’re low in calories and fat.
  6. You can eat them any time of day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all eggcellent opportunities!
  7. They’re delicious!

If that doesn’t make you want to chow down on some eggs, then I don’t know what will. Keep in mind, you don’t always have to have the same old scramble. Eating the same thing over and over again gets boring no matter what the food. So spiffy up your scramble with this cheesy, broccoli & potato twist!

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Judgement Time: IHOP’s Holiday Hotcakes

I. Love. Pancakes.

Doesn’t everybody? I know there has been an ongoing waffles vs. pancakes debate, but for me, pancakes will always take the cake. They’re fluffy, floppy, fun, and delicious. Nothing gives me such child-like glee as to inundate a stack of these golden cakes in rich maple syrup then stick my fork straight through the fluffy interior. Pancakes and syrup may be a simple thing, but MAN, are they good!

You can imagine how a place like IHOP might just be heaven for me. True, I have often contemplated moving in and spending the rest of my life in a pancake utopia where all of my maple syrup-covered dreams come true. I decided to go to college instead, but if the whole “higher education” thing doesn’t work out, at least I’ve got that as a back up plan.

When I heard IHOP had released a line of new Holiday Hotcakes, I HOPPED right on over (I’m sorry, I had to). It was once of those situations that, from the moment I learned of the Holiday Hotcakes’ existence, it consumed my every waking thought. I counted down the hours until I may go to IHOP and try some for myself.

Now, The Holiday Hotcakes come in three flavors: Pumpkin Praline (which consists of pumpkin pancakes topped with caramel sauce and candied pecans), Eggnog (regular pancakes layered with an eggnog-flavored cream and topped with butter rum sauce), and White Chocolate Chip Mint (regular pancakes with white chocolate chips and topped with peppermint pieces). I tried the first two, as I’m not a huge fan of mint (sorry mint-lovers).

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Seriously Cereal: Lucky Charms is Magically Delicious For All Ages

The frazzled cry of, “They’re after me lucky charms!” still rings in the ears of many American adults. As children, we grew up watching Lucky the Leprechaun endlessly fleeting from greedy children with no sense of boundaries. They were, indeed, ALWAYS after his lucky charms. Poor Lucky never caught a break. Even today, he is still on the run. The children are as determined as ever, in hot pursuit of that colorful, marshmallow-studded cereal. But really, who can blame them?

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Seriously Cereal: Cascadian Farm’s Organic Cinnamon Crunch Cereal

Seriously Cereal is a new series to The Smart Cookie Cook. It explores all things cereal & is devoted to all you cerealists (cereal-enthusiasts) out there. We’ve got to stick together!

I’m sure that many cerealists like myself will agree when I say that General Mills’ Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of the greatest cereals of all time. Those crunchy squares sprinkle my memories of childhood with sweet cinnamon-sugar bliss. Is it their pleasant crisp texture that made them so delightful? Is it their ribbed surfaces, all the more better for trapping sweet coating? No, as important as these components are, it is clearly that visible layer of cinnamon-sugar cradling each square that made them so darn tasty. What person, especially a child, doesn’t love pure sugary goodness?

Just because I’m technically an adult doesn’t mean I don’t still adore Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Age doesn’t affect deliciousness. I’m crazy about cereal, and I’ll still happily shovel in spoonfuls of the sweet stuff. However, if you’ve ever looked at the nutrition facts on Cinnamon Toast Crunch, then you know it’s pretty horrifying:

A teeny-tiny 3/4 cup serving has:

  • 130 calories
  • 3 grams of fat
  • 10 grams of sugar

Now, let’s consider the fact that most people are probably going to eat TWICE that. Then we’re looking at almost 300 calories, 6 grams of fat, and 20 grams of sugar, and that’s not even counting the milk. Moreover, the ingredient list contains many scary, unidentifiable words, which is never reassuring.

When you’re a kid, none of this matters. You can inhale a swimming pool of ice cream or gallons of soda and not receive the slightest consequence, or judgment for that matter. When you’re an adult, it’s different. According to cultural standards, you aren’t supposed to eat sugary, indulgent things for breakfast. Plus, your metabolism starts taking time off and you find yourself becoming more health conscious.

So what do you do when you need your crunchy, cinnamon-sugar cereal fix?

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Down for the Count: What Have They Done to Count Chocula?

 

As a kid, there were no cereal mascots I loved more than Count Chocula and his creepy accomplices, Boo Berry & Frankenberry. Not only were their cereals DELICIOUS, but they were probably the coolest breakfast characters out there. Nothing appealed to me more than that gangly trio of monsters and their sweet, marshmallow-studded cereals. Boo Berry, with its unique blueberry-flavored cereal pieces and sugary marshmallows, was beyond awesome. But, for whatever reason, the original Count Chocula has always held the number one spot in my heart. I never did try old Frankenberry, but I don’t imagine he could knock the Count out of his top spot either. You can’t beat the original.

There was a dark time in my life when many years passed without the presence of Count Chocula’s cereal, or any of his other beastly buddy’s. I don’t know if this applies to all regions of the country, but Count completely disappeared from my radar for a long time. They stopped nationwide distribution and I died a little inside.

Then, a year or two ago, Count showed up again in Target at Halloween time. Good ol’ Target. Leave it to them to sell all things fabulous in the world. Needless to say, I rejoiced. I threw my hands in the air and thanked the almighty Cereal Gods. At last, the Count and I were reunited. I also bought some delicious Boo Berry.

Every year since then, I have patiently waited for Halloween to roll around again so that I could have my Count Chocula. This year was no exception. Last weekend, I trekked over to my local  Target to sweep up arm-fulls of Count Chocula cereal boxes and whisk them away to the safety of my home.

…Okay, so I bought one box. Nevertheless, I was thrilled. I might’ve embarrassed my mother a bit by my overjoyed reaction upon spotting The Count in Target, but I cannot bring myself to regret it. I love anything Halloween-related and I love sugary cereal. Count offers me both of those pleasures.

But there was something wrong, my little cookies, very wrong indeed…

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Healthy Cookie: Breakfast Incredi-bowl!

People argue that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, their logic being that it gives you the energy you need to get through your day.

I disagree.

If that were the reason for breakfast’s importance, then all meals would be equally as imperative. Is it not also the purpose of both lunch and dinner to fuel us with energy in order to complete our day? No offense to breakfast, but it does no better a job in completing said task than the day’s other essential meals do.

Now, I do agree on one thing: breakfast is the most important meal of the day; not because of the fuel it provides (although that is essential), but because it gives us a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Did you ever find yourself lying in bed on a Sunday morning as a child, with no desire to rise from your slumber, only to experiences the smell of maple syrup or frying eggs wafting from the kitchen and twirling through your nostrils? The second you experience that rush, you catapult out of bed and into the kitchen. In a split-second, you go from “I never want to get out of bed” to “Hello morning, how are you today?”

Now, said motivation is harder to muster if you know you have a low-cal, low-fat breakfast waiting for you. That usually means something like plain oatmeal, fruit, a bland cereal, or some naked egg whites. I don’t know about you, but when there are treats such as sweet cinnamon rolls or fluffy pancakes to entice you out of bed, why would you ever want to wake up to any of that low-fat crap?

That’s where the Incredi-bowl comes in. Filled up with fluffy scrambled eggs, melted cheddar cheese AND a cheesy sauce, crisp broccoli, golden hashbrown potatoes, sweet onions, and colorful peppers (and juicy bacon if you’re a meat eater), this dish gives you a flavorful kick in the butt for under 300 calories (even less if you go the no-bacon vegetarian route)! Better yet, this bowl is packing 31 grams of protein!

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Frittata Pizza Dippers

Frittata fans, boy have I got something for you.

For those of you who aren’t avid frittata followers, a frittata is kind of like  a giant omelet stuffed with all kinds of good stuff. There in lies the problem with frittatas: their behemoth size. If you’re making one for your family or a some guests, they’re awesome. But what if you’re just cooking for two or for yourself? What if you don’t want to wait forever while it bakes in the oven? How does one get their frittata fix then?

Simple. You make mini frittatas so portion control is is easy as cake. Eat as many or as few as you want. AND you make those eggy babies in a Babycakes maker, not only to achieve their adorable miniature size, but also so they cook up in a mere eight minutes. That’s some easy and eggcellent cooking (sorry, I had to).

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