Lazy Weekend Morning Breakfast Sandwiches

There is no real recipe involved here, per se. This is more just an excuse to post G’s mouth watering pics of one weekend morning’s riff on the delicious breakfast sandwiches we love to get at our favorite brunch joints.

Simply cook up a few slices of bacon and scramble up some eggs. Make sure to season the eggs with salt and some of your favorite spices. Egg scrambling is usually G’s department and his spice mix of choice for all things egg is Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning . Melt the cheese of your choice onto an onion roll. (A bagel would also be great.) Here we used a little goat cheese and baked it lightly onto the roll in the toaster oven. Then just pile the scrambled eggs onto your cheese roll along with the bacon and tomatoes slices. Some condiments are also usually in order to keep the whole thing from being too dry. I like a little mustard or Wasabi Mayo from Trader Joe’s.

For my sandwich, I made a slightly less caloric version by using high-fiber bread in place of the roll. (I will also often use and English muffin.) I used a little less bacon on mine and I added spinach for an extra veggie boost. Of course, you could also swap in egg whites for whole eggs.

In just a few minutes you have a restaurant worthy brunch that you can eat in your PJ’s, and it requires little more effort that toasting bread and scrambling some eggs.

Old Fashioned Sunday Night Supper: Stuffed Pork Chops with Apple & Sweet Potato Casserole

One Sunday night not too long ago, I decided to make a nice, old fashioned Sunday night supper. I had been working hard on a film and G was in the middle of studying hard for finals. Comfort food seemed in order.

The day before, I had paid my first visit to our neighborhood butcher. How many people actually have a neighborhood butcher these days? It seemed high time that I started taking advantage, so I took a walk down to Victor's Meats & Delicatessen to see what they had to offer. (Check out my friend Sarah Beth's review on Yelp) Amongst the many appetizing meats in the display case were some delicious looking pork chops with apple stuffing. The butcher suggested that the best way to prepare these would be to simple put them in a casserole dish with a little apple juice and put them in a 350° oven for one hour. I took two and made my way home.

The next day I plotted how to turn my pork chops into a supper. I had a vague notion that sweet potatoes would pair well. Some muse lead me to consult The Casseroles Cookbook from Southern Living– and old cookbook from 1971 that I stole from my mom at some point. (I love old cookbooks!) A search of sweet potatoes in the index lead me to this recipe:

Apple & Sweet Potato Casserole

1 2lb can sweet potatoes
2 c. sliced peeled apples
¾ cups maple-blended syrup
¼ cup melted butter
1 tsp salt

Drain the Sweet Potatoes and slice lengthwise. Place in a greased 12x8x2 –inch baking dish. Place apple slices on potatoes. Combine the syrup, butter and salt and pour over apples. Cover Bake in 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake for about 30 minutes longer or until apples are tender, basting frequently and adding syrup, if needed.

Making this recipe jive with my pork chops was going to be a cinch, but the recipe definitely needed some updates.

The first thing go were the canned sweet potatoes. I used 2 medium sized fresh sweet potatoes instead. Next, ¾ cup maple-blended syrup seemed like it be cloyingly sweet, so I used about ½ the quantity and used real maple syrup. Taking the butcher’s recommendation, I swapped in apple juice for the remaining liquid quantity. I used the unfiltered kind they sell at TJ’s, as it has a thicker consistency and better flavor than the regular supermarket varieties. I also used a little less butter than called for. Finally, I didn’t peel a thing. I just left the skins on everything, just gave it all a good scrubbing. That’s where all the fiber is anyways.

I piled everything into the pot as directed and then nestled in the pork chops, and then popped it all into the oven.

I pretty much followed all the cooking instructions as given, but I pulled out the pork chops at the hour mark. I put the pot with the apples and sweet potatoes back in to finish cooking while the pork chops rested.


The pork chops were plump and juicy and the apples and sweet potatoes had just the right amount of sweetness! I served the chops and the casserole on a bed of greens I had sautéed with a little garlic, olive oil and mustard, as I thought the bitterness from the green would contrast nicely with the sweetness of the casserole. It was just the right combo

Now, you’re probably thinking, but what if I don’t have a neighborhood butcher? I have often seen similarly prepped items in the deli section of the grocery store. Alternatively I think this would be really delicious with a regular, un-stuffed pork chop as well, but I would get them still on the bone. The result is a deliciously retro one-pot meal.

(For some reason the chops look a little pink in this picture, but it was actually fully cooked)

Marc’s Grandma’s Chicken Enchiladas

Several years ago, my friend Marc and I decided to get together and cook one night. He brought his Grandma’s enchilada recipe and I guided us through the recipe. Now, full disclosure, the recipe she sent with him is actually courtesy of Tyler Florence and you can find it on the Food Network website. However, it’s just so much more romantic to attribute a recipe to someone’s grandma whenever possible. If I recall correctly, I think Marc said that his grandma makes her own tortillas, which is a feat I have not yet attempted.

I was so happy with this recipe, though, that since then I’ve pretty much adopted it as my own. It has become part of my regular entertaining repertoire and I have made it many times over for friends. I last made it for my Book Club when I hosted a couple of months ago. Ever since I first made it for a Girl’s Night dinner, my friend Alyson will occasionally drops hints as to when I’ll be making enchiladas again. (Pretty much the best compliment a chef can get!) Alyson, Jenny and I each contributed a course to this dinner, and the arrangement was so successful that it lead to our forming the Supper Club I’ve so often alluded to.

This is another great dish for feeding a group. You can make the filling ahead of time, giving yourself a little breathing room before your guests arrive. I would even recommend making it the day before, because it does take a little bit of time and also allows all the flavors to blend. It is also far more healthy than it tastes. The filling is all vegetables and chicken. The cheese topping is really the only potentially unhealthy factor in the recipe; and you can easily moderate that to fit your needs.

Here is another recipe where I really don’t usually change a whole lot, but it’s also very easy to make simple and subtle changes to add your own signature. I occasionally add different vegetables, depending on what I have lying around. I like peppers and will tend have extras lying around, so those often make it in. Similarly, I’ve used this as a vehicle to experiment with interesting looking chiles I found at the farmer’s market. Olives are good, but you can always serve these on the side if you’re worried others won’t care for them. As always, I use more garlic than called for and I play around with the spices – smoked paprika really compliments the other flavors quite well. G prefers flour to corn tortillas, so I often swap those in. This dish is also nice in that it also allows everyone else eating a chance to customize their own plate bit if you serve it with a variety of toppings on the side.

The sauce is another great way to vary this recipe. Try green, red, mole, hot, or mild. Whatever you chose, I recommend having extra on-hand as sometimes those tortillas can soak up more than you’d think. You want to have enough to pour on top before adding the cheese and putting it all in the oven, plus a little more on the side just in case they dry out more than you’d like in the oven.

On the whole this is not a challenging recipe. Let’s be honest, making the filling basically consists of cooking up some chicken and throwing a bunch of veggies in a pot to stew. It does, however, require a good amount of time. It’s always best to cook the chicken in the same skillet as you will use to cook the vegetables, but if do you need to shave off a little time, I have cooked the chicken in one pan while simultaneously cooking the vegetables in another pan. If possible though, save those pan juices to add flavor to the veggie mixture.

I can see that the number of steps might be intimidating, but it really shouldn’t be. No step is at all difficult. Plus, making the enchiladas is a wonderfully tactile experience. I find shredding the chicken and then stuffing and rolling the enchiladas by hand to be extremely satisfying. I find it gives me an extra feeling of connection to the food. The great thing is that if the tortillas start to tear a little bit here and there, it doesn't really matter all much because they're going to get slathered in more sauce and cheese.

Here is a step by step picture guide of filling and rolling enchiladas:
(ok, ok it's really just an excuse to use more of G's pictures)

Ultimately, you just can’t get around that they're absolutely decadent to eat. MMMMMMMM!!!