Ok, I'll admit it. I am not a morning person and even though I know it's "the most important meal of the day" I just cannot eat when I first get up. It's usually not until I've been up for a few hours and had 3-4 cups of coffee that I even start to feel hungry. But I do love breakfast foods so one of my favorite things to do is to make BFD. Breakfast For Dinner. Or in VP Biden's words, Big F*&$ing Deal if you too love having BFD.
Bacon! Sausage! Eggs! English muffins!
The idea of having breakfast for dinner was first introduced to me when I was quite young. I was visiting my grandma in Illinois one summer when I was 6 or so and it had been a very hot & humid day and she didn't want to heat up the oven so she announced that we were going to have pancakes for dinner. At that age that sounded wonderful and like a special treat. Oooh, pancakes! It's like dessert for dinner! That was also when I learned that my dad (who had passed away the year before) always loved to eat his pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup. I still enjoy that too on occasion.
Mostly though I do savory stuff. Just plain old eggs, toast & home fries. Bacon or sausage if I have it. Sometimes the eggs are over easy, sometimes scrambled. I love to add cheese to the scrambled eggs. Sometimes it's a bit fancier - a frittata or quiche maybe.
Roasted Veggie Quiche
Roasted Veggie Quiche
1 medium zucchini or summer squash
1 large red, yellow or orange bell pepper
1 small bunch of asparagus
1 small bunch of fresh lemon thyme (regular thyme is ok)
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
olive oil
salt & pepper
3 large eggs
1 cup (8 oz) milk
1/2 cup (4 oz) cream
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Regiano
1 9-inch pie crust (homemade or store bought)
Chop the veggies into bite-size pieces and place on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle liberally with olive oil then season with salt & pepper. Scatter the thyme and rosemary sprigs and then give the whole thing a toss to combine.
Roast in the oven at 375° until the veggies are starting to caramelize and crisp-tender. Take out of the oven and set aside to cool.
Now onto assembling the quiche:
Start by placing the pie crust in a greased pie plate and bake at 350° for about 20 minutes or until the crust is slightly golden brown.
Combine the eggs, milk, cream, and a pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk until frothy.
When the crust is ready remove it from the oven and dump the roasted veggies into the pie. Scatter the grated Parm over the veggies then slowly pour in the egg mixture.
Return it to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the center just barely jiggles. Let rest for at least 20 minutes.
My other favorite BFD is a country diner style classic: Biscuits & Gravy!
While I had eaten it many times it wasn't until I moved out to Oregon and was living with my grandma & her sister that I finally learned how to make it. My grandma often used chipped beef instead of country sausage making it more like SOS but I make mine closer to how I watched Alton Brown make it once on Good Eats.
Biscuits & Country Style Gravy
1 lb of country-style pork sausage (bulk, not links!)
~3 tblsp of flour
2 cups of milk
black pepper
8-10 large biscuits (Ok, I'm lazy and really fail at making my own biscuits so I buy the refrigerated ones in the tube. But if you make good biscuits then knock yourself out!)
Preheat the oven to bake the biscuits according to the package directions.
Heat a large deep skillet over medium heat and brown the sausage. When the sausage is cooked through and no longer pink sprinkle the flour over the meat and toss to coat. Let cook for a minute until the flour starts to smell "nutty". Add the milk and bring to a boil. Stir frequently to keep from sticking and clumping. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes until it thickens. Taste and season for salt and add lots of fresh ground black pepper.
Cover to keep warm until the biscuits are ready (if they aren't already). Split the biscuits and place on a plate and ladle the gravy over them liberally.
So, tonight I'm doing biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, and home fries for dinner. What about you? Do you have a favorite BFD recipe to share? Pull up a chair and dig in while it's still hot!