First, a public service announcement. If your turkey is frozen, today is the day to take it out and put it into the refrigerator to thaw. Otherwise you’ll be doing the cold bath method.
I can’t even think about cooking turkey yet, so I went with breakfast instead. From the blog:
I wanted to tackle breakfast because with lots of people visiting over the holidays, it can be fun to do something special for breakfast. I had a breakfast pizza recipe tucked away for a while and I was on the hunt for the perfect crust. I finally stumbled upon some terrific flat bread, something I have been looking for since moving to Colorado. I was spoiled in Boston and LA, where every store had a locally made brand stocked. So with a nice flat bread I was ready to tackle tonight’s featured recipe.
But let’s begin with something sweet that was great fun to get the kids involved with, French Toast Rollups, recipe here.
I like this Sour Cream Pecan Coffee Cake because, well, pecans and streusel, but also because I can make it and leave it out for everyone to enjoy at their leisure with coffee.
I also have a Blueberry Coffee Cake, along with a full dinner menu andrecipes here (because coffee cake, not just for breakfast).
Finally, for Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes, click here.
What’s on your plate for the weekend? If you’re cooking for Thanksgiving, what’s on your menu?
For tonight’s featured recipe, I snagged some of JeffreyW’s photos (top and middle of the post) to illustrate the many forms these pizzas can take. I made single pizzas, topped with an egg and lots of cheese. The ideas are endless. But below is a recipe for the basics.
Breakfast Pizzas
Crust: flat bread, naan, pita bread or a pizza dough
Toppings: I used olive oil, breakfast sausage, mozzarella, spinach, garlic and an egg for each individual pizza.
To assemble: on a baking sheet arrange the crusts, brush lightly with oil, then spread roasted garlic, add crumbled (uncooked) breakfast sausage and shredded cheese, leaving a space in the center for the egg. I used the sausage and cheese to create a well for the egg.
At this point you have two choices, you can leave it on the baking sheet or move it to the oven rack. Because I was using flat bread and it was stable, I moved it to the oven rack and then added the egg into the well (I cracked the egg into a bowl and then transferred to the pizza, it seemed a smarter way to manage it all). You can also scramble the egg and pour slowly over the ingredients.
Bake at 450 degrees until the egg is cooked. I lost track of time and let the egg cook too long, I would have preferred a soft yolk. Remove, top with chopped spinach and serve immediately.
And for those who missed it, dinner menu this week is Spicy Potato Soup and Mocha Cake, menu, recipes and shopping list here. Great for a non-turkey meal to serve to company.
That’s it for this week. No recipe exchange next week because I’m assuming we will all be in a food coma. Have a great weekend and an excellent holiday. – TaMara
benw
Holy shit, those french toast rollups look good. I’m going to try them tomorrow morning with my kids. And you got the cutest sous chef ever!
khead
Those pics are fantastic and make me hungry!
TaMara (BHF)
@efgoldman: It just started to snow here a few minutes ago. The last big snow storm, we were literally a little island of rain and sun while everyone else got inches to feet.
TaMara (BHF)
This illustrates the weird pattern of the last storm – 60 minutes apart.
NotMax
Cold (well, tepid) pizza makes for a great breakfast.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: Mrs. G&T, whom I love dearly and have for decades, will eat leftover pizza straight out of the fridge with her first cup of coffee in the morning. That is a test of my love if ever there was one. At least when the dog drinks out of the toilet you can say, “well, what do you expect, it’s a dog.”
NotMax
If you’re after French toast like it is served in your favorite diner, you gotta make use of the oven.
Elliott
Ahh ty Tamara
I’m a pizza person, breakfast lunch and dinner.
Elliott
@NotMax:
mMmmm!
TaMara (BHF)
@benw: That cutie is my niece, btw.
SiubhanDuinne
Here’s an O/T. I’m sure some Juicers will remember the actor Keith Michell, most notably in the BBC TV series The Six Wives of Henry VIII back in the early ’70s. Far as I’m concerned, nobody has played the king better than Michell. He was simply perfection, from handsome strapping young buck to old gouty impotent monarch.
He died today, just shy of his 89th birthday. I had no idea he was that old. RIP
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
My late ex-husband’s breakfast, every day, was a Hershey Bar and a Coca-Cola. Why he didn’t weigh 400 pounds and/or have diabetes, I will never know.
Schlemazel
Heck, any good pizza is breakfast pizza!
If you want something really different you could always go with “Easter Pie” also known as Pizza Chena. I have made tis for Easter a couple of times & everyone loves it but the eggs make it ‘breakfast accessible’ for folks that require pre-born poultry embryos in their morning repast.
NotMax
@Schlemazel
A favorite special occasions edible was unlaid eggs from inside the chicken. Hard cooked by boiling them. Yummy in chicken soup instead of noodles or matzo balls.
Used to be able to get them at kosher butchers, then they were declared a health hazard and taken off the market. But I understand one can find them again now although it takes a concerted search.
Probably 40, maybe even 50 years since last tasted those.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
I don’t even want to start to try to begin to imagine how one gets at those eggs.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Gin & Tonic:
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
Gin & Tonic
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It is a thing that I have had to learn to tolerate, let’s leave it at that.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Heh. That’s why one had to go to a butcher shop to find them.
Wag
Two questions. First, what store do you recommend for flat bread here in Denver? Any specific brand?
Second, have you tried a savory version of your rolled French toast? I’m thinking a southern France/ northern Italian version of a croque Monsieur with Boursin cheese andProsciutto? And skipping the cinnamon.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: He was memorable, and perfect for the role. RIP, although 89 was a good run.
My sisters and I loved being able to work “bastard” into conversations, care of watching PBS.
Elizabelle
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I love pizza or pasta for breakfast. Will even make it. Get bored with breakfast food; prefer something savory and texture-y. (And leftover. That’s the absolute best.)
TaMara (BHF)
@Wag: I haven’t tried a savory version, but that sounds good. I actually found the flat bread at King Soopers, in the Deli section, it was the house brand. I had very low expectations but it was excellent.
mclaren
Those french toast rollups do look yummy.
This weekend, cheese enchiladas + chicken fajitas.
The enchiladas are just 4 oz of mexican blend shredded cheese in each of two rolled up flour tortillas. The sauce is what makes ’em special. Combine 8 oz (half can) of tomato sauce with four 1/8 teaspoons of garlic powder, five 1/8 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa mix, and six 1/8 teaspoons of chlii powder. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and mix into the tomato sauce. Now take 1/2 cup water and add three and a half 1/8 teaspoons of granulated chicken stock + half of 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt. Microwave for about a minute and stir thoroughly, then mix with tomato sauce. Pour the sauce over the enchiladas and bake in a pre-heated over at 350 degrees F for about 10 – 15 minutes. Make sure to add some shredded cheese on top of the enchiladas after pouring the sauce on ’em and before baking.
For the fajitas, use 1/2 pound grilled chicken strips plus 1 sliced bell pepper and 1 diced onion, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, half a packet of powdered fajita sauce mix, and enough water to dissolve the sauce mix, usually about 4 tablespoons of water. Mix everything thoroughly and then _broil_ the faijitas in a convection oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until the fajita sauce gets reduced and the Maillard reaction sets in and makes the veggies + chicken nice and brown.
Wag
@TaMara (BHF): perfect. Thanks!
Ken
Actual Butterball Turkey Hotline conversation from some years back:
Caller: “I’ve had it thawing in the bathtub since Sunday – ”
Operator: “We may have a health issue here.”
Uncle Cosmo
(sigh) As usual, the resident “Food Goddess” tosses out a bellyfull of recipes just oozing sugar & starch. You folks all better pre-order your insulin pumps.
Do I sound bitter? If not, I need to try harder. The “haulidays,” kicked off by The Great American Pigskin Pig-Out next Thursday, are a complete & utter bitch for us diagnosed diabetics (& a minefield for all you unaware prediabetics). Family suppers? Parties & pot lucks? All the stuff we used to (& still) love on the table, beckoning with sight & smell, just begging for the opportunity to drag us a little farther down the road to blindness & amputation. Good luck finding anything on the groaning board that won’t. And if you take the trouble to prepare & bring something that’s easy on your blood glucose levels, you’d better take as much as you need right off the top, because it’ll be gone by the time you get back–for some reasons those lucky bastards who don’t have your problems inevitably flock to it like flies on a cowpat.
Srsly, when can folks like me expect to see recipes whose lists of ingredients (let alone lush photos) don’t send us into sugar-shock?