Survival Sunday 234: Breakfast with the Filthy Casual

So, I made more breakfast...

Back in the 1990s, they would tell us that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day", and even then I called nonsense on that noise. Breakfast is important, yeah, but in a modern society where the cycles of day-night are no longer a good indicator of when people have to be awake to do things like, I dunno, earn money to survive in this capitalist wasteland, it cannot be more important than any other food-to-face moment, nor can it be guaranteed to be taking place in the early hours of the day. Pointless rant aside, I never really bought into the whole sanctity of the morning meal bit, and by the time I was in high school, breakfast was usually a cup of coffee and whatever toothpaste I swallowed by the time I had to run out to my cousin's car.

Generally speaking, I'm still a coffee-for-breakfast kind of person, preferring small snacks throughout the day. That might be why I'm the human equivalent of a zeppelin. That and being a couch potato.

So what I'm saying is that I don't make breakfast very often.

When I do, however, I want it to be fantastic, so I don't tend to settle for cold breakfast cereals (which tend to get really gross and soggy in my house during the summer anyway). This morning, I was lucky enough to find some leftover pieces of ham steak in the fridge, enough eggs that I wouldn't feel guilty about eating them, and an English Muffin, which was buried in the back of the bread cupboard. I looked at my bounty and thought "boy, I'd love me some scrambled eggs and toast with some of that ham steak", so that's what I did.

If you don't feel like reading today, no worries! I have a video of today's cooking adventure (mercifully sans cat) at the end, so just scroll on down, and you won't be able to miss it!

Your ingredients:
Butter, 2 eggs, a chunk of precooked ham steak, an English Muffin, cooking spray,
salt, pepper, and whatever condiments for later.

To start with, I separated out my English Muffin (the package of which you can barely see peeking out behind that container of cooking spray). This can be easier said than done, since for whatever reason, fork-split English Muffins are rarely split evenly, which can be a pain to figure out. Thankfully, this one was even and thick, so I could jam my thumbs into the sides and peel the top from the bottom. I prefer this to slicing through an English Muffin with the bread knife, because I like the crumby texture from the pulling, rather than the smooth, boring texture from the knife.

This is how I like my English Muffins to look.
I don't know if these little guys have another name wherever you live.
I just know they're great with butter and/or jam, especially after toasting.

Once my breakfast bread was split, I took out some soft butter we had stowed in the cabinet to keep the cat from getting into it. It's been really nice the last few days, so we haven't had to worry about swift spoilage from the butter. If it were crazy hot, I'd have been stuck with rock-solid butter from the fridge.

Butter it up! This will get the toast nice and brown.

Once my English Muffin was deemed adequately buttered (which was, to be honest, a bit overkill, but hey, I don't eat breakfast often enough to care how much butter I'm using), I turned on the stovetop to low and set down my pan.

I also sipped at my 2 parts cocoa to 1 part coffee and 1 part Ovaltine mix
I've been mainlining since 2004. Morning Mocha 4 Life, yo.

And here's my English Muffin, sizzling away in the pan.

While the muffin was browning, I cracked two large eggs into a bowl and let them settle for a moment while I quickly maneuvered the ham steak from its package and into the pan with the toast. I figured I'd cook the slower stuff together, since eggs are a quick sizzle and serve, more often than not.

Two big ol' eggs. Yes, we store our eggs in the fridge here in the US.
It's something about the way we process eggs so they don't kill us.
... We still get a ton of salmonella cases every year.
Japan, what is your secret?!

Now, while I had my ham steak frying along, I noticed that my toast was quickly going from "almost there" to "yo, I need out, like, yesterday", so I awkwardly flopped the crispy, buttery English Muffin halves out of the pan and onto my plate. Why awkwardly? Because I still suck at using spatulas, even years into my "I guess I'm eating something I made" stage of life.

Photo blurriness aside, that's some delightfully crispy toast right there!

Meanwhile, I also skootched the ham steak towards the middle of the pan for optimum heating. Centered food is evenly cooked food, regardless of if it's in the microwave or the stovetop. I'm not getting into sous-vide cookery. I have 0 experience there and it terrifies me because it's... kinda... not something we've ever done in my family.

But enough about French water baths, let's check on that ham steak...
Looks like it's cooking along! See the brown marks on the bottom of the pan?
That's the brine caramelizing to the pan. Some people confuse that for blood or something.
This ham steak has been cured, brined, cooked, and refrigerated. If there's still blood, we've
got much bigger problems on our hands than we ever thought.

I like to flip my ham steak (or Canadian Bacon, if that's what I'm using, but I'm not) several times while heating it so that the browning is more even.

And also because it's fun.

Did we forget about our eggs? No? Good. While the ham steak is sizzling along (loudly), you'll want to take your eggs and beat them up with a fork. I use kind of a whisking motion with my fork, but however you find it works, do it. You want to make the entirety of the eggs more or less the color of the yolk.

And if they get a bit foamy, even better. That adds volume!

Don't forget to season your eggs. I used plain salt and pepper on mine, but they're great with a lot of flavors! Try them with cayenne or paprika! Add some chives or green onion! Mix in some milk or cream for extra protein and vitamins! Try a little mustard in there! It's all good!

But you don't want to add these eggs to a crowded pan, so now's a good time to check on your ham steak and see if it's ready to come out.

Mine was! It didn't need to be "cooked", since that happened before we got it.
It just needed to be heated through comfortably! The browning was a big added bonus, though.

Once your pan is free of any other food clutter, you're going to take it off the heat and add your lubricant, since the ham will have absorbed any leftover butter from the toast. I used a little cooking spray. Return the pan to the heat, add your eggs, grab a spatula or something, and start moving those eggs, yo. You want those suckers to keep moving every second they're in the pan so they don't burn. Burned eggs suck. Trust me. I have burned many an egg in my day. Ew.

Once they seem almost done, turn off the heat. The pan will finish the eggs as you carry them over to your plate. Roll them onto the plate and prepare yourself for condiments (and likely condemnation from food snobs).

My lovely meal, before.

After.
Do you see?

And of course, once you're finished cooking, it's time for the best part!

Cleanup!

Lol, no. It's eating. It's always eating. Dishes can wait for a full belly. But ideally, you'll have a chance to finish your dishes before you leave for your day.

You definitely want to eat your food before it goes cold, so hold off on dishes until after you've enjoyed your food!

If you've scrolled down this far, you deserve the video, so here you go:

That'll do it for me!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Survival Sunday 231: Veggie Omelet

I've prepared a Veggie Omelet this week!

You know how some days, you're just really hungry? That was me the other day. I had three eggs left in a carton, a couple kiddie bowls of chopped onion and green pepper, and a stove that was calling my name.

If you want to skip the blog and watch the process, you can do so here:





Down here, though, is where the blog lives:

There were leftover peppers and onions in my fridge with no purpose.
I gave them a meal worth being chopped up for :P

A few days before this food was made, my family made a bunch of hoagies/sub sandwiches. Since I'm one of maybe two people in the house who legit enjoys veggies, there were plenty leftover, and I am not one to allow a vegetable to go to waste. I took a look at the onions and peppers and glanced up at the nearly empty egg carton in the fridge and thought "I could go for a veggie omelet right now".

I used Canola oil to lubricate the pan and fry the veggies with.
You can probably use just about any kind of oil that can be heated significantly.

I'm going to say right up front: Three eggs was probably too many. The resulting omelet was enormous, and as delicious as it was, that's a lot of eggs for one person!

But I hate leaving one egg in the carton, so I ate all three like a beast!

You may have guessed it by now, but I'm a big fan of cheese.

So finding that there was some sliced mozzarella in the fridge was awesome!

I got my ingredients together, tore two slices of the cheese into quarters so they'd melt faster, and drizzled some oil in the pan before turning the heat on and down to Medium-Low. If you want a fluffier omelet, you'll want the heat as low as it goes. I like a firm and hearty omelet, so Med-Low is how I roll.

I didn't notice the derpy face until now!

I didn't get to take many photos, unfortunately, since I was either filming or flailing (usually flailing, let's be honest), but here's what I did:

1) I fried the onions and peppers together in the pan until they were borderline-crispy
2) I beat the eggs together with a dribble of half-and-half before pouring them in the pan

Of course, since the pan was already hot from frying veggies,
it was a bit warm for the eggs and they instantly began to heat through.

Flipping omelets is something I don't think I'll ever be amazing at, but it's not the hardest thing on earth? Especially when you allow for the possibility (probability) of failure. I cannot for the life of me get the eggs to fold in half the way my parents used to do. Instead, I kind of just... tilt the pan and flip the edges as far over the center as they'll let me. It's not always the easiest way to do things, but it gets the job done!

Sometimes the omelet will look mangled. It's still delicious.
Looks are superficial.

To get your omelet out of the pan, you can either tilt the pan until your omelet falls onto a waiting plate and hope it doesn't bounce, or you can jam your spatula underneath and lift it out! I did the lifting method and it worked a charm.

For future reference, though, you're supposed to add the salt and pepper during the initial cooking, not at the end like I did, but that's life, I guess :P

I like to garnish my eggs with ketchup. I've done it since I was a toddler, and I don't intend to stop anytime soon. I like the vinegary zing it adds!

Also, I feel fancy when I wiggle the bottle back and forth trying to make zig-zag lines...

That'll do it from this Filthy Casual today!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC