Our Version of Eggs Benedict

Okay, so this isnt quite Eggs Benedict, but it reminds me of it, and I think even better!

It is a Whole Grain English Muffin toasted topped with Seasoned Taco Meat, Cheese, a Poached Egg, and then Creamy Tomatillo Sauce.

Since I love the Tomatillo Sauce, I keep thinking of new things I can eat it on, and this breakfast idea is great!

The recipe for the Creamy Tomatillo Sauce is already posted on my blog.

You can either use leftover taco meat, or make it fresh using about 1/2 pound of hamburger and taco seasoning.

American or Pepper Jack Cheese would be great.

We prefer poached eggs, but you could scramble them or even fry them (better with the yoke runny and oozing all over.)

You could also use a Biscuit instead of the English Muffin.

Stuffed Red Pepper

This Red Pepper is stuffed with Quinoa, Chicken and Spinach. You can do so many vairiations with this, like using rice instead of quinua, or adding different veggies, or a different sauce.

2 Chicken Breast with Bone
4 Red Bell Peppers
1 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 bag spinach
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Creamy Roasted Tomatillo Sauce (recipe is already on my blog)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Put chicken breast on cookie sheet. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast until done, 30 to 40 minutes depending on size. Let rest.

If you are also making the roasted tomatillo sauce, get the veggies ready and roast them in the oven with the chicken.

Mean while, make the quinoa by putting 1 cup quinoa in a pan with 2 cups chicken stock. Add in the cumin and chili powder. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down and simmer about 15 minutes or until done.

When the quinoa is done, add in the spinach and mix well. The hot quinoa will wilt the spinach.  Dice the chicken and add it along with cranberries, nuts, or anything else you want to add into the cooked quinoa.

Cut the tops off of the red peppers and fill them with the quinoa mixture.  Top stuffed peppers with the creamy roasted tomatillo sauce and put in the oven on 350 until the top is bubbly and golden.

There are endless vaiations you can do with this idea....a roasted red pepper sauce would be good too!

Grilled Chicken Breast with Rub

4 Bone-in Chicken Breast or what ever kind of chicken you prefer

Rub
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoon brown sugar (you can easily omit this if you have given up sugar in your diet)

Mix rub together in a small bowl. Wash chicken and pat it dry. Press the rub on it and let it set up in the fridge for about 4 hours or so.

Heat the grill, and cook over indirect heat low and slow. These took about an hour. Let rest for a bit before serving.

Juicey and Flavorfull Grilled Chicken!

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

These are the condiments we made for our Mexican Feast Dinner...

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce, Creamy Roasted Tomatillo Sauce, and a Fresh Salsa

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
8 Tomatillos
5 Pobalano Pepper
2 Jalepeno Pepper
1 Onion
4 Garlic Cloves

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash Peppers and let dry. Peel and wash tomatillos, cut in half. Peel and chop onions and garlic.

Place all vegetables on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with Olive Oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until they look and smell like they are done.

Cool until you can handle them and remove any stems and seeds from the peppers.

Put the mixture into a deep bowl and with an immersion blender blend up everything, check for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Add in some cilantro and a little lime juice.  Refrigerate until needed.

Creamy Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
1/4 cup real mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup of the roasted tomatillo sauce

Mix together and chill until ready to serve.

Fresh Salsa
4 to 5 Roma Tomatoes
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Onion
1 Jalepeno
Juice from 1 Lime
Salt and Pepper
Cilantro

Dice all of the veggies very finely, sqeeze lime and add salt, pepper, and cilantro to mixture.  So Good!

Mexican Feast With Chicken Tacos and/or Buritos

This is what our big mexican feast looked like and it was fantastic....This is great family style dish where you can pile all of the foods up and let everyone dive in to make threir own creation!

The big platter contains the mexican chicken which was cooked and then diced up, spanish rice, and refried beans, and grated cheese.

There are flour tortillas which have been heated.

The condiments are a roasted tomatillo sauce, a creamy version of the roasted tomatillo sauce, and the fresh salsa, along with some tortilla chips (the chips with a hint of lime work great).

We also served lettuce, which didn't make it in the picture.

The leftovers work great the next morning, get everything out again and make a big pan of scrambled eggs and make burritos.

Breakfast Burrito

These breakfast burritos were made using our last nights dinner leftovers...We had a big mexcian feast of mexican chicken, spanish rice, refried beans, and lots of yummy condiments...

Flour Tortillas - Warmed slightly
Big Pan of Scrambled Eggs - We make ours by heating the pan on the stove top. Add a bunch of eggs, little bit of water, salt and pepper, and then after they have cooked a couple of minutes, add in some grated cheese to make them light and creamy. Don't over cook the eggs.
Leftovers - Chicken or whatever you have

Warm the tortilla slightly on a dry hot pan, or in the microwave, put the ingredients down the center of the tortilla, add more cheese, and conditments of your choice, roll up, cut in half, and enjoy.

We served these with roasted tomatillo sace, creamy roasted sauce, and fresh salsa.  The tomatillo sauce goes really well with eggs.

Chicken Quesadillas

We saw this and adapted it from the Pioneer Woman on hgtv.

For the Quessos:
Flour Tortillas
2 to 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast
4 cups grated cheeses ( we used Jack and a Mexican Blend)
1 onions, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
3 garlic gloves, minced
Sprinkle of Red Pepper flakes
Sprinkle of Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder

For the Fresh Salsa:
3 roma tomatoes
1 green pepper
1 jalepeno
1 onion
juice of 1 lime
sprinkle of salt, pepper, cilantro

For the Poblano Sauce:
1 pablano pepper
1 jalepeno
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
sprinkle salt, pepper
dash hot sauce

Heat a big cast iron pan on the stove top, add in some olive oil,  when the pan is good and hot, add in the chicken breat. Sprinkle the chicken with the seasonings of salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic and onion powders.  Let cook until nicely browned on one side and about half way done, then turn and season the other side and finish cooking.  When the chicken is done, remove from pan and let rest.

While the chicken is cooking, start on the salsa, and the sauce:
For the sauce, roast the jalepeno and pablano peppers until charred. Put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes. Remove charred skin and dice up peppers very fine.  Add them to the mayo and sour cream, season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Set aside.

For the Salsa, dice all vegetables very fine, add the juice of the lime, and season. Set aside.

By this time the chicken should be done, so remove it from the pan and let rest.

Slice thinly the green pepper, red pepper, and onion and cook the vegetables in the pan you used to cook the chicken, add in the minced garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Cook the veggies on med high heat until desired doneness. Remove from pan and set aside.

Dice up the chicken into small pieces. Grate the cheese.

Heat an electric fry pan or large skillet, medium high, and grease it lightly with oil/butter.  When the griddle is hot, put down you tortilla, add a good helping of cheese, put on some chicken, add on the cooked peppers and onions, then more cheese, and top with another tortilla.  I used the large electric pan so I could cook two at a time.

Let cook until golden on one side. Flip over with a large spatula and cook the other side until golden.

Serve with the fresh salsa and the poblano sauce.