Avocado Egg Toast

It's the simple things. I have been eating this too-good-to-be-true breakfast on and off all summer. Why is it too good to be true, you ask? (You always ask just the right questions.) Because it's perfectly balanced health food that tastes like the most decadent, indulgent breakfast that you would probably eat if you were a queen living on an island paradise somewhere. And it costs less than anything on the dollar menu would. And it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare (which is less time than you'll spend in the drive thru waiting to get your food).

It's just so so good. Yet it's full of vitamins, healthy fats, protein, and (maybe if you go righteous on the bread) whole grains. But beyond healthy, it's just amazing. I mean, you'd want to eat this regardless. You'd be happy if someone was like, "Hey, that's got 2% vitamin C in it like fruit snacks." You'd be like, "Morning meal justified." But you don't even have to be like all that because it really is so nutritious (vitamin K, folate, Vitamin C, potassium, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B2, Vitamin E, iron, phosphorus, selenium, I could go on). It makes you feel good in 100 ways. Eat it.

Avocado Egg Toast
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $.80
bread: $.20, avocado: .50, egg: .10

Note: Don't skimp on the quality of the bread. Life will go on if you do and this will still be very good, but if you get a good loaf of bread, it will be out of this world amazing, fantastic, exclamation points!!!! kind of good. I had this with a sourdough Parmesan bread when we were on vacation and I still have sweet dreams about that. Although any good sourdough is delicious or a nice hearty whole wheat. Whatever bread you love--use it with this.

1 piece of toast
1/2 avocado
1 egg
mayonnaise
a little salt
maybe butter (you don't need it but since when do people eat butter on toast because they need it? the butter ups this to a whole new celestial level. That said, I've eaten this without it and it's still amazing)

Cook your egg so that the yolk is just the tiniest bit runny. You can poach it or do it over easy (which is what I did). If you cannot handle any runny at all, that's okay; just get it so it's barely firm. I've done this lots of times by accident and it's still delicious. Also, salt your egg as it cooks.

While your egg is cooking, toast your high quality bread. Then spread it with butter if you like to eat like monarchy.

Slice up your avocado and add that to the bread. Top with your hot egg, and some mayo (you can also put the mayo on the bread if you wish).

Eat warm. Imagine being royalty. Make your kids act like they're your servants for the day (well, we can still dream, right?)

Secret Recipe Club: Breakfast Salad

Time for Secret Recipe Club. This month I had Terri with Our Good Life as my blog. It was a lot of fun. Terri is a retired principal. My kids start school this week, so this seemed like the perfect time to peruse her blog (she even has some teacher appreciation gifts on her blog if you're interested).

I clicked on this recipe because my Japanese sister-in-law is always eating things like vegetables for breakfast and it always seems like such a lovely, healthy idea. But then when breakfast comes I'm like, "Pass the starch please." So, yes, I clicked on the recipe with good intentions. I stayed on the recipe, however, because it was similar in mood to this amazing lunch I've been making all summer with avocado, egg, and toast. I figured if I could eat a version of that meal for breakfast, then that my life would be pretty much perfect. And it is.

This simple meal is satisfying on so many levels. It's beautiful, colorful, with the right balance of salt and acid. It's hearty yet healthful; protein-rich, with good fats and vitamins. It's not expensive either (though it looks like it should be).

Breakfast Salad
adapted from Our Good Life
Serves: 2
Prep and cook time: 5-10 minutes
Cost: $2.55
avocados: $2.00, eggs: .20, cilantro: .15, lemon: .20

Note: I didn't really measure because I'm evil like that. It still turned out great. I think that I used a bit less cilantro and a bit less salt than called for. Also, I was completely lazy in making the dressing for this and basically just tossed everything in and it was good. The moral of the story being that this recipe is good enough to be lazy with. Sounds like a winner to me.

2 medium, ripe avocados
2 eggs
1/2 C chopped, fresh cilantro
1 small clove garlic (I omitted because I didn't have any and didn't think powder would be the same, but it would have been amazing with it; that said, if you need to spare your breath for kissing or something, it was also amazing without)
1 tsp sea salt
1 medium lemon, juiced (you're just going to use the juice)
dash of red pepper flakes

Dice the avocado. Then throw in the chopped cilantro and chopped garlic. Add salt and lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Note: In the original recipes she mashed the cilantro, garlic and salt with a pestle and mortar then combined with olive oil. I seriously just tossed it all in and it was fantastic.

Now cook up your egg. Terri poached hers, but I just cooked mine over easy. Note: While I'm being truthful about how completely lazy I am and how this recipe still came out gloriously, let me say that I started cooking the egg while preparing the other ingredients. I'd intended to have it with just a bit of a runny yoke, but got it cooked till it was firm. It was still amazing with the other ingredients. I'm craving it as I type.

Enjoy!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Baked Eggs in a Basket

Growing up, Kip ate these all the time. (I, on the other hand, had never had or heard of them until we were married.) His mom would cut a circle into a slice of bread, put it on a skillet, crack an egg in, and voila. It's a great quick, cheap, fun meal. However, until this week, I felt somewhat limited by the skillet method. It was perfect for a lunch for one, but you could only do a couple at a time and by the time you had enough for a family the first ones were cold and kind of rubbery.

And then I saw a recipe in Everyday Food where a kid was making these on a cookie sheet in the oven. And my brain said, "Aha" or "Well duh" or "Why the heck did I not think of this sooner?" 

You'll be happy to know (you are happy, aren't you?), that I did have an original creative moment of my own. As I set out to make the circles, I thought, "But why circles? I bet I could use cookie cutters and make all kinds of fun shapes." And I did. And it was fun. 

Though I must warn you that the shapes look a little clearer when these are raw than when they come out of the oven with the whites set. 

If you wish to have the shapes extra clear, take care not to spill whites outside of the edges. Which could be a little tricky. I was sloppy, so when I served them to my kids, I flipped them over the the side without the white eggy part on it and that way they could appreciate the fact that their mother had cut stars and hearts into their dinners. 

Add this to your list of perfect post-shopping meals for November/December. It takes 15-20 minutes and you can use whatever fun or holiday festive cookie cutter shapes you've got around. You can also top it with whatever sounds good to you: cheese, chives, parsley, tomatoes, salsa, avocado, etc. 

Baked Eggs in a Basket

adapted from Everyday Food

makes 6

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 9 minutes

Cost: $.90

bread: .15, eggs: .60, butter: .15

2 Tbsp butter

6 slices bread

6 eggs

salt and pepper

any other toppings you like (we did some with cheese--yum)

Preheat oven to 375. While it's heating, cut out your bread. You can use circles made from a glass or biscuit cutter, or you can go nuts and use cookie cutters. After that the sky's the limit. 

Butter your pan (seriously, do this or your eggs will stick like crazy and you will be sad). Butter your bread on both sides. Arrange slices (and the cut outs--they'll make a crunchy, almost crouton-like toast that my kids LOVED) on your pan. 

Crack one egg into each hole. 

Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the yolks are just barely runny or just barely set (whichever you prefer). Beware that they still look raw-ish when they are cooked, so you might want to stick a fork in to check for doneness. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Classic Potato Salad

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 learns to eat on $6/day.

Potato salad season, she comes. So does lots-of-leftover-hard-boiled-egg season. Below we present delicious fusion.

Of course if you use your leftover Easter eggs in the potato salad it will come out more colorful than this. Because the egg dye inevitably bleeds onto the whites of the eggs. So then you can call it Easter Egg Salad, which is just the type of thing parenting magazines promise will make your picky kids want to eat such a food. I make no such promises. But, egg dye or no, the adults will enjoy it. (Well, at least they will without the dye; I guess I can't make promises about your weird tie-dyed Easter Egg Salad.)

Potato Salad
Adapted from The New Best Recipe
Serves: 10-12
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes plus you'll need time for the potatoes and boiled eggs to cool before assembly.
Cost: $3.20
(potatoes: 2.00, eggs: .60, mayo: .05, pickles: .50, other stuff: .05)

3 lb red potatoes (I left the skins on)
6 Tbsp red wine vinegar (you can use any, but the red wine flavor does make a difference)
salt and pepper
6 hard-boiled eggs, diced
dash onion powder (or 2 Tbsp minced red onion if you peeps aren't averse to pieces of onion)
1 C dill pickles, chopped small
3/4 C mayonnaise
3 tsp mustard (Dijon is nice, but not essential)
2 Tbsp parsley leaves or dill

Boil potatoes. (I left mine whole, let them cool, and then cut them, but you can just chop and boil if you wish). Hard boil eggs (Put in cool water, bring to boil, boil 10 minutes.)

Drain potatoes (and cut into 1/2 inch pieces if not already cut). Let cool until just warm and add vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Gently toss. I put mine in a bowl with a lid and flipped it over a time or two. (Note: Best Recipe claims that the slightly warm--not hot--potatoes will absorb the flavors better than cold potatoes. I admit that I let mine cool completely before reading this tip. The potatoes still absorbed quite a bit of flavor and were good, but I trust the Best Recipe folks, so try it with the barely warm potatoes).

Let cool completely in refrigerator (20-30 minutes). Once cool add remaining ingredients and gently toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

PRINTABLE RECIPE