Five Minutes for Dinner: Fried Egg Sandwich

Posted by Yoga Bynum

Happy Friday!

I won’t spend a lot of time talking about my past relationship with eggs. Let’s just say we’re in a much better place now. When I need a quick meal for myself or hubby, my latest go-to is a fried egg sandwich. (The kids have yet to get on board, but I haven’t given up hope.)

My favorite rendition is a toasted English muffin with strawberry jam and spinach. I know this is weird, but I love it anyway. Hubby puts his egg atop a pile of bacon and cheese.

I recently learned how to fry an egg without it getting rubbery. These tips made the difference.

Buy a good skillet. This is the first step in pretty much any recipe I talk about, but I can’t stress enough the importance of quality cookware. It’s means you get a whole egg on your plate instead of leaving half of it stuck to the pan.
Use medium-high heat. When the burner is too high, the edges get crispy before the rest of the egg is done. I’m not a fan of crunchy eggs.
Oil, water and cover. You’ll need a little oil or butter, depending on the type of pan you use. I mist my skillet with olive oil. Once you drop in the egg, add a tablespoons of water and cover. The steam will cook the egg in just a couple of minutes.

Here’s a pic of my finished product. I’d love to hear about your quick and easy meals!

Quick Meal: Frittata!

Posted by Yoga Bynum

I hated eggs when I was a kid. We usually had them one of two ways — scrambled or scrambled with cheese. When my dad made them, he stirred them haphazardly with a fork as they cooked. The result was a mushy, runny concoction that was part yellow, part white.

Once I was old enough to cook my own, I ate them fried, but I really wasn’t fond of that either. I’m sure my cook-until-rubbery technique had a lot to do with it.

Quiche changed my entire outlook on eggs. It’s fluffy and flavorful. And, it’s not that hard to make once you get past the crust. A good crust, though, does take some effort. Even if you use a ready-made one, you have to put it into a pie dish and pre-bake it so it’s not soggy.

Enter the frittata. It has the easy-to-make, fluffy deliciousness of quiche without the hassle of a crust. I can get a frittata in the oven in about five minutes.

You can put just about anything you want in a frittata. Veggies need a quick sauté before you add the eggs. Cooked chicken, ham, bacon or sausage can be diced and tossed right on in.

I adapted this recipe from The Chew. You’ll find that I “adapt” quite often because I don’t have a beautifully stocked TV kitchen.

The most important ingredient, in my opinion, is the skillet. You need a good, unmarred, nonstick skillet with an oven-safe handle. I bought a new one recently, and I was surprised by how far nonstick cookware has come since I bought pots and pans 10 years ago. Here’s how my skillet looked after use:

Spinach and Cheese Frittata
– One nonstick 10″ skillet with oven-safe handle and a rubber scraper
– 8 – 10 Eggs
– Salt and Pepper
– 1/4 – 1/3c Shredded Cheese (use your favorite)
– Olive Oil
– 3c Spinach

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees. (The Chew says to preheat the broiler, but I tend to burn things up this way, so the oven works better for me.)
2. Crack eggs in a bowl and whisk until whites and yolks are well incorporated. A few air bubbles are ok. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir in cheese.
3. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add in spinach and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 1-2 minutes, just until the spinach is wilted.
4. Pour the eggs into the skillet. Stir them gently with the rubber scraper, and cook until they are starting to set around the edges but still runny in the center. Top with extra cheese and transfer to oven. Cook until eggs are completely set, which is about 10 minutes. (If you are using the broiler, this happens much faster, in about 3-5 minutes.)

Here’s a pic of the finished product. Enjoy!

Quick Meal: Chicken Cutlet Sandwiches

Posted by Yoga Bynum

I love cooking, but it often falls further down on my to-do list than I’d like. The Pepperplate app is amazingly helpful when it comes to meal planning. I, however, still need some work on the follow through.

Fortunately, I’ve run a across a few recipes that allow me to put a quality meal on the table in a short amount of time. One of them is this chicken cutlet sandwich recipe adapted from Martha Stewart. I use the term “adapted” because more often than not, I forget to buy an ingredient or two despite the fact that I use my meal planning app to generate a shopping list.

Ingredients
Sesame or Kaiser Buns
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt & Pepper (or Seasoned Salt)
Olive Oil
Red Onion
Lettuce
Tomato Slices
Spicy Mustard
Honey

1. You can purchase chicken that’s already pounded into cutlets, but I prefer to make my own. It’s less expensive, and I find using a meat mallet to be a great stress reliever. Place the chicken on a cutting board, lay a piece of plastic wrap over it, and pound until meat is a 1/4″ thick. You get the best results if you start at the center and move outward.

2. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and cook over medium high heat until cooked through. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes per side.

3. The original recipe calls for a dijon-mayo blend, but we’re honey mustard people. So I mix a little honey with some spicy brown mustard.

4. To prepare a sandwich, slice a cutlet in half, top with red onion. lettuce, and tomato. Spread a little spicy honey mustard on the top bun. If you want to get fancy, you can toast the buns.

Here’s a pic of the finished product. If you decide to try this, let me know how it turns out!