Breakfast-For-Dinner Recipes, Part 1

I don't know about you, but my family loves breakfast food. The only problem with that is that it's hard to make the things we like when you only have a few minutes before rushing out the door. Since you can't eat pancakes and syrup on the highway, your choices are limited to whatever you can fit in one hand. Microwave sausage biscuits are great, but sometimes you want to go all-out. Well, there's nothing saying you can only have breakfast in the morning. You could always do something different and have breakfast-for-dinner! If this sounds good to you, here are a few great recipes.

One thing that any breakfast-for-dinner party must have is eggs. If you want to do something other than your standard scrambled eggs, here is a recipe for a spinach mushroom omelet.

Spinach Mushroom Omelet-makes 2 servings

3 egg whites

1 egg (whole)

1 cup fresh spinach, torn

½ cup tomato, diced

¼ green onion, diced

2 tbsp red bell pepper, finely chopped

½ cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp shredded Cheddar cheese

1 tbsp graded Parmesan cheese

½ tsp olive oil

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

In a small bowl, beat the egg and egg whites. Add in the cheeses, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and nutmeg. Using a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Stir in the mushrooms, red pepper and onion for 5 minutes or until tender. Then, cook the spinach until slightly wilted and add the tomatoes and egg mixture. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Here's a waffle recipe that puts Eggo to shame.

Awesome Waffles-makes about 10-12 waffles

1 ½ cups milk, warmed

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

4 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the waffle iron. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs. Then, add the milk, vanilla and butter. In a separate large bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Combine the flour and the milk mixture and stir until smooth. Spray or coat the waffle iron with butter and ladle on the mixture. Once the waffles are crisp, serve immediately.

For a variation, you could stir finely-chopped strawberries into the mixture. You could also add maple syrup to taste.

If you like a nice Italian sausage but don't care for the national brands, here is a recipe you can make at home. It might take 12 hours to set, but it's worth the wait!

Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage-makes 3 pounds

3 lbs ground pork (can also use ground turkey w/a bit of oil)

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 ¼ parsley, dried

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp black pepper, freshly cracked

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp basil, dried

2 tsp paprika

¾ tsp ground fennel seed

¼ tsp brown sugar

1/8 tsp oregano, dried

1/8 thyme, dried

Put the meat and red wine vinegar in a large bowl. Sprinkle the black pepper, parsley, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, basil, red pepper, fennel seed, thyme, oregano and brown sugar. Knead until the spices are evenly mixed. Then, divide and form into 3 logs and wrap in plastic wrap. Put into a freezer bag and refrigerate for 12 hours. 

I will continue the breakfast-for-dinner awesomeness in another post.