Anything for love "huevos" rancheros

If you have a partner you have been where I was this morning. Dreaming from the night before about using my texmex left overs for my very first attempt at Huevos Rancheros. Getting up I asked "TheHusband" if he would like a cheese omelette and got a resounding "yes" so bounced (as much as an 8 months pregnant lady can) off into the kitchen to make our respective breakfasts. I open the carton of eggs only to discover 2 lonely eggs staring back at me.

What do I do? Tell make TheHusband porridge and hope he forgets he was offered eggs, or give up on my breakfast fantasies? As you may have guessed from the title of this post I chose to forfeit the eggs. I however do not regret it as my breakfast was delicious (and ultimately way too much for me anyway)

Flapjacks & The Green Pan - Recipe & Review

I was never built to be a full time slave. I run out of steam way to quickly and concentration is not my strong suit. So when I was given the opportunity to work at a job which kept me busy for only 5 hours out of the day I was ready and waiting. Of course a full time job pays better and longer hours at the office mean less chance for me to spend money but it also means spending every hour after lunchtime wishing I was home or finding way to keep my eyelids from shutting on me. 

The other problem with being stuck at an office is following people on twitter who do things like go out for lunches or, as @rethavs did today, make yummy things for lunch. Then you are stuck staring at pictures, coming up with escape schemes until it's time to go home and by then all your energy is sapped and you make hot dogs for supper or go out instead. 

I was already home when the offending image was posted onto twitter and decided that this would be the perfect time to do a long overdue test of my Green Pan. 

Everyone who has ever made flapjacks or their daintier cousins know that these are some seriously sticky things before they are cooked. If you don't get the right amount of oil in their you don't get a good result. Too much and they soak it all up, too little and you'll be scraping your pan for days. So what better way to test this seemingly amazing pan? I used no oil, butter, grease, spray&cook, suntan lotion or any other kind of lubricant, just the pan...face to face with the sticky and delicious flapjack batter. 

The result? Perfect flapjacks! I will admit now that this is not the first time the pan was used, it gets used often for scrambled eggs and omelettes, so this was not just because it's brand new. As for the flapjacks, this recipe is a keeper.

(Adapted from cookbook.co.za's recipe)

What you need:

1 1/2 cups cake flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch salt (about 1/4 teaspoon)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 jumbo eggs 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract1/4 cup melted butter

What to do:

Sift or whisk dry ingredients together. Add the milk and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well between each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Lastly whisk in the melted butter. Heat the pan on a medium heat and pour on a measure of the batter (all depends how big or small you want the flapjack to be) and cook on one side till bubbles form, pop and don't refill with batter. Flip over and cook till golden brown underneath. Serve warm with anything you like. mmm Nutella.

Disclaimer: The Green Pan was a prize I received at the Food Blogger's Indaba but my review is honest and nothing was left out

Store cupboard shakshuka (healthy Israeli breakfast)

I dont know what came over me, possibly being sent a link to another blog where this was made, or my dad discussing it with some one but I woke up Sunday morning craving Shakshuka. Shakshuka is basically eggs poached in a spicey tomato relish. Some people break them in whole, others scramble everything together.

Unfortunately for me this craving came when I had no fresh food in my house, well except eggs. So I raided my cupboards and managed to find most of the stuff I needed. I would normally also add some peppers but I had none :(

What you need (for the store cupboard version):

1 tin tomato and onion mix

1/4 cup water

1 tsp dried chillies

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried garlic

2 eggs per person

Za'atar or dried origano

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pita bread to serve

What to do:
1. Heat up a pan with some olive oil.

2. Add all the ingredients except the eggs and the za'atar/origano to the pan.

3. When it come to the boil, crack the eggs in and lower the heat, sprinkle the herbs

4. When the eggs are done take it off the heat and serve it with warm pita breads

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Bircher muesli the WW way

When summer comes around, cooked oats no longer sounds that appealing. I can eat them through winter for breakfast almost every day but summer time I go back to the cereals. However, I need variety otherwise I get bored and eat all the wrong things, so I was really happy when I was taught by my WW to make this variation on a Swiss breakfast.

 

What you need:
¼ cup oats
100ml fat free vanilla yoghurt
½ cup berries (fresh or frozen)
1 medium apple
1 teaspoon honey

What to do:
1. Mix the oats with the yogurt and leave aside to let the oats swell (overnight if possible)
2. Peal the apple and pop it in the blender with the berries.
3. Spoon the fruit mixture over the oats
4. Drizzle the teaspoon of honey over the whole lot and enjoy :)

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