Hypothetically, let’s say your teenagers have a rolling start to the morning anywhere between 8:30 a.m. and… I want to say… 12:45 p.m., and you want to put some breakfast on the counter that can go the distance, because we are not short-order cooks for ne’er-do-wells who start their day at lunchtime. These dummies need to get jobs.
Here is your breakfast, um, casserole? Or maybe frittata-type dish that can sit on the counter and be eaten at room temp.
IDK what it is, because it is basically your leftovers.
Here is a pic of it, half eaten, like the food bloggers do.
Look in your fridge. What do you have? What is in a baggie, in a small Tupperware container, half eaten, or almost gone? Those are your ingredients.
Congratulations for not throwing everything away. If there are three bites of food left, I save them in a container like my Grandma King taught me, who also saved tape off wrapping paper and every square inch of aluminum foil she ever purchased.
Here is one version.
I had a container of leftover cheese grits. Boom. Could also be: mashed potatoes, rice, hash browns, pasta, any kind of “base.”
In my cast iron, I browned up half a package of breakfast sausage, half an onion, half a yellow bell pepper, and a few sprigs of thyme.
Meanwhile, mix six eggs and a boatload of milk or half-and-half (or heavy cream for the most aggressive among us).
Please do not forget the salt and pepper. Eggs without S&P are such a tragedy. I also stirred in a leftover baggie of shredded cheddar.
I took out my nicely browned sausage/veg mixture, threw waaaaaaay too much butter into all those drippings because butter is delicious and makes things taste good (I don’t know why I have to explain this), and pressed the leftover grits into my cast iron. Then dumped the sausage mix on top. Then poured my creamy egg mix over the whole thing.
Let it sit on the stove for two to three minutes until the edges just start to set, then into a 400-degree oven for maybe 15 minutes or so, until a knife comes out clean in the center.
This is scrumptious.
Eat it with sour cream and GOOD SALSA (I feel like Ina here being bossy about GOOD OLIVE OIL).
Here are other things that can go into this situation: Anything.
Get you a carb-y base, get you a meaty/veggish/savory sauté, get you some eggs and cream with any sort of cheese.
Got a container of leftover brisket? Boom. Bacon, ham, leftover meatballs, roasted veggies of any kind, mushrooms, literally leftover anything.
For some reason, when you pour creamy eggs over something and bake it, now it is breakfast. I don’t make the rules.
Leave this on the counter and eat it all day. When your kids come downstairs at 1:15 p.m. for the first time, tell them it is lunch.
Speaking of food, you can find more recipe goodness in my debut cookbook, Feed These People.
