Your arteries will groan but your tastebuds will sing for The 99 Cent Chef's latest breakfast recipe, Corned Beef with Eggs. And it's so rich you may need your cholesterol checked afterward!
One of L.A.'s original and classic Jewish Deli's, Canter's, serves the best Corned Beef in towering sandwiches or for breakfast.
And for the price of their $12.50 breakfast, you could easily do it yourself much cheaper. If you caught my Easy Homemade Corned Beef recipe video and want to try your hand at it, just click here to get started.(I always store a few corned beef packages in the freezer from St. Patrick's Day meat sales.)
Easy Homemade Corned Beef - Video Recipe
While not as economical as making your own Corned Beef (that I got for $1.69 cents per pound from Albertsons,) you could pick up some pastrami from your favorite Jewish deli or packaged sliced Corned Beef from the grocery store. And eggs are always cheap.
If you are like me, it's hard to finish a typical overstuffed Corned Beef Deli Sandwich. So instead of eating it a day later on soggy bread, you can just take out the meat and use it in my Corned Beef with Scrambled Eggs recipe.
And there is nothing to it. Just heat up some cooked Corned Beef and stir in your favorite egg scramble. You don't even need to season it, as Corned Beef is salt-cured enough.
This is a dish to make on a Saturday or Sunday morning when you'll have the time to recover from my food coma-inducing Corned Beef with Scrambled Eggs.
Corned Beef with Scrambled Eggs - Video
Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 46 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients (one serving)
1 to 3 eggs - scramble any way you like it.
Leftover Corned Beef - shredded and roughly chopped. A pile that equals the size of one egg is a good serving. Of course, you can use as little or a much as you desire.
No need for salt, as Corned Beef is seasoned enough for me - but you can add some if you like.
Teaspoon cooking spray or oil -- optional. I left it out as the Corned Beef leftovers came off the fatty ends, and were oily enough.
Directions
Heat up your omelet pan over a low/medium heat. Flake or peel off Corned Beef pieces from leftovers. Roughly chop it. You can oil the pan if necessary. Saute Corned Beef for a minute -- just long enough to heat it through.
Break in 1, 2 or 3 eggs and start scrambling it all together. You can whisk the eggs first, then add to heating Corned Beef. Just make your favorite egg scramble recipe.
Cook to desired doneness, it should only take 3 - 5 minutes. Serve with any favorite sides like: toasted bagels, bread or sliced tomato and cottage cheese -- although it's such a hearty breakfast you may only need coffee.
Hindsight
Make this recipe your own. Try melting cream cheese into the scramble (or your favorite cheese) when eggs are almost done cooking. I like to add a splash of milk to my 2 eggs, lightly whisk together, then saute until done.
On the way back to Los Angeles from Gypsum, Colorado my girlfriend and I made a few scenic stops at Arches and Zion National Parks. Even if you detour for a drive-thru you will be amazed and awe-struck and it's worth every minute even if you just stop for a photo op or two.
When you're on the road you gotta stretch your legs sometime. You never know what you'll find at a truck stop or what adventure may await you!
Sometimes I need a bag of chips for a blast of salt and greasy thin-sliced fried potatoes. And at one very peculiar truck stop, just outsideZion National Park, I picked up a Scorpion Lollipop!
Now you can blame my slideshow adventure on getting too much sun or the Scorpion Sucker from Jackass Joe's...take your pick.
The bright green murals plastered all over the building are literally out of this world with spaceships and aliens.
I didn't know that Utah is a hotbed of alien sightings and encounters...and I can't argue with that after our own encounter. Well, seeing is believing and I'm a convert and you may be too after you watch my slideshow?
Jackass Joe's is a visual delight and way out there just the way I like it. Well, you may not believe in aliens and this place is a bit tasteless but I couldn't resist its pull.
Of course, I posed for the camera and Linda and I took a few pictures -- well, from there things really took off, so buckle your seat belt and take a toke, or a sip from your fave Happy Hour beverage and check out my story below.
Road Tripping into the Outer Limits - Slideshow Story
The most humble and cheapest of veggies is the tuber or potato. I can get them for way less than a dollar per pound. So there is every reason to celebrate National Potato Day. Be sure to click on any recipe name to see the tasty original blogpost recipe.
I'll start my potato recipe roundup with the most soul-satisfying Mashed Potatoes. I make mine the easy way with just boiled potatoes, milk, butter, a lot of black pepper, and a touch of salt. I always serve them with my Thanksgiving Turkey.
Here's my video below (Click on the recipe name above to see my photos and recipe text.)
Carrying on the Mashed Potato theme, my next recipe is from across the pond (Great Britain,) Shepherd's Pie. Potatoes are at their best when playing second fiddle to the main ingredient, often it's meat.
It's a hearty one-pot meal that has it all. Ground meat, green peas, carrot, onions in a bath of au jus gravy, and topped with mashed potatoes...it's so good. Once assembled, you finish the Shepherd's Pie off in the oven to get a browned topping. The prep work is straightforward, just some veggie chopping and pre-cooking the meat, veggies, and mashing potatoes. See how I do it below.
You can't get more red, white,andbluethan a picnic-style chilled Potato Salad. I still make it quite often, too. My version is a Classic Potato Salad.
Again, the ingredients are cheap, simple, and easy to get. I like the added crunch of fine-chopped raw onion and chunks of celery. I make mine extra decadent with the addition of chopped boiled eggs.
For your next picnic or backyard BBQ make a cool batch of my Classic Potato Salad.
This is one of my most controversial recipes and it's called Mom's Cajun Potato Salad. Mom came to visit me in Los Angeles and I got her to make it. My Mom lives in Louisiana and she knows her Cajun cooking.
When I saw what she was doing I had to point out to her that she was making Mashed Potatoes, not Potato Salad!
Well, we had it out and she won, of course, I should have known better butting heads with her. I'll let you make the call if it's mashed or salad-style after watching the recipe video below.
Originating in Central and South America, the potato comes in many varieties and colors. I like red potatoes but orange sweet potatoes are especially delish. Lately, I've been grilling them more than typically baking in the oven.
You can grill them just like you would a regular Russet potato. They soften and char quickly and easily. So next time you're at the grill throw on sliced sweet potato and make Grilled Russet and Sweet Potatoes.
My Cajun nephew Zak works as a cook and learned a great Sweet Potato Hashto go with his classic Blackened Fish recipe. It's a 2'fer you can check out below.
You'll find theseBreakfast Potatoesat truck stops and diners just off the interstate almost everywhere. This potato recipe sautes chunky potatoes, with a veggie mix of bell pepper, onion and garlic. They're also called Skillet Potatoes and Home Fries. Make a big batch, they reheat fine the next day, too.
I like spuds fried, boiled, and grilled, morning, noon, and night. For breakfast, I'll grate a potato to make Old School Hash Browns.
You may think I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for this Cheap$kate Deal of the Day review of canned Corned Beef Hash.
I can't argue with you here, I guess you get what you pay for. But, you know, this canned potato and meat breakfast side is not too bad...really. You can read my review/taste test by clicking right here - reading is believing!
Speaking of Corned Beef here is a classic St. Patrick's Day dish ofCorned Beef and Cabbage - with potatoes of course.
I make mine with cabbage, carrot and red potatoes. Normally expensive corned beef drops to half price or less during the holiday. I cook the corned beef first and finish up the dish by boiling the veggies in the broth until tender.
It's actually a very easy recipe to make, just watch it below to see for yourself.
Ribeye Steak and Red Potatoesmay be my favorite oven-broiled combination. I usually start the potatoes first because I slice them thick.
After one side of the potatoes are browned I throw on the Ribeye. When it's cold outside the oven does double duty by warming up the kitchen, too!
A most unusual tuber is a Yuca. It looks foreboding, but when boiled it is super tender and very mild in flavor. I first had them at L.A.'s premier Cuban Restaurant, Versailles served with white rice, black beans, and roast pork.
I buy Yuca from local Latin groceries and even at 99c Only Stores in the frozen deli cases all peeled and ready to reheat.
I had a neighborhood restaurant I would frequent on Sunday mornings for an expresso and a Spanish Omelet to go with my Sunday L.A. Times newspaper.
A Spanish Omelet is simply scrambled eggs with sliced potatoes. You should saute the potatoes first as the eggs only take a couple of minutes to cook.
I have a great Fritattato start your day. Again it has sliced potato, but with a Latin pepper called a pasilla or poblano. But don't worry as they are not spicy. They are more like a sweet red or yellow bell pepper.
It's basically an omelet as well, that's finished with a layer of cheese and baked in the oven under the broiler to get a nice cheese-charred topping.
And let's not forget the French Fry, or Chips, as they call them in England.
The trick to a crispy Fry with a soft center is to fry them twice. Check out my video below of Fish and Chips and at the end of the video, I show you the frying technique.
I'm always coming up with recipes that include the common potato. So do check back for more eats that feature the most versatile spud.
Fresh fruit and yogurt go well togetherin my latest recipe video, Peaches and Yogurt.
Pre-mixed yogurt with fruit is too sweet for me. It is easy enough to mix a handful of sliced and diced peaches into yogurt. Of course, remove the bitter seed and stem. I keep the peach skin on for this recipe, but it's okay to peel a peach.
This fruit and yogurt mix will keep a couple of days in the refrigerator -- if you can resist finishing it off in one sitting! This isn't so much an original recipe as a recipe reminder of how easy and nutritious it is to add fresh fruit to yogurt.
Anytime I find fruit on sale at my local 99c only Store, I immediately think of a light breakfast. My most common homemade yogurt with fruit includes strawberries, pineapple, sliced mango, blackberries and blueberries.
Fresh frozen fruit mixes nicely into yogurt, although the texture is mushy when defrosted. Some canned fruit works well, I like canned peaches in natural or low-sugar juice.
As for yogurt I just use plain. Vanilla and other flavors are usually too strong and often have added sugar. But, if you like a certain type on sale then use it.
Sometimes an unusual brand will show up on sale like this creamy French-style yogurt called "oui" made by Yoplait. It was so good I got half a dozen jars. They also had a lemon-flavored that held up well with the addition of raspberries.
"Oui"is advertised as "French Style," whatever that means. But it is milder tasting - less sour than typical yogurt, with a slight almond flavor. And the glass jars are collectible too.
As with any new find at a 99c only Store, I will try it in the car parking lot, and if it's good then I will go back and get a whole bunch more. I've learned you gotta be impulsive there or it may be gone an hour later -- snooze you lose!
So do check out my latest stop-motion animated video. There's really nothing to this recipe and anyone can make it. Sometimes less is more, for a perfectly delicious recipe.
Peaches & Yogurt - Video
Play it here. The video runs 47 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
