So I’m happy to say that Fake Food Free has transitioned to the Substack Newsletter called Every Corner of the World.
I hope to see you there.
Every now and then in my monthly newsletter, I have a section called Not Really a Recipe. It’s where I share some of the ordinary foods that I eat for meals that are simply a combination of ingredients without much measurement.
This shrimp cobb salad falls into that category.
This twist on one of my favorite brunch meals pairs Crab Cakes Benedict with the crisp 2013 Oak Knoll Chardonnay sent to me this month from Cultivar Wine.
We were at least a year into our time living in the Bay Area before I discovered Crab Cakes Benedict. To be honest, I’d probably only started eating regular Eggs Benedict not long before that.
The crab cake version, though? Well, it blew the old standby away. In all honesty, I can’t say that I was a super huge fan of the original anyway. The Canadian bacon on the English muffin didn’t do much for me, nor did the sauce.
But Crab Cakes Benedict is a whole different story.
This single serving breakfast recipe combines roasted peppers and arugula for scrambled eggs that are simple, but special. 
I often get asked – how do you find ideas for recipes?
Like most people, I find inspiration just about everywhere. Sometimes I get an idea, make a list and ponder it for a while. Other times, I stand in front of the fridge, trying to figure out what to have for breakfast. I grab a few ingredients, mix them together and it tastes so good that I think maybe someone else who is trying to eat protein-rich breakfasts might enjoy it.
This is one of those recipes.
Protein for breakfast.
Of all the improvements we’ve made to our eating habits over the past year or so, this has been the best one by far.
I wasn’t a complete stranger to a high protein morning meal. I’d have eggs on occasion, or a shake with nut meal, but it wasn’t until we started focusing on eating a lot of protein first thing that I realized how much I relied on carbohydrates for breakfast.
Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I still work in yogurt with fruit and oatmeal, especially when we are training for a race, but these carb focused breakfasts seemed to be making me crave something sweet every morning.
Once we made the switch, things changed pretty drastically.
If you’ve read my blog much at all you know that Ireland has a special place in my travel-loving heart. I’ve had the opportunity to visit three times, exploring gorgeous landscape, overdosing on amazing food and drink and even meeting bloggers. So I can’t let March 17 pass without making something that uses a few flavors from Ireland. I’m always tempted by the incredible desserts that pop up on other blogs, but I decided to go savory. This is a super simple meal, but the Guinness adds a deep flavor to the kale that tastes so good with the eggs and potatoes. Bonus, it’s perfectly suitable for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
10-12 red or white new potatoes, quartered
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp dried dill
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 lb. kale, stemmed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup Guinness Extra Stout beer
¼ tsp sea salt
4 poached eggs
Prep
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, dill, sea salt and black pepper. Stir to coat the potatoes with the oil and spices. Transfer the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir the potatoes. Return to the oven and bake 15 to 25 more minutes, or until the potatoes are tender with crispy edges.
While the potatoes are baking you can prepare the kale. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the kale and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring to coat the kale in the oil.
Add the beer. Cook 30 seconds more, or until the kale begins to wilt. Remove from the heat and stir in the sea salt.
To assemble, divide the potatoes into 4 serving bowls, top with ¼ of the kale and finish it off with a poached egg. Serve warm.
Sláinte!
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Waiting.
That is the stage of gardening that we are in at the moment. The plants are in, but the only thing that seems to be growing are the weeds. Tiny peppers have emerged as well as little green tomatoes and but it feels like things are never going to ripen for picking.
Every day I make the trek out to the garden. Well, okay. It isn’t exactly a trek. It’s roughly 3 yards from our driveway, but bear with me for dramatic effect.
I trek out to the garden and look the plants over, make a loud sigh so that the plants hear me and return to the house empty handed.
Waiting.
I feel such a lack of creativity lately and I know it has a lot to do with lack of ingredients. So I had to make it to a Farmer’s Market, even if I only picked up a few things. I needed some inspiration.
We ran a 5K at a local park on Saturday and it just happened to be within walking distance of the Farmer’s Market so I set out afterward to explore. The markets in our smaller counties here only have a few tables this time of year, but there were quite a few offerings.
I came home with red potatoes, green onions, cue ball squash and a few heirloom tomatoes.
I’m trying to learn my tomatoes by sight so a played a bit of a guessing game with the vendor. I said the name with each one I picked up and I was at about a 50% accuracy rate. I have a lot to learn, but I’ve got my Purple Cherokee and Mr. Stripey down for sure.
Growing up, I wasn’t a huge tomato fan, but after finding heirloom varieties within the past couple years, I can’t get enough. I absolutely love the flavor.
I usually serve them simple with some olive oil, balsamic and a sprinkle of feta cheese, but I had the time to make a big breakfast over the weekend.
I’d just picked up a few dozen eggs from Pike Valley Farm and had some Derby cheese. So I decided to toss in those green onions I bought and a few sweet slices of the beautiful tomatoes.
I have to admit that I’m awful at making omelets. They fall into the pancake category for me as far as failure vs. success. They always taste good, but rarely turn out picture worthy. It took some extra effort and careful skillet skills, but this one wasn’t half bad in looks. With the tomatoes and the sharp cheese, the flavors were some of the best I’ve had in an omelet.
There are few things better than a farm fresh breakfast on the weekend!
Farm Fresh Heirloom Tomato Omelet
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 spring onion, sliced (reserve greens for garnish)
1 medium heirloom tomato, sliced
1/3 cup crumbled Derby-style cheese
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Set aside
Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add the oil or butter. Once heat/melted, add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the eggs. Allow to cook, gently scraping the sides, until it begins to firm in the middle.
Gently lay 3-4 slices of tomato on one side of the omelet and sprinkle with cheese. Use a spatula to fold over the other side. Cook for 30 to 60 more seconds to melt the cheese. Slide onto a plate and garnish with the onions.
Enough for two. You can cut one omelet in half, or cut the ingredients in half and make two omelets.
These easy baked egg cups are a perfect way to use up produce from the garden for a protein-packed breakfast!
A few weeks ago, when the temperatures were still well into the freezing range, I was checking out the garden and thinking about my plan for planting this summer. I hadn’t paid much attention the raised bed of greens we planted last fall. It had been so hot that nothing grew so I just let it be.
That day I just happen to look down and see a bit of green. I thought – wow, that kind of looks like new growth. Turns out, it was. The kale from last fall came back this spring and it has loved the cooler temps!
Soon after the kale, came our first round of asparagus. The plants are two years old now so this year we’ve been able to harvest some for the dinner table. Three bunches so far.
I am loving this sign of new life. Lately, I’ve been a bit uninspired in the kitchen. I can’t seem to come up with any new ideas and at times I’ve felt a bit like not cooking at all.
That was until the green goodness starting showing up. Soon behind these are all the blooming strawberry and blackberry plants.
Armed with asparagus, kale and so far from the herb garden, thyme and chives, I decided to try and use up some of the eggs I got from a local homesteader and friend. Baked eggs seem to be popular this spring so I did my own twist on this tasty breakfast or brunch dish.
It turns out these are great for snacks and dinner too. They are full of greens and the herbs are definitely the shining star, or at least as much as they can be next to those bright orange, farm fresh egg yolks. It was only after making them that I realized everything I had added was either from our garden or a local producer except for the milk, salt and the butter I used to grease the muffin pan.
