Breakfast Pockets

I love the weekends and not solely because it's a day I don't have to be at work.  Weekends are a time when I can sit and enjoy breakfast.  I can dawdle and sip my coffee (extra light with two sugars, thank you very much), watch our three cats frolic, and eat something perhaps a little naughty and delicious.

This breakfast sandwich was delicious and filling.  You can put just about anything you want in it, keeping in mind that you have to leave room enough for the cover without squishing your filling out the sides.

Have favorite omelet ingredients?  It would be terrific in this sandwich!  I've made this pastry crust once before for you (found here) and it's a favorite that I've used many times.  The original recipe for this breakfast sandwich called for premade biscuits that come in the cardboard tube, which is a terrific shortcut.  I just prefer the flakiness of this recipe and the fact that, to me, it tastes less salty.

The recipe I used makes quite a bit of filling and I ended up making another recipe of pastry to use up all the filling.  Fine by me, as this reportedly freezes and reheats well. We have enough for several more breakfasts, so we won't have to wait for the weekend to enjoy this delicious breakfast sandwich.

Breakfast Pockets

Combine in a medium bowl and set aside:
   6 ounces cream cheese, softened
   1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
   couple of good pinches of black pepper
   2/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

In a fry pan put
   2 tablespoons butter
   5 large eggs, plus one egg yolk (save the white for glazing the pastry)

one slice deli ham for each sandwich (or roughly chop and put in with the eggs)

One or two recipes of pastry crust (link above) or
1  (16.3 oz) can refrigerated biscuits flattened and each biscuit spread into a 5-inch circle

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the eggs and yolk.  Cook, without stirring, until eggs begin to set on the bottom.  Draw a spatula across bottom of skillet to form large curds.  Continue cooking until eggs are slightly thickened but still moist.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Spread the cheese mixture over the dough, leaving a border around the edges.  Add a couple of spoonfuls of eggs and ham. If you're using the prepared biscuits, fold dough over in half, pinching ends together.  If using the pastry crust, roll the top out a little larger than the bottom crust (to allow for stretching over the filling), and pinch together.  Use fork tines to press  and seal edges together.  Use a sharp knife to clean up the edges.  (I also put a vent hole in the pastry crust to allow any steam to escape.)

Mix the remaining egg white with a teaspoon of water and using a pastry brush, brush the egg white over the pastry.  Bake in 375*F oven for about 15 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown. 

MY NOTES:  If you decide to add vegetables to this, I would precook them; otherwise I think they may not be cooked enough.

This would have been fantastic with bacon, cooked and crumbled.  Maybe some green pepper.  Or sliced cheese instead of the shredded Cheddar.  I think whatever you choose to use, it would be delicious!

Sloppy Joe Sandwiches

Sloppy Joes were a school cafeteria favorite but were not something that I particularly thought to  prepare at home in my adult years.  However, it happened that I had a couple of  leftover hamburger rolls, hamburg, and half a red and a green pepper.  I wanted something "different" but delicious and easy.

Sloppy Joes to the rescue!  I found this delicious recipe on Allrecipes and we were very pleased with it.  Ole Sweetie-Pi wishes it were saucier, and he may be right, but to me, any saucier, and you'll have a spaghetti  meat sauce. 

Sloppy Joe Sandwiches
(slightly adapted from this recipe at  Allrecipes.com)

1/2 pound ground beef

1./2 cup diced peppers

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon prepared mustard **

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 hamburger buns, split

In a saucepan, cook beef and diced peppers over medium heat until the beef is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the ketchup, water, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Serve on buns. You'll need a fork!

**I found this to be a too mustard-y in flavor, and for our tastes will reduce it to 1/2 teaspoon.

Wicked Easy Hot Pockets

I've been trying to catch up on all my fellow bloggers' posts, working in alphabetical order in my reader (grins), trying not to miss a single delicious post. It's taking me a while and I'm about halfway down my reader. In the meantime, when I see something that looks too good to resist, I have to linger and ogle and aaah over it, and before you know it, depending where I am at in my day and what I have in the fridge and pantry, I am in the kitchen whipping it up.

That's the way it was when I saw Lori's (Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness)  post for Wicked Easy Hot Pockets. It was lunchtime, I was starving, and these looked too good to resist.  I checked my sundries and had everything I needed and before I knew it, I was putting these into the oven.

One bite into these, and both Ole Sweetie-Pi and and I knew that these were a keeper.  The biscuit is tender, flaky, and good!  And the filling can be whatever you want it to be.  I  modeled my sandwich after a now-defunct local Italian restaurant's panini sandwich they called "Cement Shoes."  Their version was loaded with pepperoni, salami, turkey, cheese, onions and peppers, and you had to unhinge your jaw to eat it.  I knew there wouldn't be enough room in the hot pockets so I omitted the onions and peppers, but now wish I had found a way to add them or at least a little pizza sauce. I brushed the tops of mine with melted butter and added some grated Parmesan cheese.  Oh my!   These hot pockets are delicious and filling!

Wicked Easy Hot Pockets

(Discovered on Lori's blog, Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 pound (one stick) cold butter
2/3 cup buttermilk

Filling:  Whatever you like!

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray or oil a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, measure flour and add the baking powder, baking soda and salt to the flour;  combine thoroughly.  Dice the butter and add to the flour mixture. "Cut" in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives until you  have a coarse crumb texture.

Make a well in the flour mixture.  Pour in the buttermilk and stir until moistened and knead a few times to make a smooth dough being careful not to overwork the dough.

If you choose a round shape, use a large cookie cutter or drinking glass to cut out your shape Gather up the scraps and reroll the dough as necessary until you have an even number of circles.)

Roll the dough into a rectangle about  3/8" thick.  Slice the dough in half down the long way, and then cut across .(I had 8 rectangles, but actually these were kind of large so perhaps you'd like to make more, smaller, rectangles, just remember you need an equal number.)  After cutting,  using your fingers, slightly flatten the edges all the way around as you'll be doubling the layers.

Now here is where you can get creative.  What's your favorite hot pocket?  You can add pretty much whatever you want here, keeping in mind not to stuff it too much or you'll never be able to get the top layer of dough over and around the filling.  (I rerolled the top dough a little larger than the bottom so there would be "stretch room" as my pocket filling was pretty thick.) Keep the filling away from the edges of the dough as you want a tight seal of pastry..

Once you have your filling in place and the top layer of dough on, go around the edges with a fork and press the edges together.  Piece top layer with fork to vent steam.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden.

Lori, this will be joining our family favorites, a real keeper!  Thank you for sharing your discovery!

Pigs in a Blanket

Lately, it seems as if we've just been too busy to sit and enjoy a full meal, so meals been pretty hit or miss. Today has been overcast and suddenly cool, so we wanted something warm and fulling and we wanted it now!

A short while back I saw that our local grocery store had refrigerated crescent roll dough on sale; it's a product I rarely ever buy, but I couldn't resist the price. The minute I saw them I was reminded of these little rolls that my mother used to make when my brothers and I were growing up and so, for a quick dinner tonight, they were just handy and delicious. Warmed up a can of tomato soup in that famous red can, and in under 30 minutes we were eating a nice, satisfying little meal. We agree this is one that we look forward to enjoying again.

Pigs In a Blanket

Not a recipe really, more of a how to.

One roll of refrigerated crescent dough (such as Pillsbury Poppin' Fresh) (makes 6 crescents)
4-6 six slices cheese, your choice
6 hot dogs or slices of ham
Mustard, if desired

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Open up on the can of crescent dough and separate the crescents into individual crescents. You may want to slightly flatten them, though it's not really necessary.

Lay pieces of cheese on top edge (widest part) of the dough, leaving a small margin of dough all around as the cheese will melt out of the edges. Lay your hot dog or sliced, crosswise, ham over that. Add your mustard if you are using it.

Holding the dough at the two outer edges, roll the dough towards you, catching up the cheese as you roll. The short pointed end of the crescent should be the last part that is rolled up.

Place filled crescent, pointed side down, on the cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Chili Beef Burgers with Mustard Butter

Ole Sweetie-Pi watched me while I was taking a picture of these burgers. He wrinkled his nose in disdain and asked, "Getting desperate, Dearie? You're now taking pictures of hamburgers?!"

Really, timing is everything. I'm standing there with the camera in my hand, contorting my body to get the best possible light and angle. I was becoming more and more frustrated because I can see the green cast being shed from the platter onto my food, and he says he says something infuriating. So, I do as I always do, I "uh huh" him and then pretend not to hear anything more.

I'm not a real big fan of beef, but every now and again I absolutely crave a really good, thick and juicy, genuine beef, hamburger. Most of the time, I like my burgers about as plain as you can get them, just minced beef and a little salt and pepper. And they have to be cooked all the way through. No thrills, no frills. I only want ketchup. No cheese, no lettuce, no secret sauce, no mayonnaise, no pickles, no onions, no tomatoes. I'm talking bare bones here. I don't even want seeds on my buns. Yes, sirree, they are plain and boring. Little did Ole Sweetie-Pi realized that when he quipped his witty observation that these weren't just my normal Plain Jane burgers.

His expression markedly changed after his first bite of these Chili Beef Burgers with Mustard Butter. The surprised look of approval and smile said it all.

Barbecued Chili Beef Burgers with Mustard Butter
(adapted from Favorite Meat Recipes by the Confident Cooking Promise of Success)

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, grated
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon malt vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce
1-3 teaspoons dried oregano

Place all ingredients in a large bowl, and using your impeccably clean hands or a sturdy spoon, combine well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

When ready, take bowl from refrigerator and shape the mixture into burger sized patties. Place the patties on lightly oiled grill or cast iron grill plate or heavy duty fry pan. Cook about four minutes each side, until nicely browned and cooked through. Serve with mustard butter.

Mustard Butter

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons mustard

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and beat until combined. Set aside for a half hour or so to allow the flavors to meld and ripen.

What To Do With Leftover Meatballs

What to do with leftover meatballs? Well, we make meatball submarine sandwiches. The meatballs that we had from last night's dinner make a terrific sub. I reheated them in the microwave, added provolone cheese, a dill pickle, and it was a terrific deli lunch at home.

I don't care to buy the packaged sub rolls because there are too many, and the bread is too soft and squishy, so instead I opted to make my own sub rolls. I tried this recipe from the Red Star Yeast site as it only made one loaf of French bread. I just divided the dough into four equal portions and shaped each portion into a six-inch loaf. It made a nice sized sub roll. The outside was chewy; the inside soft.

I hollowed out the inside of the roll to make a little valley to put in my meatballs in (saving the bread for crumbs). I think it would have been fun to add some garlic and cheese to the bread dough, to give it more of an Italian sub shop flavor. I'll do that next time.

Now to think of something to do with those fresh bread crumbs.