Huevos Rancheros

Spicy, flavorful, and hearty, this traditional Mexican dish is ideal for breakfast, brunch, or dinner

The name translates as “Eggs Rancher’s Style.” It probably originated as a rib-sticking breakfast for ranch hands who needed to fuel up for a day of heavy labor.

We’re not cowboys, so we tend to serve Huevos Rancheros for brunch or dinner.

But anytime you eat this, you’ll want to say yippee-ki-yay.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Nutty and funky, buckwheat adds extra flavor to your morning pancakes

Ready for some pancakes (aka griddlecakes)? Now’s the perfect season. Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) is next week – and pancakes traditionally are on the menu.

These buckwheat beauties take pancakes up a notch. Because we like to buck the trend.

Cheesy Grits with Jalapeño (or not)

This traditional dish is the perfect sidekick for breakfast, lunch, or dinner

Grits are all-American. That’s because they’re made from corn (maize), a key crop of the New World.

Grits are traditional in the southern states of the US, where they often serve as a breakfast side dish. In recent years, though, they’ve been getting more love in the rest of the country. And not just for breakfast—we often see them served at dinner, where they make a perfect bed for rich meat or seafood dishes.

We like to add jalapeño for a bit of spice, though you can omit this ingredient if you want something less incendiary. But don’t skip the cheese—it adds creamy richness.

With or without jalapeño, these cheesy grits will fire up your taste buds.

Crispy Shredded Hash Brown Potaotes

This easy homemade dish beats your local diner’s version

We love breakfast potatoes. And we can eat them any style. But given our druthers, we’ll go for hash browns every time.

We particularly crave the kind of hash browns you can find at any diner. It’s hard to beat those thin, crispy cakes of shredded potatoes. Especially when they’re cooked until both sides are crusty brown.

So serve up these hash browns on Thanksgiving morning (or the day after). And bask in the happy smiles of your guests.

Cornmeal Pancakes

These updated “johnnycakes” are festive breakfast fare

Who doesn’t like pancakes for breakfast? Or lunch or dinner? They’re wonderful anytime.

And they seem particularly suited to festive occasions. Such as Thanksgiving morning (or the morning after).

Cornmeal makes an especially succulent pancake, as colonial Americans discovered. Early European settlers practically lived on a version of cornmeal pancakes called “johnnycakes.”

So what could be more appropriate at Thanksgiving time? Bet you never knew that history could be so tasty.

Eggs Benedict

Perfect for Easter Brunch — or Any Special Occasion

People love Eggs Benedict for brunch — especially at festive occasions.  And why not?  The dish offers a terrific combination of flavors and textures:  Toasted English muffin topped with sautéed Canadian bacon, which in turn is topped by poached egg.  All of which receives a glorious blanket of Hollandaise sauce. 

It’s a rich dish, so most us don’t eat it too often.  But it’s perfect for special days — like Easter.  Which, if you haven’t noticed, is on tap for this Sunday, March 31.  It would also be perfect for Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 12).  Or for any holiday, really.

It tends to be a “restaurant only” dish for many people.  I’ll bet the majority of us rarely (heck, never) make Eggs Benedict at home.  And that’s understandable — there are aspects to this recipe that give many cooks pause.  To begin with, it requires poaching eggs (which lots of people assume to be difficult).  And it requires Hollandaise sauce — something that even quite experienced cooks may find challenging. 

But if you break the dish down into segments, it’s not really that hard.  Glance at my recipes for Poached Eggs and Hollandaise Sauce, and you’ll see that both are quite doable. The biggest challenge with Eggs Benedict is juggling several different tasks at the same time. But I have a strategy for coping with that (it includes making the poached eggs ahead of time).

So for some special occasion soon, maybe you should step outside your comfort zone and tackle Eggs Benedict. People will start applauding when they hear you’re even considering it. And when you actually serve your Eggs Benny? Expect overwhelming adulation — with a side of adoration.

Poached Eggs

Making Them is a Lot Less Scary Than You Think     

How often do you poach eggs?  Rarely?  Never?

Join the club.  Most people think poaching is difficult and fussy, so they never prepare eggs this way at home.  Too bad, because poaching might be the one of the healthiest ways to cook eggs (no added fat).  And poaching is even simpler than hard-boiling — no hot eggs to cool off and peel.  How about flavor?  Glad you asked!  Because poaching may be the best way to showcase an egg’s natural tastiness. 

Poached eggs are great breakfast fare.  They’re also wonderful as a garnish on salad (and a necessity for the classic Salade Frisée).  And if poached eggs didn’t exist, we’d have to invent them just so we could make Eggs Benedict.

By learning just a few simple steps, you can become a poach meister.

Then the next time you’re preparing eggs for brunch, be sure to ask how people want them cooked.  Some wiseacre (you know the one) will say he wants his poached.  You can just smile and say, “Of course.”  It’ll probably ruin his day.

French Toast

Perfect for Brunch

Mother’s Day is this weekend — which means it’s time for a festive brunch! 

And no brunch munch seems more special than French Toast.  It’s rich and satisfying, yet not over-the-top heavy or filling.  It also pairs exceptionally well with fresh berries, which are in season right now.  Add some powdered sugar, maple syrup, or whipped cream, and you’ve got a dish that’s long on both flavor and eye appeal.

Best of all?  It’s a snap to make!  So what are you waiting for?

Fried Eggs

Over Easy, Sunny Side Up, Whatever — They’re Easy and Tasty 

Fried Eggs make excellent eats for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

They are inexpensive, high in protein, and chockfull of nutrients. But many people avoid them because of worries about cholesterol. Well, good news! Scientists now largely agree that eggs pose little danger (I have more information about this, plus links to scientific sources, in my Red Pepper and Onion Frittata post). Most of us can now eat eggs more frequently.

So how do you like your eggs cooked? Sunny Side Up? Over Easy? Over Medium or Hard? Basted? All are popular choices that take just minutes to prepare.

Best of all, nothing is easier to cook — once you know the basics, at least.

Easy Corned Beef Hash

Top With a Fried Egg for Extra Flavor

What to do with leftover St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef?

One popular option is just having a whole second dinner — complete with leftover cabbage and carrots. And because cold Corned Beef sliced thinly makes a dynamite sandwich, that’s another idea.

But my favorite way to use leftover corned beef is to make Corned Beef Hash.  It’s delicious served neat, and even better when topped with a fried or poached egg.

And it’s versatile!  You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Or even as a late-night snack.

Quick and Easy Pancakes

Great for Shrove Tuesday, or Any Time 

Next week is Shrove Tuesday – the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. It’s also known as Mardi Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday.”

Traditionally,it’s the day when families use up all the fat, sugar, and other rich foods in their larders in preparation for the Lenten fast (hence, “Fat Tuesday”).  Some cultures turn all that richness into doughnuts.  But when I was growing up, pancakes were the Shrove Tuesday feast food of choice.

Although I rarely eat pancakes for breakfast (too much food too early in the day), they’re fine dinner fare.  And with this recipe, you can walk through the front door and be sitting down to pancakes in about 20 minutes.  Best of all, they’re made with ingredients you probably have on hand already.

So now you know what you’ll be serving for dinner next Tuesday.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Great Weekend Fare, Wonderful for Thanksgiving

Biscuits are quick to make and supremely satisfying to eat, particularly when gobbled hot from the oven. 

They are also part of American history.  In the early colonial days, homes often lacked ovens suitable for bread making, so “quick breads” like biscuits were popular, and would sometimes be baked fresh for each meal.  In many households today, they’re a Thanksgiving tradition.

This recipe calls for just a few pantry staples:  flour, baking powder, butter or shortening, and sweet milk.  No buttermilk needed (it makes great biscuits, but most of us don’t have it in the refrigerator).

And the best thing about this recipe?  You can be eating biscuits in under 30 minutes from now!