Archive for the ‘Brunch’ Category

Best Cheese Grits EVER.

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

>матрациe has been snow here.  A lot of snow.  It’s finally starting to melt, but thanks to the snow, I have been eating a lot of cheese grits this past month.  They soothe the cabin-fevered beast and are a great warmup after shoveling snow.  But today, I had an idea – and it was a spectacular idea.  Instead of making the grits with water, why not chicken stock?  Well, the result was AWESOME.

I wish I had a photo – I took some quick shots, but when I pulled them off the memory card, they were blurry – and I’d already finished the grits by then.  (I’m quite certain I’ll be making this again, so there is hope that I can get a shot.)

Best Cheese Grits Ever:

1/4 c. old fashioned grits (NOT instant)
1 1/8 c. chicken stock or broth
2 ounces shredded chipotle cheddar cheese
salt & pepper

Bring the stock to a boil, add grits, stir well.  Set heat to LOW and cover.  After about 6 minutes I hit it with the salt & pepper.  Then at the 12 minute mark, I stir in the cheese.  I did notice that with the chicken stock, it was still a touch soupy at the 12 minute mark, so I let it go another minute or so.  (In the future I may just cut it back to 1 cup of stock.)

Once the cheese is stirred in, sit back and enjoy!

According to the grits package, 1/4 c of grits is 2 servings.  Maybe if you’re eating it with something else.  Otherwise, it’s one perfect serving on it’s own.

A NomTastic breakfast

Monday, April 20th, 2009

What happens when  you take your traditional Easter brunch egg casserole and divide it by 4?

A very yummy little breakfast for one!

Here’s the recipe, thanks to the Virginia Hospitality cookbook (circa 1975…)  (Note: If you cut it down to a 1 egg serving, it takes approximately 35 minutes at 325 degrees.)

2 c. plain croutons (I use the cheese/garlic croutons)
4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese  (I really don’t know what this equates to in cups, I just kept shredding and weighing.)
4 eggs, beaten
2 c. milk
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. mustard
1/8 t. onion powder (optical communicationsI think 1/4 c. diced onions would work fine as well)
dash of ground black pepper
4 slices crumbled bacon

Put croutons & cheese in bottom of greased 10×6x2 casserole dish (my 8×8 worked fine)
Combine everything else, EXCEPT bacon.
Pour egg mix over croutons & cheese.
Top w/crumbled bacon

Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.  Don’t worry if it’s “jiggly” when you take it out – let it sit for 5 minutes to cool enough to eat, and the eggs will finish setting. 8 servings.

Nutrition info:
Per Serving: 177 Calories; 11g Fat (56.5% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 119mg Cholesterol; 386mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.