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.

If you have trouble with omelets, get hold of Alton Brown’s Good Eats episode on the subject. I’m serious – I think that helped me more than any cookbook, cooking show or anything else. (Sadly, no pics. I was too busy being astonished and then too hungry to do anything but sit down and eat.)

I’d pretty much resigned myself to a lifetime of scrambled eggs and frittatas as my omelet skills had not proven themselves up to the task, but today I got a wild hair and decided I wanted an omelet for lunch.

I pulled out my “perfect” omelet pan (who knew the cheapo nonstick I bought years ago would be great for omelets? And the perfect size for 2 egg omelets.) and started with cooking up some bacon and reserved some of the grease for the omelet. (OK, I know butter is the norm, but IT’S BACON GREASE! I don’t have it that often! It’s yummy!)

Poured my two eggs into the pan and shook, swirled, and scraped appropriately. It actually was looking like it did on TV! Tossed a little bit of cheese in the middle. Couldn’t do a tri fold cause one side got a little messed up, but it worked fine for just folding it in half.

Had to help it out of the pan a little bit with the spatula, but no disastrous sticking at all.

Not only did it LOOK like an omelet, it TASTED like one, too!! (As opposed to the “scrambled eggs with cheese” I so often end up with.)

Only thing I think I did wrong was I had the heat a touch too high cause the outside was a little browned (but not burned) so I’ll remember to turn it down a touch next time.

Funny how the little things can put such a big freakin’ grin on your face.