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Monday, February 11, 2013

one hundred and eighty-three

Is it really Monday again already?  In fear of losing power, was spent playing video games, listening to music, cooking, finishing up some Samurai Sudokus (copied from the Washington Post by a lovely friend), and looking out the windows.  Of course, since we were fully prepared, the lights didn't even flicker.

Despite the power's awesome cooperation throughout the storm, however, I still had a terrible time sorting out food this weekend.  Between things not working out well (I'm looking at you, disgusting baked oatmeal that ended up being fed to the trash) and my whim-influenced food cravings (ahem, hollandaise sauce and garlicky chicken), the SNAP Challenge menu plan I posted last week got turned on its head.  Fortunately, we're still on track to finish the challenge, but with the following modifications to the remaining days of the plan:

Monday
Breakfast -
ham, egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches oatmeal brown sugar muffins
Lunch - leftover stuffed baked potatoes or grilled cheese chili
Dinner - leftover beef and bean chili with fresh cornbread stuffed baked potatoes

Tuesday
Breakfast -
leftover oatmeal brown sugar muffins
Lunch - leftover chili and cornbread baked potatoes
Dinner - white chicken enchiladas (using thigh meat)
Wednesday
Breakfast - egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches
Lunch - leftover enchiladas or grilled cheese
Dinner - beef and rice lettuce wraps leftover chili and fresh cornbread

Thursday

Breakfast - leftover muffins biscuits
Lunch - leftover lettuce wraps or enchiladas

Now, on to day four's foodstuffs and a recipe for a luxurious but SNAP friendly breakfast: eggs Benedict-ish.


SNAP Challenge - Day Four

 
Breakfast - eggs Benedict-ish (recipe below!)



Lunch - grilled cheese and tomato soup



Dinner - rosemary garlic chicken Francese with mashed potatoes and green beans


 

Eggs Benedict-ish

  
 
For the Hollandaise:
3 large egg yolks (save the whites for another use)
2 tablespoons cold water
10 tablespoons butter, melted and solids removed
2 teaspoons vinegar (I used lemon balsamic)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
up to 1/4 cup warm water

Everything Else:
2 tablespoons butter
 4 large eggs
4 slices ham
4 slices bread
To make the Hollandaise:
 Whisk the 3 egg yolks and the 2 tablespoons of cold water in a large metal bowl until slightly thickened and foamy, about 3 minutes.
Place the bowl over a pot of gently simmering water and continue to whisk for an additional 3-5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.  If you notice curdling, remove the bowl from the heat for 30 seconds and continue to whisk until the sauce has cooled.

Once the sauce thickens, remove from the heat and whisk in the vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Hold sauce over the residual heat from the double boiler for up to 20 minutes.  If the sauce thickens too much while holding, stir in warm water one tablespoon at a time.

To make everything else:
Toast and butter the bread.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a large skillet.  Once the butter bubbles, add the ham and heat through until browned, about 3 minutes.  Set the ham aside on a paper towel while you fry the eggs in the ham pan.  
Fry the eggs for about four minutes, or until you see little white bubbles forming in the yolk.  The yolk will be runny, but the whites should be set.  Season the egg with salt and pepper.

To assemble:
Top one piece of toast with one slice of ham.  Top the ham with one fried egg.  Drizzle with Hollandaise and serve.

Serves 4 normal people, or 2 hungry Americans

2 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear that your baked oatmeal didn't work out! I surely hope it wasn't my recipe. The eggs benedictish look fatnastic! I'm not normally a huge fan of eggs, but with hollandaise sauce eggs are magically transformed.

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    1. Oh my goodness, I forgot that you shared a baked oatmeal recipe on your blog! The one I tried was one I found randomly on Google. I still have a plethora of oatmeal, so I'm going to give yours a shot. Your whole wheat cookies and fudge were a win, so I can only imagine the baked oatmeal has to be equally tasty. :-)

      P.S. I read this article in the NY Times this weekend and thought of you: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/the-wheat-lowdown.html?ref=magazine&_r=0 The whole wheat focaccia recipe looks yummy!

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