If you ever wanted to make the world's largest egg sandwich ... then this would be the recipe.

Awhile back, I wrote about my artist friend, Teresa, who came to stay with us during our Annual Art Festival and then again at our Craft Festival to showcase her awesome handmade leather journals. I still have mine sitting on the shelf ... empty ... because my handwriting is atrocious and I've been procrastinating until I take an art class to learn to draw and make something worthy her her craftsmanship.

But I digress ...

Anyhow, Teresa's husband whipped up this recipe while they were Inn-sitting in Montana and just called it the Silver Forest Inn Special. It has eggs, cheese and puffed pastry ... which in my book ... makes it divine.

The ingredients ...

Two pastry sheets ... an onion ... butter ... cheese ... about a dozen eggs ... and the secret ingredient ... Dijon mustard.

Drop a dab of butter in a frying pan on medium heat and let it melt down and sizzle.

Next, chop up your onion. I like purple onions for their slightly sweet flavor and for the color. If you decide to cook with oil instead of butter, you might want to go for a yellow or white onion as the oil reacts to the acid in the onion and turns bluish green. Same great flavor, still edible ... but strange color.

At this point, my kitchen already smells delicious but my eyes are tearing up like I just watched a Hallmark commercial. I've tried every trick in the book to not cry while chopping onions. If you've got one that works ... please share!

While your onions are sizzling, prepare your puffed pastry on a cookie sheet. I have a baking stone, so I used some parchment paper to make it easy to remove after baking.

Next, spread the dijon mustard evenly over the pastry. At this point, I had discovered that I through out my pastry brushes last time I used them. A result of waiting way to long to do the dishes and having them harden like a bristled cleaning brush. So, I improvised with a spoon. Pastry brushes added to my shopping list.

I like freshly shredded cheese for a more sharp flavor. My friend Jim, the photographer, was afraid I was going to add some knuckle to this sandwich and couldn't watch. Ever see a photographer try and take a picture without looking? It's quite funny. No knuckles were added.

Now that you've got your pastry ready and your onions cooking, time to whip up some eggs. Do this just as you would if you were making scrambled eggs or an omelet. I used about a dozen eggs here. Don't forget your egg shell trash bowl for easy clean up!

I get a big kick out of these "egg snot" pics.  Must be my inner kid surfacing.

When your onions are just starting to brown, but not fully cooked,

add your eggs and scramble them.

When the eggs have started to clump together, but are still a little wet, it's time to spread them over your pastry. Since you'll be baking them, you don't want them to cook all the way otherwise it will be a little too dry.

Sprinkle on your cheese, salt and pepper to taste ...

Whip up about 3 egg whites to dust on top of your pastry to make it golden brown and crispy.

Again, I'm using my hands since I threw out my pastry brushes last time I used them.  This feels gross.  Not liking the egg snot very much now!

Pop your pastry in the oven at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes.

The pastry will rise and puff up. Mmm.

Doesn't it look like a giant egg sandwich? I was tempted to try and pick it up with two hands and fake like I was going to bite into it like a sandwich ... but ... I didn't want to chance it me dropping it on the floor without ever having a chance to taste it! What a tragedy that would be for just a simple sandwich joke!

It serves well as a casserole and can be cut into squares to serve nine.

Mmm ... pastry ... cheese .. eggs ... spicy Dijon ... this is breakfast lunch and dinner today. And I'm not complaining about that AT ALL!

--Rachelle

Here is the complete recipe ...

How on earth ... literally ...can it be ...that I can shop the world with just a click of a mouse ...

all the purchasing power of PayPal at my fingertips ...

and I can't get one single friggin kind of beer?!

From New York?!

How can this be!?!?!?!?!?

Something about alcohol crossing state lines ... whaaaaht???? I suddenly had a shimmering glimpse of what it must have been like during prohibition. So sad.

If you're going to try this recipe ... and you don't live in the State of Florida ... you MUST try it with Brooklyner Weisse Beer as it was intended.

And then email me or comment about how delightful it was a totally rub it in my face that I'll never know ... that is ... until I go on vacation out of state somewhere and whip this up again.

Inspired by a visit from Tom and Gayle, and in an effort to entice my photographer friend Jim (check out some of his other images here) to pop over for some breakfast ... I paired breakfast with beer.

It was a late breakfast ... I promise ... after noon.

This was a little outside of my box as it was not an "inn" that gave me the recipe. I found the recipe on Tom's website, BrooklynBrewery.com . Having beer with breakfast intrigued me. While I have to confess that I'm not normally a beer drinker ... this was an AMAZING flavor pairing. Since I couldn't procure the Brooklyner Weisse, I just had to use a substitute (but still very tasty) beer with my breakfast.

Follow along our fun day of drinking beer and kitchen debauchery.

I have the recipe in it's entirety at the end of the post.

The Players ... 2 to 3 eggs, a log of goat cheese, granny smith apple, a dab of butter, a splash of milk, a wee bit of vegetable oil, and a pinch of sugar. Okay. Maybe a little more than a pinch.

You're going to need two (2) pans ... one for the apples and one for the omelet.

Melt the buttah.

Add a dab of oil to the pan you're going to use to make the omelet.

While you're waiting for your butter to melt ... you can start on the following.

Such as chopping your apples. I use this nifty tool. Is that cheating?  I think I've had this cutting-corners guilt trip before.  Anyway ... take a swig of beer to ready your pallet.

Remove the skins from the apples and make the slices about 1/8 inch thick ...

or should I say thin?

If you've got a beer open at this point ... careful with the knife.

Arrange your apple slices in the hot melted butter.

Sprinkle on the ... ah em ... pinch of sugar. I think I used an 1/8 of a cup.

While your apples are browning (stir them occasionally)

slice up your goat cheese and break into crumbles.

Goat cheese is my favorite ... but it's a sticky sucker!  I got it all over my hands

If you're making an omelet for one ... as in ... just for yourself ...

now is an appropriate time to lick your fingers.

Who want's to waste delicious goat cheese?

If you're making an omelet for yourself AND others ...

then now is a good time to go wash your hands

while the photographer snaps a shot of the lonely goat cheese.

Next, prepare your eggs as you would to make an omelet.

What on EARTH was I thinking using this tiny bowl. I'll tell you what I was thinking ... I've got two other great bowls to use ... but they're both in the dishwasher. Darn! Sip some beer.

So, now how am I going to whisk these babies?  Can't exactly tip the bowl.  The beer is getting my creative side going.  Or ... maybe it's just making me forgetful?  Here was my great solution ...

Not exactly a "Top Chef" method for whisking eggs.  But it was fun.  And I laughed.  A lot.  (Take another swig ... it is after noon, after all!) Oh yeah. I forgot. I needed to add a splash of milk. Now I'm not laughing. Sobered up real quick. I've run out of room in my tiny bowl.

Pour your eggs into the pan when the butter/oil is hot enough to sizzle ... but not so hot that it will burn.

After the egg has coagulated (can you believe I'm using such big words with a beer in hand?), run a spatula around the edges of your omelet to unstick it from the pan.

Then you're going to lift it up by the edge and tilt the pan so that the liquid egg runs into the empty space you've created ... thus cooking more evenly.

How am I able to do this so gingerly after starting in on the beer?

Nearly spilling eggs on my floor sobered me up.

Ah, there we go. A nearly perfect omelet ready to flip.

Obviously I hadn't sobered up enough! Or, as Julia Child would say, I must not have had "the courage of my conviction."  Ah well.  I didn't add it back to the pan.  I've got plenty of eggs.  We'll just make some more.

After you get your omelet flipped ... and back in the pan ... it's time to put it all together.

Apples look good, sweet and slightly caramelized.

Add your apples and cheese.

Pour your brew.

Voila. Beer ... with breakfast!

The sweetness of the apples with the creaminess of the goat cheese wrapped in fluffy egg is divine. Now. After taking a bite. Take a sip ... WOW that's good!

--Rachelle

Goat Cheese & Apple Omelet

from the Brooklyn Brewery
Serve with Brooklyner Weisse

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 Granny Smith Apple, peeled and sliced thin
Pinch of Sugar
1 Small Log of Goat Cheese (approx. 4 ounces)
2 Extra-Large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Milk
Black Pepper to Taste

Directions

1) Melt half the butter in a small nonstick saucepan or wok over medium heat. Add apple and cook until slices start to brown, then add sugar. Stir slices until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Cut slices of goat cheese, 1/2 inch thick.

2) Beat eggs and milk together, just until uniform. Heat remaining butter in an omelet pan or small nonstick pan over high heat. When butter foams, add eggs and reduce heat to medium-low. When omelet is about half firm, carefully turn over.

3) Arrange goat cheese on one half of omelet; cover cheese with apple slices. Fold omelet in half, turn off heat and leave for one minute. Place omelet on a warm plate, and sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Serve with Brooklyner Weisse.

###

Every time walk through the grocery store I can't pass by the produce section without being lured in by these berries.  They're in season right now, so how could I pass up 2 pints of this colorful goodness?  They make a great low fat snack for munching while working on your computer or watching a movie.  But this recipe ... is definitely NOT of the low-fat-guilt-free diet variety.  But they're worth every calorie!

Besides, when you look at the ingredients ... some milk, some orange juice, some eggs ... you can convince yourself that this is a healthy breakfast.  Right?  Well ... at least believe me when I say that they're super delicious.

This recipe was sent to me by Deanna at The Old Hen Bed & Breakfast in Seattle.    I have the entire ingredients list and instructions at the bottom of the post.  Enjoy!

See!  I told you!  Look at all the healthy stuff going into these scones!  Just ignore the 2/3 cup of sugar and all that flour.  It's invisible.  You don't see those extra calories ... you just get to enjoy the flavor.

Add in your dry, "invisible" ingredients ...

Pay no attention to my clumpy sugar.  I store it in the fridge as to not attempt bugs to enter my kitchen.  So it's clumpy.  And cold.

Baking Powder.  Doesn't it look fake?

Mix them all up until you've got a nice powdery batter.

Next, zest your orange.  Watch your knuckles.

Using the same orange, cut in half and juice.

After adding the fresh orange juice (isn't this starting to smell wonderful!), break open the eggs and add them to your dry ingredients.

Mix.  I'm doing this by hand ... working on those forearms of mine.

The word "chopping" and the word "butter" just don't seem to go together.  I supposed my chilled butter warmed up a bit too much while we were prepping ... cause my description would be more of a "mash."  Using any chopping/mashing style you choose ... your butter needs to end up in little bits.

Gently fold it into your nicely forming dough.

Deanna recommended getting fresh blueberries and freezing them over night.  I couldn't agree more!  Freezing them helps them not explode/burst when you add them to the dough.

Now, can you guess how frozen blueberries behave?  The sweat.  Naughty little things.  Coating them in some flour will keep them from getting stuck in your dough and make them nice and pretty little berries.  Kinda like powdering your nose.

But I forgot to flour/powder my hands!  Ugh!

Ah well.  Nothing wasted.  A little taste, a little hand washing and I'll get right back on track.

Form your dough into a ball and then press into a "disk" shape.  Don't ya just love photo examples?  I'm a "visual" person, so when Deanna wrote "disk" shape I had to wrinkly my nose and scratch my noggin ... but I got it!

Place your scones on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

I'm using a baking stone.  Don't forget to dip your fingers in flour as you're picking these up!  Unless, of course, you like to eat the raw dough.  I'm not judging!

Bake them at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

And now ... the moment you've been waiting for ... the most divine thing I've ever licked off a plate ... orange icing!

For the recipe, click here ...

For the food porn ... keep scrolling.

That first one didn't last long enough for the mint and blueberry garnish.  It was scooped off the place and devoured before the icing even had time to pool on the plate.  And then we licked it clean.  Here's another one.

Oh yeah!  This is going on my list of favorites.

Thank you Deanna!

See the full recipe below.

--Rachelle

###

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbs baking powder

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup of chilled butter

3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream

2 large eggs

zest of one orange

juice of one orange

1 pint of fresh blueberries (freeze them overnight before using)

Directions

1) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2) Combine dry ingredients.

3) Add heavy cream and eggs to dry ingredients.

4) Zest one orange, then cut in half and juice.

5) Cut butter into very small pieces and mix into dough.  Don't over mix.  Butter should be about the size of peas when you are done mixing it into dough.

6) Coat fresh frozen blueberries with a light dusting of flour then add by folding gently into dough.

7) Place about a cup of flour onto counter and place half of dough on it.  Coat dough lightly with flour and form a round disk with the dough.  It should be about 10 inches around.

8 ) Cut circle of dough into 4 sections.  Remove excess flour from scones and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

9) Repeat with second half of dough.

10) Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

11)  Add orange icing and serve!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Or so they  say.

The scents and spices in this one remind me a lot of Fall. It's a recipe from The Captain's Inn that is a favorite of mine.

The deliciousness in their original, individual form ...

Start by slicing up some apples...

I have a handy dandy apple slicer that makes coring apples easy.

Is that cheating?

Is it still really home-baked goodness when a few corners are easily cut?

Of course, it doesn't do ALL the work.  Just a little short cut.  Cause they still need to be thinly sliced.

I chose 3 different varieties of apples ... not so much for flavor, but for color.

While your prepping apples ... add a dab of butter into a glass baking dish. I used two ceramic pie pans.

The recipe is actually very FAST and EASY. So you'll be ready by the time the butter is melted.

Starting with ... The eggs.

The Milk.

The Flour.

The Sugar.  Eh em.  Sugaah.

A dash of vanilla.

Like my high-tech measuring spoon?

It's built into the cap.

Blend.

Get your dish with "buttah"

Place your apples in the "buttah" ...

Then pour your batter over the fruit.

Sprinkle on some brown sugah.

Have I developed a southern accent in this post?  Is that possible?

This is going to melt down and create a nice sweet syrup.

Time to add all this sweet goodness to the oven.  Don't forget your oven mitts!

The dish may still be hot from melting the butter.  Oh, excuse me, the buttah.

When it's done, it's delish. Every bit as sweet as it looks and sounds.

Besides breakfast, I would also put this down in my list of desserts.

The consistency is a little like bread pudding.

Slice up and serve like a pie. Enjoy!

--Rachelle

Apple Puffed Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

###