If you ask me, I think breakfast is the best meal of the day. So many possibilities – savory, sweet, traditional, eclectic – the skies the limit! In fact, when Tony traveled for work, Hannah and I almost always fixed breakfast for dinner. Sometimes pancakes, sometimes home made egg McMuffins. Maybe because it’s the most economical meal is why I like it too. My store routinely sells big baked potatoes for .25 each. When that happens I usually stock up and bake 3 or 4 at a time and then let them hang out in the fridge. Sometimes I’ll cut them up and fry them for steak fries for a meal. Sometimes I’ll dice them and pan fry them for a side dish. My favorite though? Hash browns! It’s weird, when you shred the potato, the jacket of the potato nearly comes off in one piece!
I think the secret to getting crunchy hash browns is because the baked potato sat in the refrigerator for a week, it lost some of it’s moisture. I heated up my non-stick skillet over medium heat, and added 2 teaspoons extra light virgin olive oil. When the pan was hot, I laid the potatoes in a single layer – and let them cook until browned on the bottom – about 8-10 minutes. I did end up adding about another teaspoon of olive oil before flipping. This was Saturday’s breakfast and lunch for me.
Tony gave my hash browns thumbs up too! This was super filling. I ended up eating this around 10:30, and had a cup of soup at the restaurant at 5:00. Tony picked up a small pizza for himself for dinner and heated it up for me when I got home Saturday night – got home by 11:15 on Saturday night from the restaurant – nice! Check out the heart shaped cheese ravioli the restaurant is having next weekend for Valentine’s Day – so cute!
I now give you another episode of Texting with Tony! I love it when he sends stuff and spell check corrects him!
I did another breakfast/lunch yesterday – French toast sticks! I bought this one pound container of mixed fruit at my store for only $2.99 – I am kicking myself I didn’t buy another one. And I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I need to remind you to buy your bacon from your deli. You can have them cut it as thick as you want, and our store sells it for $5.99 a pound – you would spend the same on Oscar Meyer bacon for a 12 ounce package, and it would be super thin. Bacon is important so I have to spread the news!
Last week Tony and I bought a big ham – 10 pounds to be exact, with the intent on grilling it in our gas grill. Well, as you probably realize, our weather hasn’t been that conducive to grilling, but yesterday we decided to go for it. It just meant snow blowing the snow off the deck so we could actually get to the grill. This is Tony’s “I am so done with winter!” face:
Tony had grill duty because I had an employee meeting at the restaurant last night from 4-6. It’s a 45 minute drive one way, so I was bummed I had to go anywhere on my one day off. But the next few weeks are critical to the restaurant. Valentine’s weekend, then our grand opening. Press releases are going out to the media this week and our Chef will be on a cooking segment on our local news station on March 3 – I’ll be sure to post the video here! Food critics, local politicians – with social media being what it is, it’s important that everything from the kitchen to the servers to the front of the house are all on the same page.
But, we did get a beer tasting – I’ve never heard of this brewery before, but it’s 30 minutes from the restaurant and they have been in business for 17 years. We have Domaine DuPage on tap, and two canned beers – this was my favorite canned beer – it’s super light, and would be great for a summer beer. Pricey though – my grocery store sells it for $10.99 a six pack – probably why I’ve passed by it for years!
They ordered pizza, but since I knew we had ham on the grill, I only ate one piece of pizza – basically because I had to try it – MAC N CHEESE PIZZA!
Guess what? I actually liked it! I mean, it was like double the cheese. #winning!
One of the servers I work with is really struggling. She quit her other job to start this job, and she works mostly lunches and that part of the business has been slowly building, but obviously with lower lunch tabs, that means lower tips. She basically relies on her Friday and Saturday nights to make ends meet – she’s separated from her husband and has an 11 and 14 year old, and says that she’s not much of a cook, so she relies on boxed macaroni and cheese, canned Manwich, etc. because its cheap. So I brought her a batch of my homemade Panera broccoli soup, a loaf of artisan bread and a stick of butter. I always have to remember that even though I have to work two jobs to make our ends meet, there is always someone struggling more than me, so I need to pay it forward.
And when I got home from the meeting, the ham was ready! I never even planned a side dish, so I just heated up a can of green beans and had sliced ham dipped in Dijon mustard – this ham was delicious! And with the leftovers I plan on making these ham and swiss cheese sammies, a crustless ham and cheese quiche, and probably some ham, macaroni and cheese – my twin sister probably makes that once a week!
Which will probably still leave me with five pounds of leftover ham – Question of the Day: How do you use up your leftover ham? I want to put up a list of links for leftover ham around Easter time – please send me your recipe links – or if you don’t have a blog – just email me your recipes at mybizzykitchen@gmail.com.
I have to start putting my stuff together – one of the secretaries already called in sick today, so I should be busy and not have to make scratch paper pads today – yippee!
Happy Monday – make it a great day!
Broccoli and cheese soup sounds good! I think I will make some this week and give to my mom
and sister . I love the idea of paying it fwd! Also thanks for the bacon tip!
Once you get thick cut bacon at the deli, you’ll never buy packaged again. 😀 Let me know how the soup turns out for you. 😀
Love you Biz! <3
Aw, thanks Renee! 😀
That was so nice of you to help out your co-worker!!
Just so you’ll know…I’m becoming a much more inventive cook just by “hanging out” with you! lol
The ham looks awesome! I’ve made ham & cheese strata with leftover ham but other than that I just freeze it and heat it back up when we’re in the mood for it again. My gas grill is under a covered outdoor kitchen and I won’t go back out there until spring! I can’t imagine having to beat the snow off to use it! lol 😀
It’s not the first time I’ve shoveled to get to the gas grill and it won’t be the last either! I’ll be grilling up salsa later this week when it’s in the 30s! 😀
Glad I can help you be more inventive Sherry!
Every time I read your blog I think you are one of the nicest people I “know.”
That ham looks awesome – I don’t think we’ve ever grilled ham but now I want to!!!
Ham & swiss sandwiches (or paninis) sound tasty!!!
The grilled ham is so easy Kim, it’s fully cooked so it only takes about 15-20 minutes a pound to warm it all the way through – so much meat for only $10!
Oh my that ham looks sooooo good. I would have to chime in with green pea soup or scalloped potatoes and lots of ham sandwiches. Also I freeze the ham for meals later on down the road.
Must try hash browns your way….I am always baking extra baked potatoes….usually just slice and fry….fast meals with meat and vegie for the husband and send him off to work.
I am sure Zeal’s appreciates having you around as their employee. I can see where you fit in perfectly and see their vision. Good job Biz!!! It’s nice that you helped your fellow waitress out….shows you care about people.
Well….just made another batch of that vegie marinara sauce….that is the best “sketti” sauce in the world and so healthy too, makes for a good pizza sauce and added a little sauce to batch #17 of Lasagna soup!!!!! Yep, I am hooked and addicted to Lasagna soup and Vegie marinara sauce!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Well I think it helps that I love food so it’s easy to describe the dishes to my tables!
Hooray for more sketti sauce and batch #17 of lasagna soup!! Love it.
We sent the one card that was in my batch of cards you sent me that had a heart on the front – so detailed. We sent it to my PIL for Valentine’s day and they gushed over how beautiful the card was – thanks!!
you are so kind. Good people are just what the world needs!
Thanks Jan!
The hash browns look delicious. MMM… You are so kind to other people. I make homemade scalloped potatoes and ham. My family loves it. Egg bake with ham is good, too. Cold here still, but a warm up heading for the midwest later this week.
I am so waiting for temps even in the 30s! That would be a relief.
Ha! I am making ham macaroni and cheese tonight! Lol!
I knew you would at least one day this week! 😀
Hash Browns? Did you say hash browns? Totally love them. And Potatoes? any which way I can get them. you are a good one, Biz.
Potatoes are like bacon – how can you go wrong?!
Biz…you’re amazing. SO giving, SO wonderful. You just totally rock. Um…those hash browns!!! yum yum yum!! SO so good. I need to try that. Those heart raviolis are so darn cute
Aw, thanks Erica! I hope I sell a lot of those heart shaped ravioli this weekend! 😀
Ham:
sandwiches, fried rice, macaroni and cheese, ham and bean soup, spaghetti amatriciana (probably my favorite but it has onion!), potato/veggie/ham hash, burritos, omelets, frittata
I knew I could count on your Marcia – fried rice is a great idea!!
Love the ravioli! You are so sweet to help out your co-worker – such good lessons we can learn from each other 🙂
I make split pea soup, bean soup and scalloped potatoes with my leftover ham, but I don’t have any special recipes. I just made scalloped potatoes and used the Joy of Cooking recipe – it was a winner! I make bean soup using BobsRedMill veggie mix and add all my own aromatics and seasoning…maybe I’ll have to write that one up! Have a great day…I think tomorrow will be our last sub-zero morning for a very long time 🙂
Ah, scalloped potatoes with ham! How could I have forgotten about that one?!
It was -11 when I left the house this morning – I am hoping that’s the last sub-zero morning too!
I always make split pea soup too!
And those ravioli are adorable!
Those raviolis are so cute!! That was really thoughtful what you did for your co-worker. 🙂
Thanks Courtney 😀
You’re the nicest Biz! That was so sweet of you to do for that woman. I also really admire how dedicated you are to your job. I’m going through some co-worker struggles lately and dealing with lack of work ethic and nasty attitudes gets old. I actually like to work and don’t mind going above and beyond sometimes. Turns out that’s not popular!
Well, there are a few of the people I work at the restaurant with that just expect to come in, get big tables, make the money and kick the patrons out so they can leave. But I like to think I set the bar! 😀
I always make pea soup with my left over ham. Actually made it yesterday with leftovers.
That’s my husbands favorite!
I cooked hashbrowns in the wafflemaker a few weeks ago for the first time ever…Oh my, perfectly crispy just like I love them!
I tried that once, but it didn’t work for me – but I think my waffle iron didn’t get hot enough. Glad it worked for you!
You are such a kind-hearted person to provide homemade food for your co-worker! She’s lucky to have you.
Thanks Dana! 😀
How funny! I was literally thinking about asking you how to make hash browns from baked potatoes a few days ago..lol…cuz I think Tony did so in a past breakfast for you? Will definitely try it out. Now if you could just help me figure out how to make frozen chicken breasts so that they are TENDER and not chewy I would be totally #winning!
oxox
Yes, Tony makes some mean hash browns too – same method, although I think he adds cheese to mine. 😀
Do you have a crock pot? I think you can “poach” frozen chicken in the crock pot?
“For frozen chicken breasts, arrange in crockpot, add 1/2 cup chicken broth or water, cover, and cook on low for 8-9 hours, rearranging once during cooking time.”
Hey Biz! That was sweet of you to bring soup and bread to your coworker! I made your deep dish pizza last night because I read your last post and had a craving! We did one link of turkey sausage in each with mushrooms and onions! Yum!
Hey Errign! Can I just tell you again how happy I am that you are happy! And everything sounds great about the pizza – except the onions! 😀