Huevos Nachos Italiano

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I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet, but I love breakfast foods and I love pork. Such a versatile meat, bacon, sausage, bacon, roast, chops – it’s all good. When I can combine the two it’s even better!

And one of the other things I like is breakfast casseroles. This is a fantastic new version – based on nachos and fused with Italian flavours. Featuring Italian Baked Potato Chips as the bottom layer, then some cheese and Italian sausage, it’s finally topped with eggs and more cheese. This could just as easily feature Mexican flavours – use Mexican Chorizo, Mexican Seasoning on the chips and Cilantro instead of Oregano.

It all sounds really good and really there’s nothing about this breakfast that doesn’t make me giddy and hungry!HeuvosNachos-2

Huevos Nachos Italiano

Italian Baked Potato Chips
8 oz. spicy Italian sausage
1 red onion
8 oz Pepper Jack
4 eggs
1 tbsp minced garlic
Oregano
shredded Cheddar
diced tomatoes
diced green onions

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  1. Make a recipe of Italian Baked Potato Chips.
  2. Fry the sausage out of its casing along with the diced red onions.
  3. Layer the chips on the bottom of a pie pan or small casserole pan and then put the sliced Pepper Jack on top of the chips.
  4. Next layer the sausage and onions on top.
  5. Scramble the eggs along with the garlic and oregano.
  6. Layer the eggs and then the shredded cheese over the top of the eggs.
  7. Bake at 475 for about 6 minutes.
  8. Once baked arrange the diced tomatoes and green onions over the top. Serve hot!

 

Italian Baked Potato Chips

ItalianChips-closeAs someone with Celiac Disease, you know that it’s extremely hard to find suitable sides that are quick, easy and don’t cost an arm and a leg. Sure, you can do rice or a baked potato for your starch and there are a ton of veggies.

But I have to admit I really am a meat and potatoes kind of guy, when I’m not scarfin’ on nachos! So it really cooks my corn when a restaurant can’t have a dedicated fryer for their fries when they have GF buns for their burgers. Seriously!? And I digress …

I recently came across a different way to cook a baked tater that’s a bit more labour intensive but just as addictive as the chips out of a bag. And they go great for a new breakfast bake that I will be featuring next week, which showcases how GF does not mean Taste Free!

Italian Baked Potato Chips

3-4 medium russets
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Oregano
chili pepper flakesItalianChips-Prebake

  1. As your oven preheats to 475 degrees, wash your bakers. Then slice them into chips at about 1/4-1/8 inch thick. You could use a mandolin if you could get the D!*#$%( thing to work!
  2. Lay them out on a foiled cookie sheet 1 layer deep and brush olive oil all over the top sides.
  3. Sprinkle on your Parmesan, Oregano and chili pepper flakes. I didn’t put measurements because it’s completely up to you as to how much zing you want in your chips.
  4. Bake for about 10 minutes on each side. If you’re doing convection, I found 7.5 minutes top side and about 10 on the bottom. That really depends on how thick you cut your chips.
  5. Serve hot!

Breakfast Burrito

This particular concoction featured fresh jalapenos and a cold baked potato. Hearty to say the least!

This particular concoction featured fresh jalapenos and a cold baked potato. Hearty to say the least!

We’ve all heard the story about when I was a young warthog … OK, maybe you haven’t heard my version. Either way, I grew up on Mexican food and developed a taste for more spice.

However, in all that time I was never introduced to the delights of the Breakfast Burrito until later in life when McDonald’s of all places started serving them. Then I was hooked and of course that was BCD.

Honestly there is really not much of a difference between a good egg scramble and a good breakfast burrito. One you served with the “bread” and cheese wrapped around the scramble and the other you served with jalapeno jelly on your buttered toast. And frankly your scramble could be very different than mine.

ScrambleTallScrambles, burritos, omelettes – they all vary depending on your individual taste. Therefore, there will not be a down pat recipe for this one. It will be along the lines of a this is how I make my scramble or burrito. And while I can make a mean omelette, like my pizza, I tend to put too many ingredients in them to really call them pizza, er, omelettes!

Breakfast Burrito / Scramble

3 eggs
1 GF tortilla (Udi’s are the best I’ve found)
Cheddar slices
Pepper Jack Cheese
Crumbled Bacon
Cold Tater Tots/Diced Fries/potato
Red onion
Minced Garlic
Cilantro
Cayenne Pepper or fresh Jalapenos
Tomato

  1. In an 8-inch non-stick frying pan, saute your bacon, onions and spices in a bit of butter.ScrambleStart
  2. Once your onions are soft, add in the crumbled tots or diced potatoes. If need be add a little butter to ensure that the mixture doesn’t dry up.
  3. Crack your eggs right into the pan and add in your cheese slices. Mix and cook thoroughly.
  4. If you are using tomatoes, this is when you add them so they don’t put a ton of moisture into the scramble.
  5. Once this is all done cooking, pour it onto your plate and layer a healthy dose of shredded Pepper Jack over the top. Or if you are doing a burrito, pour the mix onto your tortilla that has had the cheese already melted on it!

Cheesy Pork Roll

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While the bacon may not look cooked, that’s not the case since it was wrapped in parchment paper to keep the loaf together. This also helped keep the juices from just evaporating.

I’m not exactly sure why I need to keep wrapping stuff in bacon. Whether it’s a meatloaf or a jalapeno, everything really is better with bacon. Ok in my case, bacon and cheese!CheesyPork-Prep

Pork roasts were never really served in my house when I was younger. Sure we did pork chops – battered and fried, maybe some milk gravy. But pork roasts were just not done. Then I got diagnosed and started looking at other types of foods to fill me up, because we all know GF is Not Taste Free. And doing a pork roast fit the bill.

My first variation of a simple pork roast was my Caribbean Jerk Roast. But recently I saw another Celiac blogger talking about bacon-wrapped loaf and I had to experiment. And boy was this experiment tasty!

I made a sandwich with Pepper Jack cheese and fresh jalapenos between pork “buns” wrapped in bacon … it was awesome!

Cheesy Pork Roll

CheesyPork-Prep21 pork roast
about 150 g Pepper Jack cheese
1 regular package bacon
2-3 jalapenos or other peppers
Cajun seasoning

  1. Preheat your convection to 375 degrees while you start slicing your jalapenos into strips, cheese into thin blocks (about a quarter inch thick) and your roast into what looks like a hoagie.
  2. Place your cheese in the middle and then your peppers on the top of the cheese.
  3. Fold your pork roll together and pat the roll down with your Cajun Spices.
  4. Wrap your bacon around the pork roast and then wrap the whole roast with parchment paper before putting it into a meatloaf pan.
  5. Cook the roast for about 35-40 minutes or until your meat thermometer says mid rare to medium for pork. Remember it will cook up for a bit longer after you take it out.

Garlic-Parm Asparagus

AsparagusA few years before Celiac Diagnosis, I was diagnosed with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. It was because of that diagnosis that I was further diagnosed with Celiac’s. Now I have to watch not only my lack of gluten consumption, but also my fat intake.

So I started at that time looking for recipes that were flavourful and low fat. I found a recipe for baked asparagus and then altered it a bit. OK, so I added a bit of fat back in with the Parmesan cheese but it was so much better than the lemon. Here you go – remember Gluten Free is not Taste Free!

Garlic-Parm Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

  1. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil while your oven preheats to 350 degrees.
  2. Wash your asparagus. After washing bend each stalk until it breaks, then throw out the stalk end keeping the bushy end. These are the pieces you want, below the break would be bitter.
  3. Place your asparagus on the sheet in rows.
  4. Mix all of your other ingredients together and then brush the paste over the stalks.
  5. Cook for about 10 minutes turning at the five minute mark. If you’re not using convection cook for about 12 minutes.

 

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Pork

There are times that I question the methods by which we cook. For instance, in the height of the heat, we stand outside and grill steaks over hot coals. And I understand that ice cream is a year round treat, but really in the middle of winter, you’re gonna eat some food that makes you just as cold inside as it is outside?

So it is with great trepidation that I offer up this recipe in the middle of the summer using a slow cooker. That said, I believe this sauce could easily be used on the stove-top to make it a much quicker meal. Or if you like the idea of the slow cooker, this would likely work fantastic with a nice pork roast and shredding the meat over rice. The proof is in the the pork that Gluten Free is Not Taste Free!

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Pork Chops

1 cup (250 ml) GF Soya Sauce
1/2 cup (125 ml) ketchup
1 cup (250 ml) honey
1/4 cup (50 g) minced garlic
1 tbsp (15 g) cilantro
1 tbsp (15 g) oregano
2 tbsp (30 g) pepper flakes
Pork Chops – about 8-10 would be covered by this sauce.

  1. Mix all of the ingredients up to the pork chops. Whisk it together well.
  2. Using your fresh (not frozen) pork chops, cover the bottom of your slow cooker. And then cover with your sauce.
  3. The biggest issue with this method is that you can easily overcook your pork chops. On high for like an hour, two at max should be good. If you want to do slower, low for about four hours max and even then your chops may be over done.

Note: I will be trying this again with a roast and we’ll see how that turns out! I’ll let you know!