Recipes, creative cooking ideas and food photography from the author of the Taste of Tucson and Sprinkles! Cookbooks
Recipe for red wine soaked sausages in creamy, cheesy pasta, using either plant-based or meat sausages and egg noodles.
I made fancy sprinkles covered Easter eggs, and you can too. It's easy! Learn how in my latest article for the Food Network.
Molletes beat avocado toast any day! These open-faced breakfast sandwiches are made by slathering refried beans onto toasted bolillo rolls and then heaping avocado slices, a fried egg, hot sauce, and lots of cheese on top. If you can't find bolillos at your local bakery, use a sweet French roll instead.
A quick and easy Tucson Sonoran breakfast taco with a crispy egg fried in chorizo then folded with cheese into a tortilla. I ate this as a makeshift breakfast every day for weeks while writing the Taste of Tucson cookbook. The fat from the tablespoon of chorizo makes the egg really crispy and adds a lot of flavor without too many extra calories. I fry up a batch of chorizo in advance and store it in the fridge, where it becomes solid, until I scoop it out, and heat it up.
Recipe for Skillet Stuffing Shakshuka made with leftover stuffing and eggs in a smoky, tomato based sauce.
To help us carbo-load for the long trek through the neighborhood, my mother would prepare her standard pre-trick-or-treat meal of Kraft's boxed spaghetti dinner. We loved it. This recipe is almost as easy to throw together before going out. It's also quite a bit spookier looking, yet elegant enough to serve at a Halloween themed adult dinner party. Try challenging kids who think "weird "mushrooms and black pasta are too creepy to eat to a fun Halloween dinner game where they have to try it anyway. I'm betting that this spooky Carbonara, (or "Bacon and Egg & Cheese Pasta" as I like to refer to it), is sure to be a hit. For the black pasta I used Asian Organic Black Bean Spaghetti, which I found at my local market. It is considerably less expensive than the traditional black squid ink pasta, plus it's gluten free, with only 17 carbs per serving, making it a nice counter-balance to all of the sugar you'll probably be eating later on.
Whatever happened to Rumaki, that vaguely Polynesian appetizer that they used to serve at tiki themed parties in the 70s? Maybe making buffalo-style rumaki will help modernize them a bit and bring them back into the public lexicon? Let's all try serving this recipe at our next soiree and see what happens. Note: If you want to serve extra wing sauce on the side, prepare an additional batch of sauce as directed omitting the egg yolk.
Start your day with this Tucson Sonoran style power breakfast. It's vegetarian yet high in protein, complex carbs and healthy fats.
Here's an elegant, yet quick and easy baked breakfast casserole. Tuck savory Canadian bacon, eggs, herbs and cheese inside crusty baguettes the night before. When you wake up, add a little cream, then slip it into the oven for brunch. This recipe originally appeared on Tastecooking.com
Sweet and creamy butternut squash hash, hearty wheat berries and protein rich eggs merge into the perfect breakfast bowl. Prepare the grains according to package instructions unless otherwise noted. You can do this in advance and store the cooked grains in the refrigerator to save time later. Different varieties of the same grain have different cooking times so be sure to check the label. This recipe was originally written for, and published on Refinery29 as part of an article on easy and affordable grain bowls. Check out the rest of the recipes on the site.
Tacos for breakfast? Of course! Pinto beans add a healthy dose of fiber and low-carb tortillas erase any remaining guilt factor. Make these as mild or spicy as you like with your favorite taco sauce or salsa. Pretty tortilla cups filled with eggs, bacon, pinto beans, cheese and salsa.
There is no flour in these breakfast muffin cups, yet they're still light and fluffy! The secret is to beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. I mixed in spicy Italian chicken sausage and cheddar cheese, but feel free to experiment with your favorite sausage and cheese combinations. This recipe was originally published on TodayFood.com.
Looks can be deceiving; my favorite monsters are scary looking, but innately good. Just like these monster-ized eggs, which have been turned green and frightening looking, but are completely delicious. These fried eggs with pesto and Parmesan are also monstrously easy to make.
A simple and satisfying crustless quiche that has all of the things I love; peppers (both hot & sweet), onions, Swiss, Gruyere, eggs, and cream.
Made this low-carb bread replacement (often called "Oopsie Bread") out of eggs and cream cheese from a recipe I've seen all over the internet. It turned out great. It smells like cheesy-bread while it's cooking, and it's very light, and well, bread-like. Often hot dogs are too much about the bun, so this turned out to be a perfect alternative housing for the Sonoran hot dogs in my Taste of Tucson cookbook.
The Wedge salad is one of these very classic, simple recipes that's accessible to everyone. One that's been loved for generations and modified along the way to accommodate changing tastes. When I've had this at steakhouses it's usually served with a very thick bleu cheese dressing, but I prefer to leave that to my buffalo wings. This version is topped with a lighter vinaigrette. I've smashed the blue cheese into the vinegar & oil base so that the flavor carries throughout the salad. It can be made into a meal by adding some chopped chicken breast, chopped hard boiled egg or tiny shrimp. The salad feels festive, even if you're just making it for yourself to eat alone in front of the TV. Usually I present it to myself all pretty on the plate, and then I proceed to chop it into bits at the table with my knife and fork.
I think it's interesting how similar variations of dishes develop in different parts of the world. I'd never heard of Shakshuka until recently, but it's very popular in the Middle East and Israel and it's somewhat similar to Eggs Diablo. I took my version a step further and added a little cream and cheddar cheese, and placed the whole thing under the broiler, since I wanted my eggs cooked throughout. This dish is traditionally cooked in a cast iron skillet, but but you can use any oven safe skillet. I baked it in a 6.5" Lodge Cast Iron Skillet which was a perfect fit for the sauce and 4 eggs.
This recipe is the result of an early morning haze wherein I emptied random things from the refrigerator into a pan in a blurry attempt to make breakfast. It came out better than I expected, and now my husband and I eat scrambled eggs for breakfast this way almost every day.
I call this Arizona Cowboy Caviar because I'm in Arizona and it's similar to Texas Caviar made with black eyed peas and the lentils do resemble fish eggs. My Arizona Cowboy Caviar recipe is made with lentils, chile peppers and red onion in a spicy citrus vinaigrette.