Bagel Pizzas with Fresh Mozzarella and BBQ Sauce

Nothing incredibly original or stretching my skills here, but a good, quick snack nonetheless.

Luckily, I have a couple of good bagel stores in walking distance to get fresh bagels. (No pre-packaged, mini-bagels here!) And I can also get a fresh mozzarella, with or without salt. (We prefer without -- you can always add it if you need to.)

I didn't have any pizza sauce or leftover sauce from pasta, and I wasn't going to open a can of tomato sauce, figure out what spices I needed, for just two bagel halves. Next best thing, there was a bottle of BBQ sauce in the fridge from Dinosaur BBQ. A little on the spicy side, but that's a plus.

Cut open the bagel. Make a circular depression with your thumb going around the bagel. Put the bagel in the toaster oven and toast it for about half the time you normally would.

Spoon in BBQ sauce into the depression and spread it around. (Don't fill it like a trough.)

Cut up the mozzarella. Here's one time where the packaged stuff, particularly string cheese, might have been better. The fresh kind is a little watery, especially if you refrigerate it in water after you buy and use it the first time. I tried to dry the slice a little with paper towels. It worked a little.

Sprinkle some spices on top: garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, salt, whatever. Pop it back into the toaster oven and cook it some more. Watch that the cheese isn't burning ... or dripping all over the inside of the oven.

Made My First Quiche

Not that difficult, really. I was surprised it was so simple. I saw a recipe online, so I copied it down. I have a few "friends" who have been posting things that are supposed to be healthy and simple. The "simple" is what sells me.

Just six eggs, some cream, broccoli, and cheddar cheese. Naturally, the shopping was the biggest problem. There was literally one box of frozen broccoli, despite the store carrying two national brands and their own store brand -- and it wasn't even cut right.

Cheddar cheese turned out to be on sale, so they were out of it. I got an off-name brand. About the only thing they had was the heavy cream. (They had eggs, too, but those were in the house.

I thought it turned out okay, and son liked it, but it wasn't very filling, and I needed something to go with it. (My wife was a little less impressed, probably because she knew that we needed something to go with it, and partly because she could do it better, I'm sure.)

Basically, it would've made a good weekend lunch, but it was missing something for dinner.

By the way, I did cook some bread to go with it. That will be the next update.

photo is coming -- I have to upload a few pics.

Comfort Food: the Double-Decker Fried Egg Sandwich with Cheese

It doesn't take a genius to make comfort food. The genius comes in knowing when you need to make it. And knowing how to improve upon it.

One of the first things I learned how to cook was a scrambled egg (although it often came out somewhere between scrambled and a mini-omelet). Unfortunately, I didn't always have the patience (or, frankly, the ability) to properly scramble an egg. So I had a lot of fried eggs.

Fried eggs are just plopped into the flying pan after the butter has melted.
You don't have to flip a fried egg, and it isn't uncommon for certain eight-year-olds to break the yolk making attempts to flip fried eggs and then whining and crying about it.

My mother used to tilt the pan and spoon some of the grease onto the top of the egg to cook it. That was difficult for me because the pan was hot, even with the pot holder, so I just covered it with a pot lid, and it would cook just fine.

The moment of brilliance comes when you realize that if you're making toast, and you decide to make a sandwich out of it, it doesn't matter if the yolk breaks. In fact, you want it to break. That actually gave me the courage to practice flipping my eggs.

So how do you improve on the simplicity of one egg, one frying pan and two pieces of toast, which bring back childhood memories?

Well, yeah, a bagel or a roll or something. Sure.

But how about two eggs?

One egg isn't very filling, but two eggs is too much for most rolls or bagels. Not that I mind having stuff hanging over the sides, but I don't like burning my fingers while I'm eating breakfast.

And then the brilliance struck.
This was recent. I would never have had the patience for this as a kid.

A double-decker fried egg sandwich.
Make two eggs, but make them one at a time. The first egg won't have time to get cold, and you'll be putting a second hot egg right on top of it.

Can you improve that?
How about a slice of cheese in between. (I use the slices from the bricks at Costco.)

There wasn't any ham in the fridge this morning, but I did have a little package of mini Canadian bacon. I heated it up for a few minutes in the pan to top it off.

And a slice of tomato that was almost as wide as the bagel.

Sorry, no pictures. It was a little sloppy when put together.
And by the time I thought to take a picture, there was a big ol' bite taking out of it.

Comforting.

Grilled Hot Dogs and Mac & Cheese -- Did I Say it Was a "Side Dish"?

My son has friends over, and they're still young enough that they can enjoy a side serving of mac & cheese along with whatever I've got on the grill -- which is usually hamburgers or hot dogs.

Well, they were involved in their videogames and then into the pool and the food is ready. I can't let it go to waste (or is that "waist"?).

First off, the homemade macaroni and cheese is a family recipe going back at least ... a decade or two. It had to start somewhere. Basically, it's a box of pasta, the sliced cheese from Costco (not the Kraft singles, ick!) and some milk. Single servings can be made using any leftover plain pasta, some cheese, milk and the microwave. That's just as good, if not better, because it's individualized.

Today, I made the full box, filling a sauce pot with elbows and cheese. I added in a couple of ounces of shredded cheddar cheese to give it a little more flavor. That was for them.

For me, I took a serving in a bowl, took a hot dog and sliced it, added a couple of tablespoons of salsa (I'm liking salsa). Mixed it and nuked it for 22 seconds. (The M&C had cooled off although the hot dog was right off the grill.)

Nice. This is comfort food. I need the comforting. They're hogging the pool.

Double-Stuffed-Double-Cheese-Double Burger

(This entry should have been made on Monday following Breadless Breakfast Burrito.)

I had a burger and a half left over after breakfast, and I needed two burgers, so I re-rolled them into two patties.

Sprinkled both with onion powder, garlic powder (gotta buy the real stuff -- soon) and chili powder. On top of one patty, shred (or peel) some jack cheese and sharp cheddar (and anything else for that matter).

Tricky part: Flip the second burger on top of the first, seasoned side down. Smush the edges together to erase as much of the seam between the two patties so that now it's one six-ounce patty, plus stuffing.

Put it on the grill, allowing extra time because it's extra thick.
Serve on a toasted onion bagel.