BCT Frittata (Bacon,Cheese & Tomato)

June 8, 2015June 8, 20152 Comments

Looking for a special breakfast to sit down to with your family? Something delicious and easy? Something for Father’s Day or to feed a crowd? Maybe something you can mix up the night before and pop it in the oven in the morning? This Bacon Cheese & Tomato Frittata fits the bill. I recently made a similar frittata for a girl’s bachelorette weekend… My husband loves bacon, so this one has thick cut bacon cooked right in. A frittata is like a baked omelet. And because it is baked, the eggs are light and fluffy and perfectly cooked throughout.

What you will need for this to come out perfectly is an oven safe non-stick skillet... if you don’t have this, no worries, just spray a baking pie dish with cooking spray or coat with butter and pour contents into that.

If you like or dislike any of these ingredients or if you happen to have something else on hand, substitute at will. The important thing is to saute hard veggies like onions. The frittata I made on the girl’s weekend was made up of onions, red bell peppers and sliced baked ham with a sharp cheddar. I was also feeding a larger crowd, so I used 10 eggs instead of just 8 and I added a half cup of cream. Customize it to what you like!

Start with your bacon. Cut up about 4 slices of thick cut bacon and start sauteing in the skillet.

Dice up some onions.

Add your onions right in with your bacon as it is cooking down.

Keep the onions and bacon going over medium heat until it’s time to add in the eggs. Meanwhile get the rest of the ingredients prepped.

Dice up some cheddar… this is mild, sharp works well also.

Cut up some sweet grape tomatoes.

Crack 8 eggs into a bowl and scramble with a fork.

For this Frittata, I added in a smal pinch of Herbs de Provence... Be careful here, this is a strong spice for such a delicate dish, you only want to add in the smallest pinch. If you happen to have fresh herbs instead, great... some thyme and parsley would be lovely here.

For this Frittata, I added in a small pinch of Herbs de Provence… Be careful here, this is a strong spice for such a delicate dish, you only want to add in the smallest pinch. If you happen to have fresh herbs instead, great… some thyme and parsley would be lovely here.

Add in a pinch of salt and freshly cracked pepper.

When your onions and bacon are good and caramelized, you will know it’s time to drain off some of the fat add in the eggs.

Add in your egg mixture.

Add your tomatoes.

Bake in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes.

Recipe for BCT Frittata:

(serves 4-6)

8-10 eggs

1/2 onion diced

4 slices thick cut bacon, cut into 1″ pieces

3 oz. cheddar, cubed

8-10 grape or cherry tomatoes

1 small pinch kosher salt

4-5 cracks of fresh black pepper

1 small pinch Herbs de Provence (optional)

Directions:

Render bacon in a non-stick oven safe skillet. Add in diced onions. In a separate bowl, scramble eggs. Add in Herbs de Provence, salt and pepper. Add in cheese.
Once onions and bacon are caramelized, add in egg mixture. Top with tomatoes.

Bake at 350°F for about 10-12 minutes until set. (Eggs will slightly puff when done)

*note – this is a gluten-free recipe

Vavó’s Cake

May 25, 2015May 26, 2015

My Vavó (grandmother) was not a big baker, at all. But, she baked one dessert on a regular basis, this cake. I think this cake is the only reason she even owned an electric mixer, as I never saw her use it for anything else. On any given day, I could walk into her dining room and in a similar cake plate as you see here, there would be her cake. Any time I make this cake, it brings me right back there with my Vavó, enjoying a cup of tea and this deliciously simple dessert.

Memorial Day in my family was always about remembering those who have passed. We have always been thankful for those service members who have given their lives to bring us the freedoms this country has afforded us all. And in addition to that, we would always go to the cemetery to place flowers to remember family members and friends no longer with us. This was a yearly tradition for my grandmother. I show my love and remembrance in other ways… So, this post is in dedication to her – para alma da minha Vavó.

If you are looking for a moist decadent cake, this is not the one. This simple sponge cake is meant to be enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee. It is a very basic, no frills cake with the exception of that crusty top that crunches in your mouth. It is meant to be dry and dense and have a slightly sweet taste.

Start by separating your eggs.

Keep your yolks seperate and place your whites in a bowl of an electric mixer.

Keep your yolks separate and place your whites in a bowl of an electric mixer.

Beat egg whites until stiff and remove and place in a seperate bowl.

Beat egg whites until stiff and remove and place in a separate bowl.

Then place your egg yolks in the same bowl you originally had your whites in and beat until they combine.

Add in one cup of sugar, beat until combined.

Then add in the other cup of sugar and beat until combined again.

This is what your yolks and sugar should look like… uniform and creamy.

Next, measure out your flour.

Then measure your baking powder.

Add in your baking powder to your flour.

Wisk together to sift.

Then fold in your whites with your yolks.

Then add in your dry ingredients.

Mix in with the paddle attachment of your mixer… Then scrape down the sides and bottom. and mix again.

You will quickly come to a consistency like this.

My grandmother always used an angel food cake pan for this cake… I don’t know what it would look like in any other pan, so this is what I use.

Spray your pan with baking spray, the kind with flour in it… although my grandmother would always use butter. Spray is just easier and gets the job done.

Pour

Drop the pan once or twice to release any big air bubbles from the pouring.

Place in the oven for around 35 – 45 mins at 350°F or until a butter knife comes out clean (or a toothpick, but my Vavó always used a butter knife)

And there you have it.

Para alma da minha Vavó

Ingredients for Vavó’s Cake:

(serves 8 -10)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

8 eggs, separated

1 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

Beat egg whites until stiff, set aside. Beat egg yolks and sugar until creamy. Fold whites into yolks. In a separate bowl, sift flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients into wet. Mix to combine, scraping the sides. Place in a greased and floured angel food cake pan. Bake 35 – 45 minutes at 350°F until a butter knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Breakfast in Bed – Fancy Pants Version

May 3, 2015May 19, 2015

My special “Breakfast in Bed” Series continues today with “Breakfast in Bed – Fancy Pants Version”. This series is designed in preparation for Mother’s Day or any time that you want to spoil that special someone with that extra effort.

Beds across the nation will be warmed up with the love of children to their mother’s showing them just how much they are loved and appreciated by that extra effort to take care of Mom as she takes care of them each and every day. Today’s installment features a fancy kicked up breakfast. Some of it can be prepared ahead of time, but some elements are meant to be done the morning of. And unlike my first installment, Breakfast in Bed – Kid Friendly Version where most everything was disposable, this version takes a bit more effort because after breakfast there will be dishes to do and we don’t want to leave that to Mom!

So, again if you are Mom and you are reading this, now is the time to hand the computer or tablet over to your significant other or older child (as there are way too many breakables involved here for a youngster) and turn away. I will now be addressing the Preparer.

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Some of the elements here such as the Chocolate Covered Strawberries and the Codfish Cakes can be made a day in advance. Then other elements, such as the Tea, the OJ and the Southwest Veggie Omelet need to be prepared the morning of. Although, you should definitely refrigerate your oranges for the OJ, otherwise you will have warm OJ.

Start with your Mom’s favorite tray. This is mine. I bought it the last time I visited St. Michael. It is hand-made and adorned with hand crafted St. Michael’s signature blue and white tile. The scene depicted here is of the ‘Portas de Cidade” or Gates to the City. The Portas de Cidade is a famous landmark in Ponta Delgada, St. Michael’s capital city and is a source of great pride for all Azoreans.

Here is a mini tutorial on how to make delicious Chocolate Covered Strawberries from scratch:

Like I mentioned above, These can be done the night before, but they can also be done same day so long as you have a chilled area for them to set up quickly.

Start with some fresh strawberries. Wash and dry them thoroughly. Moisture is melted chocolate’s worst nightmare.

Next, pour half the contents of a chocolate chip bag into a microwave safe bowl.

Pop it in the microwave. Start off with one minute on high. Stir. Every 15 seconds, stir until you get the proper consistency.

When your chocolate still has this much texture to it, it should be ready to stir into melty goodness.

When your chocolate looks like this, you are ready for dipping!

Give each strawberry its own individual bath.

Be sure to have a plate or cookie sheet covered with parchment paper to receive the dipped strawberries so they may cool and firm up.

Once you have them all dipped and ready to so, get them to a cool place to chill.

Next, here is a mini tutorial on how to make fresh squeezed orange juice:

There is nothing like fresh squeezed orange juice. It is not like the kind in the carton. The nutritional value of the fresh squeezed is far superior to anything you might find at the supermarket.

Start with some beautifully ripened oranges. It is a good idea to refrigerate these over night, otherwise you will end up with warm OJ, not great.

I found that one large orange was enough to fill a juice glass. Obviously this depends on how large you can find the orange and how juicy they are. Cut them in half to start.

Here are three different methods to getting one delicious glass of OJ:

The first method of juicing is just to hand squeeze the orange into a glass. I find that this is the least efficient way as you will have a hard time squeezing out every drop.

The next method is a much more common method, using a juicer. This one has the little rim that catches seeds, nice! You will want to work the orange onto the juicer with a bit of elbow grease to get every last drop.

The third option is the squeeze juicer. This baby really gets every last drop out and prevents seeds from falling in the juice! I always find it funny how it almost seems like the orange is put in backwards, but it literally turns the fruit inside out.

This main plate features a Southwest Veggie Omelet and Codfish Cakes. Recipes and tutorials are detailed on their respective postings. Take a look, the omelet tutorial teaches how to make the perfect omelet and customize it to your tastes.

Although you may think of Codfish Cakes as a lunch or dinner item, it is especially good in the morning and with some eggs, so give it a try.

And last, but not least is the tea. I found this little gem while traveling in Utah. I fell in love with this hand-made beauty and started collecting personal tea pots ever since. If you are looking for a lovely gift for Mom, check out Golden Moon Tea, they have some great high quality teas and tea ware.

Supplies you will need:

* Pretty Tray

* Pretty plate

* Pretty napkin

* Crystal juice glass

* Personal Tea Pot

* 3″ glazed tile

* silverware

Food and drink:

* Southwest Veggie Omelet

* Codfish Cakes

* Fresh squeeze Orange Juice

* Chocolate Covered Strawberries

* Tea (don’t forget whatever your Mom takes in her tea, ie. sugar, milk, honey or lemon)

Have fun and remember to think about what your Mom loves and tailor her Breakfast in Bed to what she likes best! A nice handmade card goes a long way too!

Breakfast in Bed – Kid Friendly Version

April 30, 2015May 19, 20152 Comments

Breakfast in bed has long been a Mother’s Day tradition across the country. This post is not meant for Mom’s, but for those who care about them. So, I will be addressing both kid’s and their adult helpers. This is my Kid Friendly version of breakfast in bed. Although mom’s love to be pampered, it’s not always a good idea for a young child to be handling mom’s good china and crystal. So, I thought it would be fun to give kids some ideas on how they can prepare some simple crafts and recipes (with adult supervision) to surprise Mom. And even if they don’t have the adult supervision needed for cooking on the stove or using a knife to cut things, I will mention some easy substitutions!

So, if you are a mom… now is the time you turn the computer over to your children or significant other or whomever may be a trusted adult in your child’s life…

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OK kids, Mom’s love feeling special and knowing that you love them. You don’t need to crack open your piggy bank to do this. With some easy supplies and ingredients you can probably find around your house, you can bring Mom a beautiful breakfast in bed tray with a delicious and nutritious breakfast!

Start with a tray. I got this one around Christmas time for a dollar at a local store. If you look around you might have a hard plastic tray you can use too. It may have Easter bunnies on it or even sun flowers.

Now find a dish towel or a tea towel. This one is plain white, just use whatever color your mom likes.

Fold the towel nicely to cover the tray, but not over hang.

Use a disposable coffee cup for this project. If you don’t have a plain white one available, you can color a piece of computer paper or construction paper, cut it to the size of your mom’s travel mug, color it with pictures or just a simple “I love Mommy” and tape it to the mug.

Then your cup will be ready to set on the tray with coffee or tea… or whatever your mom likes to drink in the morning.

Ask an adult to help you get some of your mom’s favorite fruit and make her a little fruit salad in a paper or plastic cup. Here there are some sliced mango pieces and cut up strawberries. You could use grapes, blueberries and raspberries if you can’t use a knife. Just be sure to rinse them and dry them gently first.

Get a pretty napkin and plastic fork and knife or in this case a wooden set.

Make a pretty flower like this one. This one is a pom-pom flower (I will be posting the tutorial soon, so look for it). And place it in a bud vase. You could also make a tissue paper flower or get creative and make one from pipe cleaners or popsicle sticks or whatever you have in your craft supplies.

This is an egg with a hat… You can click on this link to find my Eggs with Hats recipe! (Also, notice it is on a plastic plate, you can use whatever you have, plastic, paper) If you aren’t allowed to use the stove, make mom some nice toast with butter and jelly!

Mom’s usually like having something healthy for breakfast and this BCT (Bacon, Cheese and Tomato) salad is yummy and healthy. Again, if you can’t use the stove you could just get some pieces of cheese and toss with some tomatoes and maybe use microwaveable bacon.

Here is what you will need for my BCT salad:

My BCT salad is super simple! It’s just some crispy bacon (1 slice, chopped into 4 pieces), 4 grape tomatoes (they were grilled with the bacon for about 1 minute) and about 2 oz. of diced cheddar cheese. Toss them all together.

And that’s it. I will have a list of supplies for doing it exactly as I did. But, you can definitely substitute with supplies you have around the house! Have fun and remember that your mom will just love the effort you are putting into it so make it special and keep her tastes in mind!

Supplies:

1 hard plastic tray

1 kitchen towel

1 plastic plate

1 bud vase

1 homemade flower

1 pretty napkin

1 plastic cup

1 coffee cup, decorated

1 fork and knife

Food:

1 egg with hat (bread, egg, butter see recipe here)

1 BCT salad (grape tomatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon)

1 fruit salad (mango and strawberries)

Coffee or tea for the mug

Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham

April 4, 2015March 13, 2016

Baked ham… an Easter tradition in my house growing up. I’m part of a big Portuguese family, so of course that wasn’t the only thing on the table, there would usually be some sort of roast or stew as well… but, my favorite was always the ham. My mother always put sliced pineapples on her ham. So, what I’ve done is incorporate that into my pineapple honey glazed ham. It’s simple and delicious.

A lot of people like spiral hams, and they are yummy, but they can also be quite pricy. I’ll be using a 10 lb. ham here and with Easter sales at my grocery store, I paid under $10 for this one, score! Spiral hams usually come with a nice little packet, usually brown sugar based that can be used to glaze the ham with, but regular run of the mill hams don’t. So, I’ve included a simple pineapple honey glaze with this recipe that is almost as simple as opening up that packet.

You’ll want to start with figuring out what size pan you’ll use. It’s a good idea for it to have room enough for the drippings, but not be so overwhelmingly big that the glaze doesn’t hang out near the meat. For this 10lb ham, I am using a 9×12″ baking dish.

You will want to prepare your ham to accept the glaze. This can be done by placing the ham cut side down in your baking dish and scoring in a lattice style, criss crossing over the entire skin.

Here are all the ingredient’s you will need for the glaze: honey, 1 20 oz . can of sliced pineapples, with the juice reserved, 1 T. butter, salt and whole pepper corns.

Take your ingredients and add them in all together to a small sauce pan over medium heat and stir. 1 T butter, 1 t. pepper corns, 2 T. honey, 1/2 t. salt and reserved juice (don’t add the actual pineapples to this mix) The goal here is not to cook it down, but just to get them all mixed in the warmth helps the butter and honey to incorporate. 2-3 minutes should do it.

Next, just pour the glaze over the ham.

Place the pineapples on the ham.

If you have a tough time getting the pineapples to stay put, you can secure them with toothpicks… I didn’t have any trouble due to the shape of my ham.

I like to add a bit more honey to the top for fun… this is about a tablespoon’s worth.

You should cover the ham for cooking, but first what I like to do is spray some cooking spray on the foil so it doesn’t stick to the pineapples.

Next, loosely cover with foil, sprayed side down.

Bake at 325°F for 15 minutes per lb.

It’s a good idea to baste the ham a few times… after your calculated cooking time is through, i like to uncover the ham and put into a 375°F oven for another 20 minutes or so to get some color on your pineapples and crisp up the skin of the ham a bit.

And that’s it… Check to see that the internal temperature is up to 140°F (because ham is fully cooked before you put it in the oven), put it on a platter as seen here with my Rockstar Potatoes. (Be sure to remove toothpicks at this point if you used them)

Baked ham, Rockstar Potatoes and peas! A perfect Easter dinner!

Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham

plan on 1/2 lb. per person for a bone in ham

Ingredients:

1 cured ham, bone in

1 20 oz. can sliced pineapple, juice reserved

2-3 T. honey

1 T. butter

1 t. black pepper corns

1/2 t. kosher salt

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325°F.

For the glaze: In a small sauce pan over medium heat combine juice, honey, butter, pepper corns and salt. Warm through mixing.

Score the ham in a cross hatch fashion.

Pour warmed glaze over ham. Place pineapples on ham. Add extra honey if desired over top. Cover with foil. Bake 15 minutes per lb. Baste 2-3 time throughout cooking time. Remove foil after cooking time and baste again. Bake for an additional 20 minutes uncovered at 375°F. Check to see that ham is hot throughout and the skin has started to crisp up, internal temp should be 140°F.

***Gluten-free

the portuguese american mom

stay awhile… have a cup of tea, let's get creative!

Category: Holidays

BCT Frittata (Bacon,Cheese & Tomato)

Vavó’s Cake

Breakfast in Bed – Fancy Pants Version

Breakfast in Bed – Kid Friendly Version

Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham

Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham