Ham and Cheese Quiche

This is a very basic quiche, basically just a ham and cheese sandwich with eggs instead of bread (like that's a bad thing).

1 C cream or half and half
1/3 lb of good ham chopped (I like black forest cut extra thick by the deli then chopped)
1 1/2 C grated Jarlsburg or gruyere
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 pie crust, either homemade or frozen
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Dock crust and blind bake until lightly golden (10-15 minutes).  Meanwhile, brown the ham well in a skillet with a little oil or butter.  Layer the bottom of the pie crust with the ham then the cheese. Combine the rest of the ingredients and whisk thoroughly, adjust seasoning as necessary.  Pour in to pie shell and cook until set, approximately 35 minutes.

Sundried Tomato and Goat Cheese Quiche

This is a quiche made with the flavors of caprese (cheese, tomato, and basil).  I choose goat cheese here for the extra tanginess to help cut through the eggs and cream.

1 C cream or half and half
8 oil packed sun dried tomato halves, drained and chopped
1 C goat cheese
1 1/2 t dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 pie crust, either homemade or frozen
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Dock crust and blind bake until lightly golden (15-20 minutes).  Layer the bottom of the pie crust with the sun dried tomato. Combine the rest of the ingredients and whisk thoroughly, adjust seasoning as necessary.  Pour in to pie shell and cook until set, approximately 35 minutes.

Easy No-Cook Oatmeal

This is as simple as dishes get; just mix rolled oats, dried fruit, the seasonings of your choice, and milk and let sit over night before eating.

3/4 rolled oats
1/4 dried fruits
honey, sugar, maple syrup, and spices to taste (cinnamon and cardamom are both good options in the spice category)
2% to whole milk to cover.

Mix everything and let sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours to blend.

Shakshuka

A middle eastern breakfast dish of eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce.  While nominally a breakfast dish, it's savory enough to eat for other meals as well as being fast and easy.  This dish can be made vegan by leaving out the eggs, though it ends up lacking protein.  Serve with pita.

1 28oz can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, crushed
6 T olive oil
1 t cumin
1/2 t caraway
1/2 t cayenne (or to taste)
1 t paprika
6 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
A squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

Heat the oil and saute the garlic lightly in a large skillet.  Crush the tomatoes by hand in to the skillet and add the seasonings.  Cook for 15 minutes or so partially covered, then taste and adjust seasoning.  Crack the eggs in to the skillet and cook, partially covered, until the whites have just set.

French Toast Stuffed with Orange Spiked Cream Cheese

The first time I had stuffed french toast was as a kid at a little place called Muriel's in Newport RI on a family road trip, and it was much like this with orange spiked cream cheese.  It turned out the Muriel's, a completely chance stop off at a tiny restaurant, was amazing.  We drove a hundred miles out of our way to eat there again, and found out that she'd won the chowder cook off so many years in a row that they asked her to stop competing.  It's been long enough that I don't have an accurate memory of her french toast, but even so I'd put my version up against hers any day.  I like to serve mine with kumquat syrup.

Cream cheese mixture:
8 oz softened cream cheese
2 T sugar
zest of half an orange, grated and finely chopped
2 T triple sec
1/4 t vanilla extract

Mix all of the ingredients together, and allow to blend.  I like to make mine the night before, stick it in the fridge, then soften it again in the morning for use.

French Toast:
2 C half and half
4 eggs
1/2 t vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon
1 T sugar
1 T honey
zest of half an orange, grated and finely chopped
salt to taste

1 large brioche, cut in 3/4" to 1" thick slices
Butter

Combine the ingredients except for the brioche and butter and whisk thoroughly.  Set aside for 15-20 minutes to blend flavors.  With a paring knife cut a slice in the edge of each piece of brioche to allow room to stuff it without going through.  Stuff or pipe each slice with the cream cheese mixture (you don't need a ton of it, just get a fair amount in without tearing the bread).

Soak the stuffed slices of brioche in the custard mixture for 5 minutes, turning once; while this is soaking melt butter in a skillet.  Cook the french toast a couple of pieces as a time until golden brown on both sides.

Kumquat Syrup

A citrus syrup with notes of ginger and star anise, perfect to go with stuffed french toast (recipe to follow).

50 kumquats, thinly sliced (roughly two pints), I find it easiest to halve the kumquats lengthwise to remove the seeds, then thinly slice
4 C ginger ale
2 C water
1.5 C sugar
1-2 star anise

Combine the sugar, ginger ale, water, and star anise, and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar.  Add the kumquats, and simmer until it reaches the consistency of warm maple syrup, about 45 minutes.

Quiche Lorraine

The classic quiche of bacon, eggs, and cream.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 C creme fraiche
Cream to thin out the creme fraiche (typically about 3 T)
Pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 lb bacon, in lardons
pie crust, either store bought or homemade

Preheat oven to 375 F and blind bake the crust until lightly golden (about 10 minutes for a room temperature docked crust without pie weights).  While this is baking brown the bacon over medium low heat, then drain.  Beat together the creme fraiche, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and eggs.  Scatter the bacon on the crust, and pour over the cream mixture.  Bake at 375 until the filling is just set, about 25 minutes.


Variations:
While it would stop being a traditional quiche lorraine you could vary the recipe some by adding sauteed mushroom and/or grated gruyere. Be careful with the salt if using gruyere.

Blueberry Syrup

A simple blueberry sauce good on everything from pancakes to ice cream.

1 can blueberries in light syrup
1/4 C lemon juice
zest of 1 orange
1 T sugar
1 T cornstarch
pinch salt

Mix the ingredients thoroughly, then bring to a boil.  Taste and adjust if necessary.

Stuffed French Toast

A classic breakfast dish with a bit of a twist.  Here I use orange flavored cream cheese, but you could easily mix cream cheese with preserves of some sort or another if you wanted a different flavor.  The amounts are about right for the filling, but the amount of French toast this will make will vary based on the size of the bread and how well you fill it.

Bread, sliced 3/4" thick
Butter

Batter:
4 eggs
1/2 C half and half
1/2 C milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1 T sugar

Filling:
1 pack cream cheese, softened
zest of 1 orange
1 T sugar
2-3 T triple sec
pinch of salt

Mix the filling ingredients together and allow to sit for at least an hour to blend flavors.
Cut a pocket in the middle of each slice of bread and pack it with the filling (this is probably easiest done with a finger; a piping bag might work, but it's fairly thick filling).
Beat together the batter ingredients, then soak the filled bread slices, giving them about a minute a side.  While those are soaking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium.
Place the soaked slices in the skillet and brown both sides.
Serve with maple or blueberry syrup.

Belgian Waffles

Crispy exterior, soft and fluffy interior, these are just about the perfect classic waffle.  You'll have to get up a little earlier and put some effort in to it, but it's well worth it as long as your friends and family leave you some.  Of course if you tell them how much butter is in this you'll be more likely to get some...

Ingredients:
1 pkg. dry yeast
2 C lukewarm milk (preferably whole)
4 eggs, separated
1 t vanilla
2 ½ C sifted flour
½ t salt
1 T sugar
½ C melted butter

Sprinkle yeast over milk and stir to dissolve.
 Beat egg yolks and add to yeast mixture with vanilla.
Sift together flour, salt and sugar; add to liquids. 
Stir in melted butter and combine thoroughly.
Let mixture stand in a warm place about 45 minutes or until mixture doubles. 
Beat egg whites until stiff; carefully fold into batter.
The amount you'll need for your waffle iron will vary, but should be around a cup, and this should make 5.

Sausage and Egg Casserole

A hearty breakfast casserole, good for feeding a group when you'd rather do the work the night before and just throw it in the oven.  I also know someone who made this with vegetarian chorizo and said it turned out well.

Ingredients:

1 lb. raw breakfast sausage

6 eggs

6 slices of white or wheat bread torn into pieces

2 cups milk, preferably whole

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

Mix everything together with hands.  Butter a 9x12" baking dish and put mixture into dish.  Refrigerate overnight a minimum of 12 hours.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, checking occasionally to make sure it isn't drying out.

Roasted Garlic Breakfast Sausage

3 lbs pork shoulder, cubed
2 oz salt pork
2 large cloves garlic
4 T fresh sage, chopped
1-2 heads roasted garlic (2 for the true garlic lovers, 1 if you don't want to smell like garlic all day)
1/2 C cold water
1/5 t ground black pepper
1 t crushed red pepper, or to taste
2-3 T peeled and freshly grated ginger
2 T kosher salt, or to taste

Mix all ingredients except cold water and chill for an hour. Run the mixture through a meat grinder. Then add the water and mix together in a mixer with a paddle attachment, or by hand with a large spoon.

Cranberry Jam

I had some cranberries that I didn't use for Thanksgiving and ended up throwing in the freezer. I later turned them in to cranberry jam, which is quite good on toasted muffins with cream cheese. I'm guessing it's also going to go quite well on baked brie.

12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
1 short cup sugar
1 C water
juice and zest of one orange
pinch salt

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. The jam will thicken as it cools. You may need to use a spoon to crush some of the cranberries.