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Savory Snacks

Breakfast/Brunch, Sandwiches/Paninis, Savory Snacks

Make-ahead Spinach Mushroom and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

I love breakfast sandwiches. I don’t, however, love cooking every morning, so I started making batches of this style of breakfast sandwiches — baked eggs with “mix ins” on English muffins, ready to wrap and chill or freeze. They are very versatile: don’t like spinach and mushrooms, you can use chopped red bell peppers, ham, bacon bits, or even kimchi or asparagus. Swap out the cheese for swiss or gouda or raclette. Once made, can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen up to 3 weeks.

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Appetizers/Starters, Breakfast/Brunch, Lunch, Savory Snacks

Puff Pastry Croque Madame

Breakfast on a miserable, wet, depressing Friday morning: Puff Pastry Croque Madame! What is a Croque Madame? Well, a Croque Monsieur (literal translation from French: Mr. Crunchy) is a fancy grilled cheese sandwich. A Croque Madame (Mrs. Crunchy!) is a grilled cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top — so a double fancy grilled cheese. I decided to make these open-faced and with store bought puff pastry. And OMG are they good. Light, fluffy, flavorful, pretty in a messy kind of way. And this recipe feeds a crowd (makes 8 and one is really filling; note that the recipes can be halved). It might take a little longer than a grilled cheese, but definitely much much better. Not only breakfast food, this could be lunch with a light salad or part of a brunch spread.

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Appetizers/Starters, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides

Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs

Switching gears, it’s week two of my little “Ingredient game” to keep us motivated during the blah months and up this week as ingredient two is “Eggs”. Pretty broad topic and I promise not to just make breakfast food. Starting off, I made Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs for lunch today. Just the right amount of ranch (though I’ve heard people say that you can never have enough) and bacon crumbles. Easy to make. Easy to double the recipe for a crowd or a party. Just plain easy.

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Appetizers/Starters, Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides

Mini-Rösti
(German/Swiss-style Potato Pancakes)

There are lots of names for these…. (mini) Rösti, Kartoffelpuffer, Reiberdatschi, Latkes, Placki, Potato Pancakes, Hashbrown patties. These are so many many variations and personalizations. While many of them have onions, I use finely sliced red onions (just a little) and I use a very uncommon ingredient: carrots. I like the color and a little bit of sweetness and because they have similar characteristics when it comes to cooking, it works well for me. If you don’t like the carrot idea, leave them out but add 2 more potatoes.

I haven’t done this in a while, but back in the day, Ben and I would use these rösti as the base for Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, so today I made both smoked salmon and avocado eggs benny with mini-rösti patties. Delicious.

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Appetizers/Starters, Dinner, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides

Hasseltots
(aka Teeny Tiny Hasselback Potatoes)

These are Hasseltots…. teeny tiny potatoes, cut hasselback style. Contrary to the autocorrect on my phone, these are NOT Hasselhofs. As far as I know, The Hof is not involved with my lunchtime kitchen activities (shudder), but I’ve had to correct the autocorrect more than a few times.

Autocorrect is annoying. These Hasseltots are delicious. Hands down yummy.

Also, might be kid friendly (minus the greenery?) because they are “snackable” and taste a lot like french fries.

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