Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

It's time to go back to school, which means my lazy mornings of sleeping in and lingering over multiple cups of coffee are over.  It also means that I have to start eating an actual breakfast again.  I'm very particular about my workday breakfasts, I must be able to eat it with one hand while I am driving without making a mess of myself (I have my priorities in the morning, mainly sleep).  These english muffin breakfast sandwiches are perfect for that, plus I can make a bunch at once and keep them in the freezer.  You hardly need a recipe for this, but I'll give you one anyways because that is just the kind of girl I am.  You can make these a million different ways, this is just the basic framework to work from.  A note on turkey bacon, I am opposed to the principle of it and usually call it facon and don't eat it.  BUT something about freezing turkey bacon sits better with me than freezing regular bacon so I use it here, feel free to use regular bacon, or sausage patties or omit the meat all together.    

Start by baking you eggs and bacon, I bake my eggs in well greased ramekins and my (turkey) bacon on a silpat mostly because it's easier to clean that way.  You could add anything you like to your egg cups, salsa, herbs, spinach, peppers, or you could scramble them instead of baking if you like, but my ramekins are nearly the exact circumference of your average english muffin and thus you end up with a perfect egg to bread ratio without even thinking about it so I usually bake the eggs.  

 

Next you assemble, I make 6 sandwiches at a time because english muffins come in packs of 6 and I have 6 ramekins.  If you are eating it right away, toast the english muffin first, but otherwise don't bother.  I like to spread out all of my english muffins on the counter, each on top of their own rectangle of saran warp and then deal out the fillings.

Cheese is delicious and should always be included in the sammie, I like 2 slices, so it doesn't get too gooey.  Cheddar is good, as is pepper jack, as are most cheeses, now that I think about it.

Top the cheese with an egg.  I have a itty bitty offset spatula that I use to pop them out of their ramekins.  It's adorable and has polka dots on it.

Top with facon, I do 1 slice per sammie, or if I am feeling particularly decadent (or want to get rid of my facon) 2.

Wrap tightly and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer.  When you are ready to eat, unwrap the plastic, wrap loosely in a paper towel and zap it then flip it over and zap it a bit more until it's hot and the cheese is melty.  This may have more to do with the quirks of my particular microwave, but I find it so much easier to heat them when I have let it thaw overnight in the fridge, it is faster and the egg doesn't get weird and overcooked.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

makes 6

6 english muffins

6 eggs

12 slices cheese of your choice

6 slices turkey bacon

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350

Grease 6 ramekins and crack an egg into each one, top with salt and pepper.  Place all the ramekins in a large baking dish and add enough hot water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until the yolks are set (depending on how wide your ramekins are this may take more or less time).

Meanwhile, place the bacon in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake until it is crisp, about 10 minutes.

When the eggs and bacon are done, split your english muffins in half and fill each sandwich with 2 slices of cheese, one egg and one slice of bacon.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a ziplock bag in the freezer, or eat immediately.  

The day before you want to eat your frozen sandwich pop it in the fridge to defrost.  When it is defrosted, wrap in a paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds, flip it over and microwave it for 30 more seconds or until it is heated through, depending on your microwave.

      

Pimiento Cheese

I have a bit of a southern streak in that I have a love of southern food that might make you think I grew up much father below the Mason-Dixon line than is actually the case.  On our way down to Bald Head Island this summer, my family stopped for lunch at Wilbur's, which is a restaurant on the historic North Carolina barbecue trail (when I found out about that, I decided that I probably needed to incorporate more of them into my future NC road trips, not that I have any of those planned but still...).  Anyways, a pitcher of sweet tea, a bottomless basket of hush puppies and a plate of pulled pork and I was a happy camper.  I feel the same way about fried green tomatoes (it totally counts as a vegetable right?  It's even green), biscuits and gravy, and pimiento cheese.  It may not be pretty or sophisticated or in any way healthy but it is delicious and some days isn't that what really matters?  This pimiento cheese was not something that I was going to blog about, because honestly, grated cheese mixed with mayo isn't exactly photogenic nor is it the easiest thing to write about and make it sound as good as it is.  Because it is good, the flavors work so well together, the worcestershire and grated onion give it a little tang and the pimentos add some color and you can eat it on crackers or add it to a grilled cheese or mix it into macaroni and cheese and before you know it the entire bowl is gone and you are trying to figure out when you can make it again, even though you realize that maybe eating a pound of cheese in less than a week may not have been the healthiest choice but it was probably the most tasty.  It is also dead easy, I feel almost feel a bit silly giving you this recipe.  But to get back to the point, I was going to keep the pimiento cheese as my dirty little secret, so I just jotted down the recipe in my recipe book and didn't bother noting where I found it, but then decided I needed to share it, and so I have no idea where this recipe came from, sorry about that.

Start out by mixing together the mayo, diced pimientos, worcestershire sauce, grated onion and a dash of cayenne.  

Now for the difficult part (it's really not that bad and I think you could make it even easier by using a food processor to grate the cheese).  Grate 8 oz. of sharp cheddar and 8 oz. of extra sharp cheddar.  I don't know how to discuss the gauge of cheese grating options, but my Ikea cheese grater has two options, one with regular size holes and one with smaller holes, you do one block of cheese on the regular holes and one on the smaller holes.  And yes, grating the cheese on the smaller holes takes longer and gets tedious, consider yourselves warned.    

Stir the cheese into the mayo mixture and enjoy, it will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Pimiento Cheese

1 1/2 cup mayo

4 oz. diced pimientos

1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. finely grated onion

dash cayenne

8 oz. sharp cheddar, grated

8 oz. extra sharp cheddar, finely grated

Mix the mayo, pimientos, worcestershire sauce, onion and cayenne together until well mixed.  Stir in the cheese.  Store in a covered container up to one week.

    

Cheesy Bread

I did not take any pictures of this recipe, nor did I measure anything, but it was so good that I wanted to share it with you anyways. This is sort of adapted from the Pioneer Woman's cheesy olive bread, but is less decadent, more of an everyday cheesy bread if you will. You can use this method and twist it however you wish to make bread with things you have on hand or to go with your meal. We happened to have a hunk of smoked gouda in the fridge, so I (ok, my father actually did all the work, I just supervised) grated about a cup and a half of the cheese. Then we mixed the grated cheese with a dollop of mayo and a dollop of sour cream. And because we were having it with chili, we added a few sprinkles of paprika and chili powder and a good grinding of fresh black pepper. For an italian meal I would add some basil and oregano. I was also thinking that it would be super tasty to chop up some artichoke hearts and mix them in. Anyways, after you have the cheesy goodness mixed up, spread it on store bought french bread. Use your judgement as to how much bread you need. We cut a good sized loaf in half and then split the half down the middle and spread the cheese on each side, ending up with 2/4th of the loaf cheesy and the rest plain. You want a good layer of cheese on the bread, but not necessarily giant mounds of cheese. The giant mounds of cheese are for when you make this. But back to the everyday cheesy bread, bake it in a 350 degree oven until the cheese bubbles and starts to brown. It really is delicious.