Breakfast Tacos

 My favorite local Mexican restaurant has a dish called Huevos a la Abañil. It’s a scrambled egg dish served with warm tortillas and a side of rice and beans. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I happened upon this meal when my boyfriend at the time took me to this restaurant for breakfast. I didn't even know they were open for breakfast and wasn't quite sure I wanted to venture out that far. I mean, Mexican food is great for dinner, but to me, seems a little inappropriate heavy for breakfast. I ended up ordering the safest thing on the menu and was completely surprised by it’s deliciousness. Why hadn't I had Mexican food for breakfast before!?

 Since my family moved 5 ½ years ago, its safe to say I don’t get to eat there nearly as often as I’d like. Just recently we started growing jalapeños and I've been getting more creative with my recipes, trying to include them. Then...I discovered I can make something very similar to that breakfast dish! I changed it up a bit to make tacos instead of serving the eggs and tortillas separately. To me, it takes less time to eat which is a bonus.

 Now, bear with me with this recipe. I normally don’t use fat in my cooking besides butter and oil, but I think using reserved bacon or sausage fat adds an additional element of flavor that’s almost necessary. If you don’t have any or are unwilling to use it, I’m sure butter would work just fine. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say if it will be as tasty.

Ingredients

1 tsp rendered fat

2 eggs

2 corn tortillas

2 small or 1 large jalapeño, julienned

1 slice white onion cut in half

½ roma tomato, julienned

¼ cup Mexican cheese mix

salt to taste

Directions

1. Melt fat in small skillet. Add jalapeño and onion. Saute over medium heat until soft.

2. Whisk eggs in small bowl.

3. Add tomato to eggs and stir. Add salt as desired.

4. When jalapeño and onion are soft, reduce heat to medium-low, add eggs, stirring occasionally.

5. When eggs are finished cooking, divide evenly on warm tortillas.

6. Top with cheese.

Jalapeño Crack Dip

 Here’s what I know...jalapeños are good. Dip is good. Jalapeño dip is awesome. Let me just tell you how much I love this dip. I could eat the whole bowl myself. I think about this dip the moment my husband pries it from my hands I practice the art of self control and put the remainder of what I haven’t gorged myself on in the fridge until the next morning when it’s a reasonable hour to eat dip (something tells me it’s not appropriate to eat dip for breakfast).

 A few years ago, my hubby and I decided to try growing jalapeños in our garden. If you’ve ever had a garden, you know what it’s like to end up with an over abundance of a particular type of vegetable (zucchini growers say amen) which will leave you scouring the internet for hours to find a recipe for this specific ingredient. I tried jalapeño poppers, which were tasty, but a lot of work. I have two little ones that are 18 months apart. Ain’t nobody got time for that. After modifying and combining a few recipes, I came up with this fabulously addicting dip. I’m sorry. Youre welcome.

Ingredients

1 8oz. block of cream cheese at room temperature (I use reduced fat/neufchatel and it turns out just as tasty)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese with extra for sprinkling (or cheese blend you prefer)

¼ cup sour cream

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp salt

½ cup roasted jalapeños

pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In medium bowl, combine cream cheese, garlic powder, salt and sour cream. Beat until smooth.
3. Add in roasted jalapeños then cheese mixing one at a time.
4. Scrape into small bowl and sprinkle cheese on top.
5. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes until dip is bubbly and cheese is melted.
6. Indulge!