Kitchen Creations

Welcome back! I hope that you have tried out a few of the cool Ann Arbor breakfast/brunch spots and that will keep some of my abroad recommendations in mind if you’re planning on traveling to Europe soon. As I mentioned in my other posts, I love eating out at restaurants and cafés, but sometimes there’s just nothing better than a home cooked meal. After four years of eating out at UofM, I’ve come to miss both my mom’s cooking and the luxuries of “home.” Since I can remember, my mom has always been a great cook; she has the ability to look at any number of ingredients and create something from scratch. More than anything else, I miss the weekend mornings spent at home, which always included fresh pots of brewed coffee.

Unlike my mom, I am not a natural born chef, and I didn’t learn how to really cook until last year. I started with the basics, calling home way too often for help. I’ve definitely come a long way. Recently I’ve started to use cookbooks, and it’s been fun to learn and try new recipes. So far, my favorite is Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook called “Cravings,” which I heard about through word-of-mouth (Babin, 2016, pp. 168). Fair warning though, her recipes will not provide consumer satisfaction to those looking to cook a healthy meal (Babin, 2016, pp. 292). Of course, my favorite section is her “Breakfast All Day” recipes, and I figured I could try a few more out and write my reviews.

Creamy Parmesan Skillet Eggs: Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup finely grated Parmesan

½ cup heavy cream

1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

¼ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

2 tbsp. butter

4 eggs

Directions:

Whisk together parm, cream, thyme, salt and pepper. Grab two 6-inch skillets, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in each, divide cream mixture between the two skillets, and cook until bubbling through (1-2 mins). Crack two eggs into each skillet and cook until whites are set (2-3 mins). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

As a college student, I loved the idea of this recipe, because of the minimal ingredients and the short time to prepare/cook. Overall, I thought it was pretty easy to make and it tasted good. A tweak I would make would be to use less salt. Between the butter, cheese, and kosher salt, the sodium became a bit overwhelming after a few bites. One major suggestion, stick to the recommended serving size. I tried to double everything for my roommates, and that threw everything off. Also, I only had one large pan, and the cooking times became uneven so the outer edges were burning while the inside was too gooey.

Crispy Bacon Hash Browns: Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 tbsp. butter, melted

¾ tsp. kosher salt

1 potato (8 ounce)

2 slices bacon

½ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine oil, butter, and ¼ tsp. of salt and whisk until dissolved. Peel and grate potato with box grater. Toss in bacon, pepper, and ½ tsp. of salt. Heat skillet until hot (4-5 mins). Put potato mixture into skillet, spread it out, but don’t pack it down. Drizzle 3 tbsp. of butter mixture over potatoes, and cook until golden brown/ crispy (4-5 mins). Flip potatoes and drizzle the rest of the butter on top. Cook until crispy (4-5 mins). Season to taste. 

This recipe was pretty straightforward and matched my expectations (Babin, 2016, pp. 294). I liked the addition of the bacon, but I’m sure it would be easy to sub in something else if don’t. One suggestion I would make is to cook the bacon a bit before hand so that it’s crispy. Similar to the Parmesan eggs, I felt this dish was a little too salty, but that’s an easy fix. I liked this one because I didn’t run into any problems doubling it!

Babin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 168-294). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Teigen, C., & Pick, A. (2016). Cravings. New York, NY: Clarkson Potter.