The Ironic Chef On Breakfast

During my tour in the United States Army I served on many bases over seas. I will say that the majority of meals we were served were terrible. Most of the meals we were served consisted of hamburgers, fried chicken and chili macaroni. Those choices may be fine once in a while but not every single day.

I eventually found that my favorite meal of the day became breakfast. Pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, fresh rolls, SOS (one of my favorites), fruit, cereal and eggs any way you wanted them. And before anyone asks, no, you could not get everything above, lol. It had to be a balanced diet.

While doing my tour of duty our mornings usually started off with PT at about 5:00 in the morning. We would usually do the regular calastetics and then our 5 mile run. Then quick showers and a mad race to the chow hall to beat the morning rush.

One of the egg choices was the making of omelets. I'm not talking one of them fancy shmancy french omelet things. I'm talking omelets with the works. Peppers, onions, mushrooms, cheese, ham, sausage or bacon. Of course, proper diet, no mixing of meats. This wasn't a Dennys.

I usually had a hard time trying to make up my mind between having an omelet or going for the SOS. I was an SOS connoisseur, lol. That sounds really bad but at least I'm not corrupting little minnows with tequila. SOS may sound disgusting and may be frowned on by many but if made properly it is very enjoyable.

Lets start with the SOS

I make mine with regular ground beef. For 4-5 people a pound is more than enough. I brown the ground beef in a skillet with just a pinch of garlic powder. As the ground beef browns I mince a medium onion and add it to the beef. After the beef has browned and the onion has cooked to a translucent state I drain off the fat. I then return the beef mixture to the heat. I then add about 3 tablespoons of flour and mix it in really well. I then slowly add milk stirring the mixture until I get the gravy to the thickness that I want. I would say about 1 1/2 cups of milk. I season with salt and pepper. Lots of pepper and then a bit more. A dash or 2 of Worcestershire sauce finishes it off. I serve this over toast or biscuits.


Using the same recipe above but substituting Bob Evans breakfast sausage and omitting the Worcestershire sauce and I have sausage gravy.

Now for omelets.  I like my omelets simple. I do like to saute my veggies first before doing the eggs. I never like using a skillet so I always use my  flat griddle that sits over several of the stoves burners. For the egg of the omelets I use to beaten eggs for each omelet. I just pour them on the griddle that I melted a small pat of butter on. I shape the omlettequickly after I put the egg down. I then add the fixings. Salt and pepper, the vegetables, cooked bacon, sausage or ham and then the cheese. I put all of the filling on the end that I will start folding from. After the eggs have started to set I then flip from the filled end and roll over almost jelly roll style.If I am in a really good mood I will add a bit more cheese on the top of the omelet.

There are times when I will get lazy and do what I call a farmers omelet. This is done in a skillet. I melt some butter in the skillet and then pour in about 6 beaten eggs. I then add pre cooked vegetables like onions and peppers. I like breakfast sausage in this omelet and cheddar cheese. I also mix these into the egg mixture. When the egg mixture looks set up I will then top with more cheese and maybe a bit of salsa and then put the skillet under the broiler and brown the surface. If anyone tries this just make sure not to use a non stick pan. The non stick  will burn and put off really bad and dangerous fumes that can get some really sick.

I won't get into the pancakes and french toast because I have done several recipes in the past concerning them. I will say that my banana chocolate chip pancakes are the best.

For a real special treat for the kids I do like to make crepes. I usually use about 4 eggs, 1 cup of flour, about 1 tablespoon of sugar and a dash of salt and maybe a bit of milk if needed to make a smooth batter. In a non stick skillet over medium heat I will lightly oil it. I then pour in about 1/4 cup of the batter. I gently roll the skillet to get the batter to evenly coat the entire bottom of the skillet. When the top looses its shine  I flip the crepe over. It's done in about a minute. Total cooking time on a crepe takes roughly 2 minutes. I cook all the crepes and when they are done I just keep them on a baking sheet in the oven on warm covered with a towel until I am ready to use them. For the filling I like to use fruit. I just add several cups of fruit, 3/4 cups of sugar, a dash of salt and maybe a bit of cinnamon and lemon juice depending on the fruit. I boil this mixture in a sauce pan and then simmer for maybe 10 minutes until its thick and bubbly. I usually do this before making the crepes so that the filling cools.
To fill the crepes I like to take a crepe and spread about 1 teaspoon full of cream cheese on the surface of the crepe. I then add several tablespoons of the fruit filling and then roll the crepe up like a burrito. I use the sauce from the fruit to spoon over the crepe and serve with a good dollop of whipped cream.

I would love to get every ones opinions and breakfast specialties. I didn't get into the biscuits and gravy, lol. I remember the responses to my North Eastern Cornbread. I do have a special biscuit recipe but it was given to me by a very good friend and if it shows up here it will be by that friend.

Enjoy Breakfast.