Culinary Experiment #2: Quick Migas

I am always looking for a quick yet super satisfying breakfast. I always end up with just the “quick” part.

Enter the Hobbies Cookbook project. I’ve only recently started cooking the recipes on my list and I already feel healthier. Not because the food I’m preparing is necessarily lower in fat or calories (as you’ll notice in this recipe), but because I’m now less reliant on processed food and let’s be real, the frozen food section at Kroger.

This week I finally found the recipe. It’s perfect. It’s got scrambled eggs, cheesy goodness, salsa, tortilla chips and creamy avocados.

The dish is called “Quick Migas”  and it’s from a blog titled “Budget Bytes.” You can access the original form of the recipe here.  

This recipe is definitely customizable. And I took full advantage of that feature. I’ve made some changes to the recipe based on taste and what I had on hand. Feel free to try out my version:

  1. I decided to make a single-serving version. So instead of 6 eggs, I only used 2.
  2. I didn’t have milk, but I did have half-and-half. So I used 2 teaspoons of that instead. (The measurement here was adjusted from 1/4 of a cup to 2 tsp because of the reduction in the number of eggs used in my version.) The change in the use of the milk, didn’t seem to affect the taste of the eggs. They still tasted like scrambled eggs.
  3. I omitted the cilantro. It was already in the jarred salsa I was using.
  4. I made the following substitutions: Instead of butter, I used canola oil. It’s just a personal flavor preference. Also, instead of green onions, I cubed a whole avocado and added it to the egg/cheese/tortilla/salsa mixture at the very end.
  5. I don’t think the original recipe mentions when to use the salt and pepper. So I just mixed them in with the eggs before I cooked them in the pan.
  6. I added Cholula’s Original flavor Hot Sauce at the end for more zing and heat.

I made some important observations while cooking and eating this dish:

  1. If you’re using fewer eggs like I did,  keep an eye on those eggs, and begin stirring right when the eggs start to set around the edges. Because those eggs cook fast! Really fast. You don’t want them to dry out because you waited too long.
  2. If you’re a slow eater like I am and you decide to add avocados to this dish, give them a spritz of lemon juice before consuming them. When the insides of avocados are exposed to air for longer than a few minutes they begin to show signs of the oxidation process and turn brown, much like apples do. You can still eat them, you just have to scrape off the brown layer first. But to save yourself from having to do that at all, just squeeze lemon or lime juice on them before you eat them. The acidity from the lemon/lime will slow the oxidation process and prevent the browning that can occur while you’re eating the migas. Plus, it’ll make the overall dish even more flavorful!

This dish was a wonderfully fast and scrumptious way to have Mexican food for breakfast. And with the avocados, it was like a magical, deconstructed guacamole.

If you decide to try out this recipe, feel free to comment on this post to let me know how it went! I’d love to hear about your experiences!

I’d also like to thank Beth M. of  Budget Bytes  for posting this recipe.

A Holiday for Foodies

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It’s the day that acts as an annual reminder to count your blessings, connect with your family and friends and to truly be grateful for all of the wonderful things in your life.

It also happens to be a celebration of food. And why not? Food sustains us and brings our families and friends together. It’s a mode of artistic expression for some and emotionally-charged for us all with every memory each recipe evokes.

Thanksgiving is less than a week away and foodies, party planning enthusiasts and pretty much anyone who has spent more than two hours on foodgawker is super excited.

I’m super excited.

And to kick off the celebration I’m posting my Hobbies Cookbook. As I’ve mentioned in my post on peach wontons , I have a bucket list of hobbies. It’s an ever-expanding list of activities I want to at least try out once. And one of those activities involved me cooking my way through a cookbook.

As I couldn’t find a cookbook that really interested me, I decided to make use of the most interesting collection of recipes I know: the internet. More specifically, I utilized the obscene amount  of recipes I’d already accumulated in my Chrome bookmarks list.

And so with 100 recipes, I’ve put together my own collection, the Hobbies Cookbook. What follows are the 100 dishes I intend to cook, complete with links to the recipes and the blogs where I found them:

  1. Quick Raspberry Sauce
  2. Basic Bread Loaf
  3. Panera Bread® Broccoli Cheddar Soup
  4. Pork and Ginger Pot Stickers
  5. Asparagus and Peas Fritatta
  6. Black and White Cookies
  7. Mongolian Beef Recipe
  8. Chewy No-Bake Cookies and Cream Bars
  9. Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Bacon and Fried Egg
  10. Quick Migas
  11. Strawberry Torte
  12. Carrot and Coconut Soup with Thai Red Curry
  13. Linzer Sables
  14. Guacamole
  15. Baked Cake Doughnuts
  16. Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
  17. Frozen Hot Chocolate
  18. Spaghetti Alla Carbonara
  19. Honeyed Pears in Puff Pastry
  20. Herb Butter Mushrooms with Smoked Mozzarella
  21. Alfajores Cookies
  22. Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
  23. Beth’s Best Tuna Salad
  24. Homemade Dulce de Leche
  25. Mushroom Bruschetta
  26. Mom’s Flan (by Abigail Garcia)
  27. 5 Minute Strawberry Mousse
  28. Kim Chi Fried Rice
  29. Polvorones
  30. Cilantro Mint Chutney
  31. Crema Poeta (Vanilla Bean Pudding)
  32. Pasta Puttanesca
  33. Cold Chocolate Custard with Whipped Cream
  34. Eggs in a Basket: Baked Eggs in Toast Cups with Melty Cheese
  35. Italian Lemon Almond Mousse
  36. Bacon Basil Tomato Sandwich
  37. Crème Brulee French Toast
  38. Chicken and Coconut Thai Curry Soup
  39. Ice Cream Tiramisu
  40. Olive Garden’s Chicken Milanese
  41. Peach Wontons
  42. Parmesan Herb Popovers
  43. Mocha Ice Blended
  44. Pancakes from Scratch
  45. BLT Salad
  46. Oreo Cookie Cupcakes
  47. Avocado Tuna Melts
  48. Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream
  49. Rosemary Foccacia
  50. Strawberry Fraiser
  51. Tuna Cornbread Cakes with Lemon Aioli
  52. Tres Leches Cupcakes
  53. Spinach, Chili-lime Vinaigrette, Avocado and Sunflower Seed Salad (There isn’t a link for this one. It’s just a salad UGA offered in one of their dining halls. All the ingredients you need are mentioned in the title.)
  54. Chocolate Cayenne Truffle Brownies
  55. Garlic Scallion Noodles
  56. Whipped Cream Cupcakes
  57. Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Pesto Pizza
  58. Cannoli Cupcakes
  59. Mac & Cheese Muffins
  60. Cinnamon and Sugar Tortilla Strips
  61. Almond Cake
  62. Pimento Cheese
  63. Payasam
  64. Korean Style Short Ribs
  65. Custard Cake
  66. Garlic Knots
  67. Petite Vanilla Bean Scones
  68. Pajeon (Korean Scallion Pancakes)
  69. One Bowl Chocolate Cake
  70. Spinach Salad with Spiced Pork and Ginger Dressing
  71. Churros with Chocolate
  72. Baked Potato Salad
  73. Palmiers
  74. Stir-fried Egg Ramen
  75. Turtle Brownies
  76. Bacon and Tomato Pasta
  77. Kourabiedes
  78. Crisp Gnocchi with Lemon Garlic Greens
  79. Microwave Lemon Curd
  80. Soft Pretzel Bites
  81. Tiramisu Cupcakes
  82. Honey Chipotle BBQ sauce
  83. Lemon Bars
  84. Fiery Angel Hair Pasta
  85. Caramel Macchiato Cheesecake
  86. Avocado Fries
  87. Amy Sedaris’ Vanilla Cupcakes
  88. Egg Drop Soup with Ramen Noodles
  89. Beignets
  90. Tiramisu Cake
  91. Chicken Francese and Egg Tagliatelle
  92. Chocolate Tart with Shortbread Crust
  93. Samosas
  94. 100 Grand Cupcakes
  95. Quick Potato Patties
  96. Root Beer Cake
  97. Butter Chicken
  98. White Chocolate, Cranberry and Strawberry Rocky Road
  99. Lemon Brulee Bars
  100. Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Chicken

Now you can follow along with me as I try out each recipe. Feel free to comment on my blog with any questions and let me know what you think of the recipes, any changes you’d make to them, or even your own culinary anecdotes. Tell me your stories, I’d love to hear them!

Also, if you like what you’re reading, don’t forget to hit that “Follow” button on my site, so you can get automatic updates on my posts. Thanks!