The Frugal Gourmom

This recipe came from my mom’s best friend. It is soooo good and so easy to make. I had it at her house one time as a kid and still remember it to this day.  A friend needed the recipe, so I thought I’d put it up for everyone to enjoy. I haven’t made it in a while, so sorry…no photos today.

Ingredients

1 cup light brown sugar

6 tbsp butter

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 loaf of crusty bread (like French or Italian) sliced about an inch to an inch and a half thick.

5 whole eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine the brown sugar, butter and walnuts so it’s a crumbly consistency. Spread in the bottom of a 9×13 pan.

Add the slices of bread on top of the sugar/butter/nut mixture in a single layer.

Combine the eggs, vanilla and milk – pour over the bread slices.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and cover the pan. Let sit overnight in the fridge.

In the morning, uncover the pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

When you serve it, flip the pieces over so the sugary, buttery, nutty goodness is on the top of the slice and oozes down the sides. Mmmmm.

What has bacon, eggs, cheese and is something you eat for dinner? It’s not fritatta….it’s CARBONARA!  My pal Jen has a blog called Momma J Cooks! (here is the link to it: http://mommajcooks.wordpress.com/) and last Saturday she made some pasta carbonara. She inspired tonight’s meal…and guess what? It’s S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! …are you singing the song yet? haha!  This pasta doesn’t really need chicken, but my boys like chicken and I had some on hand. So I figured, why not? Chicken, bacon, cheese, pasta…yeah, sounds good.

I whipped up a quick marinade for a couple of sliced up chicken breasts.

Marinade Ingredients
4 cloves garlic – minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp wine vinegar (mine was garlic wine vinegar that I got for FREE when Jewel had them on sale for $1 and I had a bunch of $1 off coupons…I won’t need to buy vinegar for years to come)
about 1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients and whisk together. Pour over the sliced up chicken in a ziplock baggie and stick it in the fridge for a few hours. I usually do this around lunchtime. If you don’t have that much time…you can just let it marinate for 1/2 hour.

Now on to the pasta.

Ingredients
1 lb of spaghetti – I’m using the Ronzoni Smart Taste. It’s really good. High fiber and it tastes like “normal” pasta.

6 slices of bacon, diced (I a whole package just because my husband is a HUGE fan of bacon and I figured a little extra cooked bacon around the house is good)

1/3 cup white wine

3 eggs, beaten
2/3 c. grated parmesan or romano cheese – I’m using Grana Padano because it’s what I have on hand.
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Get a large pot of water on to boil for the spaghetti.  Take a skillet and add the diced/chopped bacon.  Cook until crisp. Remove crispy bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. Pour off all excess grease and set aside.

The water should be boiling by now, so get the spaghetti into the hot tub!

Use the same skillet you cooked the bacon in & get it hot again, add the chicken & all of the marinade and sautee until just about cooked through – add the wine and let it cook a minute more until it’s thoroughly cooked and the wine reduces a bit.

There will be liquid in it….this is going to add to the sauce and flavor of the pasta. The pasta will absorb it up!

As the pasta is cooking, beat your eggs, grate the cheese and mince the garlic. Combine & whisk them together.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it well and put it back in the hot pan. Toss with the egg/cheese/garlic mixture.   Make sure you toss it quickly so you don’t have scrambled eggs in your noodles! You may want to temper the eggs with a dash of the hot liquid from the chicken in case you are worried about it.

The hot pasta will cook the eggs and melt the cheese making a silky delicious sauce for the pasta. Once the egg mixture is incorporated go ahead and add in the cooked chicken/wine/marinade and crispy bacon…season with salt & pepper.

Dinner is served!   This makes A LOT of food. We will have leftovers for days. My hubby & I both went back for seconds and my toddler ate his whole plate. His exact words were “mama, I loooove bacon & noodles!”  Me too, son. Me too.

At our local diner, a breakfast “skillet” costs about $9 for one. I can make enough to easily feed a family of 4-5 for about $6!!!

Ingredients
Eggs

1 package of refrigerated hash brown potatoes (I get at Aldi for about $2/package) – If you don’t have pre-packaged hash browns – do this:  Shred/grate your potatoes on a box grater. Rinse them well in a colandar….then dry the shit out of them. Like REALLY DRY! Then they will get crispy. The starch and water make for soggy browns, so just make sure they are really rinsed and really dry.
 
1 package of bacon (or turkey bacon, ham, sausage…whatever breakfast meat you have) – I stocked up when Joseph’s Market had Jimmy Dean bacon on sale for $1.79/package and threw them in the freezer.
 
1/2 red pepper diced
1/2 red onion diced
Any other veggies you like – spinach is great, so is asparagus…but my eaters are picky.
Shredded Cheese

First things first. Time to cook the bacon. I dice the entire package while raw, then you can just toss all of it into the pan at once. Work it & separate it out. We like our bacon extra crispy.

This is one of my go-to’s to use leftovers, besides casserole. I made the boys breakfast this morning using some sausage & bacon…so I had leftovers. This is really more of a method than a recipe. You can use all veggies, all meat or a combo of both. I used my leftover breakfast meats + some breakfast potatoes, red bell pepper, red onion & some colby-jack cheese.

Ingredients
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp of Mrs. Dash (if you have it)
Meat of your choice -  You can use leftover deli meat, ham, bacon, sausage, chicken…pretty much anything – about 2 cups worth of pre-cooked protein

Veggies of your choice – leftover veggies work great, otherwise you can use broccoli, spinach, peppers, onions, diced potatoes, asparagus…whatever you have around!

2 cups of finely cubed cheese – I used co-jack b/c it’s what I had on hand. I find that cubed works better than shredded. Shredded cheese gets “lost” in the mix…you get little pockets of gooey cheese when it’s cubed.

Garnish – fresh diced tomatoes & diced scallions are my favorite. Fresh herbs are fantastic, but they aren’t in season here in Chicagoland right now.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. You will need a skillet that can transfer to the oven for this recipe.

If you’re using potatoes (like I did tonight) start those first. Get the pan hot, drizzle a bit of oil and get them going first.

While they are cooking, crack your eggs and add the milk + salt/pepper & Mrs. Dash. Mix well.

Once the taters are nearly cooked & starting to brown, add in your veggies ( if you aren’t using potatoes, just skip this step and start with the veggies). I used peppers & onions tonight. Cook for a couple more minutes.

Once things start to soften, top that mixture with your protein/meat evenly.

 Next, spread out the cubed cheese evenly over the mixture. As soon as you put the cheese on, cover the entire pan evenly with the egg mixture.

Give it a shake to make sure that the eggs are evenly distributed throughout the pan.

Pop it in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

When the timer goes off, take it out and LET IT SIT for about 10-20 minutes. Slice into wedges as you would a pizza. Garnish with green onions and tomato (or fresh herbs if you have them).

 This is great with a little side salad, but since my hubby doesn’t “do” salad…we just eat it alone. And it’s good enough to stand alone.

I got my eggs for free with a coupon…so this is really an economical meal. The leftovers are great for breakfast the next day. We had a guest over for dinner and he went back for seconds.  It’s a hit wherever I bring it. Perfect for Easter brunch! Like I said, it’s more of a method than a recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.