Hang Over Cure Breakfast-3 Pepper Black Bean Scramble

Sorry-no pictures! Mirs got wasted with some college friends last night while I was working. My roommates, Casey and Kelly also got wasted. Erika was at work until midnight and then took a cab home with her cute, drunk girl friend and came home to a drunk roommate...

So this morning I made the following breakfast for all three of them, and myself. It was amazing and cured all of their hang overs. Well, it at least made them feel better :)

You Will Need

3-4 Medium Potatoes-Yukon or Russet
small Red Pepper
small Yellow Pepper
small Green Pepper
5-7 Green Onions
Salsa
5 Eggs
Mushrooms
Sour Cream
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Canned black beans
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Butter
Tabasco Sauce
Salt and Pepper

Start with an extra large skillet and coat it with extra virgin olive oil and a teaspoon of butter. Turn your burner to low-medium and wash and cut your potatoes. Cut them length wise in half and then once more in half and then chop them so you have long dices.

When you have all of your potatoes cut, turn your burner on medium high and wait until your olive oil is almost smoking. Add the potatoes to the pan and turn the heat to medium. Watch out! You may get a splatter of oil.

While your potatoes are cooking cut each pepper in half and dice. Only use one half of each pepper. When finished dicing, add the peppers to the potatoes and stir. Next, cut your mushrooms into a long dice and add to the potatoes and stir. Add your green onions next, both white and green pieces. Make sure to stir after.

At this point your potatoes should be soft-ish and possibly browning in places. If not, turn your heat up slightly. Add a bit of salt and black pepper to taste-but not too much, the cheddar will have a little salt in it.

I used a half of a 12 oz can of black beans, rinsed and strained before adding them to the potato mixture. Lastly, I added about 1/4 cup of salsa to the potatoes. Make sure to stir up the salsa and beans to the mixture to bring up to temperature. At this time you can grate some cheddar cheese on top and leave it, it will melt on it's own. Depending on how your potatoes are cooking you can either keep the temperature where it is or turn it to medium low to cook your eggs.

I scrambled 5 eggs with about 10 drops of Tabasco in a separate pan. The Tabasco sauce adds an amazing depth to the taste to the eggs-it's not at all spicy-hot when you cook it in the raw eggs. Soft scramble your eggs in a separate pan until done, adding a bit of salt to them while cooking.

For Plating.

The first layer will be your scrambled eggs, then layer spoonfuls of the potato mixture to the eggs, top with a table spoon of salsa and a dollop of sour cream. I promise you-oh so yummy. Enjoy!

Dinner Tonight; Stewed Tomatoes, Chicken, and Polenta

Also Known as Chicken Caccitore ~You will need

About 8-11 Small Tomatoes (I used the heirloom tomatoes on the vine)

Sun Dried Tomatoes

2 small breasts of chicken cut into cubes

1 small yellow onion

3 cloves of garlic

package of portebella mushrooms

polenta

extra virgin olive oil

butter

red wine
whole milk

parmesean cheese

garlic powder

oregano

basil

salt

pepper

*Start with a small sauce pan and add a sprinkling of of extra virgin olive oil at the bottom of the pan and a small slice of butter. Set the temperature to the lowest setting to melt your butter and warm the oil.

*Meanwhile, cut your onion length wise and then into strips thin strips. Add your onions to the warm oil and butter combination and let them cook, stirring occasionally. They should be soft and browning slightly-you can turn up the heat to medium low.

*While your onions are cooking, rinse and cut your tomatoes into quarters. Make sure to keep all of the juices on your cutting board...it makes everything more yummy!

*So, when your onions are nice and soft you'll be adding your tomatoes and their juices into the pot. Cover the pot with a top and turn your heat to medium-high, stirring constantly.

*While your pot is going, slice up about 10 sun dried tomatoes into slices and add them to your pot as well. Add, salt, pepper, spices as preferred and stir.

*In a separate saute pan, start a bit more oil and a bit more butter to a medium-high saute pan. You'll be adding an entire package of sliced baby portebella mushrooms to the warm oil. Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and garlic powder to taste. Make sure to let them cook for a bit-about 3-5 minutes before touching them! Gotta let 'em cook.

When your mushrooms are completely cooked-another 5 minutes or so (when they're golden brown) add them to the tomato combination but keep as much oil as possible to the saute pan. Add your wine, stir, and cover your pot. Depending on your stove, you should cook the tomatoes until they turn a rich red color are soft and fragrant. Make sure to taste. I like a lot of spice, so I kept adding them in. It should taste like tomatoes, not salt, though.

Add the cubed chicken to the hot oil and turn temperature up to medium-high. Add the spices and cover to cook. Add more oil to complete cooking and to prevent sticking to the bottom. When your chicken is done cooking-about 10 minutes or so turning frequently. When the chicken is done cooking, add to the tomato sauce. Turn the sauce down to simmer and cook the polenta according to the package instructions.

To the cooked polenta, add 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and pepper to the polenta.

*For plating, add a large spoonful of polenta to the middle of your plate. Add two large spoonfuls of the chicken and tomato sauce directly on top of the polenta. Add grated cheese to top and ENJOY!