Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Egg, Bacon, Mushroom, and Goat Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

Brunch Dishes, Travel

to-use-sightseeing-copy

Having just visited San Diego last fall for our friend Renee’s wedding, I decided to take it easy on the tourist attractions during this trip and instead use my time off from the conference to unwind. I slept in late, ate breakfast while enjoying the amazing views from my hotel balcony, lounged by the pool, did a little shopping in the Gaslamp Quarter, and even caught a movie. But the best part was that I was able to visit with several of my friends who now live in San Diego – Renee, who I’ve known since second grade, and Yaling and Clark, who I went to grad school with in Chicago.

I also had some fabulous food. After my talk on Friday, I went to Osetra Watergrill with several colleagues, where I savored every bite of their tempura-dipped spinach-wrapped tuna. I met Renee and her hubby Max on Saturday at Red Pearl Kitchen, which had excellent cocktails including the Red Pearl, a mix of pomegranate vodka, champagne, cranberry and pineapple juice. We also went to Extraordinary Desserts, which had several cases full of gorgeous treats. I had carrot cake, my absolute favorite (it was one of the cake flavors at our wedding), and it was amazing! Yaling and Clark treated me to dinner at Sushi Ota on Sunday night. Everything was beyond incredible (order the salmon belly!). The right side of my brain is already spinning with new recipe ideas, but today’s recipe is inspired by another place I look forward to going to for breakfast when I travel – McDonald’s.

Egg, Bacon, Mushroom, and Goat Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

Egg, Bacon, Mushroom, and Goat Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

Yes, McDonald’s! I will admit that I love their Egg and Sausage Biscuit sandwiches but only indulge when I have travel because they have 510 calories and 33g of fat – ouch! I decided to come up with a version I could enjoy anytime that is a bit more nutritious and used some of my favorite ingredients – goat cheese, mushrooms, and turkey bacon.  Now I can look forward to having a yummy breakfast sandwich every weekend!

Egg, Bacon, Mushroom, and Goat Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 slices turkey bacon
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ounce goat cheese
2 whole wheat English muffins, toasted

Directions:
Cook bacon in large skillet over medium high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet; drain on paper towel. Cut each strip in half.

Clean out skillet and add olive oil. Saute mushrooms and onions for 5 to 7 minutes over medium high heat or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Spray small skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Whisk eggs, 1 tablespoon milk, and salt, in a small bowl and add to the skillet. Cook until eggs are set on the bottom and bubbly on top. Cut in half and turn eggs over to finish cooking until eggs are set.

Mix remaining 1 tablespoon milk with goat cheese in a small bowl until smooth.

Spread goat cheese mixture on bottom half of the muffins. Top with the mushroom mixture, followed by the eggs and bacon. Cover with top halves of muffins. Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition: 313 calories, 14.4g fat, 5.8g fiber, 19.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.17 per serving

Breakfast Tostadas

Cinco de Mayo is almost here! I’m planning on making a recipe from my new Rick Bayless cookbook on Wednesday, but couldn’t resist starting the celebration early by whipping up these tasty breakfast tostadas this weekend. I will always have a fond spot in my heart for...

Individual Breakfast Pot Pies

I’ve been waking up a couple hours earlier than Apolinaras on the weekends lately. My grumbling tummy and earlier bed time (pregnancy can be exhausting!) are to blame. I’ve been putting the time to good use though. First, I devour a bowl of cereal or some yogurt and...

Blueberry Cottage Cheese Squares

It's finally time for our Lithuania trip recap! We traveled throughout the country and I'm going to spread the highlights of our adventure over the next three posts. Lithuania is the same size as West Virginia and sits above Poland and Belarus and across the Baltic...

Red Bean Paste Stuffed French Toast

I’ve been trying to work on clearing out the clutter from our pantry and recently found a lonely can of red bean paste hidden away in the very back corner. How did I forget about such a treasure? It jumped into our cart at HMart a few months ago, and I was originally...

Caribbean Sweet Potato and Plantain Soup

Well hello, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas celebration! We unplugged for the week and met my parents and brother in Palm Beach, Florida. A relaxing break with warm weather was just what we needed to recharge and it was so nice to spend time with my family. We...

Green Eggs and Ham

  Wednesdays have quickly become my favorite night to relax in front of the TV because I love Top Chef and have become addicted to Glee. I was so disappointed this week when Glee wasn’t on due to the World Series and the “Top Chef All Stars Dinner” was on instead...

Walnut Crusted Pineapple Chicken

The last part of our trip was spent on the Lithuanian coast in several resort towns by the Baltic Sea. We were there pretty early in the season so it was still a bit chilly at the beach and I just got my feet wet, although Apolinaras actually swam a couple of days! We...

Apple Brie Scones

Happy Halloween! After dressing up as Jem, my favorite 80s TV character for the past several years, I decided to fast forward to the 90s this year and go as Angela Chase from My So-Called Life, which is seriously one of the best shows ever! I was a little nervous no...