Bridgeway Family Restaurant - Breakfast Sandwich

     After having to wait in the waiting room at LabCorp for three hours while Christine had her glucose test done, we were starving. I could have eaten something before we went but because she couldn't have anything to eat I didn't think it was fair. In order to keep us from buying out the entire grocery store, we decided to grab some breakfast before shopping. The Bridgeway Family Restaurant is a diner in Smyrna that we pass everyday on the way to the school, a place we've been a handful of time. We like it for a variety of reasons, the food is decent, the portions are huge, and the prices are great. We've often escaped with a bill under $20. As you probably know by now, I’m a sucker for sandwiches especially breakfast sandwiches. Seeing as I hadn't tried theirs’ yet I figured this would be a great opportunity for a review. For $6.25 you get a big sandwich and half of a plate of crispy home fries.

     We both ordered the exact same sandwich. Our options for bread were white, wheat, or rye. We both went with rye but you can also get it on an English muffin, hard roll, or bagel for an additional charge. For cheese we got American and as our meat we chose bacon. Sausage or scrapple are also available. We both agreed that these were some of the best breakfast sandwiches we've ever had. My only issue was the bread could have been toasted a bit longer. But that didn't detract from the deliciousness of this sandwich. The bacon was thick and crispy and not too greasy. Instead of one fried egg there were two which really “beefed” up the sandwich. A couple slices of melted American cheese kept everything together after each bite. The fact that it didn't need any seasoning was a huge plus. It probably wasn't the healthiest thing to order but it sure was great. The home fries are wonderful as well. Thinly slices potatoes are cooked on a flat top grill until crispy. A lot of times when ordering these at diners or other breakfast places the potatoes are soft or uncooked. If you look close, you can see their crispy outsides in the picture.

Rating: Delectable – Great. Just Great.

Country Breakfast Pizza

     

     After going back and reading all of my old posts, I've decided to format them a little differently. Unlike before I’ll list out both the ingredients and the steps instead of just including all of them in paragraph form. I’ll still provide a link to a recipe if applicable.

     The first post back from the two and a half year hiatus is for Country Breakfast Pizzas. Christine and I are always looking for new recipes to try and if they’re quick to make, all the better. She stumbled upon Pillsbury’s website and found a slew of recipes that we’ll be trying over the next couple months. One that I found interesting was ham and egg breakfast pizzas made with flaky biscuits as a base. After reading a few reviews someone suggested instead of making the mayo and mustard sauce, use country gravy. And instead of the ham, use sausage. I know, how healthy. We both decided they sounded better with the gravy and sausage. Because we radically changed the recipe, I’ll link you to it but please follow the instructions that I used because they’re a bit different. Instead of buying regular sausage and frying it up, I bought Jimmy Dean’s Turkey sausage crumbles because they’re somewhat healthier than the former option. Instead of making the gravy from scratch, to save time I opted to buy a packet of McCormick’s sausage gravy mix.

4 Eggs

1 Package Refrigerated Flaky Biscuits

1 Packet McCormick Sausage or Country Gravy

½ Package of Jimmy Dean’s Turkey Sausage Crumbles

4 oz Italian blend shredded cheese

4 oz Sharp cheddar shredded cheese

Pinches of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic salt

1. While preheating the oven to 425 degrees, flatten biscuits to a ¼ or ½ inch thickness. Once preheated place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.
2. Crack all four eggs into a small bowl, season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic salt. Beat and then pour the eggs into a skillet over medium heat. Stir them lightly until they start to firm up but leave them slightly runny. Add the sausage crumbles and continue stirring lightly for 2 – 3 minutes until eggs are cooked thoroughly.
3. Make gravy according to directions on the packet, set aside. (I used the creamier version listed)
4. Take the biscuits out of the oven and check for doneness. Spread the gravy over each biscuit like you would pizza sauce on dough. Top with egg and sausage mixture and then with both cheeses.
5. Put under the broiler on high until the cheeses melt and then serve immediately.

     I don’t know if I didn't flatten the biscuits enough but they did start to rise considerably. So before topping them with the gravy and such, I made sure they were cooked through and then flattened them with a spatula. When I make these again I might use a rolling pin and get them really thin and just adjust the baking time. I think they turned out really well, but they are filling. The package of biscuits we bought had 8 in it so we ended up with 8 small pizzas. We both had three but couldn't eat the last two. The possibilities of these are endless because, after all, they are pizza. So let your imagination run wild and see what you can come up with. I’d love to hear what you've tried.

Rating: Yummy - Can't wait to try out different versions of these.

Delaware

Normally this blog is for food I make but I decided to share what others made for us while we were on vacation. The sandwiches are reviewed on the Syracuse Sandwich blog. So here are some pictures of the food we enjoyed in Delaware:

Grilled Ham Cheese and Tomato at Robin Hood's

Seafood Scampi at Irish Eyes

Shepherd's Pie at Irish Eyes

Doughnuts at The Fractured Prune

Onion Rings at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Asparagus Peppers and Chicken Pizza at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Vegetable Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Eastern Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Pretzel Sticks at The Greene Turtle

Chick N Ranch at The Greene Turtle

The Chesapeake Chicken at The Greene Turtle

Taco Salad at Dos Locos

Spicy Pork Burrito at Dos Locos

French Toast at The Penguin Diner

Breakfast Burrito at The Penguin Diner

Eggs In A Basket

     This dish has many names: toad in a hole, egg in a frame, cowboy eggs and eggs in a basket just to name a few. It has always been, by far, my favorite breakfast dish ever since I was a little kid. I’ve made it numerous times since I’ve been out on my own and I think I’ve finally perfected the art of making it. On Sunday morning, I think they came out as close to perfect as one could possibly make them. If you like fried eggs, no matter how hard you want them cooked, this is a nice change from just eggs and toast on a plate. Here is what you’ll need:

Spreadable butter

Butter spray

Slices of sandwich bread

Eggs

Salt & Pepper to taste

Shot Glass

     I didn’t list amounts for the butter, eggs, or the bread because it depends on how many you are making. This recipe follows a 1:1 ratio so if you want one egg in a basket then you need one slice of bread, one egg, and enough butter to butter both sides of the bread. If you are making more than one, I suggest buttering both sides of all the slices of bread you are going to use. Using the shot glass cut out the center of each slice and set aside. Heat up a large pan on medium heat and liberally coat with non stick butter spray. When making more than two or three, re-spray the pan after every couple of slices. Once the pan is heated, place the bread flat on the pan and crack the egg into the hole. Cook the egg for one to two minutes, just enough to get a spatula under the egg, then flip it over so the bread lays flat and continue cooking to the doneness you are looking for. While you are cooking the egg in the bread, places the small cut out pieces in the pan as well, flipping once, until golden brown on both sides.

     I made six slices, two of which I accidentally cooked to over hard while tending to the bacon I was making on a griddle. The other four came out over medium, which is how I wanted them. Over medium gives you the piece of mind that the egg white has cooked throughly while still giving you some yolk to dip the crispy circle toasts in. Each slice was golden brown and had a crunchy buttery taste. With a little bit of salt and pepper, there's nothing better.

Rating: Delectable - My favorite breakfast...what can I say.

Fluffy French Toast

Click Here For The Recipe

     I have made this recipe quite a few times but I keep finding ways to make it better so I have decided to share. First off, the most important ingredient in this recipe is the bread. You can use sandwich bread but it will not be as good as it can be. I have found that using a soft Italian bread with a golden crust has turned out the best results. Do not use a bread with a floury crust because it will absorb too much of the liquid you dip it in. I suggest buying a loaf that is not pre-sliced and cutting it yourself at home so you can cut the slices thick.

     When preparing the mixture follow the recipe exactly as stated. The first step is very important. You must whisk the flour and milk first until well mixed. If you just put all the ingredients in the bowl, the flour will not mix in correctly. The only changes I made to the recipe are for personal preference. I add one additional egg yolk because I like the toast to look a bit more yellow. Also, I add about a quarter to a half a teaspoon more cinnamon for taste.

     I use a large 13" skillet so I can make four slices at a time. That way you aren't waiting for the other slices to cook while the ones you have already made get cold.

Rating: Delectable - This is the only french toast recipe I will use.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Click Here For The Recipe

     A co-worker brought in this soup from Steak & Sundae in Syracuse for me to try and I really enjoyed it. So I decided to see if I could find a recipe for it so I could try it at home. Avegolemono is the greek name for this soup. If you type that into any search engine you'll find a slew of recipes to try. Allrecipes had a few and this one had a favorable amount of reviews.

     I started out by sauteing the onion with two cloves of garlic on a low heat until the onions were soft. Next I added the lemon juice, celery, white pepper, and 48oz of broth, which is only 6 cups of broth opposed to the 8 cups the recipe called for. This made for a thicker consistency almost like a chowder. If you like your soup to have more of a liquid broth just add the extra two cups. I ommited the carrots and used two chicken boullion cubes instead of the soup base because that's what I had on hand. Instead of using precooked chicken, I cut up two chicken breasts into thin slices and added them to the pot so the juices from the chicken would blend into the soup. I brought this all to a boil all while stirring occasionally. Once it began to boil I decided to add 1 cup of uncooked jasmine rice per other users suggestions. I allowed this to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes before adding the roux(butter and flour). Once I added the roux the soup really started to thicken up, so this is another time where you could make the soup thinner by using less. Again I let it simmer but only for about 10 minutes this time. While the soup simmered and its aroma began to fill the kitchen, I started on the egg yolks. Once I whisked the yolks, I slowly stirred them into the pot a little at a time. I gave them time to cook through and spooned a quick taste or two just to make sure the rice had cooked. I was impressed but what would Christine's reaction be? This is how the conversation went:

Christine: "Is this the lemon soup you were going to make?"

Me: "Yeah, why?"

Christine: "Oh because it looked like it was going to be bland since there isn't much color to it but the lemon gives it that zing and it goes well with the celery. Is it my favorite soup in the world? No, but..."

Me: "You'd eat it if I made it again."

Christine: "Right."

Rating: Yummy - I'll definately be making this again.