Breakfast Bagel

Don't go to Mickey'Dee's - or any of those other drive up places.... just make your own breakfast bagel.

Ingredients:

Bagel

Egg

Cheese(your choice - I picked Swiss)

Butter

Ham/Bacon/Sausage (your choice)

VOILA - that's it.

Lightly toast your bagel (or more, if you like it burnt).

Fry the egg - I like mine over medium with the yolk broken.

Place a slice of Swiss Cheese on one side of the bagel.

Slide the cooked egg on top of the cheese.

Pan fry the ham - or if you're using one of you other bacon products - layer that.

Top with the other side of the bagel - slice in half - and ENJOY!

Aloha - What's for Dinner?

Aloha. We're back from Hawaii, and I haven't had a chance to cook anything new. (Well, I did make a delicious Tuna Helper Casserole - and I may just post that in the future.) As for now, I feel the need to get back into Blogging, and what better way than to post a few photos of Plate Lunches and other meals we enjoyed in Hawaii.

We all know that the Nene (Hawaiian Goose) is the official State Bird, but did you know that PIG is the official State Food? Whether it's ham, sausage, bacon or Spam - it's just not a meal without some form of Pork Product!

While on Maui, staying with our friend Lloyd, we enjoyed a delicious chicken salad - greens, chicken, avacado, red sweet potatoes and BACON BITS, with and a jalapeno cheese roll.

Out and about we went to Grandma's Coffee House in Kula, Maui. Great breakfasts - I loved my Crab Benedict over Cornbread Waffle, and Brian's Corned Beef Hash over Rice with Fried Spam was SOOOO delicious. Don't let those drifting cruise ship stories recently in the news scare you - Fried Spam is YUMMY... of course, they didn't have power so they couldn't fry their Spam.

For a special dinner out, Lloyd took us to Paia - a hippy beach town - but I forget the name of the restaurant. Lloyd had a cheeseburger; Asa enjoyed Paella; Brian ordered Lamb Curry; and I think I won with the Kaula Pork Plate.

On our last morning in Wailuku I had a tasty Banana Pancake breakfast. Sadly, when I asked the waitress if they mashed the bananas and stirred it into the batter, she replied: "no, it's just banana flavoring."

In Waikiki we enjoyed a delicious dinner of chicken salad with Waikiki we enjoyed a delicious dinner of chicken salad with Funions (those onion flavored cheetos-sort of crackers) with gin, soda and Guava nectar drinks - perfect for watching the sunset from our 24th floor balcony.

We didn't sign up for the Luau on Kaui'i - but on board the ship they did serve a roasted Kaula Pig - YUM - just don't look at it.

Mahalo

Gourmet Gibbs Is on Vacation

I am so disappointed in myself to announce that Gourmet Gibbs is going on vacation! I know, it would mean more if I had posted the past couple of weeks, and given you all cooking projects to work on while I'm lounging on the beaches of Hawaii.....
but NO, I just don't post for a couple of weeks, and then post that I'm going to be gone for a couple more weeks.
Oh well, what's a Gourmet Gibbs going to do?

Keep cooking, eating and enjoying.
YUM!

"It's all Greek To Me" Salad

No matter what you're having for dinner, don't you think you should have a salad? And don't you dare just open a Bag-O-Salad - they have that "processed" flavor that can't be covered up even with too much salad dressing. So here's a simple, yet interesting Greek Salad.

This isn't a "real" Greek salad, but has the essence of a Greek Salad.... it does have Olive Oil and Feta Cheese - what about that doesn't scream "Greek?"

Simply slice Romaine Lettuce and layer it in your salad bowl. Next, spoon on your marinated onions and cucumbers - oh wait - we haven't discussed those yet.

A day or so before you are going to make your salad, slice cucumbers and red onions (thinner is better - especially for the onion) and marinade in a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and what-ever-other-you-want seasonings... to taste. Put in a covered dish in the fridge - and don't forget to stir/shake it around every several hours.

Use the extra marinade as your dressing - it's so tasty.

I also split a handful of cherry tomatoes - and spread those over the salad, then sprinkled with crumbled Feta Cheese.

Now just add the main course - and if you're wondering what to prepare, just review this past year's worth of food blogs!

Hire's Big H - a UTAH Football Tradition

I hadn't intended on doing a travelog posting this week - but as the days go by, and as I looked at photos from our recent trip to a UTAH football game - I decided it was my duty to share 'HIRE'S BIG H" with all of you. We have a tradition of going to Hire's before all home UTAH football games and all home UTAH gymnastics meets. A few weeks ago, we continued our tradition:

Hire's Big H is a burger joint in Salt Lake City on the corner of 4th South and 7th East - it's been there since before the Mormon pioneers settled the valley... of course, they've updated their kitchen since then. They have some beverage franchise agreement with Hire's Rootbeer - but the drive-in itself is family owned and operated since its beginning. You can literally drive up to the side and a car hop will come to your car, take your order, and deliver your food to you on a tray that clips onto your car window.

We, however, chose to "dine in."

The Staff is always friendly, and they bring the entire order on one big tray!

(Once we had about 20 people there before a gymnastics meet, and they sent out a couple of servers with a couple of trays.)

I enjoyed the Pastrami H Combo with Onion Rings and Diet Coke; Bea had the regular Big H Combo with Fries and Diet Coke; and Brody, John's grandson, enjoyed the Jr. Combo Meal - corn dog, fries and a frosty mug of Root Beer.

All of us enjoyed a DELICIOUS pre-game meal,

then we enjoyed a true gridiron butt-spanking as Utah beat New Mexico 56-3. GO UTES! And if you're in SLC - GO TO HIRE'S!

Kielbasa Stroganoff Casserole - Another Gourmet Gibbs Creation

This week, Beef Stroganoff takes on a whole new twist - swap Kielbasa for the beef, add the "Secret Mormon Family Recipe" ingredient - Cream of Mushroom Soup! - and turn it into a casserole. A tasty treat that is sure to please the most finicky of eaters (not including our vegetarian friends - they'll have to wait for another post).

The incredibly simple list of Ingredients:

1 Hillshire Farms (or other brand) Kielbasa/Polish Sausage - available in the meat/deli section
1 large yellow onion - chopped
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 4-oz can Mushrooms - stems and pieces

1 8-oz tub Sour Cream

1 package wide egg noodles

1 and 1/2 cups (more or less) sharp white cheddar cheese

(Kitties like to make sure you're using the correct cheddar... FYI)

Prepare the pasta according to directions - pretty basic - water, a dash of oil and salt, boil/cook, drain. Let the pasta drain in the colander, and set aside the pot you cooked it in - cause you'll want that for mixing up all the good stuff.

Slice the Kielbasa - I like to cut it in half, and then quarter each section. Also chop the onion. In a large fry-pan, brown the Kielbasa. There's no need to add any oil because once the Kielbasa starts to heat it will produce plenty of its own juices (fat!). Stir occasionally, and and add in the onion to brown/saute as well.

Drain the grease as best you can, then using the pasta pan, stir together the Kielbasa and onion, mushrooms (including the liquid from the can), cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, cooked noodles, and one cup of the sliced/shredded cheese -

if you use a yummy sharp white cheddar, it will crumble as you slice it - to just the texture you'll

want for mixing.

Scoop it into a casserole dish, then top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar. Cover and cook in your pre-heated 375 degree oven for 45 -50 minutes.

Uncover and cook for an additional 10 minutes to brown the top of the casserole. Let sit for 20 minutes or so (while you toss your salad - the healthy portion of the meal) - then ENJOY!

And how couldn't you? Look - we finished off nearly half of the casserole... YUMMY.

Scallops, Garden Peppers and Pasta

It's tough to write a blog while you're watching a DVD of "Star Trek" (2009 version) AND you've got a kitty sitting in your lap, expecting every ounce of attention you're not giving to the movie....

But that's what I'm going to attempt to do today. And to make my task easier - and to keep my word from last week's blog - I'm going to share an easy recipe for a delicious gourmet treat: Sauteed Sea Scallops, tossed with mushrooms, scallions, garden peppers and pasta.

For preparation, thaw, rinse, drain and dry the scallops. (I used a bag of frozen scallops, medium sized - a bit smaller than a quarter - that I got at Pavilions for a 60% savings using my Vons Club card and a "super saver" coupon out of the newspaper. I would prefer to use larger scallops, but couldn't pass up the bargain.)

Prepare a box/bag of your favorite pasta - I chose angel hair spaghetti for this meal. When cooked, drain the pasta and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, chop a dozen or so medium sized mushrooms, 3 or 4 scallions, and a selection of garden peppers - Kenny gave me a bag of peppers he collected from his garden, and I chose 3 jalapenos and 2 anaheims. If you don't have your own Kenny to supply you with garden fresh peppers, substitute with store produce.

In a large skillet melt a pat of butter with a splash of olive oil. You can use just butter, but the olive oil combo makes it just a tad "healthier." DO NOT use just olive oil - you'll want the flavor of the butter sauteed into your scallops. Place the scallops in a single layer in the heated butter and saute 3 to 4 minutes - each side. Be careful not to overcook the scallops or they'll get rubbery and chewy - but still be delicious. Remove from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, melt a little more butter and oil - then saute the mushrooms, scallions and peppers.

Stir in the cooked pasta and mix well; then add and stir in the cooked scallops. "Plate" and enjoy!

If you do splurge and use the large scallops, I would mix just the pasta and veggies - plate that, then place the finished scallops on top before serving.

DELISH!