Eggs Benedict with Homemade Hollandaise

One of my favorite meals has always been breakfast. Oatmeal, Corn Flakes, pancakes, waffles, it doesn't really matter because it is all delicious!  Probably one of my favorite breakfast foods in the egg because there are so many different ways to make eggs. I personally am not a fan of scrambled eggs, unlike John and Roman, but I LOVE an egg with a runny yolk. That brings me to this recipe; Eggs Benedict!

A while back John decided he wanted to make eggs benedict for breakfast. Of course you can't have eggs benedict without luscious, silky, buttery, hollandaise sauce. I myself have yet to be brave enough to attempt this sauce myself but John has become the hollandaise king in our house! Even with Roman hanging off of him and grabbing everything in sight, John still manages to perfect this amazing breakfast time and time again. Luckily he was willing to share his recipe and his secret technique with me so I could pass it along to you! This would make a delicious Christmas morning breakfast as well!

Homemade Hollandaise
4 egg yolks
1 cup butter
1T vinegar
1T tarragon
1/2t salt
pepper to taste

Whisk egg yolks vigorously in a sauce pan over low heat until they are warm to the touch. Add the butter to the egg yolks 1T at a time while continuously whisking. Remove pan from heat, still whisking, adding vinegar and spices. Return pan to low heat for 5 minutes, again still whisking, until hollandaise is thick and coats the back of a spoon.  Enjoy!

The most important part of this recipe is the whisking. Whatever you do, do not stop whisking while making this sauce. If you stop whisking, your hollandaise will break and while it's still tasty it won't look quite the same because the fat in the butter will separate from the rest of the sauce.

Eggs benedict usually consists of a soft poached egg, cheese, bacon and an English muffin. We never have English muffins in our house so we usually just use toast. That being said, there have been days when we are so desperate to have this for breakfast that we used horribly freezer burnt focaccia buns. They were a little tough to cut but still delicious. I don't blame you if you judge us for that; I probably would too.

Peanut Butter & Banana Baked Oatmeal

Pinterest for the win! For me, trying recipes I see on Pinterest is always a game of Russian roulette. Sure the pictures look amazing, the comments say it's "super easy & delicious" but you never really know what you're getting yourself into. I mean, there is a reason #pinterestfail exists right? But I find that when you can find a good recipe on Pinterest, it's usually amazing, which kinda makes up for having to eat all the fails.

I could literally live on this oatmeal. Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, snacks, middle of the night craving, just because; whatever the occasion, this oatmeal is the food answer. If I was going to die tomorrow, this very well may be my last meal. It's THAT GOOD! Even if your kids don't like oatmeal I bet you can get them to eat this. If you don't believe me, try it!!!

PB & Banana Baked Oatmeal (Serves 8 or 1 Kendra)
3 cups quick oats
1/2 cup flaxseed
2t baking powder
1/2 cup honey
1 cup milk
2T melted butter
1/2 cup peanut butter, melted
2 eggs
2t vanilla
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 chopped walnuts

Mix oats, flaxseed and baking powder together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine, honey, milk, butter, peanut butter, eggs, vanilla and bananas. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and add chocolate chips and walnuts and mix until well combined. Divide mixture between two 8x8 pans and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.

To Freeze: Bake as directed and allow to cool completely. Cover with foil and freeze.
To Serve: Defrost and reheat in the oven or microwave. Be sure to remove from the tin pans if using the microwave. No sparky sparky!

 

If you happen to forget to add the milk to the oats before you bake it, don't panic! I may have done this very thing and it can be saved! If you add a bit of milk to the oats after you reheat it, it will soften right up and be just as delicious!