Lick The Spoon Clean

Wake up sunshine! It’s time to brush away your sleepy eyes and jump start another day. Uh huh…right. You wake me up with that peppy attitude and you’ll be tasting pillow for a month. I’m not a morning person (no, really?) and that will never change. Every morning I never fail to go through the same routine: cuss out the alarm clock, dramatically drape the covers over my head, force myself finally out of bed, and crawl blindly to the coffeepot. Although I hate waking up before the crack of noon, there is one single thing that makes it all better – breakfast. Breakfast is by far my very favorite meal of the day. Why shouldn’t it be?  Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, waffles, pancakes, strudel, cereal, bagels, muffins, cinnamon rolls…you get the point. I am not alone in this either. If you haven’t seen a McDonald’s drive thru in the morning, it’s brutal. Long lines of grumpy go-getters, bumper-to-bumper barking out orders then swiftly stuffing their faces as they speed out onto the highways. I may love McDonald’s soft serve ice cream, but it’s a cold day in hell for me to place an order from that processed menu. Let’s just say it’s NOT happening. But despite my disgust, a good breakfast sandwich sounds pretty darn good about now. That’s it – move over McDonalds! This morning I’m making my own Jenny-made McMuffin!

Now that I’m stomping off to the kitchen (I’ve had a couple cups of coffee now and I’m hungry), I pull out my ingredients – fresh from the fridge!

1 English muffin
cheddar cheese, sliced (natural)
1 slice of bacon, thick and peppered (the McMuffin comes with Canadian bacon, but I can’t resist a slice of peppered bacon!)
1 large egg, brown and laid from a cageless chicken (beat that McDonald’s!)
1 tablespoon butter, divided (split into 2 pieces) and unsalted (any butter will be fine)
1 tablespoon olive oil (heart heathy)
1 teaspoon milk

I crank up the stove to a nice medium heat – just how I like it. Since I’m sooo special, I slide my own non-stick skillet over the heat.  As I pour in the 1 tablespoon olive oil, I  receive a big fat hug from my heart. Once the oil is nice and toasty, I place my bacon in for a nice dip.

Yes, I realize that in my list I said I pulled out 1 NOT 2 pieces of bacon like the picture below shows. One is for my breakfast sandwich now, the other is for another sandwich tomorrow morning – that way I get 5 more minutes of sleep. I take every ounce of sleep I can get!

After a couple minutes of celebrating my soon-to-be-sensational sandwich, the bacon begins to scrunch and brown. The bacon gets so excited it even does a flip! (Ok, I really flipped the bacon – please don’t wait for the bacon to flip or you’ll end up with bad burnt bacon)

After the bacon cooks to perfection (shown below…where’s my applause?), I pull those babies out and lie them flat on a plate, covered with a paper towel. All that excess oil just comes right off and soaks right into the paper towel. Once the oil cools, it goes straight into a small air-tight container and stays in the fridge until another decadent dish comes along (like eggs, meat, green beans, or casseroles).

Onto the egg! I crack open the eggl, shoot the shell down the disposal, and whisk (stir rapidly) the yolk and whites together with 1 teaspoon of milk. I could use a small whisk, but instead whip out a plain ol’ fork.  McDonald’s doesn’t take the time OR the effort to whisk and pour some love (milk) into their eggs, but I sure do!

In the same skillet (oil poured out, leaving just a little in the pan), I add 1/2 tablespoon of butter and turn back up the stove to medium. It’s time for these eggs to get scrambling!

Once the butter has melted, I ease the egg right in and watch it cook as I fold it into a cute little circle (with a spatula).

After a minute or two, I flip that baby over and Oh la la! It’s nice and golden. When cooked to perfection (about 1 minute and golden on both sides), the excellent egg is slid onto a plate. Perrrfect!

As I slather both sides of the English muffin with 1/2 tablespoon of butter, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this scrumptious sandwich!

Now to assemble my awesome ingredients! I strategically place the slices of cheese, egg, and bacon (now broken in half) into the perfect position.

Sizzling up that same skillet (no one likes to wash dishes), I place my perfectly assembled sandwich in (medium heat) on one side for a minute or until a nice golden brown.

FLIP! Ohhh ahhh. Look at that! I then brown the other side just as beautifully (normally taking less time than the first).

Now what we’ve all been waiting for. PLATE THAT BABY UP! Man, doesn’t that look good??? Wait – I’ll answer. YES, yes it does! The cheese has even melted ever-so-slightly to solidify the sandwich together. Since I want my cheese to even MORE gooey, I zip over to the microwave and zap it for 10 seconds…then…wait for it…PURE PERFECTION!

And you thought that I couldn’t do it! Were you so wrong. Not only did a master a more magnificent McMuffin, I did it in the same or less time you would have spent sitting in that silly drive thru. So go to the store, then sleep tight – don’t let the craving for crappy fast food bite! Speed to your kitchen, sizzle up a sandwich, and sink into a home-made meal that really makes you say, “I’m loving THIS!!!”