Would You Make Breakfast? Fried Bread with Egg Skillet

 For years when I had to cook just for myself (before and after the house full of kids), I just made scrambled eggs and toast.  It wasn't that I didn't know how to cook, but rather that eggs were fast, cheap, filling, and used one pan and one plate.  Ok, you could even eat them out of the pan.   I had spent so much time cooking for other people that when there was just me, I wanted to spend my time in other ways, i.e. breathing. 

This is one of the first sorts of things I cooked just for myself.  A fish salad.  Walleye Salad if you're in Minnesota.  Make a nice salad while a piece of fish cooks in a pan.  Gee.  Real rough?  But it was a watershed moment.  You know how often you hear someone say, "Too hard to cook for just me."  I changed that for myself.  I set the table, lit the candles, turned on the music, and lived.

  There was a year, however, and I picture it perfectly because I know when it happened, when I began to shop and cook just for me.  This isn't something a longtime mother does naturally.  She's used to roasting a couple of chickens, checking homework,  stirring up a big pot of potatoes, throwing laundry in the dryer,  and chopping up a whomper of a salad while baking a bunch of biscuits served with jam.  Making a huge vat of ham and bean soup and corn bread.   Whatever feeds the troops with what's left in the bank.

The day I walked in a store, wandered around lazily and bought one beautiful 6 oz piece of salmon (some for dinner and some for lunch) was an eye-opening day.  It's amazing what you can cook for one person, I thought.   I was almost embarrassed at how liberated I felt.   And one of the true beauties of cooking for one is you get exactly what you want exactly how you want it.  One rare lamb chop with creamed spinach.  A plate of broccoli with cheese (and nothing else) made in the microwave while you crank up a movie or grab the novel and pour a glass of wine.  Double veggie burger.  Yes, I loved making  veggie burgers.  Still do.  They're not something Dave eats, so when he travels, I'm eating veggie burgers.

Having eggs and toast?  Make coffee first.  Then have your plate ready with your jam before you begin to cook.

 But once in a while, the egg thing comes back to bite me.  The single pan, greased lightly (for easy clean-up) and quickly-cooked meal call, "ALYCE!"  And I go back to the fast lane dinner or breakfast.  I even, only sometimes, do it for both us when Dave walks in and says, "Gee, that looks good."   You might have someone in your life who'd like you to make breakfast.  Or maybe you'd just like to make this for you.  Fried Bread with Egg Skillet is so simple that I hesitate to add it to the blog, but I love it so.... that when I made it last Sunday morning, I thought, "Gotta put this on Dinner Place!"  Added bonus:  no toaster needed.   Here's how:

fried bread with egg skillet for one

• 2t jam
• 2t butter
• 2 small slices bread or 1 large piece cut in half
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper

Place jam on plate.   Heat an 8" skillet over medium high heat.  Add butter.  As soon as the butter is melted, stir it around evenly in the pan and add bread.  Let brown a minute or two and turn.  Push bread to one side and crack in egg.  Sprinkle egg with salt and pepper.  Cover and cook for about two minutes or until egg is done to your liking.  Uncover and tip egg and toast (it should come out in one piece) out onto plate with jam.  Eat while hot.
 

Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself,
Alyce

on other fronts ...

I happened to see a great recipe for Pizza for One on The Perfect Pantry; check it out!

Right now on More Time at the Table:
                       Alyce's Tortellini Salad Goes to Denver, but Misses Olivia's Birthday: