Explore. Cook. Eat.

My boyfriend Ben loves sweet potatoes. I swear he would eat them everyday if he could. While I don’t share Ben’s obsession I do think this is a nifty spud and I do enjoy having it on a regular basis. If you don’t think sweet potatoes are as versatile as a regular potato, you’re wrong. This recipe is a great example how you can have sweet potato for breakfast and make it with a southwester flare.

I’ve been making this recipe for years, and I originally got it from somewhere else, but darned if I remember where. I’m sure the recipe isn’t even exactly the same. This is a great example of my philosophy on cooking though. Recipes don’t have to be exact, make them your own. Try substituting different ingredients, spices, anything. Sweet potatoes are great with not only Latin flavors, but also Indian, and Italian blends too. So never limit yourself to exactly what the recipe says. But now back to the recipe:

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
• olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 red onion diced
• about 1/2 lb breakfast sausage
• 4 eggs
• mixed shredded cheese to taste
• salt and pepper

Heat your skillet to medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook while crumbling sausage with spatula until done. Transfer sausage to bowl. Lower heat to medium. Put pan back on heat, add a little bit of olive oil (unless your sausage was really greasy) and make a single layer of potatoes across the bottom on the pan. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Its an important side note to know that the smaller you up your potatoes the quicker they’ll cook, but it is more important to cut them evenly so they’ll cook all at the same time. After about 5 minutes, mix potatoes and add onions, cumin, chili powder, salt, and peper. Cook until potatoes are soft to the touch.  Mix sausage back in and divide mixture between two plates.

Wipe out pan, and bring back to a medium low heat. Scramble eggs and add cheese just before done. Divide mixture between the two plates. Garnish with sour cream and enjoy something different for breakfast.

Sometimes I want to feel fancy in my own home. I can usually accomplish this by making almost any type of fish outside of tilapia or shrimp, or if I buy a really nice cut of steak to make at home. While I dream sometimes of being one of those fancy food bloggers that is constantly shaving truffles on their dishes or trying some exotic ingredient from their high priced specialty store, I am not one of them.

Ben and I are on a constant budget, and we buy almost all our meats from Costco, portion them and freeze them (or buy them frozen in the first place). I try to make it to the farmers’ market every week, not only for the fresh seasonal produce, but for the fact that it’s about 1/2 the price of the grocery store. Everything else is just bought at plain old Publix (the local grocery store here in Florida). The only time Ben and I can act snooty about our food purchases is when we bring green bags into the store instead of using plastic. Oh, and the only reason we do that is because it’s more convenient, not because we are on a crusade to save the planet.

I feel like I represent the regular cook. I’m on a budget, but that doesn’t mean that everything has to taste like cardboard, even if I can get the best ingredients.

On my birthday, Ben took me to one of the fanciest restaurants in town. I started to read reviews about what to get, and a bunch of them said get the mussels. So I was set on getting the mussels. However, since my birthday also falls on Valentine’s day we were not able to secure a dinner reservation and a late lunch had to do. Unfortunately, mussels were not on the lunch menu!

So, since then I have been craving a nice bowl of mussels with some crusty french bread to mop up the sauce. Mussels are one of the things that, if I serve at home, make me feel fancy and, on Saturday night, I wanted to be fancy damn it! So I used this recipe from Tyler Florence to make a dish of my own.

Here’ s what you’ll need

• 3 pounds mussels
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 leeks, white parts only, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 bunch fresh thyme
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

First Ben and I spent a half hour to clean and debeard the mussels. I guess being fancy takes some elbow grease. I think this is the most important step so don’t skip it. It helps get all the dirt and grit out of the mussels. A good soak will help too.

Next, you heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Saute the vegetables for about 5 minutes.

Toss in the mussels and mix everything together.

Add the white wine and cover the pot to let everything steam for maybe 10 minutes. It may take less time. You’ll know they’re done when the mussels are open. Add the rest of the butter, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Discard any mussels that don’t open during the cooking process, as they were dead before you cooked them.

This recipe is simple, but it’s fresh and easy. The best part is, mussels really aren’t that expensive. They just feel different from the everyday chicken.

Now sit down at the table with the rest of that bottle of wine, a loaf of crusty french bread, and enjoy being fancy, even if you are in your PJs.

What do you like to cook at home to make you feel fancy? Let me know in the comments below.