Brunch Idea

Oh weekend brunch with endless mimosas, WHERE are you??!! I always find myself searching for the best spot that has this deal, and usually looking for one that is at least open until 2 PM, since I am not out of bed until 11 AM on weekends! Yes, there are a couple spots around my house to go to, but they are all about a 20-30 minute drive, and after having endless mimosas you are stuck out in that area until you are good to drive. So I've come up with a solution!! Make your own brunch and mimosas! You are going to save money, save calories (you know how much butter/oil you are using), and don't have to drive anywhere (as long as you go to the store the day before).

Your shopping list for Friday:

• Champagne (more than one bottle if you want bottomless mimosas)
• Orange Juice
• Eggs
• Bacon
• Potatoes
• Bread
• Ketchup (optional)
• 
  

Saturday and/or Sunday morning brunch instructions:

1. Wake up and pop that champagne! Fill the glass half-way (or more) and top it with orange juice. You can then start the cooking.
2. Start the potatoes:
• Heat oven to 420 degrees.
• Slice 2 or 3 potatoes into small squares or triangles.
• Place potatoes onto 13 x 9 or whatever you have (make sure you spray it with cooking spray)
• Season potatoes with salt, pepper, and anything else (I use garlic salt or paprika)
• Put in oven for 25 minutes, then flip and re-season.
• Put back in oven for another 25 minutes or till crisp to your desire!
3. While waiting for the first 25 minutes of the potatoes to go by, put on some dance music and continue drinking your mimosa.
4. After flipping the potatoes and adding another 25 minutes for potatoes, wait until the timer gets down to 10 minutes left and start making the bacon. Put bacon on pan on medium heat, flip after 3 minutes.  Continue cooking until desired crispness.
5. Also while cooking the bacon, use another pan to make the eggs. You can make the eggs anyway you would like, but I make mine over-easy. If that is too difficult, just go with scrambled. (I hope you can handle that without directions.) :-)
6. Make sure to pop in the bread for some side toast!
7. When everything is ready, you can go with my style, place the bacon on the toast, and put an egg on top of it to make an open-faced egg sandwich. Potatoes can soak up any extra yolk and/or use ketchup for potatoes.

Enjoy and BE healthy, have fun, don't have too many mimosas or you might end up needing my Hangover Cures !

Healthy Version of Cheesecake Factory Shrimp Bacon Club

Last week I went to Cheesecake Factory and had a half of the Shrimp Bacon club (thank God only half)! Later I went home and researched the calories, and found that it has 1,645 calories, 20g of fat!! That is OVER my calories I need for one day, and it is just dinner! Yes, I only ate about 800, but it got me thinking, this tastes amazing, I am sure there is a healthier version I could create! So here is what I created, let me know if you try it and have your own comparison!

Healthier Version of Cheesecake Factory Shrimp Bacon Club
2 slices wheat bread (180 cal)
1 1/2 slices cooked bacon (about 75 cal)
About 3 oz. cooked shrimp (about 100 cal)
Spinach (I'd say 0 cal)
1/2 Tomato (10 cal)
BBQ sauce for spread 2 tbsp. (30 cal) *I used Stubb's, has no high fructose corn syrup!
This total comes to 395 calories for the sandwich.


I also made potatoes to go with it, and I HAVE to share my potato recipe as well:

2 medium potatoes (any kind work)

1. Heat oven to 420 degrees.
2. Slice potatoes into small squares or triangles.
3. Place potatoes onto 13 x 9 or whatever you have (make sure you spray it with cooking spray)
4. Season potatoes with salt, pepper, and anything else (I use garlic salt or paprika)
5. Put in oven for 25 minutes, then flip and reseason.
6. Put back in oven for another 25 minutes or till crisp to your desire!
1 potato is 163 calories (Source: USDA)

All in all, if you make this sandwich and potato for dinner, it will be 558 calories total. That sounds WAY better than that crazy 1648 number, and I'm sure it is less sodium and fat as well!


Enjoy and BE Healthy!!!