Special eggs is a family favorite breakfast recipe. We learned it from my brother-in-law, Steve. My grandson named it, “Special Eggs” because it has all of his favorite breakfast foods including eggs, sausage, cheese, and toast. He always requests it when he is here.
Special eggs is easy, fast, and you can use whatever leftover breakfast meats you have on hand. The best part? You don’t have to worry about breaking the egg yolk, because you’re supposed to break it! We usually use my home made ground turkey sausage for an alpha-gal safe option.
Special Eggs Secret
The secret to Special Eggs is cooking it hot enough to get that melty cheese a bit crusty, but keeping the yolk soft for when you break it all up in the pan. Here’s how to make it:
Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup ground turkey sausage
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I use plant based cheese)
Salt & Pepper
Instructions:
Spray or grease a nonstick skillet. Turn the heat on medium and break the eggs into the pan. When the egg whites are solid and beginning to get crispy around the edges. Season with salt and pepper, then add the ground sausage and flip the eggs. top with the cheese and let it cook for a minute or so until the cheese is melty and just beginning to get crispy around the edges.
Now comes the fun part! Use your spatula to break up the egg and stir it together with all that sausage and cheesy goodness and remove it from the pan. So easy, your kids can help make breakfast! Serve it with toast. You’re going to love it!
Whether you’re starting from scratch, or spicing up a store bought mix, you’ll love cinnamon vanilla pancakes for your weekend breakfast! If you’re feeling frisky, throw in even more extras like nutmeg, pecans, or even chocolate chips. You really can’t go wrong!
Quick Alpha-gal note: If you’re using a mix, be sure and read the entire label to make sure it’s safe. Depending on your sensitivity level, if it contains added vitamins, mono or di-glycerides, milk, butter, or lard may be red flags. It’s important to know both what the ingredients are, as well as your own sensitivity.
The Fluffy Pancake Secret
The secret to fluffy pancakes is to allow your batter to rest for at least 15 minutes before you start cooking. This gives the batter time to form the glutens that will be strong enough to support those air bubbles that make the pancake light and fluffy. If you skip this step you’ll have, well, flat pancakes.
The other trick is to make sure your pan is fully preheated before you start cooking. That old saying that the first pancake never turns out is simply because the pan isn’t hot enough at the start. Set your heat to medium and give it time to get fully preheated. Oh, and never, never, never (is that enough nevers?), never smash the pancake with your spatula!
Cook up a double batch of pancakes on the weekend and freeze the extra (if there are any) for a microwavable weekday morning breakfast.
Cinnamon Vanilla Pancake Ingredients:
Pancake mix
or:
2 cups all-purpose flour (not enriched)
1/4 cup beet sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 egg (beaten)
2 cups oat milk
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions:
If using pancake mix, prepare according to package instructions stirring in the cinnamon and vanilla extract. If using this scratch recipe, follow these instructions:
Mix together the dry ingredients. Then, combine the eggs, oat milk, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined. The mixture may still be slightly lumpy, but that’s ok. Now, Set the mixture aside to rest for at least 15 minutes.
While you’re waiting, prepare your griddle and get it preheated.
Spray or coat your preheated griddle with vegetable oil and ladle about 2/3 cup of batter onto the griddle. (you can make your pancakes bigger or smaller depending on your preference.) After a minute or two, the pancake will develop bubbles across the top and the edges will begin to look dry. Flip the pancake and cook the other side. It will only take a couple of minutes per side if your pan is properly preheated. Remove the cooked pancake and place it on a warm plate while you cook the rest.
Makes approximately fifteen 4-inch pancakes Serve with plant butter and real maple syrup. Enjoy your cinnamon vanilla pancakes!
I know that most people plan their camping meals, first and foremost, for convenience and ease of preparation. Prepackaged, heat and serve foods require less time to prepare, and less mess to clean up, thereby freeing you up to enjoy the camping fun. There’s nothing wrong with that approach to camp meals, unless you’re cooking for someone who has food allergies that make those prepackaged foods dangerous.
Having a food allergy like alpha-gal syndrome means that the safest way for me to eat is to cook from scratch whenever possible. This way I have control over everything that goes into my food. When I cook from scratch I don’t have to worry about animal derived food additives or those mysterious “natural flavorings” that can trigger an allergic reaction.
Luckily, I enjoy cooking! So, spending time at the campground preparing meals and desserts is fun for me. Even so, there are things that I do to bring in at least a little convenience. First, I plan ahead. A lot! Using a meal planner that I created, I map out the meals that I plan to make for each day of the camping trip and the ingredients needed for each meal. I take inventory of the ingredients that I have on hand, and generate a grocery list of items that I need to buy. Here’s a link to the meal planner.
For this camping trip I decided to make chocolate fudge brownies. I adapted the fudge brownies recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook to make it alpha-gal safe. If you’re not sensitive to animal products, just use the original recipe!
To make baking brownies at the campsite as convenient as possible, I pre-measured the ingredients at home and put them in labeled Zip-loc bags along with a copy of the recipe. So, when it was time to bake, I could just mix and go!
Our RV doesn’t have an oven. I use a Coleman Camp Oven over a propane camp stove for baking. It is compact, lightweight, and it works well, although if there’s much wind it can be tricky to maintain an even temperature. I’ve added a small baking stone to the bottom of mine to help keep steady heat going as I bake. This recipe is great for baking at home in your kitchen oven as well!
The original recipe is from the old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Here is my alpha-gal safe adaptation.
Fudge Brownies Recipe
Ingredients:
½ cup (one stick) Country Crock olive oil plant butter
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup sugar (I use beet sugar)
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour (not enriched)
Instructions:
Spray or grease an 8×8 baking pan. In a double boiler, or in the microwave, melt the plant butter and the chocolate together just until melted and combined. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Add the eggs and the vanilla and stir until combined (don’t overmix). Stir in the flour until combined. Spread the batter into your prepared pan and bake at 350◦ f for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.
If you make this recipe, please let me know in the comments! Use your creativity to make this recipe your own with your favorite additions and share your ideas here or on my Susan By A Thread Facebook page!
You can watch me make this recipe at camp in this YouTube video short
My family loves coney dogs! Coney Sauce is easy to make, there are many recipes on the internet for making your own. Traditionally it is made with ground beef. I’m allergic to beef and all mammals these days due to a tick bite that happened about a year ago. You can read more about that here. But, my husband still likes the occasional chili dog. So I researched those online recipes, and adapted basic coney sauce to make a Ground Turkey Coney Sauce that fits my food allergy diet. Added bonus—because it’s made with turkey it’s lower in fat than traditional coney sauce! So, whether you’re avoiding red meat due to an allergy, health concerns, or just trying to cut back, this recipe will satisfy your coney dog cravings!
Keep it simple–and creative!
I found some coney sauce recipes that use more adventurous ingredients like cinnamon and allspice. If you’re feeling adventurous, go for it! Or just keep it simple. Especially if you’re new to the minefield of eating and cooking for a food allergy, simple is better! I like to keep recipes as simple as possible using pantry ingredients, so hopefully you don’t have to make a trip to the grocery store to cook supper.
Game Changer
The one ingredient you may not have is Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce. It’s a ground turkey game changer! If you don’t have it on hand, you can skip it. But, I use it for color! I believe that how food looks is as important as taste and texture. And for this recipe, I’m trying to get as close as I can to the coney sauce my husband is craving! Kitchen bouquet is vegan, but it adds a rich meaty color to make your ground turkey look less, well, turkey-y.
If you try this recipe, make it your own, make it how you like it, then share your thoughts, photos, and creativity either in the comments section here, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page!
Ground Turkey Coney Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
1 t. Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce
1 medium sized onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chili powder
¼ t. ground cumin
Dash of cayenne pepper
2 T tomato paste
2-3 cups chicken or vegetable stock or water
1 t. Mustard
Instructions
Preheat a nonstick skillet, sprayed or coated lightly with oil. Add the ground turkey and break up into small crumbles. Cook and stir for a few minutes. Stir in the Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce. Continue to cook and stir on medium heat, breaking up the pieces as needed until the meat is well browned, finely crumbled, and slightly crispy. Stir in the onions and cook for a few minutes until tender. Stir in the garlic, and cook for another 30 or 40 seconds. Add the chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper, and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Stir in enough of the stock or water to cover the mixture and simmer for30-40 minutes or until the liquid is reduced and the mixture is thickened.
Serve hot on a hot dog and bun with your favorite coney dog toppings! Enjoy!
You can watch my YouTube short video of this recipe here. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel while you’re there! Follow me on Facebook to keep up with all of my latest recipes and tips for living, eating and traveling with a focus on an alpha-gal safe lifestyle.
Whole grains are a very healthy, high fiber, high protein, and alpha-gal safe breakfast! Cook them in vegetable or chicken stock and top with an egg, some grape tomatoes, and some microgreens, and you have a delicious start to your day!
Plan ahead
Grains can take a long time to cook. And, they definitely take more time than I want to spend on a weekday breakfast, so I cook up a batch of them on the weekend, and freeze in portions for a quick microwaveable breakfast, or lunch.
A breakfast grain bowl can be just one type of grain, or a mix of several. Some grains take longer than others, so adjust your cooking process based on the package directions. I start with longer cooking grains, and then add the other grains in based on how much time they will need of the longest cooking grain. So, for example, if wild rice takes 45 minutes, and brown rice takes 25, I’ll add the rice in when the wild rice has been cooking for 15 minutes. Quinoa takes 15 minutes to cook, so I’ll add that at the 30-minute mark.
Don’t over think it, just watch your grains, add more stock or water if needed during the cooking process, and keep cooking until they’re all tender and the water is absorbed. I add water as I go to avoid having too much liquid at the end, but if your grains are all cooked tender and you have excess liquid, just drain it off. It’s perfectly fine!
Use What You Have
A breakfast grain bowl can be as simple as a bowl of grains with olive oil, salt, and pepper; or dressed up with greens, eggs, veggies or nuts. So, just use what you have on hand!
You can use a mix of grains, based on what you have in your pantry. For this recipe I had wild rice, black pearl barley, brown rice, and quinoa. But, you can also add in farro, lentils, or other grains. Keeping a variety of grains in your pantry keeps your options open. Grains stored in airtight containers are shelf stable for a long time.
Breakfast Grain Bowl Recipe
Ingredients:
½ cup wild rice (uncooked, rinsed)
½ cup black pearl barley (uncooked, rinsed)
½ cup brown rice (uncooked, rinsed)
½ cup quinoa (uncooked, rinsed)
4-5 cups of Vegetable or chicken stock, or water, more or less as needed during cooking
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Instructions:
In a large sauce pan, add the wild rice and black pearl barley. Stir in 2 cups of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add the brown rice, and 2 more cups of stock or water. Return to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes or until all grains are tender. Add more liquid as needed. When all grains are tender, remove from heat, cover, and allow to sit for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, if all liquid is not absorbed, drain off remaining liquid.
Serve grains in a bowl, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. If desired, top with eggs, greens, nuts, or other veggies. Enjoy!
If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments here, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page. Follow me on Facebook for all the latest Susan by a Thread recipes.
You can watch the YouTube short of this recipe here. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel!
You know all those fancy breading mixes that you buy for frying chicken and fish? You don’t have to pay for those mixes, you can just make your own. Make this easy bread crumbs recipe from leftover bread. You can use extra hot dog and hamburger buns, or the last of that loaf of bread that is getting stale. Once you have your basic bread crumbs, you can use them in meatloaf, meatballs, or season them up for chicken parm, or fried fish.
It’s so easy, once you’ve done it, you won’t want to pay for bread crumbs at the market ever again! Bread that is a little on the stale side works best (just make sure there’s no mold), but you can use fresh bread in a pinch, it will just take longer to bake out all of the moisture.
I stick with plain bread crumbs to keep my options open for using them in recipes. But if you mostly use Italian seasoned bread crumbs, mix in your favorite Italian seasonings and you’re ready to go whenever you need them! Ok, gather up your bread scraps and let’s make some crumbs!
DIY Bread Crumbs Recipe
Ingredients:
Leftover bread (No measuring, however much you have will work)
Instructions:
Cut your bread into cubes. The smaller the cubes the shorter the oven time. I usually do ½ inch cubes. Spread the bread cubes, and any crumbs from the cutting board, onto a baking tray. Be sure to get them into one even layer.
Place the baking tray in the oven and bake at 275f until all of the cubes are toasty brown and completely dry. How long they need to bake depends on the moisture content of the bread you are using, so watch them closely to avoid burning. Turn them with a spatula occasionally. If you break open a cube and it’s not completely dry in the center, they’re not done. Once they’re all toasted and dried, remove the tray from the oven and allow your toasted bread cubes to cool completely.
Using a rolling pin, crush the cubes into bread crumbs. This may take some time, but be patient and keep at it until you have a fine, even texture to your bread crumbs. If you have a food processor you can breeze through this step a lot faster!
Store your bread crumbs in an airtight container.
Here’s a link to my YouTube short for this recipe.
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Facebook for more great recipes and cooking tips!
Sometimes, here in the Susan by a Thread kitchen, inspiration, creativity, and luck all come together to create something delicious. For this recipe I collaborated with my brother Dave. In fact, marinating eggs was his idea. I had seen marinated eggs on YouTube videos in noodle bowls, and ramen. They looked interesting! So, Dave and I decided to give them a try. It’s important to note that we embarked on this venture unsupervised and with limited knowledge of the traditional way of making marinated eggs. With that in mind, I hope you will forgive us for any traditional recipe transgressions and give our version a try. They turned out great!
Keep it Simple
Whenever possible, I try to create recipes using pantry ingredients, or by building in the flexibility to use what you have on hand. I really don’t like going to the store and spending money on eccentric ingredients that I may only use once. So, for these eggs, we made our own dark soy sauce by mixing a cup of soy sauce with a table spoon of molasses and a drop or two of sesame oil. This made a flavorful, lightly sweet dark soy sauce! It was quite salty, though. I recommend a low sodium soy sauce if you prefer things less salty.
Boiling Eggs is easy, right?
There are many methods and theories about how to boil an egg. Everyone has their own opinion about this seemingly simple, basic cooking technique. I have always started eggs in cold water, for even cooking and less cracked shells. Here we tried something that was new for me, starting the eggs in boiling water. The theory is that you can control the cooking time better, and they’ll peel easier. They did peel pretty easy. If you haven’t watched my Short YouTube video for this recipe, it’s worth a look just for the peeling method! And while you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to my channel!
Let’s get on with the recipe!
Dave & Sue’s Marinated Eggs Recipe:
Ingredients:
8 eggs (or desired number of marinated eggs)
Large pot of water
Large bowl of ice water
2 cups dark soy sauce (more or less depending on the number of eggs you use. You need enough to immerse the eggs for marinating).
Optional add ins: Pickled jalapeno slices (with brine), crushed garlic cloves, ginger slices, or omit all add-ins and just marinate in the dark soy sauce. We used four small bowls–two eggs for each to try all four of the add-in varieties.
Instructions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil
Pierce the larger end of each egg with a knife or sharp skewer, just enough to make a tiny hole in the end. Using a ladle, carefully place the eggs into the boiling water, gently setting them at the bottom (don’t worry if one cracks, it will be fine.) Bring the water back to a boil and cook for 7 minutes. Stir gently a few times during cooking. Using a ladle, carefully remove the eggs from the pot, one at a time and place gently in the bowl of ice water to chill.
While the eggs are cooling, prepare your add-ins. We made four kinds: plain, jalapeno, garlic, and ginger.
Remove the shells from the cooled eggs and place in a bowl, pour over enough dark soy sauce to cover the eggs. Stir in your add-ins. Cover the bowl and marinate the eggs in the mixture for 24 hours. Turn the eggs occasionally to marinate evenly.
When you are ready to use your eggs, remove from the brine, slice the egg in half, add to your noodle bowl and enjoy!
If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page. Did you find a better way, or awesome add-in ideas? Please share them! Follow my Facebook page to get all the latest news and recipes from Susan by a Thread.
You can view the Marinated Eggs video here. While you’re there, be sure to subscribe to my channel.
The tenderloin is found under the breast of the goose. If you trim the breast away from the bone carefully, you will find the small tenderloin muscle on the back side of the breast. It will pull away easily and you can set it aside to cook fresh! Here’s my Snow Goose Tenderloins recipe. Ingredient amounts will depend on how many tenderloins you have. I had maybe half a pound.
Ingredients:
½ pound snow goose tenderloins, cleaned & checked for shot
1 teaspoon All-Purpose or Steak seasoning
1 T Olive oil (More or less, enough to coat each tenderloin)
1-2 T Duck fat
Instructions
Place the tenderloins in a bowl and toss them with olive oil and your favorite all-purpose seasoning. I used Misty’s All-Purpose seasoning, but you can just use garlic powder, salt, and pepper if that’s what you have on hand. Let the meat marinate in the oil and seasoning for about 10 minutes while you prepare the pan.
In a skillet, heat a tablespoon or two of fat. I used duck fat, but vegetable oil will also work.
When the pan is hot, place the tenderloins in the hot oil in a single layer, with space between the pieces. Don’t over-crowd the pan. You want them to brown quickly without overcooking. Turn the pieces once or twice until they are browned and place on a paper towel to drain. Serve immediately before they cool!
If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page.
Also try my Snow Goose Breast recipe. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more recipes!
Snow Geese are a common sight in Nebraska late winter/early spring. Millions of them migrate through the state on their way to someplace else. In some areas of the state, hunting without a bag limit is allowed to control their increasing numbers. Maybe that’s why Snow Geese are not a popular wild game food here in Nebraska, but they are delicious! Snow Goose meat is a dark red meat similar to duck. I cook it almost like a steak, with steak seasonings and medium-rare. Here’s my recipe:
Snow Goose Breast
Ingredients:
4-6 Snow Goose Breasts (skinned, cleaned and checked for shot)
2 t. Steak or All-purpose seasoning. (or blend your own onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper)
2 T Olive Oil
2 T Duck Fat or cooking oil
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400◦ Fahrenheit.
Trim any remaining fat and silver skin or connective tissue from the breasts. Tenderize the breasts by pounding them with a meat mallet or a rolling pin to break down the tissue. Then place in a large bowl or Ziploc bag. Add olive oil and seasoning and toss to coat each piece evenly. Allow to marinate in the seasoning for 15-20 minutes.
Heat the duck fat in a cast iron or oven-safe skillet until hot. Place the breasts in the hot pan and sear both sides until browned. Place the pan in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Carefully remove pan from the oven. Place the goose breasts on a cutting board and allow to rest covered with foil for 5-10 minutes. Breasts will be about medium rare. Increase or reduce oven time according to your preference for more or less rare meat. (Always use caution with undercooking wild game.)
Slice and serve!
If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page. you may also like my Snow Goose Tenderloins Recipe.
Be sure to follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more recipes!
Croutons are so easy to make! And made fresh, they are worlds better than the dry stale packaged ones you get in stores. I used homemade bread and plant-based butter, but you can use your favorite kinds of bread and butter, it will turn out just fine! You can also experiment with the seasonings. If you don’t have dill, try it with just garlic, salt and pepper. Or use your favorite all purpose seasoning.
Here’s a link to the YouTube video short for this recipe.
If you try this recipe, let me know how it turned out in the comments here, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page!
Ingredients:
4 cups Leftover bread cut into ½ inch cubes (or whatever size you like)
Half stick of plant-based butter
¼ t garlic powder
1/8 t salt
1/8 t ground black pepper
¼ t dried dill ¼ t onion powder
Instructions:
In a small sauce pan, combine the butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper, dill, and onion powder. Heat on low until, stirring occasionally until the butter is melted and well mixed with the seasonings.
Add the bread cubes to a bowl and pour in the melted butter mixture a little at a time, toss with a spoon between additions. Be gentle, you don’t want to break up the bread cubes.
When bread cubes are evenly coated with the butter mixture, spread them out on a baking tray and place in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until they are toasted, golden brown, and as crispy as you want them to be. Flip them with a spatula every 5 minutes or so to toast evenly on all sides. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Serve on your favorite salad!
