Yesterday was one of those days. The big guy went out of town for a couple of days and Max picked the exact hour he was leaving to have one of what turned out to be three seizures. The balance of the day was spent with a very stinky, very high 20 pound schnauzer in my arms. Then last night he got into the "cat candy" in the back yard behind the barricades we constructed to keep him from doing just that very thing, then spent the night burping cat poo odors and groaning.It was most unpleasant.
Needless to say, dinner wasn't high on the priority list. When the big guy's away, I often have things we wouldn't have were he home, and one of them is breakfast for dinner. I say why not - but for some reason he's against the idea. I'd love a big plate of waffles with bacon for dinner (course, I'd love the same thing right now ANY time - ha), so last night I cooked up one of my favorites and served it on a bed of another favorite - sauteed spinach. Now just a word of warning - it tasted a whole lot better than it looks, believe me!
To make JBug's baked eggs, I simply sprayed a ramekin with cooking spray, then lined it with 2 ounces of sliced ham and a one ounce piece of Monterey jack cheese. That's what I had, but swiss works great too. Then I cracked an egg on top of everything, dusted it with salt and pepper, added a drop of heavy cream and shoved it in the oven for 15 minutes. Now, I know from experience that it doesn't take quite as long to cook if you give the ham a head start in a frying pan, but I'm lazy so I didn't do that. The consequences were that it was a little soft when I took it out, and the moisture from the ham created a bit of a pool on the plate. But hey, that worked out just fine because underneath the egg was a pool of green goodness - spinach sauteed with onion in a no stick pan, finished with a touch of lemon juice, nutmeg, black pepper and a whole tablespoon of pinenuts. Delicious - I mean it people! Download JBug's Baked Eggs
And now - the calorie count for this extravaganza - drum roll please... 403 ...302 for the baked egg and 101 for the spinach. I agree it seems like a lot for such a small serving and you can certainly decrease the number by using extra lean ham, reducing the amount of whipping cream to 1 teaspoon and leaving the pine nuts out. That would cut the number by over 100 calories, but hey I was in the mood to splurge. It was this or a glass of wine - thank goodness the wine lost the battle, cause I'm not sure I could have stopped at one glass. Course I could have made the cut AND had a glass of wine. Boy, am I STUPID!
So, how do I come up with those numbers you ask? There's a site on line called Calorie Count and you can ask for the calories of almost everything on God's green (and brown, and snow covered) earth and you'll find it there. Simply weigh and measure everything you put into a recipe and calculate the number of calories for your totals. Weigh or measure your portions and then you can calculate the number of total calories per serving. It doesn't take long and believe me, it's worth it when you can dine like royalty and still watch the scale numbers going DOWN.
I can hear you asking - "if it's so easy, why don't you do it all the time." Good question. I'll get back to you on that.
What do you mean it isn't pretty - it is gorgeous - it is gorgeous!!!!!! And full of yummy nutritious goodness!!! Bless the pups heart - hope he is better today. Chicken soup today - my daughter had a bad cold...
Posted by: Lea | 01/08/2010 at 05:56 AM
Thanks Lea. Today Max is on overdrive, voraciously hungry thanks to the medication and still checking out the color of auras. Tomorrow he'll crash and by Sunday he'll be back to normal. Yippee! Hope your daughter feels better soon. For sure she will after your chicken soup!
Posted by: June | 01/08/2010 at 06:56 AM
I think the dish look delicious. Just discovered your blog from over at The Other Side of Fifty....love your blog and think it's great! I also have a dog that gets seizures - a chihuahua...she takes sodium bromide for them and that has really kept them under control..
Posted by: Debbie | 01/08/2010 at 08:00 AM
So sorry to hear about your Max. Must break your heart to see him like that. Give him a hug for me.
I love eggs at any time of day or night. I'm so glad they're considered a figure-friendly food. This looks delicious June.
Posted by: Mags | 01/08/2010 at 08:07 AM
Debbie - hi and thanks for visiting. I'll be returning the favor very shortly. Our little Maxer's on sodium bromide as well as phenobarb - enough for a Great Dane, but still manages to do the shakey dance every 4 weeks. Thank goodness your little Chi has responded to the medication, but it isn't fun is it.
Mags - thanks for your comments and for the new visitors I'm seeing this morning! Holy cow! I agree, thank goodness eggs are figure friendly though I shoulda' had the wine, eh? By the way, I'll give Max a hug from you as soon as I can catch him. He's doing laps with Georgie right now - training for the "cat tucky derby". LOL
Posted by: June | 01/08/2010 at 08:34 AM
I adore breakfast for dinner, sweet or savory. This looks amazing I think.
Posted by: noble pig | 01/08/2010 at 11:33 PM
Poor puppy, poor June. I love breakfast for supper. When I first arrived down south, I was dying to make fried green tomatoes. So I made them, with some of the wonderful bacon and poached egg. I found a bottle of boutique beer in the pantry that had 'chocolate and coffee undertones'. That was a very satisfying 'supper'.
Posted by: Sarah G | 01/09/2010 at 05:38 AM
Noble Pig - ya, I don't know what the big guy's issue is with having breaky for dinner but he's dead set against it.
Sarah - Fried green tomatoes are the bomb aren't they and as for the bacon in the South, it is amazing. Have you tried a country ham yet?
Posted by: June | 01/09/2010 at 07:23 AM