Western Scramble & Potato Pancakes

My dad and grandpa harvested a "Sheepshead" or maitake mushroom recently. Dad cleans and processes them and sends some my way chopped and frozen. Perfect! Here's some more info on sheepshead mushrooms for anyone who is interested. (Sheepshead/Maitake mushroom) They're really quite interesting to read about, because they can grow to be 50+ pounds. It's important to note that mushroom hunting (mycogphagy) can be very dangerous and it's of dire-import to do your homework prior to picking and eating wild mushrooms.

I used some of these mushrooms in scrambled eggs this morning and it was SO tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1 c mushroom
• 4 slices cooked bacon, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 of a large white onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

 Directions:
1. Saute the mushrooms in dab of butter until most of the water has cooked out of them. These mushrooms have a large water content, so 2 c of frozen will cook down to about 1/2 c cooked. You'll notice them start to brown when most of the water is gone.






2. When the start to brown, add the onion, garlic and green pepper. Saute together 5 minutes over medium heat. Throw the chopped cooked bacon in and toss for another minute until bacon is heated.






3. Reduce heat to low, add scrambled egg and fold together for 5 minutes until the egg is cooked through.

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Potato Pancakes are a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes and they're great with breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:

• 2 c mashed potatoes
• 1/4 of a large white onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c bread crumbs
•  salt and pepper to taste
• 2 glugs of vegetable or canola oil.

Directions:
1. Saute the onion and garlic over low heat with a tiny bit of oil for 5 minutes, until they're soft. Then add them to the COLD mashed potatoes along with salt, pepper, 1/4 c of flour and 1/4 c of bread crumbs. Mix together with your hands or a fork.


2. Combine the rest of the flour and bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Quickly form the mashed potatoes into patties (about a 1/2 c of potatoes each) and dredge them in the breadcrumb/flour mixture.


3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mashed potato patties and let cook 4-5 minutes before turning carefully. Don't stop and check them because lifting up the edges will cause them to break. Just have a little faith... lol

4. Cook 3-4 minutes on the other side and serve warm :) These come out crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and totally satisfying!

Tomato Gravy

In case you were wondering what you could smother all over your delicious drop biscuits, or perhaps on that savory pesto waffle you've been meaning to experiment with.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients:

• 1/4 c ground sausage
• 3 T all purpose flour
• 3 tomatoes, wedged/chopped/whatever
• 2 c milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Brown the sausage in a skillet.
2. Combine flour and water in a mason jar. Put the top on and shake 'em up for a couple of minutes. It helps the mixture to thicken up appropriately and is quintessential to this process. Read also: it kept me out of my grandpa's hair while he was making breakfast.
3. Once sausage is browned, add tomato, milk and flour to the skillet. Stir together for a few minutes until it comes to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Slather onto something bread-y and thank me later!

Forget Me Not Breakfast

A little reminder not to forget about all of the delicious bits of leftovers in the fridge when it comes time for breakfast.


Ingredients:

• 1 glug oil
• 1-2 T chopped onion
• 1 t chopped garlic
• Veggies: broccoli (use anything fresh!)
• Leftovers: 1/2 c rice, asparagus, shish kabobs
• 2 eggs
• 1 T parmesan cheese
• 2 T sausage
• Salt and Pepper

1. Heat oil in a skillet, saute onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes
2. Add sausage, brown and crumble another 2 minutes
3. Add lesser cooked/raw veggies
4. Add more cooked veggies and any cooked meat
5. Add rice, two dashes of soy sauce if you're a savor-toothed tiger like me. Brown 1-2 minutes.
6. Make a ring in the pan, turn the heat way down and add the scrambled eggs to the middle of the pan. At this point, resist the urge to push the eggs around in the pan because it's going to make a sticky mess of the rice. Just put the lid on and wait patiently for about 5 minutes, then flip the eggs and kind of chop them with your spatula. Give it another 2-3 minutes covered, and voila!
7. For the ultimate cultural confusion, serve on a warm tortilla :)