Egg clouds just reinvented breakfast!

I love taking fantastic recipes other people are creating, and seeing how I can incorporate my own favorite flavors into them. This week I have been obsessed with Egg Clouds! 

For those of you who know what the delicious dessert Pavlova is, this is like the breakfast version of that light and airy, yet crispy treat.

Egg clouds are super simple and present beautifully. They would be perfect to impress brunch guests, or to surprise someone special on their birthday or with breakfast in bed. I adapted my version from Hostthetoast.com ( a blog I am loving, a lot). They did theirs in yummy looking Ciabatta bread, but we didn't have any bread and I wasn't waiting not one single second longer to make these. So I proceeded bread-less!

The great part about these is that you could fold in cheese, veggies, ham, or any topping you would put into an omelette and mix up the kind of egg cloud you cooked every time!

You will need

• The number of eggs you want to cook (these puff up and although I can usually eat two eggs for breakfast, I typically only make it through one of these bad boys)
• Any additions you want to add: (Hostthetoast.com used mozzarella and hot sauce. I've recently used Basil, Oregano and morel mushroom cheddar and it was sooooooo good. I'm planning on using zucchini next!)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Toast or Asparagus or something tasty to soak up the egg yolk (if you desire! My husband likes to tear off the sides of the cloud and dip the fluffy whites into the runny yolks)
• Baking Tray
• Tin foil or Baking Paper (If you use tinfoil be sure to lightly grease it!)
• Hand or stand mixer (You could use a whisk if you're a kitchen badass and your arms can handle it!)

Steps

1. Preheat oven between 350-400 F. If your oven runs hot like mine keep the temperature on the lower side so you don't scorch the egg whites.
2. Separate yolks and whites cleanly, and place yolks aside without breaking (I LOVE the water bottle trick for this. Take an empty water bottle and squeeze gently, place the opening over the yolk and slowly release the bottle. Voila! It sucks up the eggs yolk neatly and you don't have to buy a separator or use your hands.)
3. Whip whites in a very clean bowl, using very clean mixer blades, until peaks form. You want the peaks to be hard enough to maintain their shape when you place the mixture on the baking tray.
4. Fold in your toppings carefully so you don't deflate the whites. Season as desired.
5. Scoop "clouds" gently onto your baking tray, focusing on getting some height so you can make a little hole for your yolk. 
6. Using a spoon, dig a small space for your yolk, ensuring there are no breaks in your whites to allow yolk to escape and break. Don't dig too far down towards the tray. You want to be able to enjoy all of the gooey goodness later!
7. Bake @ desired temperature for about 6-7 minutes or until the the tops of the whites turn slightly golden.
8. Take the tray out of the oven, and carefully add the yolks into the holes you made before.
9. Bake for another 6-7 minutes, or until the whites have set.

Serve immediately and enjoy :)

If you make these be sure to post to Instagram and tag me @DrParko121314

Eggs Benedict with Pumpkin Hollandaise... There are no words

I am that girl. I LOVE pumpkin everything. But I mean real pumpkin... Like the kind you carve. Not just the cinnamony nutmeg flavor we associate with a PSL or pumpkin pie. I don't want to discriminate so I will broaden this to say I love pumpkin, squash and gourds in general. They can be sweet or savory and serve as awesome bases for soups and sauces...which is how I discovered this treat for today's follow-on blog to why brunch is king.

I adore eggs Benedict. It's the first thing I order if I go out for breakfast somewhere but it is also the dish I am most often disappointed by. My husband and I have been on a mission to stop eating out and instead spend that time recreating things in our kitchen. I've said before he's an amazing cook, and he is... But I've been stepping up my game and I'm VERY proud of this dish. 

The hollandaise sauce is what makes a Benedict for me. It can be done really badly and kill the whole dish. Of course, it's not the easiest sauce to make and can split in a second if anything is off. Pumpkin doesn't split! 

We decided to explore pumpkin hollandaise after making a twice baked pumpkin dish and realizing we had a lot of extra butternut squash purée left over. The purree was so smooth, sweet and creamy and just begged to be used in a other dish. After sprinkling paprika on our original dish and taste-testing we knew just what to do! And so, this fall-inspired dish was born.

Dr. P's Pumpkin Hollandaise for Eggs Bennie ( or anything else you want to smother in hollandaise...which for me is everything!)

For the hollandaise you will need:

1. Squash purée ( we baked a butternut the night before, scooped out the insides and puréed ( and puréed and puréed and then when we thought it couldn't get smoother we puréed it further) with some unsweetened almond milk. Depending on your dietary needs you could do the same, or use regular cow's milk or cream. For this recipe you will want a more liquidy purée versus a thick, soup-like consistency.)
2. Paprika, salt and pepper to taste 
3. Lemon or lime juice to taste ( I used the juice from one lemon, but I love a lemony hollandaise)
4. Butter if you want to use it

What to do:

1. Warm purée, add seasonings, lemon/lime juice and butter if you desire! So simple :)
2. Drizzle over poached eggs and whatever other delicious accouterments you choose!

Enjoy, savor, and delight in how deliciously guilty this dish looks, but revel in knowing it is nowhere near as guilty as its buttery, eggy traditional cousin!

Cheers

Dr. P