Boardash: Hot Spiced Tea, Asparagus Omelets, and Citrus Salad

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Recipes: ArcaMax Chef

For You
Friday November 13, 2009

Beverage -- Hot Spiced Tea
Main Course -- Asparagus Omelets
Dessert -- Citrus Salad
Grocery List
Tales from the ArcaMax Chef

We hope y'all enjoy this breakfast menu that serves 6 to 8.

Beverage -- Hot Spiced Tea

6 cups water
12 whole cloves
6 tea bags
2 cups pineapple juice
Juice of 2 lemons
Grated lemon rind from 1 lemon
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar (or to taste)

Bring water to a boil and add cloves. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Add tea bags and allow to steep for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags and cloves and add remaining ingredients. Serve warm.

The Skinny: Use your favorite sugar substitute.

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Main Course -- Asparagus Omelets

24 eggs
1 and one half cups water
One third cup real bacon pieces
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
One half cup onion, chopped
32 small asparagus spears, cut into one inch pieces and blanched in boiling water
Salt and pepper to taste

Separate egg whites from yolks. Reserve the yolks for later use. Pour the egg whites into a bowl and beat until frothy. Add about 1 and one half cups water to make the mixture runny. Add bacon, cheese and onion and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bend each asparagus stalk until it breaks and discard the tough stalk end. Cut the other ends into 1-inch pieces. Blanche asparagus pieces in a pot of boiling water for just a couple of minutes so they are still crisp/tender. Drain asparagus and fill the pot with cold water to stop the cooking process. Heat a 9-inch skillet over medium heat. When skillet nice and warm, spray with non-stick spray and add a small amount of the omelet mixture, depending on how many omelets you plan to make. Add 4 to 5 pieces of the asparagus into the omelet mixture in the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 3 - 5 minutes depending on the heat of the stove. Lift lid to check the omelet; it should be nice and puffy and starting to firm up but still a little moist on top. Fold omelet in half with a spatula and continue to cook, flipping occasionally, until the entire omelet has firmed up. Repeat for each omelet.

The Skinny: We use only the egg whites with this recipe so it is a little more healthful than the entire egg.

Smithfield Ham Hash

One half cup butter
1 onion, chopped
2 and one half cups finely chopped Smithfield Ham
2 and one half cups diced and boiled potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt one quarter cup of butter in a pan, add onion and saute until onion is tender. Combine onion, Smithfield Ham, potatoes and salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Melt remaining one quarter cup of butter in pan and spread out the hash mixture in the pan. Cook over medium heat until brown on the bottom. Turn hash over and cook on the other side until brown. The hash should have a nice brown crust on both sides when done.

The Skinny: Not much you can do to change this recipe.

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Dessert -- Citrus Salad

2 pink grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
4 oranges, peeled and sectioned
2 papayas, peeled and sliced
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh berries, like strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
One half cup poppy seed dressing (already prepared)
One third cup slivered almonds

Combine all fruit in a large bowl and drizzle dressing over top and toss. Sprinkle with slivered almonds.

The Skinny: Again, not much room for improvement.

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Grocery List

12 whole cloves
6 tea bags
2 cups pineapple juice
Juice of 2 lemons
Grated lemon rind from 1 lemon
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar (or to taste)
24 eggs
One third cup real bacon pieces
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 onions
32 small asparagus spears, cut into one inch pieces and blanched in boiling water
One half cup butter
2 and one half cups finely chopped Smithfield Ham
2 and one half cups diced and boiled potatoes
2 pink grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
4 oranges, peeled and sectioned
2 papayas, peeled and sliced
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh berries, like strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
One half cup poppy seed dressing (already prepared)
One third cup slivered almonds

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Tales from the ArcaMax Chef

The leaf raking competitors must have some sort of rules, whether formal or informal. If not, there would be continuing disputes and even violence between the rakers. For example, did you ever notice how all the clear leaf bags are the same size? There must be a reason for this. The uniform leaf bag size keeps the competing rakers from getting into arguments about who is more efficient with their raking and bagging methods.

The same emphasis on uniformity can be seen with rakes. Sure, you can get metal rakes, plastic rakes, rakes with attachments, but have you ever noticed that the spread of the rake tines is pretty much the same with every type of rake? Again, this prevents some yeehaa from using a rake with a huge spread thereby causing hard feelings and confrontations with the other rakers. It is sort of like NASCAR does with the restrictor plates. Uniformity with the raking equipment provides a level playing field for the fierce competitors in the leaf raking worldcomg competitionsent provides a level playing field for the fierce competitors in the leaf raking competitions.

Another group of leaf people in my neighborhood are the people who hire other people to rake their leaves. They also cause general commotion in the entire neighborhood. The leaf raking contractors show up with huge trailers and an army of workers. They block the roads with the trailers and hit the yards with industrial blowers that scream and whine for hours. The workers pile up the leaves and then suck them up in big vacuum trucks and carry the leaves away with them.

These people are really looked down on by the leaf rakers…

God Bless America.

Enjoy!