dinner: Eggy wonderful.

Dinner.

The task we all require but one that some loath. I, on the other hand, love it. Every two weeks I get note paper, have my fliers ready and map out a grocery list in conjunction with a dinner list to maximize every penny we have.And the following week I just check my list and make sure I am buying for that week. Good planning that way really does make it all go smoother.

Now I don't get everyday's dinner down but I do get a good road map so I can buy exactly what we need so there is no extra food hanging around or going to waste. We have a core staples - milk, bread, eggs, cheese, pasta, sauce, potatoes, chicken, ground beef, carrots, celery, rice & apples - but sometimes you want to create something that uses something a little more special and therefore I like to have it before I need it. 

Then you come to Thursday and Friday night's around here and the pickings get kinda slim - I am on a Saturday only shop kick right now. And when you haven't planned for that night then you find yourself standing in front of the fridge hoping for inspiration to hit you with something jaw dropping fabulous - the Maguyver of patched together dinners if you will. When it doesn't strike you hit the books. I have some pretty beautiful cookbooks plus a few I made myself - the one request the husband had of me before we moved west to east was that I go through all my cooking mags and pick out the recipes I wanted and get rid of the rest. I did do that, put them all in page protectors, put them in binders et voila! Yes kind of geeky but such a great reference! But that's for another post!

While on the prowl I came across a recipe from my good Ol'Rachael Ray - love the mag! my one guilty pleasures - from a section of her October issue about dishes using only 5 ingredients. Yes! And to my surprise I had them! I always seem to be one ingredient short on all recipes (and always the one you can't omit), have to take a special trip to the store and get very frustrated with the whole process when I should have just changed my mind and gone another direction.

I may have used a couple extra ingredients but was thoroughly impressed with the results as was the husband. Actually mentioned that it would be good Christmas morning for company. Sounds like gold stars for me!

Potato pancakes with avocado salsa and eggs

1 1/4 pounds shredded potatoes (I used Yukon gold but the recipe called for baking potatoes)

I grated onion

Extra-virgin Olive Oil - have it ready

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper or to taste (I used more)

4 eggs

Avocado salsa - recipe follows

Place 1 1/4 pounds shredded potatoes in a kitchen towel and squeeze to remove any moisture. Transfer to a bowl and add grated onion, 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil, salt and pepper.

In a large nonstick skillet (I used a griddle), heat 2 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Divide the potato mixture into 4 mounds in the skillet and pat into 4 inch pancakes. Cover with a sheet of foil and cook, turning once and adding one more tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, until browned, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a platter. In the same skillet, cook 4 eggs sunny-side up with 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil for about 1 minute - this is where I flipped my eggs, I really do not like any runny white but cook them however you would. Top each pancake with salsa, egg and hot sauce. Yum!!

Avocado Salsa (guideline)

2 ripe avocados - Pitted and diced

4 Ripe Tomatoes - Seeded and diced

2 sprigs of green onion - diced

Cilantro - rough chop

2 jalapeno peppers - seeded and diced (optional)Lime juice

2 tsp lime juice

salt

sugar

Combine avocado chunks, diced tomato, diced green onion, cilantro and diced jalapenos. Toss together. Add lime juice, pinch of salt and generous pinch of sugar. Toss together. Refrigerate for at least one hour for all the ingredients to melt together.

**With the salsa please feel free to make it your own. You can add black beans, corn, tropical fruits - this will add another dimension to your dish.