Opera Singer in the Kitchen: Huevos a la East Lansing

This year we were not able to go out of town and be with our family for Thanksgiving. Even though we kept them in mind, we decided not to make Turkey dinner for JUST ourselves. Since we had already had our pre-Thanksgiving celebration on Monday, we decided that Thanksgiving was to be a day of rest. I was going to have my hubby at home the whole break so I decided to take adavntage of that. We took all the Christmas decorations and tree and fixed up our living room.

Don't you like this time of year? I mean, just putting up a tree, lights and decorations can create such a beautiful, cozy ambience. We were then inspired to start addressing our Christmas cards. How empowered and thankful we were to have this time for catch up. I know, I know,despite what you might think, "Hey, it is still Thanksgiving!", we took advantage of our time. As musicians, our lives can be very hectic so we relished this time. Sometimes it is just different not having family around, even though I was able to talk to family back in Texas after their huge meal.

I later prepared a Cherry Sangria and we had that while watching ELF. Did I mention I like laughing too? Good times. Once that was finished I knew that I would have to whip up something for dinner. What to make, what to make. My hubby told me this week that we hardly have Mexican or Tex-Mex food, so I decided to make something that suddenly popped up in the deep recesses of my mind.

While we were kids, my father worked for Four Seasons and by God's grace and blessing we were able to stay at these hotels on vacations. I mean, that was a huge perk, but boy was I spoiled with staying at hotels such as these. We really liked going to Dallas at Las Colinas Resort. We would order breakfast and my mom's favorite was usually Huevos a Las Colinas. It was so delicious. It was 4 layers of fried corn tortillas filled with refried black beans, over-easy egg, avocado and tomatoes. This is what came to my mind as I was trying to decide to make for dinner. Is it not super strange what memories come to mind? I do not usually remember what foods I ate on my trips unless I took pictures, so I took it as a sign to make something like this memorable breakfast. I on the other hand, ate the bean mixture and added brown rice for a Vegan meal.

I pretty much used what I had on hand and came up with a recipe of my own. The important thing was that the hubs liked it and emphasized that I write down the recipe! How about that!

Huevos a la East Lansing

by Noelle Kelly

Keywords: grill fry breakfast vegetarian eggs Southwest

Ingredients (serves 1)

4 corn tortillas
2 Tbsp Tbsp Sunflower or Coconut oil
1 can of Rotel Original
1 can of black beans
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
dash of Tony Chachere's seasoning

Instructions

Heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium high heat in a medium sauce pan. Take each tortilla and semi dip each tortilla side in the oil before placing in pan to fry. Fry until semi-crisp.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in another saucepan and add beans, Ro*tel, spices and salt to taste. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Fry 2 eggs until medium over easy. If you like the yolk to be runny, over easy then.

Assemble: Place 2 Tbsp of bean mixture on plate, then add one tortilla over beans. Add 1 Tbsp of beans and add one egg. Place 2nd tortilla on top and add 2 Tbsp beans, sprinkle with cheese. Take third tortilla and add 1 Tbsp beans, 2nd egg, and sprinkle with cheese. Add final tortilla and layer with 2 Tbsp of beans and rest of cheese. If cold already, zap in microwave.

If Vegan: Eat a bowl of bean mixture over brown rice. Can be accompanied with a nice big green salad.