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I am the one who gets up early in our marriage, usually hours before my wife. Since I enjoy cooking, it's become our tradition to make a big deal about Sunday breakfast. I don't mind the extra time it takes to make a special meal form scratch. I also think the scents of a cooked breakfast lures my wife out of bed.

This is my recipe for breakfast pizza. It fills the kitchen with the aroma of toasted cheese and onions. My wife is never late to breakfast when I pull this out of the oven.

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made, thin pizza crust
• 1/2 red pepper
  
• 3 green onions
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 tsp red pepper or more to taste
• Cheese: either mozzarella, asiago or a mixture of both
• 4 eggs
• 5 strips of cooked bacon
• 1 tsp thyme
• Dried pepper flakes, to taste
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Wash onions. Trim off ends but keep the green stalks. Slice thin.
3. Slice the red pepper into thin, nearly translucent rings. Pat dry.
   
4. Mix olive oil, onion and thyme in a small bowl. Let set for ten minutes.
5. Crumble bacon. Set aside.
6. Spread onion-oil mix over the pre-made crust to about 1/2 inch from the edge. Reserve 1/2 tablespoon oil.
7. Sprinkle with cheese(s).
8. Arrange the red pepper slices on top of the chees
9. Sprinkle bacon atop the pepper slices.
10. Season with salt and pepper flakes.

Some Notes:

You can use other pizza toppings like Italian sausage or mushrooms. Less is more with the cheese. Just sprinkle enough to cover the crust.

Timing is everything! Do your best to pull the pizza out of the oven as soon as the eggs are done.

This would be a great brunch or dinner entree.

Tired of fried fish? Don't want to stink up your house? This easy recipe infuses Jamaican flavors for a tender, poached sea fish. Another one-pan recipe (my favorite kind) that takes just a half hour to prepare.

I adapted this recipe from the one Robin Asbell taught at a cooking class I attended last winter. Credit where it's due; Ms Asbell is a wonderful teacher.

Coconut milk is the essence of this dish

Ingredients

• 1 lime
• 1-2 lbs mahi-mahi or snapper filets
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper (optional)
• 1 small bunch of green onions
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (NOT 'light')
• 2 cups peeled, ripe mango
• 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
• salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Bring fish to room temperature. Cut into 4-5 pieces.
2. Juice the lime. Strain juice and set aside.
3. Rub lime wedges over the fish.
4. Lightly toast coconut flakes (CAREFUL: it burns easily)
5. Chop onions into small pieces
6. Dice jalapeno.
7. Combine all ingredients into a bowl except for the fish and coconut oil.

Some Notes:

The type of fish you choose is important. I prefer thick pieces of mahi-mahi because it will hold its shape but come out tender. Red Snapper is better, but it's expensive, hard to find and skin. Swordfish and tuna don't poach well. Salmon's strong flavor ruins the delicate fruit-coconut sauce.

Papaya and mango are great substitutes for each other. Make sure they are ripe before you cook with them for the best flavor.

At Robin Aspell's class, 2011-February (Chef's Gallery, Stillwater, MN)

In a hurry? Want to make something red, juicy and beefy without firing up the grill? Then try this recipe. It uses an inexpensive steak and makes a restaurant-quality entree in just a few minutes. The trick? A homemade rub, high heat and a same-pan sauce to capture the sizzle.

Ingredients

• 1 sirloin steak, at least 1 inch thick

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 gloves garlic

• 1 fresh tomato
• 1 handful sun-dried tomatoes

• Kosher salt and pepper

• 3 tablesoons olive oil

• 1 handful basil leaves

• a bottle of red table wine.

Preparation

1. Bring steak to room temperature, sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and pepper. Cover steak and set aside for at least 1/2 hour

2. Mix cumin and chili powder in a small bowl. Rub on both sides of the steak. Let the steak rest another half hour.
3. Peel and chop garlic into fine pieces.

4. Chop tomato into small pieces. Set aside.

5. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces. Set in small bowl. Pour 3/4 cup of hot water over sun-dried tomatoes to reconstitute.

6. Tear or chop basil leaves into medium sized pieces.

Some Notes:

Allow the extra time for the salt to rest in the steak. The salt tenderizes the meat.

Don't stray too far from my cooking times. The best way to make a tough sirloin steak is to cook it too long. 

Please don't use a no-stick skillet. You want the browned crunchies at the bottom of the pan. This is called 'fond' and it is the essence of the sauce. When you add a liquid like wine, it quickly dissolves into a flavorful broth. You won't get fond with no-stick.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to let the steak sit for a few minutes before slicing it. The juices will 'set-up' in the meat this way.

If you don't have sun-dried tomatoes, you can substitute a tablespoon of tomato paste, water and a dash of steak sauce.

8-minute risotto, stir-fried vegetables and Lemon-Thyme Chicken. Tangy!

My two adult sons live on their own now. At least once a month I will get a text message from them saying "Can you give me the recipe for <insert meal here>?" Of course, they want it right then because they are in a grocery store and in a hurry. Would I mind texting it to them?

After tapping a roast turkey recipe into a little text box, I promised myself I would never do that again. Emailing them the information isn't a good solution, either, because they forget and repeat requests. That's one reason I am recording my recipes on my blog. Now, all I have to tell them in the future is "Look it up in my blog!" It's becoming my recipe wiki.

Both of therm have asked for this recipe twice now, so it's time to get it down. And for you, too. Lemon-Thyme Chicken is a cinch to prepare. This is a great meal for your Sunday Roast. Impress your family and friends, and fill your house with the warm, savory kitchen aroma of herbs and chicken. Try it!

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, no more than 5lbs, at room temperature

• 1 onion

• 2-3 sprigs of thyme

• 1 whole lemon

• Kosher salt and pepper

• 3 tablesoons butter at room temperature

Preparation

1. Wash chicken. Discard gizzards, hearts and any other offal they stuff into the bird. Cut off the tail. Pat dry. Set aside.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 425 F (218 C).

3. Peel and slice the onion into rings about a half-inch (1 cm) thick. Set aside.

4. Press on the lemon and gently roll it across the countertop a few times to soften. Cut the lemon in half.

5. Grate some lemon rind off one of the halves. Set aside.

6. Pull the leaves off of two springs of thyme. Add lemon rind. Mix with the butter in a small bowl. Set aside

Assemble

1. Place onion slices at the bottom of a small roasting pan.

2. Using an upside-down teaspoon, loosen the skin above the breast. Work a few thyme sprigs between the skin and the breast meat. Be careful not to tear the skin.

3. Rub the butter-thyme mix all over the outside of the chicken. Tuck the wing tips behind the back of the bird and rest it on the onion slices.

4. Squeeze the lemon halves over the skin. Put a lemon half in the body cavity.

5. Cover the cavity with a small piece of aluminum foil.

6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Some Notes:

If you want to make a sauce, strain the juices from the pan into a Pyrex measuring cup. Let it sit for five minutes. Spoon off the fat on top. Put the juices into a small saucepan. Stirring constantly over medium heat, cook the juices down into a thicker sauce.

Thyme is such an all-round garden plant. I grow my own thyme outside my front door as an ornamental. It's a low, little plant with tiny purple-pink flowers in the summer. Thyme reseeds itself in a non-invasive way, so I am never out of it. I cut bunches in the fall for drying. Fresh thyme is great in homemade pasta sauces, risotto and roasts.

This is an easy recipe for delicate, aromatic biscotti. You can make it in an hour with just two bowls and a spoon. No beaters, no rolling  in messy flour and no kneading like other biscotti recipes.

I got the recipe from one of the ladies at the St Mary's Coptic Church in South Saint Paul, MN. This church holds an annual, two-day festival late each summer. They serve wonderful homemade Egyptian meals. The women also sell traditional desserts including these anise biscotti. I bought a bag and convinced them I could not wait another year for more, so they gave this recipe to me.

The flavor is also very familiar to delicate anisette cookies you would find in any good Italian bakery. My grandmother always had anisette toast (Stella D'Oro) in her pantry. I grew up on these desserts as a kid in New York. Thirty years later I found a way to make them myself in Minnesota!

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup of canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 tsp anise seeds

Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F
2. light grease one 10 X 8 inch baking pan

Assemble

1. In a medium bowl mix the vanilla, oil, sugar and eggs. Stir until all the oil and eggs have blended.
2. In another, larger bowl mix the flour, baking soda, salt and anise
3. Stir in the egg-oil mixture. Mix just enough so all the ingedients are blended. Don't over-mix.
4. Pour into the baking pan. Spread the dough evenly to the pan's edges.

Some Notes:

These cookies can last several weeks in a closed container. They also freeze very well.

They are delicious dunked in coffee, dipped in Nutella or just eaten plain.