Prayers in a Basket

So it's finals, law school finals.  What I had, until recently, considered the most important period of my life. I have a tendency to get so caught up in finals that it becomes my life.  That ended up being my demise last year, and I have worked really hard to find a better balance this semester, but I still had a tendency to lock myself to my textbooks for weeks on end.  That is until a friend of my reminded me that there are things so much more important than law school.  Someone who reminded me to tell those who are close to me how much I love them and not take what I've been blessed with for granted.

So, even though it's finals, even though I could study for 20 straight hours and not be ready for my final on Monday, I don't care.  I'm going to get up tomorrow morning, and I'm going to cook brunch.  I'm going to sit with my puppy, my boyfriend, my coffee, and I'm going to ignore the rest of the world.  I hope you'll do the same.

And here's a super quick easy recipe to try out.  It's usually called "eggs in a basket", but for this week I'm calling it "prayers in a basket."

Ingredients:

• eggs
• bread
• olive oil/butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Take a cookie cutter of any shape/size (it just has to fit within in the size of your bread) and cut out the shape in the middle.  For "intricate" shapes, I find it's easier to flip the piece over and just push the bread through the cutter, but that's just me.  Don't throw away the cut out!  I like to toast it by itself and eat it.

• Heat about 1-2 tbs of butter and olive oil in a non-stick skillet on medium heat.  I like the combination of the two because I feel like it gives the best results in terms of taste and cooking abilities.  Feel free to use only one or some other oil.  

• Toss the bread into the skillet and cook for several minutes until lightly browned.  (You want the bread to develop a nice color before you put the egg on.  If you put the egg on too early you'll have to cook it for too long and it'll be overdone and gross.)

• Once the bread is nice colored, slowly pour the egg into the cutout.  I like to pre-crack the egg into a small cup, because I'm incredibly messy when cooking and I don't trust myself to crack an egg into a pan without making a huge mess or burning myself.

• Let the egg cook until the bottom is white.  DO NOT OVERCOOK.  Nothing is worse than overcooked eggs.

• GENTLY use a spatula to flip the bread onto the other side and cook for 1-2 minutes more.  Again, do not overcook.  Once finished, remove from the pan and let cool.  Cook the cutout if desired like a piece of toast
• Serve with some tasty coffee and enjoy!