I’m a planner in and out of the kitchen. Each week, I make a grocery list and a meal plan based on our schedule.* I’m not someone who is able to just look into my fridge and dream up meals. When you’re cooking for two, the result is a kitchen is full of “extra” ingredients. 

Last night, I made use of the leftovers from our New Year’s party. For me, incorporating new ingredients into breakfast foods is not nearly as intimidating. We ended up eating scrambled eggs with Serrano ham and manchego cheese – very simple and totally delicious. I also made these pancakes, but swapped the vanilla with almond extract and stirred in cinnamon instead of lemon. The recipe follows.

Spanish Style Scrambled Eggs

Serves 2

Ingredients**:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp of skim milk
• 1 slice of Serrano ham
• 2 tbsp shredded manchego cheese

Heat a non-stick pan over medium high heat and lightly crisp the piece of Serrano ham. Turn it when you see light brown spots. Cook for a minute more. Remove the ham from the pan, and then, lower the heat to low or medium-low.

In a bowl, lightly whisk together the four eggs, milk, cheese (to your preference), salt and freshly ground pepper. Pour the mixture into the skillet. Stir occasionally. Be careful not to over mix, because then, your eggs won’t be as light. As the eggs are starting to form, tear the ham into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle them into the eggs and continue to cook until all of the eggs are scrambled. Serve immediately with toast or the almond/cinnamon pancakes I mentioned above.

*Yes, I realize this is annoying behavior.

** The measurements are estimates here, as I never measure anything when making scrambled eggs.