Inspired breakfast recipes from Karen

Recently, I have been asked to share a few of my breakfast recipes that I serve to our guests.  So here goes and I hope you will be inspired also to enjoy summer's bounty and create your own recipe.

As many of you know at around 11:00 a.m. each day I drive my little VW Jetta up and down the Mid Coast.  Why? well I like to see what is fresh at the various stores, farm stands and one of my favorite merchants in Belfast,  Chases Daily. This past weekend I decided to go left out of Timbercliffe Drive and head to Belfast to see if by some chance I could buy some squash blossoms.  You can find squash blossoms if you are lucky but you better get to Chases/farmer's market early and yes, I was fortunate to buy a bunch.  They also had summer squash and fresh, beautiful basil.   Here's my version of a recipe that I tweaked and I hope that you will be inspired to try it and perhaps create your own version of a summer Squash Blossom Frittata.

Squash Blossom Frittata

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Butter

10 Eggs (can use a combination of whole eggs and egg whites if you desire)

3 Tablespoons Milk

¼ Cup fresh ricotta cheese

2 Tablespoons for finely chopped fresh Basil

1 Leek (or 2 Green Onions) cleaned & chopped

2 Yellow Squash, chopped

1 Tablespoon Garlic, chopped

⅓ Cup of Shredded Italian Cheese Blend

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Teaspoon Pepper

9 Squash Blossoms (cleaned and cut in half)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Chop the yellow squash into small pieces, cut it in half length-wise, and then in half again and then cut into pieces.  Chop the leek or onions, and garlic. Finely chop the basil.

Clean the leek… Be sure to peel back the layers to get the soil that’s hiding down in there.  And to prepare the squash blossoms, remove the stems and outer green spiky leaves.  Remove the stamen inside the flower.  Carefully cut each squash blossom in half length wise and arrange on a paper towel.

In a large bowl crack the eggs, add the milk, ricotta cheese and basil and whisk together.

Melt the butter in a 11 inch non-stick skillet- med heat. Sauté the leek (or onions) until translucent – just a few minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add the squash and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Now add your garlic, cook until fragrant about a  minute.  Stir the ingredients every now and then to avoid sticking to the pan.

Pour the egg mixture into the pan, and stir to evenly distribute the ingredients.  Now lay your squash blossoms on top in a pretty pattern.  Just let it cook until it looks about half set, so the bottom looks like an omelet but the top is still watery.  Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes.   Let sit 5 minutes before slicing.   Enjoy!