Sunday Brunch

We started making a habit of going out to Sunday Brunch every week when we lived in Prescott, Arizona.  Before then, we would go out once in awhile but after we got settled in, we just started doing it weekly.  I think it was because we had more time, didn't have a dog at the time, and wanted to get to know the area as well as check out local eateries.

We continued that habit when we moved to Phoenix 5 years ago.  We would go to church and then out to eat.  We didn't have Winslow at the time so we would drive all over the valley to check out interesting restaurants. We really enjoyed the "mom and pop" ones the best rather than chains like say Denny's or IHOP.

During the pandemic lockdown, we would bring in meals from restaurants close by and then once things started opening up again, we continued the tradition of going out.  Now with Winslow, we would often go to the first church service (instead of the second one and then out to brunch), come home, let him out of his crate for a bit and then around lunchtime go for brunch.  

About 2 months ago, in an effort to save money, we decided to start making brunches at home.  We have made Eggs Benedict, breakfast egg sandwiches, scrambled eggs, and huevos rancheros, but not yet omelets because we didn't have an omelet pan to cook them in.

However, this past week when looking through stuff to watch on YouTube while working, I "discovered" a new food channel to subscribe to Julia Pacheco.  She had a recipe for making a microwave loaded omelet made in a mug.  I showed the video to hubby and I said "let's try it."  He agreed.  We also had a backup plan just in case it was a flop.  

It wasn't a flop!

In our version, we did use the 2 eggs each (so 2 mugs, 2 eggs), 1/4 cup canned spinach each, 1/4 cup Italian shredded cheese each, and about 1/8 cup each of a green pepper we had to use up.  We have 2 microwaves; one cooks at 1100 watts, the other at 1200 watts.  I put my mug in the 1200 watts one for 1:45 minutes and hubby did his in the 1100 watts for 2 minutes.  Both mugs were done at their respective times.

This is how it looked in the mug when cooked. 

We made potatoes and ham to serve with it (not that we need potatoes, but potatoes were one of the items we used to get when we would go out to breakfast; either hash browns or country potatoes or the like).  This is 2 red potatoes and about 1/2 bag of diced ham we had left over.  Hubby put some frozen onions in the mix.  

Here's the omelet out of the mug with the side of potatoes.  It was easy to get the omelet out by just cutting around it and easing it out of the mug.  As you can see, it held together well.  Everything was delicious.

And of course, for us, Sunday brunches out included mimosas so we make mimosas at home.  We get the cheapest champagne we can find and Wal-Mart orange juice.  We have discovered we get 4 mimosas from a bottle of champagne (2 each) for the price of 1 mimosa when we were going out to restaurants. 

We are spending less than a fourth of what we spent going out to brunch every Sunday.  Win-Win situation and everything we have made has turned out delicious!

What is your favorite thing to eat for a Sunday brunch (assuming you eat one)? If not, what is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?