It was a do or die kind of moment.

Standing over the garbage chute.

Loaf in hand.

The kind of moment that I’ll be able to look back on in ten years. Pinpoint. And say, this is where it all changed.

My New Years Resolution, you see, is to give up bread.

Alright, get it out of your system. All the gasps and moans and sighs of disbelief. Nothing else to see here. Move along, move along.

Maybe I should clarify before someone has a heart attack. Yes, I’m talking to you. In the back. The one who’s face is now the color of the Atlantic Ocean. Calm. The F***. Down.

My New Years resolution is to give up storebought bread.

From now until 2011 (and beyond. Hopefully by then all of this baking business will be so ingrained in me that storebought bread will be a mere relic of the past. You can never go home again. That sort of thing) the only bread allowed to enter my kitchen will be that which was molded with my bare hands. No more pre-dinner runs to the Food Emporium or Le Pain Quotidien. Those days are over.

Which brings me back to the beginning of this post.

Step 1. Getting rid of the safety net. (I.e. Throwing out that bag of whole wheat bread from Trader Joe’s that’s been sitting in your fridge for the better part of the past month.)

It’s like a Band Aid. Or a Nike ad. Just. Do. It.

And with one flick of the wrist, it’s gone.

You find yourself standing in your kitchen. Alone. With your packets of Fleischman’s. A five thousand pound bag of King Arthur’s flour. And the HBinFive baking schedule. (Which was put together and is being hosted so graciously by Michelle over at Big Black Dog!)

It’s time to get busy.

The first bread on the list was the Master Recipe. It is made up of mostly whole wheat flour with a bit of AP thrown in for posterity. Five minutes of hands on time, two hours of rising, one night of refrigeration, another 90 minutes of rising, and 30 minutes of baking later. The bread was born.

And how was it?

Delicious. It had the consistency of my favorite Italian bread from The Bronx. A mix between a Ciabatta and a Pugliese. Otherwise known as heaven.

A crisp crust.

An open crumb.

What more could a girl ask for?

But such a fine bread calls for some fine toppings. So I did the only sensible the thing possible under such circumstances. I hit up Whole Foods.

Where, lo and behold, avocadoes were on sale. 5 for $5.

How is this possible, I thought to myself as I put ten into my shopping cart. (Which I eventually thought better of. Avocadoes have a pretty finite shelf life, I reminded myself. So I removed five.)

Let me enlighten you. Avocadoes, aside from being nutritional superstars filled with good, healthy omega 3’s, are also a winter fruit.

Who knew?

(Let me just say that all of these tropical fruits that are in season during the winter – cough citrus cough – completely baffle me. I don’t see how oranges or grapefruits fit in with subzero January temperatures. I just don’t.)

This open-faced sandwich of avocado, a sunny-side up egg, and cheddar cheese was a surprisingly delicious combination that I found in MFC (my favorite cookbook – Bon Appetit’s Fast/Easy/Fresh). It is so simple to put together and makes for a great, light lunch or dinner. Especially after the debauchery and excess of the holiday season. It is also my submission to this month’s mingle (being hosted over at Cook Like A Bong), the theme of which is Winter Fruits and Vegetables.

Fried Eggs on Toast with Cheddar and Avocado
Serves 4, adapted from Bon Appetit’s Fast/Easy/Fresh

1 tbsp butter
4 large eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar (or slices of cheddar)
4 thick slices of delicious homemade bread
1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced

1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a heavy skillet. Crack eggs into skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until egg whites are just set on bottom, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and top each egg with cheese.

2. Arrange the sandwich. Bread on botom. Followed by avocado. Followed by egg.

This bread has been Yeastspotted!
I would just like to conclude with a few thank yous, to VanillaStrawberrySpringfields and Faith over at Thought4Food for giving me the Sugardoll Award, and to Catherine of Living the Gourmet for giving me the Kreativ Blogger Award! All of these bloggers are absolutely amazing and produce tantalizing food that will have you drooling in no time. So you should check out their blogs. Pronto.

As part of these awards, I am supposed to list 10 interesting things about myself. And then give the award to 10 bloggers. (Okay, I am only supposed to do 7 and 7 for the Kreativ Blogger award, but who’s counting?)

1. I have played the piano for twelve years. I was classically trained but ended up playing a lot of Broadway during college.

2. I love musicals. My two favorites are Wicked and The Last Five Years.

3. The only foreign country I have ever been to is Italy, when I was eight. But I would love to travel more.

4. I want to name my first daughter Remy.

5. I eat an apple a day.

6. Up until about a year ago, I refused to eat cooked fish – only sushi. I think it was a textural thing.

7. The weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten is pig intestine. Or chicken feet.

8. I currently have five jars of peanut butter (and one jar of almond butter) sitting in my cupboard.

9. I love Coke Zero. Sorry if that offends anyone, but I do.

10. I don’t own a television. And I’m damn proud of it.

I would like to pass these on to…drumroll please…Mari of Namaste, Sophia of Burp and Slurp, Heather of Girlichef, Kim of Stirring the Pot, Kris of Behold the Metatron, Snow White of Finding Joy in My Kitchen, Bob of Cooking Stuff, Amy of Very Culinary, Katy of Food For A Hungry Soul, and Toni of New Veginnings.


You are reading this post on Eats Well With Others at https://joanne-eatswellwithothers.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of Eats Well With Others. All rights reserved by Joanne Bruno.
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63 Responses to HBinFIve Meets the Monthly Mingle – Fried Eggs on Toast with Cheddar and Avocado

  1. i did piano for like 4 years! too much classical music.

    chicken feet- only had it at chinese dimsum.

    5 JARS!? 5 JARS!? dang. =D

    sister relationships are ALWAYS love hate, aren’t they?

    i know. it’s like BAM! screwed over by a mealy apple.

  2. Chef Aimee says:

    Good for you for making your own bread! That is fantastic. Speaking of fantastic, the recipe is making me drool. Its such a cold morning here as you know, so what a good way to start the day with something warm! Weirdest thing I ate was fried frogs legs at Wu Liang Ye midtown…I still feel a little guilty about that.

  3. girlichef says:

    First of all, that is probably the ONLY resolution I could hope aboard with…it’s pretty brilliant and practical all at the same time. I’m going to make my bread today…you’ve inspired me. And add some eggs, avocado & cheese…heaven!!! Congrats on your awards and thanks so much for passing them on to me!!! 😀

  4. no tv? brave woman! I also love coke zero…wow, lots of interesting facts about you!

  5. Cristie says:

    You are so brave to make such a resolution and I completely support you! Homemade bread for a year- fantastic. This new bread looks great. I poped some oatmeal bread in last night and can’t wait to see if it turns out.

  6. well… LOL

    I just nominated you for the same award… too funny.

    Ah well, come and take a look at the nice things I said about you. No need to repost new things unless you would like.

    http://yearonthegrill.blogspot.com/2010/01/blue-cheese-sauce-over-homemade-potato.html

    I love the new mozaic look… what software do you use for that. I am a computer idiot, but I will stick to it if I want to make it work… and I want to steal the look of these.

  7. OMG! I love learning more about you! I love Coke zero too! It’s the perfect balance of flavors. Btw, why would anyone get offended? Really. I’d love to know. My mother-in-law hates the fact that I drink that stuff, so I make an effort to bring a 12-pack every time I visit, and whenever we go out to a restaurant. She likes to tell me it’s toxic, thinks it’s the cause of nearly every disease on the planet and asks, “Why would you want to put toxins in your body?” Whatever. Keep it to yourself lady.

    I think giving up store bought bread is a good resolution. HBinFive makes it so easy to do so.

  8. nora@ffr says:

    congrats on ye well deserved awards!! its a good thing to use home made bread always!! like ur resolution very much!!! oooohhh nd love the addition of avocado 😀

  9. Bob says:

    Mmmm, homemade bread. I just made a loaf on Friday.

    Coke Zero rules. It’s the only diet soda that doesn’t have that weird artificial taste. Or at least not quite so much of it. Heh. Congratz on the awards and thanks! I like the ones where you tell stuff about yourself, those are fun.

  10. I love that you are making your own bread. I need to dust off my bread maker and start making my own gluten free products.

    Congrats on all the awards! You really deserve them!

  11. I made bread only once and with a lousy tastin yeast but u inspire me again pushing the though rite up front from the back of my brains…
    And the whole meal looks so so good-i could have it for brakfast lunch and dinner…..
    Oh ur list of facts about urself are so so so so interesting…
    i love love to hear somebody play the piano,im barely trained in it though my moms family siblings were like a classical musical band of sorts(the home playing types)
    Broadway!!!!
    pretty impressive aint that…
    our television set wasnt connected too till last year and i was proud too and still barely watch it and thats why till last year i was a total froggy of sorts (no internet no tv)not even know a Nigella lawson or jude law for that matter :-)))) ((bdw still am froggy in more matters than one)
    And u so rightly deserve these awards Jaonne-really really do..ur every post is a delight to read…

  12. wow great job, the book arrives anytime wish me luck for my first i may be emailing you since your now a pro!

  13. and this is a reply actually-u wont belive it when i ggogle first yesterday-knowing absolutely nothing about Rugelach,i actually found pete’s site and leftnote too there on one of his posts-yeah the pic i got from his site was quite different from the one i got on have the cake and most of the dough’s i found were the cream cheese cookie type-but at have the cake she says pie crust-it seems like a great cookie both ways and am looking foward to this-found a pinwheel type at smitten kitchen too-and i would love to stick to a jam of choco combo yeah…
    and thanx a ton ton ton sweetie pie ,i needed every ounce of info and coming from u ..a hi5…and ofcrz i love to make the dough from scratch too…thanx a ton…
    guess what made it to the thrown down of the cuppy cakes thanx to the max number of votes-now am excited yeah hoping i get thru the finals..

  14. Shannon says:

    ooh, i played the piano too, but not nearly as long or as well 😉 and a little jealous that you down own a tv. i often thing i should just get rid of my wireless internet…

  15. congratulations on your awards and your bread baking resolution!
    You will be so much more happy.. and will be buying yeast in the jars soon…
    Great sammie, perfect for any time of the day.

  16. Pam says:

    Congrats on your awards. That’s a great bread resolution. I try, but sometimes a fresh baked ciabatta from our local store just calls my name.

  17. chrystad72 says:

    So awesome girl! I absolutely love your resolution to give up store bought bread! The one you made looks awesome! And paired up with eggs and avacado is just amazing!

    Cool facts too! I really enjoyed reading those about you! Thats very cool that you played the piano for that long. Have a wonderful day!

  18. Elra says:

    Happy New Year to you and your family Joanne. May this year bring lots of happiness.
    Cheers,
    elra

    p.s
    your bread look amazing. Love the avocado too.

  19. Debinhawaii says:

    That is a great goal–I look forward to seeing your bread posts this year. This one looks delicious–especially with the avocado, cheese and egg.

  20. Erica says:

    I love avocados!!!!! Your bread looks delicious! Nice to know you better 😉

  21. Mari says:

    I still can’t get over the fact that you don’t own a tv lol

    Haha when I read that you were giving up bread, I “gasped” so loud lol. Don’t scare me like that lol

    Koosh thanks for the award!

  22. Amy says:

    Yep…*raises hand*…I gasped. But than I kept reading and was relieved 😉 I say, go for it with the homemade bread. There are few things that smell more heavenly than fresh baked bread, right from your own oven (I even have that listed on the Who’s Amy part of my blog.) If I had more time and patience (so…never), I would make it from scratch, too.

    Love, loved, loved your 10 facts list. I am a HUGE musical lover. I’ve seen everything. Paul and I have always had season tickets to the off Broadway theater company and it’s killing us not to this year because of his unemployment. Paul played the lead in several plays during his college years, so it’s totally in his blood. And I have always wanted to learn the piano – be able to play like Elton John or Billy Joel? Yes, please. Well, perhaps before I die.

    Thank you for passing the blogger award my way. That’s a first! Since, I only post once a week, I’ll see where I can fit it in. I’ll be lucky if I can think of 10 interesting facts, though.

    Holy crap, that was a long reply. Zzzzz.

  23. I learn new things about you all the time. Your so talented! I love that you’ve given up store bought bread. Home-made bread is the bomb. This looks so good! I can’t wait to get some cheap avocados.

  24. SnoWhite says:

    what a great resolution! you can do it 🙂

    this looks like a wonderful start.

  25. sophia says:

    Aw, Joanne, thank you for thinking of me!! YAHOO! 😀

    I wish I lived close to you. Then I could give up storebought bread, too. And pay you for your homebaked bread. 😉

  26. Kim says:

    You really had me with the whole bread thing – LOL! I was thinking “How is she going to do HBIN5”. Very good, Joanne ;D Homemade bread sounds like a great resolution. Congrats on the awards and thanks for passing them on! Your bread looks great and I love the avocado and egg topping. I haven’t made mine yet, but I need to get started so I can complete the whole challenge in time.

  27. Yummy! This looks like my dream hang-over breakfast!

  28. Graziana says:

    good luck with your resolution!
    I try to bake my bread whenever I can, but with the work and a 1 year kid ‘whenever I can’ is sooooo different from ‘always’

  29. Katy ~ says:

    That sandwich sounds good! I LUV avocado, never thought to partner it with cheese and egg, but I’ll wager it’s good (imagining the flavor in my mind). Heaven knows I eat enough fried egg sandwiches.

    I haven’t made bread in a while, guess I’ll have to find my linen cloth and get kneading.

    I am delighted that you received these awards; they are fun and it’s gratifying to be recognized by your peers for your creativity and delicious foods. You have earned the recognition.

    Hunners, thank you so much for nominating me for the awards. You are just waaaay too kind and thoughtful to me.

    I made a decision shortly after staring my blog to remain award free. I have such high esteem and affection for all who visit my blog that I do not know how to choose to pass the award along to.

  30. Donna-FFW says:

    I look forward to all your bread posts, hoping you can inspire me. Love your classic line Calm the F*(k down. You are too cute. No TV? WOW! I think thats a good thing, you have so so so much going on, it would be a distraction. Youre one of a kind for sure! The Best!

  31. Debbie says:

    Great post! Wish I could play piano and I have always wanted to visit Italy. No TV – wow, my son would be lost without it, but it would be a good thing. Have a very happy and healthy new year!

  32. Chef Chuck says:

    You go Girl!! My your own! This breakfast is making me hungry! Nice!!

  33. Your blog is such an inspiration! I can’t wait to catch up on some of your old recipes!

  34. Juliette says:

    Wow, that sandwich looks so good! Good luck with the resolution, that’s definitely one of the better ones I’ve heard this year!

    I also love musicals, and Wicked is one of my favourites, but Jason Robert Brown is my favourite composer – I can never choose which of his shows I like best!

  35. Faith says:

    You’re right, store bought bread can’t even compare with homemade bread…not to mention the fabulous smell while it bakes! I’m jealous of your resolution. This bread looks delicious and it’s perfect to soak up all that yummy runny yolk!

  36. First of all, your posts always make me smile, Joanne! I love the name Remy too but that’s because I have a granddog named Remy 😉

    One of my favorite breakfasts is poached egg on toast. Why didn’t I ever think of avocado and cheese too? What a great combination!

    Looking forward to baking bread with you in the coming year!

  37. Karen says:

    Great idea to make all of your own bread this year. I have ABin5 but haven’t made any in a while… I guess I’d better get with the program!

  38. Andreas says:

    Uhh, runny egg with fresh bread. (nice crumb btw.) Aaand cheese. 🙂

  39. Well done! I haven’t baked bread in awhile, it scared me a little.

  40. teresa says:

    great resolution! i’m going to try to do the same thing with bread. your blogs are so funny, i love it! happy new year!

  41. Kris says:

    Thank you so much for the award! I gave you a shout-out!!

  42. monicajane says:

    I haven’t been eating bread for about 3 years…I make a very tiny bit of bread on my own…

    corn bread and stuff like that…

    it’s nice and I don’t miss bread until it’s in my face…like in a restaurant or something…

    otherwise I don’t think of it.

    best of luck to you in the new year!

  43. Michelle says:

    “Yes, I’m talking to you. In the back. The one who’s face is now the color of the Atlantic Ocean. Calm. The F***. Down.”

    LOLLOOLLLOLLOL!

    Love the sandwich and you’re pictures are great!

  44. Karine says:

    Good for you: you don’t own a tv! Actually, I cannot stand watching tv… even when I try, I fall asleep… or maybe that is the couch calling me to sleep.

    Great job with your bread 🙂

  45. Toni says:

    Awwww. Thanks for the awards. That is very much sweet of you. And thank you also for the continued inspiration for baking bread. It’s on my list. I’m gonna do it. Maybe this weekend. Really.

  46. Tiffany says:

    You forgot the Bahamas!! It totally counts as a foreign country!

  47. Kerstin says:

    You got me, I was really worried for a second there! I want to get more into bread making this year too. Breakfast sandwiches are my favorite thing ever and yours looks so fantastic with that super yummy bread!

    p.s. I love Wicked too!

  48. That’s the kind of breakfast that will get you moving! More avocado is necessary for everyone. 🙂

  49. stephchows says:

    so glad you found my blog!! you had me scared with this post at first!!! but now I totally understand 🙂 I love home made bread!!

  50. Olga says:

    wow, that’s a great price on avocadoes. the sandwich looks and sounds absolutely perfect!

  51. Kevin says:

    That would make for one really nice savoury breakfast! I often enjoy the fried egg, cheddar and avocado combo in a muffin sandwich along with some chipotle mayo.

  52. Oh yes, only homemade bread, great resolution! Everything looks so good. Only problem for me – I feel about avocado like most people do about tofu. I loved them at one time but developed a total aversion to them during one of my pregnancies – weird huh?

  53. Ann says:

    Bravo! I have had the AB in 5 book sitting on my shelf for the past 6 months. Untouched. Why? Because I am a CHICKEN. I need you to come over and slap me upside the head with that book. I was just mulling over doing the master recipe with whole wheat flour (I’m out of AP flour), and for some reason, I thought the book was advising AGAINST doing that. Your post has proven me wrong. Off I go to try it….

  54. Cristie says:

    Only homemade bread. If anyone can do it, it’s you. And it will go so nicely with your peanutbutter.

  55. Raelyn says:

    I am drinking a Coke Zero as I read your blog!I too have given up buying grocery store bread (except for bagels which I am still trying to get right). Looking forward to hearing more about your bread.

  56. Ezzie says:

    First I gasped! Then I laughed out loud! Love your blog and your sandwiches are a great idea!

  57. Megan says:

    What a delicious post! Now you know all the HBin5 members will be making & eating this sandwich. There will be hundreds of them!
    I hope you have a great weekend and I’m off to check some links!

  58. Danielle says:

    Joanne…you are funny! I love your resolution to ban store bought bread. I think I could get away with that if I could make a loaf of sandwich bread thats as light as roman meal (hubbys bread of choice).
    Your bread looks great and I’m loving it with the egg on top. I haven’t had breakfast yet but I think I know what I’m going to eat now 🙂

  59. I LOVE WICKED! I play the CD in the car.

  60. Judy says:

    Love what you did with your bread! Chicken feet? I’ve eaten alligator – rubbery!

  61. you got another shout out today… How’s the bread baking challenge going?

    When do you have time, and more important, based on my old NY apartment, where do you have counter space to do this???

  62. […] Four years ago…Frozen Maple Mousse Pie with Chocolate Maple Sauce, Fried Eggs on Toast with Cheddar and Avocado […]

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