Ok, so no big surprise here, but weekends are pretty much my favorite thing. First off, we get to sleep until we wake up. What a concept! No pesky alarms, no dragging myself out of bed before the sun even peeks its first rays of light over the hills. And don’t get me wrong, I love a good sunrise. We get them all the time here, in fact. But there really isn’t quite anything like letting your body wake up naturally, to the bits of sunlight that filter through and around the shades and to the sound of the birds singing outside, even if it is just a squawking dove. I so love that about weekends.

Lately, on Saturday mornings, we’ve been jumping out of bed as soon as we wake up (after a half hour of telling the other person to get up) and heading out for an early run. We’re usually out the door by 7 and, seeing as how we run trails and I go for endurance, not speed, we’re back by 9 and I am famished. So, we pour ourselves giant bowls of cereal or toss a couple eggs in a pan and shovel food into our faces as promptly as is generally considered acceptable (which is about twice as fast for me as for AJ).

But Sundays? Oh, Sunday. We lounge in bed for a half hour before spending the next half hour telling the other to get up. We make coffee and read the paper and spend some extra time in the kitchen making pancakes or waffles or french toast or something like this, a simple breakfast hash recipe with whatever veggies we have on hand. And it’s amazing.

I did want to spend a minute talking about salsa here. I think I’ve mentioned before, but I am pretty darn picky about my salsas. First off, there should never be any sugar on the label. Zip, none, nilch. No agave, no corn syrup, no stevia, no nothin. Even if there is just a tiny bit in there I can taste it in the first bite, and I’ll remember to never buy the stuff again. In that same vein, there must be garlic and cilantro. These are non-negotiable. I also like them with a bit of texture (no plain purees, thanks) but want it to be more exciting than pico de gallo.

So with this laundry list of things I look for in a salsa, it’s not hard to imagine that there are few salsas that we actually like. I find that the big-brand ones never git it right, but the local ones do a decent job. We found this Mesa Salsa Company brand based out of Santa Barbara, just an hour and a half from here, and have bought it pretty exclusively for the last couple of years. When we are forced to buy something else we are almost always disappointed. If you live on the central coast, I highly recommend giving this salsa a try. I love it because every batch is a little different – sometimes spicier, sometimes more herby and others more earthy. It’s how you know it’s made from real ingredients. I seriously recommend the Hot version, as it’s not too spicy, just enough to make your tastebuds have a little party.

Now, onto this recipe here. It’s not a salsa recipe (though I really should get to making my own.. but why, when Mesa’s is so good?). This is a super simple recipe that is greatly enhanced by a good salas (hence the discussion above). It takes a bit of time because of the sweet potatoes, but you should be out of the kitchen and enjoying a piping hot meal in under 45 minutes. I know, I know, this sounds atrocious for breakfast. Three things:

1. That includes all the peeling, chopping, pan-heating, and related exercises.
2. Consider how long it really takes you to make those pancakes from scratch (an hour at least, for me).
3. I made this for lunch and it was wonderful. Is 45 minutes too long for lunch?

That’s what I thought.

And then there is the egg. I am a bit of a newbie to the fried-egg world (hence why I popped it just a teensy bit when I got it out of the pan, as you can see two images above). I like them – a lot – but usually only when on top of a heaping pile of veggies. I can’t really get into them on their own.. I’d rather have a pile of slightly runny scrambled eggs. But on veggies? ohh man. Don’t even get me started.

I took a cue from Bon Appetit and fried the eggs in a slightly excessive amount of olive oil. It made a bit of a mess, but that’s what I do in the kitchen. AJ loves it. Anyway, the olive-oli-fry gave it this awesome texture, with plenty of loftiness and a bit of crispiness. The whites cooked right quick, meaning that even after I took a little too long to flip it and cook the top the yolk was still pretty perfect. And if I can do it, you can do it. I promise.

P.S. We’re moving to a new house – a house we bought! Too many things happening. It’s great. Posting may be sporadic for a bit.