When I moved out of my parents' house, I didn't know how to cook. It took me most of a year to figure it out, and it happened mostly because I became a Pampered Chef consultant.
As I learned how to make the demo recipes, I picked up tips and tricks and products to make cooking easier.
It's no coincidence that many of my recipes are loosely based on recipes from The Pampered Chef. This is one of those.
The inspiration for this one is a PC recipe called Chile Cheese Pie. It's more or less a quiche, made with cheddar cheese, onions, and green chile peppers.
In addition to the onions and peppers, I threw in some ham leftover from Easter dinner, making the topping essentially a western omelet (hence the name).
I expected the egg mixture to sit on top of the waffles, cooking into a quiche in all the little wells. That's not actually what happened - the egg mixture soaked in and cooked within the waffle. It left the waffles a little soggy, but they were delicious nonetheless.
I wonder if they would stay crispier if you used less topping or toasted them longer in the beginning.
I intended these to be a breakfast food, but they would also be nice for brunch.
For this post, I made them in the afternoon and ate them for a late lunch.
I ate the leftover one for a snack when I got home from work.
They're pretty versatile; you can't go wrong with egg, ham, veggies, and a waffle.
These really were delicious. I love that the green chiles are sweet and a little spicy.
Recipe
Western Waffle Omelet
Ingredients
- 4 frozen waffles
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion
- 8 ounces diced green chili peppers
- 8 ounces ham
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup 1% milk
- 1½ cups cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
- Chop the onion and dice the ham.
- Heat the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat.
- When the pan is hot, toss in the onions, peppers, and ham.
- The onion mixture is going to take 10-15 minutes to cook, so in the meantime, you can prepare your pan and waffles. Cover a baking dish (with sides) with aluminum foil. These quiches are messy and stick like crazy, so you may want to brush a wee bit of melted butter over the aluminum foil. (Don't forget to stir the onions every few minutes.)
- Cook the waffles. You can bake them or toast them in the toaster. Place the 4 waffles on top of the greased foil.
- Let the onion mixture brown. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan often as the mixture browns to prevent burning.
- When everything is sufficiently browned (or before if you prefer), turn the heat off and divide it between the waffles.
- Grace won't eat onions or peppers, so her waffle has only ham on top.
- Divide the cheese between the waffles.
- Crack the eggs in a small mixing bowl and add the milk. Whisk until it's blended and frothy.
- Here's the tricky part. You're going to spoon the beaten eggs over the waffles. I used a gravy spoon because it's small but deep like a ladle.
- If you pour very slowly, most of the egg mixture will soak down through the cheese and onion mixture and fill up the waffle. I tried to pour around the edges and fill up the wells, but I'm not sure it really matters where you pour from. Eventually, some of the egg mixture is going to seep out and sit in the pan. (This is why it's important to have a pan with sides.)
- Divide the egg mixture between your 4 waffles.
- Bake waffles at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until the eggs are set and a fork inserted in the center of a waffle comes out clean. I was afraid the sogginess in the middle of my waffles meant that the egg wasn't cooked, but I could see cooked egg the whole way through. I didn't want to edges to burn, so I took them out after 25 minutes.
- Let the waffles cool for a few minutes, then scoop them up and serve hot.
Samii Meyer says
https://twitter.com/SamiiAlexxis/status/323199921199140864
Leslie S. says
The only thing I can come up with is baked eggo goodness.Sorry I am not very creative.Thanks!
lstanziani(at)yahoo(dot)com
Leslie S. says
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/lstanziani/status/323212009405571072 Thanks!
lstanziani(at)yahoo(dot)com
Nancy says
How about: Southwestern Eggcellent Eggo !
jeanne conner says
Western Waffle Surprise..
Noreen says
Denver omelet waffle
Barbara Stenby says
Denver Eggo Bake
Barbara Stenby says
I shared giveaway publicly on google + https://plus.google.com/u/0/114200041288457503815/posts/hsKR2oxHSyQ
Beatriz says
Easy eggy eggos
Rene C says
Eggo's with any name my kids love.
laurie says
i like egg waffle
laurie says
tweeted
https://twitter.com/lmurley2000/status/323285150882467840
Jayme H. says
The Denver Waffle!
Thanks,
jaymee76 at gmail dot com
Chris Martinez says
Wonderfully Wacky Waffles