Sausage and Egg Sandwich

"Guess what I ate for dinner tonight," I asked poor Chad, a week or two ago. 

"I don't know, what?" He grudgingly replied.

"No, guess!" I insisted.

"A salad."

"No."

"Sushi."

"No."

"Tasti D-Lite."

"No.  Well, ok, maybe, but guess what I ate for dinner."

"I give up, what?"

"Sausage and eggs!"

Stunned silence.  "Really?"

Not exactly a response you expect from your vegetarian fiancée, perhaps.  Or, well, your 99% vegetarian fiancée, give or take a little duck fat here and there.

But, as I've discussed before, I'm trying to not feel guilty about my occasional meat-eating.  Since the rest of the world hasn't gone vegetarian yet, I think it's particularly important to support farms who are raising their animals in humane conditions and not pumping them full of antibiotics and hormones.  So, when I'm at the farmer's market and see a package of chicken-apple-pistachio sausage, I can feel pretty decent about the money I'm spending there, even if I am eating meat. 

But back to this meat-lover's-fantasy recipe.   Take every breakfast food you like -- buttered toast, sausage, and scrambled eggs, and combine them into one extraordinary breakfast dish that's so filling and satisfying that it can easily double as a dinner.  There you have it.  Done.  Don't forget to add the chopped chives for a little bit of color!

For those of you who voted for "sausage risotto," in my recent poll, have no fear.  I still have two links of this delicious sausage stored in my freezer.

What, you thought I ate the whole package?

 Jeez.  I am a vegetarian, after all...

Sausage and Egg Sandwich

INGREDIENTS:

2 large slices sourdough bread

1/2 pound farmer's market chicken sausage (sigh... I guess you could make it with non-farmer's market sausage too...)

2 pats of butter (about 1 tbsp total)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 eggs

2 egg whites

2 tbsp milk

Salt and Pepper, to taste

5 chives, cut into pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1. Butter the bread and toast it, then place each slice on a plate.

2. In a medium-sized skillet, heat sausage and olive oil over medium-high heat, breaking the sausage up into clumps as it cooks. After about 5 minutes, make sure sausage is cooked through, and spoon it over the bread. Leave any reserved fat in the pan.

3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk and salt and pepper together briefly. Pour into the same pan as the sausage cooked in. Cook for about 5 additional minutes over medium-low heat, stirring regularly, or until eggs have set. Spoon the scrambled eggs over the sausage on each plate.

4. Garnish with fresh chives, and serve.

Serves 2.