Would you believe me if I told you that the eggs, avocado slices, and steak and sweet potato hash that you can't see in this photo were actually super delicious?

You should believe me. Because they were. Which is why they are no longer visible. Despite Lola's desperate begging, I ate the entire thing all by myself. And I won't be apologizing for my pigginess either. Because I really enjoyed my breakfast.

So how does one make this particularly fine invisible meal? Easy -- leftovers!

I LOVE leftovers. Probably because I inherited by father's frugality (sounds better than "stinginess," I think). Besides, I can eat the same meal for a week straight before even thinking I might like to eat something else.

So let's start with the breakfast that actually started the night before:

I'll be honest, I didn't make up the following recipe. It comes from Paula Deen. I made a kettlebell complex in her honor, once. You can watch that here.

From Food Network:

• 1 (3-pound) London Broil
  
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar -- I substituted this with 1 TBS honey
  
• 1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
• 1 bay leaf

 
Preheat the broiler and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.

Season the meat with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet over low heat, combine the vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, and bay leaf. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and is a syrupy consistency, about 5 minutes. Discard the garlic and bay leaf.

Put the meat on the baking sheet and slather it with the glaze. Broil the meat 4 inches from the heat until it reaches the desired level of doneness, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Remove from the broiler to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the meat against the grain and transfer it to a serving platter.

Cook's Note: When using the broiler, crack the oven door open so the meat does not burn.


And a note from Christine:  If you've never cooked balsamic vinegar before...WOOOO...go on and open up your windows and maybe even the front door. Cooking balsamic vinegar turns it into a VERY pungent and cough-inducing substance. Consider yourself forewarned.

I swiped this recipe from Martha Stewart's Whole Living website and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

• 2 pricked sweet potatoes
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 thinly sliced small onion
• 1 stemmed and chopped bunch Swiss chard
• Coarse salt
• 1 sliced avocado, divided
• Cayenne
• Lemon

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes until tender, about 45 minutes.
   
   
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Add chard and cook, stirring, until bright green and wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with salt.
   
   
3. To serve, split potatoes and top each with the greens and 1/2 sliced avocado. Season with cayenne, salt, and a squeeze of lemon.
   
   

Now, the beautiful thing of this tasty meal was that there was plenty of leftovers that I could play around with (this is probably because I was so ravenous while cooking dinner that I shoveled several handfuls of cashews into my mouth and subsequently couldn't finish all the food I piled onto my plate). Which brings us to...

Okay, this breakfast was easy-peasy. While, some butter was melting in a pan, I took about 4 oz of leftover London broil, half of my uneaten sweet potato (without the greens) and diced them up.

Once the pan was hot, I threw in about 1/2 cup of a frozen diced green pepper and onion medley. Sauteed that for a few minutes, then added the steak, sweet potatoes, and some salt and pepper to round out the hash.

Once everything's nice and heated up, I just smooshed everything off to the side of the pan and cracked a couple of eggs in the remaining free space and fried those suckers up (I like 'em crispy).

Finally, I plated the hash, set the eggs on top, sprinkled on some hot sauce from The Chile Spot, and topped it all off with some diced avocado.

And then. I feasted.


Now do you understand why I forgot to take a photo of it before I started eating??