The Perfect Beach Breakfast

This is near and dear to my heart, I love breakfast, so much so that sometimes we'll do breakfast for dinner because it makes me happy and it's yummy! The perfect beach breakfast always has the following:

1. Coffee- It's the perfect way to start your day and if you're not opposed to alcohol and really want to feel like you're on vacation, throw a little Rum Chata in your coffee instead of creamer. On a girls trip to St. John several years ago, we started this and it took me a while after I returned to realize this wasn't an acceptable office practice. Also, it will make the kids screaming at the beach later a little more bearable, you're welcome.
2. Fruit- Easy one too, if you feed your wolf pack some fruit right out of the gate, it buys you a little more time to enjoy the Rum Chata in your coffee...and get the rest of your breakfast cooked. I can't handle anybody yelling they're hungry first thing in the morning, sister needs a minute.
3. Juice- Whether you add champagne to yours and call it a Mimosa or go straight juice, it's always a crowd pleaser young and old. I was going to add a Bloody

Mary recipe here but honestly, that's a whole blog post all on its own. If you do want to get close to heaven with your Bloody game, Natural Blonde from Charleston has you covered.

4. Easy- I don't know about you, but I didn't come on vacation to be a short order cook. In my house, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. I want to relax, get breakfast done, get to the beach and relax again, in that order. Most everything I do is in the oven so clean up is easy and the whole process should be less than 30 minutes.

5. Bacon- Let's just sit with that for a minute BACON. I have an insane love affair with swine. I know why my mama always saved bacon grease in a can growing up, that stuff is like liquid gold y'all. I do my bacon in the oven, it's easy, no mess and more time for you in the morning. Super simple recipe, lay out your bacon on a cookie sheet, side by side, so no bacon on bacon. If you have a bunch of people, do two cookie sheets. If you really want easy, put it on aluminum foil to make clean up a breeze but I know some people who are weird about the cooking on aluminum foil thing. I get it, I'm a cancer survivor and so is my youngest daughter, we're super conservative so I don't do this on the regular but if it's going to save me some time on my vacation, yes please! You'll be fine for this week, no worries at the beach. This is important, do NOT preheat your oven! Put your bacon in a cold oven and set the temperature at 400, a timer for 20 minutes and WALK AWAY. Feel free to check it halfway through, maybe flip it over, depending on the brand of bacon you buy, it's probably not necessary. As you're coming up on 20 minutes, check it frequently, it'll burn in a hot minute, lol, so watch it close. I love my bacon crispy, some would call it burnt, so I take some off for the complainers and keep the rest in for me. When it's done, I take the sheet out, get my tongs and pull it off to drain on paper towels. Always let your bacon grease cool a little before you clean up and throw it away and never pour it down the garbage disposal, especially not here at Shore is Heaven.

6. Biscuits- I'm southern, grew up with a biscuit making mama and I love a good buttermilk biscuit. I even make them on occasion too and think Callie's Hot Little Biscuits has some of the best biscuit recipes out there but for my easy beach breakfast, I roll with some frozen biscuits, NOT canned biscuits, frozen. There's a difference y'all, a big difference. I have a couple of favorite biscuit brands, first, if you ever see these in your store, scoop them up Mason Dixon Biscuits and Callie's has frozen biscuits too, if all else fails my go to favorite is Mary B's buttermilk biscuits and I always get the 20 pack. Good news is, once your oven heats up to 400 with your bacon in it, I slide the frozen biscuits in too and for Mary B's, in 20 minutes, they'll be done. If you get up early and start the process, throw some flour on your face and everybody will think you made these from hand. Dear God, always have softened butter and some good jam ready for your biscuits. And Smuckers doesn't count as jelly y'all, I'm not sure what it is, but jelly it's NOT. Bonne Maman makes me real happy on a biscuit, with or without bacon but definitely with Rum Chata in my coffee.

7. Eggs- Easy is as easy does friends, I'm on vacation so you're getting your eggs one of two ways, scrambled or in a frittata situation. If you're scrambling, I've got a couple of pro tips, do NOT have your pan so hot that your eggs sizzle when you put them in, you're burning your eggs people and your wolf pack will eat them but if you're vacationing with extended family/friends, they're going to side eye you over your egg game but then again, if you have enough Rum Chata in your coffee you probably don't care. Skillet should be around 4 on your stove top, put a little melted butter in the pan before you put them in, everything is better with butter and my Mamaw lived to be 100 by cooking with butter, lard, etc. You're on vacation, you'll be fine, don't use the Pam, use butter. If you're scrambling, add a dash of milk but if you really want fluffy eggs, add a dollop of sour cream and whisk it in. What?? Yes, I said SOUR CREAM, you won't taste it, trust me, I do it all the time with my kids but it makes fantastically fluffy eggs. Frittata is simple throw in whatever you want, but if you want to get real easy, take those scrambled eggs, put them in your skillet on 4, sprinkle some cheese on top, put a lid on and walk away. Chances are you'll be done in less than 10 minutes. Also, always take eggs off the stove right before they're done, they'll cook up afterwards and be perfect. Now, I don't mean take them off when they're Shoney's breakfast bar eggs runny, just right before they're done. If you have a thick frittata and your bacon/biscuits are done, just slide the whole skillet (be sure it's oven safe) in the oven at 350 until the middle isn't jiggling anymore.

That's it! Your eggs, bacon and biscuits should all be ready less than 10 minutes from each other, you have minimal clean up to do and everyone has a full belly until you get everything over and set up on the beach, finally get settled in your chair when someone yells, "I'm hungry, when is lunch?" Again, that Rum Chata got 'ya covered girl, just smile, throw a baggie of goldfish at them, read your Garden and Gun magazine and relax into your perfect beach day here on Topsail Island. OR, forget making breakfast and just take the family over to Surf City and visit Sears Landing on the water for some of the best grits in the south! If you get up early like I do, catch the sunrise with a walk on the beach, then head to the Daily Grind and bring back their amazing donuts and breakfast sandwiches for the family to enjoy sitting on the deck and keeping an eye out for early morning dolphins in the water. Sip your Rum Chata coffee sitting in the oceanfront tiki bar and plan your perfect beach day at Shore is Heaven!