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This Perfect Grits and Greens Breakfast Bowl is inspired by a brunch I had at The Corner Kitchen in Ashville, NC years ago! Eggs, Grits, collard greens topped with bacon bits and tomatoes are served with a biscuit for the perfect southern breakfast!
It’s happening, I’ve started to enjoy breakfast. I blame it on the fact that I have a food blog. haha Well…I take that back… I’ve started to enjoy breakfast FOODS, like at brunch or lunch time. haha I think I’m ok with breakfast as long as no one is shoving eggs in my face. I’m branching out and going for different breakfast items.
If I’m limited to just eggs and bacon, I won’t be very interested. However, slap some cheesy grits and a biscuit down and I’ll be happy!
On my last morning in Asheville, I went to brunch with a few friends and we found the cutest little restaurant down in Biltmore Village called, The Corner Kitchen. This house turned restaurant is over 100 years old, oh my if those walls could talk I would sit and listen to their stories for hours!
The building that The Corner Kitchen calls home is one of the original buildings that George Washington Vanderbilt had built just down the way from his home, Blitmore. Did you know that George Washington Vanderbilt pretty much built his very own town? His town was complete with his own church, post office and school building!
As we grabbed a seat at the family table right in front of the kitchen, I couldn’t help but look around and just take in the building’s history. I mean think about it. I was sitting in a house that was about 120 years old. A house that a family (or many families) lived in at some point. A building that’s seen 120 years of history developed right in front of it!
Off to the right of us was a staircase that led upstairs and I imagined the people that lived here going up and down those steps and out onto the front porch during their every day lives. What would they think of their home being turned into a restaurant? What would they think of the hundreds of people that visit their home each day?
Oh I could walk through history all day long but I suppose you’re here for breakfast so I shouldn’t keep you waiting too long. 😉
Like I said before, we sat at a long family table with the perfect view of the kitchen and chatted about southern recipes and life as we waited for our brunch to be made. I ordered the daily special because I was looking for something “different”, something other than just a waffle or pancake.
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| The Kitchen at Corner Kitchen and the Breakfast Bowl Special that they made |
Oh and when it was delivered, I was very happy with my decision. I snapped a picture of my plate and then made a mental note that if it was super good that I would recreate it at home. You see I use meals that I have out of town as inspiration for meals to cook at home! This Breakfast Bowl Special was just the inspiration I needed.
Before we even left I sent BigBear a text and told him that I had just had the best breakfast of grits, greens and eggs at this little restaurant in Biltmore Village and I just couldn’t wait to make it for him! That’s exactly what I did.
I also gave it a new name. I’m calling it the “Perfect Grits and Greens Breakfast Bowl”. Just because, well just because I can. 😉
Here are the 5 components of this Perfect Grits and Greens Breakfast Bowl :
- Grits – made with milk and seasonings, topped with cheese
- Scrambled Eggs, topped with cheese
- Collard Greens (don’t you turn your nose up! Even BigBear ate them!)
- Tomatoes
- Biscuits (or just 1 biscuit if you’re me haha)
Oh and you’re going to sprinkle bacon bits all over the top…of EVERYTHING.
Ok….so maybe I should have named this “Bacon ontop of some other things Breakfast Bowl”. But that is just too long of a name haha. 😉
I’m going to explain how I made each breakfast item below but before I do that I want to direct you to a few links.
I made my bacon bits instead of buying store bought and while I will tell you how I made mine below I also wanted to share this with you! My friend Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic just posted a quick little tutorial on her blog on how to make bacon bits at home so I thought I’d link to that here as well in case you wanted to see how she makes her bacon bits.
Oh and the biscuits, I used canned biscuits. (Oh my gasp) No, you’ll be ok. I promise. But if you must make your own biscuits from scratch (which they are fabulous that way as well, I just didn’t want to) here are a few biscuit recipes from my blogging friends that you might love as well:
- Southern Biscuits from Southerner Kissed
- Buttermilk Biscuits from Smitten Kitchen
- Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits from A Cozy Kitchen
Now that you’ve got your bacon and biscuits let’s get together and start making this Perfect Grits and Greens Breakfast Bowl, I assume that you’re starving by now! 😉
Perfect Grits and Greens Breakfast Bowl
- Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 8 -10 strips of bacon
- 1 -2 cups of shredded cheese, depending on how much you want
- Salt and Pepper to taste*
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup white grits
- 4 cups milk
- Olive Oil
- 1 tomato, chopped into pieces
- 8 eggs
- 1 teaspoon onion powder (or 1/2 an onion)
- 8 cups chopped collard greens (these will wilt down A LOT)
- Biscuits -homemade or store bought
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat milk until is starts to boil. As soon as it starts to boil, stir in the grits and turn the heat down to low. Season with a little salt and pepper (you can add more later) and cover. Let cook for 12 minutes.
- While the grits are cooking, start the bacon. Cut the bacon into 1 pieces. Coon the bacon on a large pot (you\'ll be cooking the collard greens in this too). Cook the bacon on medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally.
- Once the bacon is done, remove it from the pan and lay in on a paper towel to drain.
- Add the collard greens to the pan with the bacon grease. (If this is too much for you, just pour the bacon grease out of the pan and then add the collard greens). Sprinkle with onion powder (or if you're using a real onion, saute the onion a bit and then add it to the greens). Stir. Cover and cook over low-medium heat until the collard greens are wilted and dark green; this takes about 6-8 minutes.
- In a pan, heat a little olive oil over medium heat and add the tomatoes to the pan. Sprinkle with pepper and saute for 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the eggs to the pan and scramble them. Cook until done.
- Check on the grits and stir them. Stir in butter. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.
To Plate:
- Place a few spoonfuls of grits on the left side of the plate. Add collard greens to the right and add the scrambles eggs to the top of the plate. Sprinkle cheese on the eggs and grits. Add some of the sauteed tomatoes to the middle of the plate. Sprinkle bacon bits over the entire plate. Add a biscuit and serve.
- * I don't normally cook with a lot of salt, but salt really brings out the flavor in grits, I feel like grits NEED salt
I just want to cook the grits and add precooked bacon, how long do I cook the grits?
Also can you recommend a good brand of grits?
Thanks!
The grits need to cook about 12 minutes. The cooking time of the grits doesn’t have anything to do with the bacon 🙂
We use a local grits brand from Mabry Mill and I love House Autry Yellow Stoned Ground Grits