Who doesn’t love something free? Who doesn’t love a free appetizer during your night out with your hunny? And booze – let’s not forget the free booze! Not I.  I’m a fan of all things cheap and especially free.
Ben and I were feeling like rebels last night, bumping up our usual Saturday date-night to Friday, told ya – rebels, and making our pilgrimage to The Dirty Bird (aka Red Robin) just didn’t seem like a very romantic thing to do. At 25 and 28, we don’t need to be that couple who eats at the same diner, the same day of every week, with the usual order of tuna melt and tomato soup. There is plenty of time left for that in the next 50 years…
Instead of The Dirty Bird, we swam upstream to our town’s newest restaurant The Big Fish Grill where it turned out was their grand opening. No wonder it was so packed. After getting cut in line for a table by a couple of scraggly douches, we finally got our seats and we presented with a free Spinach and Artichoke dip and champagne. Yay, free! My mother’s case of the “thrifties” was in full force last night.
Seeing as I didn’t want any of it to go to waste, we (read: I) had them box up the rest of our free app so I could bring it on home and make a beautiful breakfast frittata out of it.
But this morning, a frittata just wasn’t in the cards. A open faced poached egg benedict-esque sammie sure was though!
For your Grocery List be sure to include:
~ 2 Whole Wheat English Muffins
~ 2 Large Eggs
~ 1/4 cup shredded cheese of you choice – or Goat cheese if you got it
~ 1 tomato, thinly sliced
~ 6 leaves fresh Spinach
~ 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
~ Salt and Pepper
~ 2 Tablespoon White Vinegar
~ Leftover re-heated Spinach and Artichoke Dip – 1/2 cup for 2 sammies
Poached eggs are something I’ve only made myself a couple of times – this being the second time. But thanks to the genius that is America’s Test Kitchen, I can now say I can make a poached egg with the best of ’em. 
To make the perfect poached egg, heat a 12″ pan with quickly simmering water and add the 2 tablespoons of vinegar to it. Say what? Well according to the almighty ATK, doing this will lower the pH of the water and help keep your egg whites together – no weird floaties here! Boy did that and a few dashes of salt make all the difference in the world! 
I gently slipped my eggs into the simmering water, letting them do their poaching business for 4 minutes, I scooped them up like the little breakable babies they are setting them ever so softly onto the bed of muffin, cheese, tomato, spinach, and warmed leftover spinach/artichoke dip that they are. 
Then I proceeded to pee myself like a little puppy over what I was about to consume. Victory is mine! 
Over the top of them I added a few drops of lemon juice, and an additional dash of salt and pepper. 
And in about 5 large bits – it was gone, and my life was complete. Much like my entree at last night’s dinner (Crab and Bacon Mac and Cheese – *porky angels singing*) was a Greg Louganis off of the health-food wagon, the addition of the spinach dip was tipping point on these bad boys. But, I make no apologizes. 
But, do yourself a favor and make these for yourself. Don’t be a hero.