My fabulous 20^th anniversary trip has come to an end. My husband and I returned yesterday from 6 whole days in Tulum, Mexico with our dear friends whom we met on our honeymoon in Tahiti 20 years ago. We have been close friends ever since and it was such a joy to celebrate our marriages and our friendship this past week.  It was all of our first time in Tulum and I highly recommend a trip there if eco-chic, great food and a chill vibe is up your alley.

One of the many reasons the four of us get along is that we all love food. Some people think they love food, but they just like it. We are members of the clean-plate club, seekers of authentic, off-the-beaten-path dishes, and we plan our next meal before we’ve finished the one we are eating. “Maybe we should skip dinner,” was said never by any of us!  If you follow me on Instagram, I’m sure you’ve observed what I’m talking about.

One of our favorite breakfasts of the trip was Chilaquiles, which isn’t exactly diet food. But then again, I pretty much eat off my normal plan when I am traveling. Chilaquiles are either fried pieces of corn tortillas or corn tortilla chips, topped with shredded chicken or beef, and/or fried egg or scrambled eggs, plus avocado, onion and either a red or green sauce. It’s ridiculous. See image below:

It occurred to me when I was thinking about my next blog post that I haven’t shared my secret to making scrambled eggs in a stainless steel skillet. There are a few questions that come up in my classes regularly and cooking eggs NOT in a non-stick is a biggie. I am not a fan of Teflon or most non-stick coatings which usually contain PFTE’s and/or PFOA’s, the toxic chemicals in Teflon which leach when heated. So I use either stainless steel, cast iron or enameled cast iron.

The question is not necessarily about how to make scrambled eggs, but how to make them in a stainless or cast iron pan without sticking. No problem! I made a video (above) so you can see for yourself that it can be done. But there are a few important things to remember and you won’t have any problems:

• You need to warm up your pan on medium heat before you add any fat to it. You don’t want it too hot because then you’ll damage or burn the fat, but it needs to me warm enough to get things going. Try a minute on medium heat.
• You need to use fat. Non-stick was developed because there was some silly theory at one time that fat is bad for us. Nonsense. Low quality fat is bad, but good fats are good. You need a decent amount of butter, ghee (my personal preference) or olive oil. Some people like to cook their eggs in coconut oil, but it’s not my fave. Figure 2 teaspoons for a small skillet and more for a large skillet.
• Then you have to warm your fat and coat the entire surface with it.
• Then you add your beaten eggs and start to cook them, stirring them constantly. They should slip and slide all over the pan.

Since Father’s Day is next weekend, I thought this would be a great time for you to test this method out before making Dad breakfast in bed. One of my husband’s favorite breakfasts is scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla with a pinch of cheese and some sautéed peppers and onions, or scrambled eggs on toast with some sliced avocado, a drizzle of olive oil and flaky sea salt.  Just another pointer, if you want to scramble veggies and eggs together, you need to cook the eggs first of course. But if you sautéed the vegetables in the pan and then add the eggs to the same pan, they will probably stick. It’s better to sauté the vegetables in a separate pan or do it the night before and refrigerate them until the next day.