Baked Egg Muffins

I made these last weekend for breakfast and yum yum yum.  And if the bacon is pre-cooked (as in I actually planned ahead which is rare these days...and Stud hasn't eaten all of it), these would take no time to whip up.  I could maybe even squeeze them into my 20 minute breakfast break on weekday mornings!  I think these would be a great treat to start a day off that ends with class at 9pm.  I do need my energy.

Baked Egg Muffins

1 slice of bread, crusts removed

Butter

1 egg

1 slice cooked bacon

Cream

Hot Sauce

Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Above are the ingredients for one baked egg muffin - I would suggest 2-3 per person.  I had three.  Wedding diet is going really well.  Pre-heat the oven to 375.  Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray and butter both sides of the bread. Press it down into the muffin tin so the four corners stick out like little peaks.  Bake the bread for about six minutes, or until it starts to toast.  Remove from the oven.  Take the bacon and crumble it into the bottom of the bread.  I saved a little to sprinkle on top!  Next, crack an egg directly into the bread cup.  Mine overflowed a bit here, but I have reallly old shallow muffin tins.  And everything came out just fine without some egg white.  Next, dribble a little cream right on top of the egg and then season with some salt and pepper.  I also (of course) added some hot sauce right to the top.  Cover with cheese and put back in the oven for an addition 10-14 minutes.  Mine took closer to 14, and some were perfect and some were a little overdone.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining bacon.  You can pop them out easily using a fork.  Great way to start off a Saturday of a long weekend!!

Haudge's Fan Pic:

Original recipe can be found here.

Daily Fluff

Gooooood Morning!

One Finger....Broken!

Kickball is a VERY dangerous sport....

Scenario:  Fragile Fellow (name changed to protect the innocent) is in the outfield.  Fly ball.  Team is losing 9-1.  Mercy rule goes into effect at 10 runs.  FF catches the ball but experiences a sharp pain in his left middle finger.  But success!  Player was out and Team Shabooms went on to only lose 9-4.

Today:  FF broke his finger.  He has mallet finger if you want all the gory details.  That little chunk of bone in the pic above - that should be attached.  Hence FF must wear a brace on his LEFT middle finger (THANK GOODNESS it wasn't his ring finger) for the next eight weeks.  During a certain upcoming wedding.  Whilst scuba diving on an amazing honeymoon.  Can't trust that boy with anything.  He also cut his finger the other night trying to open a bottle of wine.  Needless to say, I hung the new curtain rod over the weekend.  Stud FF is forbidden from using power tools.  And knives.  And corkscrews.  And from playing kickball.

Labor Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the AMAZING weekend.  Here in the Bluegrass State, temps dropped to a high of 75 (!!) and I tried to spend as much time outside.  Labor Day weekend, for me, marks the kick off of fall and I could not be more excited!! I have just a few things to look forward to this fall.  Besides the wedding (and honeymoon!), I love the food, weather, and colors of fall.  I drove by a tree the other day that had just the hints of fall color.

The enjoyment of the weather this weekend involved dinner at my parents house out on their porch.  My mom the gourmande made Paella for dinner (wayyy out of my league) so Stud and I offered to make some Sangria.  Dangerously yum. And dangerously strong.  This here is the real deal - the recipe originates from Stud's time abroad in Barcelona.  And we have enough to make another batch....

Sangria

1/2 bottle red wine (cheap is better)

1 1/2c. brandy

1 1/2c. club soda

1c. sugar

2 oranges

2 lemons

1 lime

Slice and squeeze the juice from the oranges, lemons, and lime into the bottom of a pitcher.  I left about half the rinds of the slices in the pitcher - they are so pretty!  Add the sugar and mix well.  Add the liquids and stir to combine.  Taste to make sure it's to your liking.  I also added ice to ours, I think it's much better with a chill.  And the color of the sangria is so deep and rich.  I wish I could have captured it better...maybe I should stop using my cell phone camera....

This recipe was so tasty and we just used a basic ratio.  I think it's actually supposed to be two parts wine to one part brandy and one part club soda, but ours was more like 1:1:1 and it's what I'll make again because I enjoyed it so much.

Aarti Paarti!

Welcome to my first ever attempt at Indian food!  The picture is not great, but the curry was really good.  And should be much easier the next time I make it.  I think Aarti could use a fewwww more instructions in her recipes...I'm not sure what Masala looks like when it's cooked...so I guessed.  Stud and I made Green Curry with Rice Pilaf (I told you....problem with the rice pilaf) using Aarti's recipe from the Next Food Network Star.

Green Curry

1 bunch cilantro leaves

1 bunch fresh mint leaves

1 red onion, roughly chopped

6 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 in. piece of fresh garlic, peeled

Salt and Pepper

1/4c. water

2 T. olive oil

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 t. cumin

1 t. corriander

1/2 t. garam masala

1/2 t. tumeric

2-3 boneless chicken breasts

1/4 c. plain whole milk yogurt

Box of Rice Pilaf

Start by pre-heating the oven to 350 and roasting the chicken breasts for about 25-30 min until they are cooked through.  First of all - Aarti has you cooking the chicken breasts in their entirety in the curry and then serving them whole.  I wanted to serve it with little pieces of chicken in the sauce, I just like that more.  So I pre-cooked my chicken, cut it into bite size pieces and then added it at the very end.  In the bowl of a food processor, add the cilantro, mint, red onion, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper.  Process until it forms a paste, then add the 1/4c. water and process until it forms a sauce - the "masala."

In a large skillet, heat up the olive oil and add the shallots and cook until they are golden.  Add the spices and cook for thirty seconds.  Add the masala mixture to the skillet and cook, stirring often, for about 5-8 mins.  According to Aarti "stirring often until it deepens in color and aroma. You'll know it's ready when it looks shiny, little droplets of oil will appear on the surface, and the masala will hold together as a cohesive mass."  I have no idea what that means.  But there you go.  Add the chicken and an additional 1/4c. water.  Cook the sauce and chicken until the water has been cooked off the sauce.  Or until you just can't stand it cause you're really hungry.  Remove it from the heat and add the yogurt.  And the enjoy!

I think next time, there is not much I would change.  I think we would add some chili powder (duh, spice), and other than that, it's really really good.  And my house smelled like Indian food for the next few days.  And I never really got sick of it....  Stud of course loved it.  There will definitely be more Indian cuisine in our future!

Daily Fluff

New favorite hiding place.

Frittattatttaaaaas

I have officially decided frittatas are a much better "medium" for random refrigerator items than pasta.  I mean, you can put leftover pulled pork in a frittata (really good, trust me).  In pasta, that would just be weird.

Basic Frittata

2-3 eggs per person (Stud and I usually use five)

1/4c. milk

Salt

Pepper

And that's it.  That's all you NEED to make a frittata.  Now the fun part.  To make the frittata pictured, you will also need:

1/2 chorizo link

2c. uncooked spinach

3 tomatoes, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4c. shredded cheddar cheese

Cholula

To start, combine the eggs, milk, cholula, salt and pepper and whisk until the eggs are well combined.  In an oven proof skillet (I take the rubber handle off mine), crumble the chorizo and saute until it starts to brown.  Add the tomatoes, spinach and garlic.  Once the spinach begins to wilt, add the eggs.  Give a quick stir (just to make sure the good stuff isn't all sitting at the bottom) and then stop.  Reduce the heat to medium and allow to cook until the sides and middle begin to set.  If you jiggle the pan, only the very top layer of the egg mixture will be wiggly.  Once you reach this point, sprinkle the cheese over the top and stick under the broiler until the top is nice and brown - it only takes a minute or two.  Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Such an easy dinner and so delicious, and actually pretty healthy.  You can even remove some of the yolks to make it even healthier.  And other items we have put in a frittata with great success are (pretty much all leftovers):

-roasted potatoes (or tater tots, or hashbrowns)

-asparagus

-pulled pork

-bacon

-broccoli

-zucchini

-caramelized onions

-prosciutto (and speck)

-goat cheese

-Parmesan cheese

Really, there are endless options.  I have also seen them made with leftover pasta.  I have never tried it, but it sounds good!  I wish I had known how to make a frittata in college.  I ate so many bowls of pasta that were majority leftover veggies.  Frittatas are a much better choice.