Egg Muffin Cups

I have seen a lot of recipes for egg muffins, for an easy take and go breakfast. With my new job, I find that I am not able to eat as often throughout the day and I definitely need something more substantial in the morning. Best part of these: no recipe required. I used summer squash and green onions, plus a few fresh basil leaves, because that's the veggies I had on hand. Used a mix of leftover shredded/crumbled cheese that was in the fridge. Used buttermilk instead of regular milk because my hubby bought a giant container of it the other day and why not?

Egg Muffin Cups

6 large eggs

1/4 Cup Buttermilk

1 medium summer squash, grated

3 stalks green onions

6 slices bacon, chopped

1/4 cup shredded cheese

salt, pepper, basil

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk 6 large eggs together in bowl. Add buttermilk (or milk) to desired consistency. Stir in veggies, cheese, and spices. Grease muffin tin and fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Funfetti Cookie Disaster

Today we were invited to a game night, and asked to bring some snacks. I decided to do a re-try of my bourbon salted caramel ice cream, and then make some funfetti cookies. The ice cream still didn't come out perfect. The bowl for the ice cream maker did not have enough time to freeze, and so the ice cream wasnt setting up enough. I decided to forgo the bourbon (since it can effect freezing ability due to the alcohol) and just made a salted caramel version that did most of the setting up in the freezer. Not a big deal.

The big disaster came later. I made the funfetti cookies according to this recipe which are super simple and super delicious. I set my oven timer for the minimum of 8 minutes, and walked away to watch some TV. timer goes off, I come back to check, and smoke is pouring out of my oven. I open it up to find this:

 

The worst when baking cookies. I honestly am not sure what happened, because the tops and insides of the cookies are cooked perfectly, and the bottoms are crispy charcoal. I checked other versions of the recipe, but they all use the same oven temp, and I have never had problems with my oven running too hot before.

I definitely didn't want to serve these, so I sent my husband to the store for another box of funfetti (even though this is against my whole life philosophy) while I tried to google what would make only the bottoms of my cookies burn this badly. In the midst of my searching, I found a suggestion that you can grate off the burned bottoms and they will be good as new. What?!

I used the small side of my regular grater, and rubbed them on gently. They still aren't perfect, but they taste good enough that I am not embarrassed to serve them and didn't have to make another batch of cookies. I still have to figure out what's going on with the oven, but at least today's disaster was averted. 

Cookie dust anyone?

Taste of summer

There is something about summer which requires absolutely everything to be grilled. Unfortunately, I don't have any outdoor space, and therefore can't set up a grill unless I want to do it in my parking spot. So tonight, I improvised.

Those are fresh nectarines that I grilled on my cuisinart griddler. I wasn't sure how the griddler would work for fruit, but they turned out great! Just heated the griddler to a medium heat, sprayed with cooking spray, and payed them cut side down. I discovered if I shut the lid really quickly it would keep the nectarines in place, if I tried to close it slowly they just slid across the non stick surface and smushed themselves at the front of the plates. 

After I cooked them for about 10 minutes, I lightly dusted with some brown sugar. Delicious alone and also paired with the bourbon salted Carmel ice cream I made last night :). Have to work on the recipe for that one because the creaminess did not reach desired levels, but the flavor was delicious. 

Homemade Tater Tots

Guys, I discovered you can make tater tots at home! This is the best/worst thing that has ever happened to me. Best because they were delicious, and a totally different texture than the store bought ones, and super easy to make. Worst because they are delicious, they were super easy, and I could probably eat multiple servings multiple nights a week and not get bored of eating them. Here is an up close photo of the delicious final project:

 

The process is really simple. Bake some potatoes, shred them up, season, and fry. I looked at some recipes online for some guidance, but ultimately just made it up. We recently bought a new personal size deep fryer with some remaining gift cards from the wedding, and I had been waiting to try it out.

The potato mixture. I baked mine before shredding, because nothing is worse than biting into a tot only to find raw potato inside. When I shredded them using a grater, they ended up forming more of a mashed potato consistency. It ended up being delicious, and Hubby mentioned he liked it more than the typical shreds. Next time I might try baking them for half the time to get the original texture, but who knows, these were delicious.

I formed the tots then placed them on a baking sheet while heating up the oil (took about 10 minutes to shape about 45 tots). I put my playdoh skills to work, rolling them into snakes then smushing the ends to get the tot shape.

Fried in 350 degree oil for about 4-5 minutes. Fried them in batches of 15 in my mini fryer. Could have probably done more, but I wanted them to have room to circulate.

Put them on some paper towels over a plate to drain off excess oil, and sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese while still warm so it would melt. I also topped them with a siracha ranch dressing when I ate them. Delicious!

Home Made Tater Tots

2 large potatoes (I used Yukon Gold because that's what I had on hand, but most recipes I found suggested Russet)

1 tbs flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

enough vegetable oil to fill your pan or fryer

Bake potatoes. I usually do this in the microwave because its super fast and easy. Just wash them, poke a few holes, and stick them in the microwave for about 10 minutes, or until soft, checking and rotating them every 2 or 3 minutes. Stick them in a bowl of cold water to cool until you can handle them. Shred them using a box grater (I think the food processor would have pulverized them too much). As I shredded, the peels mostly peeled off on their own, and I threw away the large pieces of peel. Mix in the flour and spices by hand. Begin to heat oil to 350 degrees, and then shape them into tot shapes. When the oil has heated it should bubble vigorously when you drop in one of your tots. Put them in the oil for 4-5 minutes. I didn't turn mine, but if you are frying them in a shallow pan instead of a fryer you might need to do so. remove from oil, and place on paper towels to drain. Top with whatever your heart desires!

Back to Blogging

I've been missing for awhile. At the end of March, we traveled to visit my grandparents. They are pretty much the most awesome people you will ever meet, and I think are a huge part of my inspiration in crafting/cooking/figuring things out own my own. As an example, when we were there my grandpa gave us these beautiful homemade jewelry boxes that he had made because he needed something to do. They are made out of lumber he got from some trees that fell down in their yard during a big storm. They are varnished with pecan oil, a varnish that my grandma invented, from pecans that fell from the pecan trees they have, which my grandpa has experimented with tree grafting on, so they have their own variety of pecans. They have a huge farm in the middle of nowhere and I love spending time there, and there is so much I could learn from them. I wish we were able to visit far more often.

While there I told my grandma I had a chair that I wanted to recover. She showed my how she has figured out a method for making easy covers for chair cushions, and we practices on some foam she had laying around. I forgot to take before pictures, but this is the finished result of my chair! The cushions used to be a dark forest green color with a gold pattern, which didn't match my decor at all. (The chair was a curbside find). I also made the chevron pillow to add some pattern.

I also had my parents in town for Easter, and made my first easter dinner. On the menu was ham with brown sugar and pineapple glaze, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, crescent rolls, deviled eggs and bunny cake for desert. my mom helped make basically all of it, but it was in my kitchen! and I did the menu planning and shopping! that count's for something right?

Bunny cake is a tradition in my family. I went with lemon cake this year, with cream cheese frosting. I planned on having strawberries on the side as topping, but the ones in the grocery store that week were under ripe and they were all out of the frozen ones, so we just had the cake. All the decorations are made from Starburst jelly beans, and I just sprinkled some extras on my piece instead of fruit :)

Banana Nut Bread

As with most of my recipe alterations, this one came from not having the right amounts of ingredients. I didn't have enough white sugar, or butter but the results were delicious, so it all worked out in the end. I am always nervous about making alterations when baking, because they always say it is a much more specific science, but I have never had any disasters so far.

Banana Nut Bread
4 ripe bananas (mine were previously frozen and then thawed), mashed
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tbs melted margarine
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 and grease loaf pan. Mix first 7 ingredients together in a mixing bowl using a spoon. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture, then fold in (to avoid any clumps). Add the flour last, about a half cup at a time, and fold in. Pour into the loaf plan. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the top. bake for 65 minutes, then allow to cool for 15 before removing from the pan to finish cooling.
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Caramel Covered Chocolate Chex Mix

I made this for a super bowl party that we went to, and have been craving it again ever since. I started with this recipe from Chex, and decided to double it for the party. I didn't have a bowl or microwave big enough to fit all of this, so I made two batches. I also used chocolate chex, and added pretzels, M&M's, and a marshmallow drizzle. At the end of the night the bowl had been basically licked clean, so I think it was a hit.

Caramel Covered Chocolate Chex Mix

8 cups of chocolate Chex cereal
2 cups of pretzels
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of butter (but in my first batch I misread the directions and only used 1/4 c, and that turned out fine)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup mini M&M
1/2 jar of marshmallow fluff

Mix the Chex and the pretzels in the largest bowl that will fit in your microwave (if you have a tiny microwave like me). In a small glass bowl or measuring cup, mix brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup. Microwave on high about 2 minutes, until dissolved. Add baking soda and mix well. Pour into Chex bowl and stir to coat. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. Remove from microwave and let sit for 3 minutes to cool. You want it to be cool enough not to melt the M&M's when you mix them in, but if it gets too cool they wont stick to the Chex. I spread mine out over some cut open paper bags too cool. Meanwhile, heat marshmallow fluff in microwave to melt. Pour over the Chex mix and allow to sit for a couple hours to dry.

I had originally planned on not using the marshmallow, but I thought it needed the color with the chocolate Chex. Then I thought about finding some of the Magic Shell ice cream topping in a marshmallow flavor, so that it would harden on the Chex and not be as sticky, but apparently that doesn't exist. The marshmallow still stayed a little sticky, but it wasn't bad. I think heating it first allowed it to dry out more, similar to a stale marshmallow.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

While at the grocery store on Saturday, I decided I wanted to make a chicken enchilada casserole sometime this week. I bought chicken and tortillas, but forgot about the sour cream, cheese, and enchilada sauce. Oops. Clearly this is not one of my staple recipes. But of course, that's where the magic happens. I had some leftover Velveeta in the fridge from who knows when, and decided it was creamy and cheesy, so it could count for both those ingredients.  I then found this recipe for homemade enchilada sauce on time. I didn't have all the ingredients for it either (I'm really not good at this planning ahead thing), but I sort of used the recipe and sort of made it up as I went along. And let em tell you, it was absolutely delicious. Best mexican-style casserole I have ever had. So good I could not wait to eat the leftovers the next day. So good I ate way more than I should have both days, because even though I was full I couldn't bear to not be eating it anymore. Yeah, you want some of that.


Chicken Enchilada Casserole:

Enchilada Sauce:
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 C all purpose flour
1 C water
1 can original Rotel
1 Tbs packed brown sugar
chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic salt, onion powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Casserole Ingredients:
flour tortillas
cooked chicken
1 can black beans
Velveeta

Start by cooking your chicken (if you don't have any precooked hiding in the fridge) while assembling the sauce. In a medium saucepan, whisk together oil and flour over medium heat. The original recipe calls for crushed tomatoes, but since I didn't have any I poured the can of Rotel in my food processor and ran it for about 10 seconds. My husband and I both dislike the texture of chunks of tomatoes, so I wanted to get it pretty blended, but you could probably leave the tomatoes a little more intact. I mixed the Rotel into the oil and flour mixture, and then added a cup of water. I mixed in all of the seasonings, going heavier on the salt since I wasn't using the broth from the original recipe, and then let it simmer on low for about 5 minutes while I finished cooking and then shredding my chicken.

To assemble to casserole, I poured a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a greased pan, then added two flour tortillas to cover the whole bottom of the pan. Depending on the size of your pan and of your tortillas, the amounts may vary. I added a layer of shredded chicken next, then half a can of black beans. Next I added a thin layer of Velveeta. Since soft cheese is so difficult to grate, I just sliced it really thinly, and then cut those slices into strips, and scattered them across the top. They spread out as the melted so it covered it perfectly. Follow with more sauce, more tortillas, more chicken and beans. I poured on all my left over sauce at this point, and put a final layer of cheese on the very top.

Served with a side of rice and corn with some cilantro and lime thrown in, and it was delicious. Made enough for my husband and I to eat for 3 lunches or dinners this week