Friday Night Munch Time

Friday night madness has begun along with Monday night football, college football, Sunday games. . .oh where does it end???  If you want to whip up one of the easiest snacks around (other than dipping carrots in ranch dip - or are we the only fam that does that?!), you'll need to jot this Free Recipe Friday down!  Three ingredients.  That's all you'll need for this yummalicious snack food with a little bit of kick but, mild enough to eat the leftovers for breakfast (or are we the only fam that does THAT?!)  The pics aren't the greatest but, please give these a try.

WHAT YOU NEED:

6 whole eggs (we use large)

1/2 - 1 cup sliced pickled jalapenos (the ones in the jar)

2 cups grated cheddar (we use sharp)

salt and pepper

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350.

Grab a 9x9 or 8x8 baking dish, either is fine.

Spray it with non stick spray and set aside.

Dice enough pickled jalapenos to cover the bottom of your dish.

You can make that layer thicker than mine and all will be well.

Cover the peppers with your shredded cheddar.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and a pinch or two of salt/pepper.

Pour over cheese and using a fork,
wiggle the eggs around making sure they get thru that layer of cheese.
This recipe is very, VERY forgiving. 
You can easily add an extra egg or two if you want to stretch it. 
Don't you just love forgiving recipes???
Now, bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool just a bit before serving

(although they are great warm or cold)
and cut into small squares.

For something so delicious, it could not be more simple.

These are super great for game time snacks, parties and get-togethers

or just late night munchies!  Quick and easy and just as good the next day.

Whether you'll be enjoying concession stand goodness

or snack time at home,

ENJOY!

Dads and Eggs

I've said it before and I will say it again.  I am not particularly fond of eggs eaten alone.  But I love cooking them for my family and am fascinated with them.  They are so versatile.  The list goes on for miles with what you can do with eggs.  But, the expert of all experts on cooking the perfect fried egg is my dad.  He taught me his secrets.  There may be other ways of course, but, cooking the perfect fried egg is all about patience.  What's up with dads and cooking/loving fried eggs?  Maybe it's the bacon grease.  Yes, ours involve bacon grease.

Dad. Happy.  Must have had a fried egg for breakfast :)

A while back, my youngest daughter wanted to make a fried egg for breakfast.  It was approximately high noon, which was the usual time for her first meal of the day.  Since I was on a limited lunch hour, I verbally instructed her from across the room.  Small saute pan on the stove to heat up, check.  Eggs out, check.  Jar of bacon grease....uhhh, this is where she got a bit confused.  "You want me to put THAT much bacon grease in the pan?" she asked.  "Yes" I explained.  "So you're taking something healthy and turning it into something UNhealthy?" she said shockingly.  "Most definitely" I answered proudly. 

The trick, see, is to place just the right amount of fat in the saute pan and heat it on a low-medium temperature and once the egg is a bit 'set,' you begin to slosh the fat onto the top of the cooking egg to give it that little layer of white on top of it's bright yellow center.  Some diners and restaurants simply use a griddle, no fat, and cover the egg with a domed lid to cook the top of the egg.  Often times they may even give it a spray of water and cover it with a lid.  If you are on a bacon grease free diet, then by all means go this route.  But if you want to enjoy a good old southern breakfast once in a while, a little bacon grease will be a-okay.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Eggs (room temperature work best)
Bacon Grease (for this particular recipe)
Salt/Pepper
Small Saute Pan

WHAT TO DO:

Place a small saute pan on a burner of equal size
and preheat on low-medium heat.
Add enough bacon grease in the pan to come up the sides
by about 1/4-1/2 inch.
Let the fat come up to heat a bit before cracking your egg into it.

Next trick is to crack a whole egg directly into the grease.
Do a little tap tap with the egg
on the edge of the counter to barely crack
and then dump it's contents into the hot bacon grease.
I've cracked many an egg in my life and have mastered

doing this with one hand.

Don't worry about bits of shell -
the quicker and better you become, this will rarely happen. 
When it does, just use the same shell to scoop the piece out with.

Works like a charm.
If your grease spits and spatters too much,
turn your heat down a bit.
You want to gently cook your egg, not flash fry it.

Once your cute little egg is resting in the bacon fat,
leave it there for a minute or two
until you start to see white all around it -
then you can begin sloshing the bacon grease
up over and around it using a good heat proof spatula.
Continue doing this until your egg is cooked to your liking.
Slosh, slosh, slosh.  Ever so gently.

Gently remove to a plate and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper,
a pinch of salt, and you are ready to dive in.
Gobble it up with some bacon, toast
or biscuits to accompany that little piece of sunshine
and you are in southern heaven.
Adding several shots of pepper sauce
will just be the icing on the cake.  MMM.

Please pay no attention to that horrific blob of CATSUP
on that plate.  Who does this?  Eggs with CATSUP???
Kids.

Thanks Dad for teaching me your tricks!
You are indeed the master fried egg cooker and more! :)

ENJOY!

Wake Up. . .It's Time to Eat Again!!!

For all you late nighters that were
out there doin' your Black Friday thing
until the wee hours - this is for you.
An easy go-to breakfast that'll
get you goin' whenever you decide to get up.

This week's Free Recipe Friday
is something we played around with
to try and dodge a carb overload
first thing in the morning.
It's an all-in-one breakfast in a muffin cup.
You can tweak it absolutely any way you like -
there's about a million variations.
Give it a try sometime - it sure beats
standing over a hot stove with bacon grease
splattering all over you!

I've come to love a more 'adult' style
breakfast these days...maybe because
a good part of my life
I was all about anything sweet for breakfast.
Cinnamon toast, a pop tart, cereal,
cinnamon roll, cake, pie - anything sweet.
As the years have flown by

I prefer saving the sweets
for another time of day and
having something savory for breakfast
with my coffee drinking self.

Breakfast items all revolve around
pretty much the same ingredients, don't they?!
A bread/grain, a meat, an egg, maybe cheese and fruit.
Every breakfast is just a variation of these things
and how you want to put them together.
Since I've grown to love more
bacon and eggy type breakfasts,
it doesn't mean I want to spend my whole
morning cooking it.  The quicker and easier
I can cook bacon or make a meal
including it, the better.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 dozen large whole eggs
(because we used a 12 cup muffin tin -
you can certainly adjust and make less)

1  12 oz. pkg bacon (thin, cheap stuff)

Shredded Cheddar

Salt/Pepper

Green Onions (optional)

WHAT TO DO:
Preheat oven to 350
and coat your muffin cups
with non-stick cooking spray.

 Line muffin cups with bacon and pre-bake
(because we like our bacon
a bit more crispy - you could easily jump ahead
and skip this step).
Bake approximately 20-30 minutes.

 

 After the bacon has some time to

cook, remove from oven

and crack an egg into each cup.

If you like more of a scrambled egg,

by all means, you can whisk the eggs

before pouring in each cup.

 

 Don't worry, the bacon will lose it's shape a bit

but just pour your egg right over it and all will be well.

There will be a bit of bacon grease in each cup,

but you'll be able to pour that out

once the muffins are done.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

and return to the oven.

Bake for 5-10 minutes more

depending on what kind of egg you like.

When you remove the breakfast muffins
from the oven, carefully tilt pan
over a large bowl and pour off
excess bacon grease and then
top with a little shredded cheddar
and some chopped green onions.
Mmmmmmmmm.
If your muffin pan is as pathetic
as mine is, you'll need to use a knife
to loosen each muffin before removing
from the pan.

These are great 'as is' or would be great
between some toast or an english muffin
for an on-the-go breakfast.

Hope everyone had a great
Thanksgiving and all you crazies
recover quickly from your overnight shopping!

ENJOY!!!

Easy to Love!

 Wanna cook something easy
for someone you love this weekend?
Check out my Easy Omelets article in the latest
Wedded Bliss magazine.
That's what this week's
Free Recipe Friday is all about.
EASE.
Make it easy on yourself and
enjoy a simple, yummy meal this weekend.
Omelets make a great breakfast OR easy supper
for any time of the week.
These photos are of an omelet my sweet hubby
made for me - he's the bomb like that.

Omelets are quick, inexpensive
and pretty spiffy looking. 
A great way to pamper those you love.
Venture out and try your hand
at omelet making if you never have.

If you haven't picked up a
Wedded Bliss magazine,
you can do that this weekend too!
(available at area restaurants and bridal shops)


ENJOY!

Easy Peazy Breakfast!

Hello there all the way from Tennessee!  This week's Free Recipe Friday is coming straight to you from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.  We are in Chattanooga for the week with about 28 other family members...and all but two of them are staying in the same house.  It really is fun....until you need a bathroom! 
Despite being on vacation, Free Recipe Friday must prevail - even if it is midnight where we are.  Since this week is a laid back easy one, we will show you an easy recipe - Baked Eggs. If you love eggs like my family, you will love these!  Baked Eggs would be great any time of the week, day OR night.

WHAT YOU NEED: (makes 2 servings - double up for more)

• 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
• 6 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  (Oven safe bowls)
  
  WHAT TO DO:
  
  Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes
  and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat.

  
  Carefully crack 3 eggs into each of 2 small bowls
  (you won't be baking them in these)
  without breaking the yolks.
  (It's very important to have all the eggs
  ready to go before you start cooking.)
  
  Place 2 individual oven safe dishes on a baking sheet.
  Place 1 tablespoon of cream
  and 1/2 tablespoon of butter
  and a bit of the minced garlic in each dish
  and place under the broiler for about 3 minutes,
  until hot and bubbly.
  Quickly, but carefully, pour 3 eggs into each oven safe dish
  and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese,
  then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
  Place back under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes,
  until the whites of the eggs are almost cooked.
  (Rotate the baking sheet once if they aren't cooking evenly.)
  The eggs will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven.
  We sprinkled some cheddar cheese on ours
  and some parsley to spruce it up!
  

  Allow to set for 60 seconds and serve hot with toasted bread.
  
  

  

  You can even make it an all in one breakfast by adding
  cooked bacon or ham that you've diced
  and sprinkled on the eggs
  either before or after baking.
  Delicious!

Free Recipe Friday. . .It's Breakfast Time!

If you've ever been to any kind of large family function, potluck, etc.

you have most assuredly had some form of a breakfast/sausage casserole.

There are as many variations of this casserole as there are

bread types!  If you have never attempted to make one,

this one is a pretty good and easy start.

Ellen Watson of Kilgore gave me this recipe

(along with many others) more than 20 years ago.

I don't believe I ever attempted to make it until about 5 or more years later.

It's funny how it has since become

a Christmas tradition in our household.

Even though we have since acquired other favorite breakfast foods....

we just can't stop making THIS one for Christmas!

It's just tradition.

You will only need a few basic ingredients,

and you can most certainly add to these...

such as throwing in a few hashbrowns, etc...

half this recipe or double it. 

It is VERY forgiving...you can easily fudge

the quantities of any of the ingredients!

1 lb. ground pork sausage, cooked

10-12 large eggs, beaten

3 cups milk

2 tsp. dry mustard (or a few squirts of reg. mustard)

2 tsp. salt

1-2 tsp. black pepper

8-10 slices of bread, cubed or torn (any kind or a mixture)

2 -3 cups shredded cheddar

Brown sausage, crumble while cooking and drain.

In a separate, medium size bowl, whisk eggs.

Add milk and remaining ingredients.

Stir well.  Toss in cooked sausage and pour all into 

a Pam sprayed 9x13 casserole dish.

Bake in a 350 oven for 45-60 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit at least 15 minutes.

The original recipe says to prepare the casserole the night before...

and bake the next morning.

That was actually what enticed us to make this for

an early Christmas morning breakfast to begin with!

We have since learned we can whip it up quickly

in the wee hours of Christmas morning

AFTER viewing Santa's bounty.

We toss it into the oven while everyone

oogles over their gifts and while we wait for it to cook,

James cuts open boxes, adds batteries to toys

and we both slurp down our coffee.

The deliciousness comes out of the oven about 45 minutes to an hour later.

We traditionally (as if the casserole was not enough),

heat up some flour tortillas, get out the Albert's Hot Sauce

and turn our servings of this casserole into a breakfast burrito...

along with a few slices of good naval oranges or clementines!

Mmmm...I can smell that orange peel NOW!

We can't wait to have this on Christmas morning...

we hope you will be enjoying something yummy as well!

Merry Christmas!