Remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted on Facebook asking the question, “What in the world should I do with the swiss chard growing in my garden?” Boy, oh boy did my readers have soooooo many suggestions! Eggs to soups to lasagnas to pizzas… the list goes on! I whipped up this scramble for lunch that day and I was surprised. I liked it! I really liked it! I liked it so much, in fact, that I made it a week later as a special breakfast for my husband. He loves anything savory for breakfast, so eggs doused in cheese is a real winner. I encouraged him to try these even though his negative sentiments towards swiss chard surpass mine! Brant loved this egg scramble and gobbled it up, swiss chard and all! And so we have a swiss chard winner!

Is your ideal breakfast sweet or savory? Because I’m *totally* a sweet person. In fact, I couldn’t eat this scramble for breakfast. For lunch? Divine. For breakfast? Ick. I gave my portion to Brant and reheated a strudel topped peach muffin for myself. How about you? Sweet or savory to start your day? 

Continue reading: egg, cheese, and swiss chard scramble

When my hubby invited a slew of men over to the house the other night, I knew I had to get out or get swallowed up in the testosterone. I posted a plea on facebook asking for someone to shelter me for the evening. My sweet friend Laura invited me for dinner at her house and I was able to hold her new 3 week old baby for hours. It was an amazing time of food and chatting. And baby holding. Did I mention I got to hold her baby? Because I did. And she’s cute.

Dinner was quesadillas. I had read about an interesting quesadilla twist on 101cookbooks.com. Unlike about 99% of the US population, I don’t love cheese. A little melted here and there is fine, but do I need it oozing out of every meal? No siree. Quesadillas are a quick and easy snack for you cheese lovers, but if you don’t stuff them with a ton of cheese, they really don’t fill you up. 101cookbooks suggests forming the quesadilla around a cooked egg. The egg provides substance and protein and helps make the quesadilla “fuller.” And for you cheese lovers, have no fear. There’s still plenty of room for lots of cheese. Laura had already grated some cheese and combined it with beans and corn for her quesadilla filling. I married her idea with the 101 cookbooks idea and added a handful of cilantro and here it is: quesadillas with a twist.

quesadillas with a twist

with the help of 101cookbooks.com and my friend Laura Dahl

cheese mixture (this makes lots – refrigerate the leftovers):

1 tsp bacon grease, lard, or butter
1 cup corn (thawed if frozen, rinsed if from a can)
4 cups of shredded cheese (I prefer a mixture of sharp cheddar and something that melts well like Jarlsberg or Monterey Jack)
1 cup black beans, rinsed
1/4 cup cilantro (optional)

eggy quesadilla mixture – if you are serving a group, simply repeat the steps below until everyone is satisfied)

1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bacon grease, lard, or buter
1 corn tortilla

garnish

guacamole, salsa, and lime to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon grease until hot. Add corn and toast, stirring often, until kernels start to turn golden brown. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl, combine the cheese, beans, cilantro, and cooled corn. Set aside.

Scramble one egg in a medium bowl. Add salt to scrambled egg mixture and stir well. Heat bacon grease in a non-stick griddle or cast iron pan over medium heat until melted. Add scrambled egg mixture, let cook for 15 seconds. Place tortilla on top of the egg. Continue to cook for about 15 more seconds, or until the egg is lightly browned on the bottom. Flip the egg and tortilla all at once so that the egg is on top of the tortilla.

Immediately place a few tablespoons of the cheese mixture on one side of the tortilla and fold the tortilla in half. Cook for about 30-60 seconds, until cheese mixture starts to melt. Flip the quesadilla and cook on the second side for 30-60 seconds until the cheese is completely melted. Continue to cook longer if you prefer a browned quesadilla.

Serve with guacamole, salsa, and lime to taste.

best ever bread pudding (with whiskey cream sauce)
a slightly healthier variation of the recipe on www.thepioneerwoman.com

bread pudding

4 1/2 cups sourdough or other artisan bread, cubed into bite sized pieces
3 eggs
1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups milk
pinch salt
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

whiskey cream sauce*

1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp whiskey

Preheat the oven to 325 and place your baking rack in the center of the oven. Layer the bread cubes in an 8×8 inch baking dish.

In a batter bowl, mix together all the remaining bread pudding ingredients except for the pecans. Pour over the bread cubes and sprinkle the pecans on top.

Bake the bread pudding for 1 hour, or until the custard is set and the bread cubes have browned.

While the bread pudding is cooling a bit, combine the ingredients for the whiskey cream sauce in a saucepan over low heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Ladle the sauce over individual servings of bread pudding.

There is nothing special about the recipe for  these little treats. These muffins are simply portable (and cute!) scrambled eggs! I like to serve them with these tortillas and a bit of salsa. They make a great offering for a holiday meal when you want to serve something tasty for breakfast but don’t want to add even more work to your already busy day in the kitchen. In case you know of any holidays coming up… Let me know if you do.

These would also be perfect for a special occasion brunch with friends and certainly are better than many of those other egg casseroles that are often served!

scrambled egg muffins

(Make your scrambled egg muffins using the same ingredient proportions that you would use for scrambled eggs.)

6-8 eggs
1/4 lb sausage, removed from casings and divided into small pieces (optional)
1/2 – 1 onion, chopped
1/2 – 1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
mushrooms, green onions, or any other favorite vegetables or greens
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a skillet, saute your sausage (if using) and vegetables until sausage is cooked. Let cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the sauteed mixture to the eggs and stir well to combine. Salt to taste.

Generously coat a muffin pan with cooking spray or butter. Divide the egg mixture among the muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. Top each “muffin” with shredded cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about bread pudding but don’t have much experience with it because if I make a loaf of bread, it usually disappears within the first day or two! However, when I saw the gargantuan loaf of bread that came out of my oven the other day, I knew that I’d need some creative ways to eat it. Bread pudding seemed apt, and I’m so glad I gave this recipe a try! I tweaked it according to some other reviewers’ suggestions. I’m also so glad that the recipe made enough to eat some for breakfast the next day because after cooling completely and sitting overnight, the flavors were so much better. In fact, the night before when I had eaten it warm out of the oven, my comment to my hubby was, “Well, I guess this isn’t a blog-worthy recipe,” but when I had it for seconds the next morning I changed my mind completely! Absolutely delicious! And how perfect would this be for a morning brunch when you are not in the mood to get up early and cook something? Bake it the night before, let it sit, and voila! It tastes even better than fresh out of the oven!

I followed some other reviewers’ suggestion of using a water bath. This isn’t required, but does get the dish to cook more evenly.

If you’re going to eat this out-of-the-oven, it’s best with ice cream. If you’re going to eat it after it sits overnight and then nuke it a bit in the microwave, try whipped cream instead. I thought the subtlety of whipped cream paired quite well with the mix of flavors that had established.

bread pudding

4 cups soft bread cubes
1/4 cup raisins (soaked in 2 tbs brandy, optional)
2 cups peeled and sliced apples (or you could cut them in chunks depending on your preferences)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 11×7 inch baking pan. Start a pot of boiling water for a water bath.

Prep the bread, apples, and raisins and combine.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, milk, salt and butter. Cook and stir until butter is melted. Pour over bread mixture.

In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, vanilla and eggs.

Pour bread mixture into prepared dish. Pour egg mixture over bread.

Place boiling water in a 9×13 pan to fill about 1/2 to 1 inch. Gently add bread mixture. If it seems that the water will overflow into the bread mixture, remove some of the hot water.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until center is set and apples are tender.

Serve hot with ice cream (kind of like an apple pie!) or the next day reheated a bit with whipped cream.

spinach and bacon frittata

6 oz spinach
3/4 lb yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 slices bacon (preferably apple wood or some other smoked flavor)
10 large eggs
3 tbsp half and half
salt & pepper
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

Adjust oven rack to 5 inches from heating element and set oven to broil.

Put the spinach in a large bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave until wilted, about 1.5 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a clean dish towel and squeeze out excess liquid.

Place potatoes in now-empty bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave until tender, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Once crisp, place on a paper-towel lined plate and blot off excess grease.

Discard all but one tablespoon of grease from the skillet. Add potatoes to the skillet and cook until golden brown. Add spinach. Cut bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the skillet.

While this is heating, whisk eggs, half and half, 1/4 tsp salt,  and1/4 tsp pepper together in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup cheese.

Add egg mixture to the potato mixture and use a rubber spatula to stir until large curds form but eggs are still very wet, about 2 minutes. Cook 30 more seconds without stirring, or until the bottom is set. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

At this point, if your skillet is oven safe, place the entire skillet in the oven for 3-4 minutes, or until surface is spotty brown (eggs should still be wet looking). If you don’t have an oven proof skillet, transfer the egg mixture to a sheet pan and then cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes to finish cooking. Serve hot.

I read this tip somewhere on-line in a list of nifty kitchen tricks to know and feel it’s worth sharing.

Hard boiled eggs in my house usually come out one of two ways – underdone (which is really unfortunate when you’ve trying to cut them to use for a salad) or overdone with a green hue (which is really unappetizing no matter how you’re serving them). And then I found it: the trick to making the perfect hard boiled egg.

Let me preface this by saying that if you’re going to boil an egg, it needs to be an older egg. If you buy eggs from the store, set a few aside for a couple weeks before trying to boil them.  If you’re in a bind and need to use a new egg, put plenty of salt and vinegar in the water and it should help make it easier to peel. If you have no idea what I’m talking about and disregard this helpful hint, you’ll quickly learn what I mean.

hard boiled eggs made easy

First, place the eggs in a pot and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let sit for 10 minutes. Transfer the eggs to a bowl of cold water filled with ice until cool. Your eggs will be perfectly done in the center!