Category Archives: Eggs

Bacon is always awesome, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Eggs, Emily Favorite, Lengthy recipe but worth all the whisking, sweat and tears, Salad

Southwestern Cobb Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing

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A conversation about this amazing Southwestern Cobb Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing.

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Emily: “It’s defnitely the toasted pecans that make this salad awesome, definitely.” Chomp, chomp, chomp.

David: “Oh really? See, I think it’s the eggs and bacon.”  Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Emily: “Maybe the pecans with dressing? That dressing is manna from heaven.” Chomp, chomp, chomp.

David: “My favorite dressing you ever made for sure. But I still think it’s the eggs and bacon. And maybe the bleu cheese.”  Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Emily: “Don’t even get me started on the sprouts, such a great addition. And I love the tomatoes and corn.”  Chomp, chomp, chomp.

David: “Wow, I just figured out why this salad took you so long to make! There’s so much to it! Are you going to check this under ‘lengthy recipe but worth the whisking, sweat and tears?'”  Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Emily: “Yes honey…I still say it’s the pecans.”  Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Seriously, this salad did take a while since there are so many components but, this was one of the top five favorite salads that I’ve ever made in this house. Definitely give it a try and don’t leave out the pecans.  Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Dose of Veggies, Eggs

The Strangest Dish I’ve Made Yet

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If I told you that you were about to eat a dish with marjoram, eggs, almonds, cauliflower and tomatoes, you might think you were in an episode of Chopped. To me, when I first saw this Smothered Cauliflower with Eggs recipe from Food & Wine I thought it sounded weird and a little bit gross. So, with that positive intro let’s see how it turned out shall we?

I told David what I was making and he gave me this inquisitive look like he wanted to take my temperature to ensure I was feeling OK. I mentioned that I just had to make it because it sounded so odd, and when I promised we would order a pizza if it sucked, he shrugged his shoulders and ran off to play with Lila. When he puts her on his shoulders and dances around, she gets the biggest smile on her face. I swear at that moment I’m the happiest person on the planet. Love.

photo

Back to the odd dish. First, this was a pretty simple to put together and second, it didn’t take much time at all, except for coring all those cursed tomatoes. I did add about a tablespoon of minced garlic when I added the tomatoes, but otherwise I followed it to the letter.

I was plating it up and thought, “I am about to call Domino’s” but then, we sat down to eat and slurped it up. It was really, really good! As I said at the dinner table, “this isn’t good because I thought it was going to be so bad that it surprised me good, but actually, I’ll make this again good!” I will say it was pretty hearty and given the unbearable heat outside, I will probably wait until October or so to give this another try.

Smothered
Photo by Con Poulos

Speaking of weird, I have been having the yummiest and I think is somewhat strange breakfast each morning. I do a ½ cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt, tablespoon of granola, teaspoon of agave nectar, one chopped, ripe banana, tablespoon of ground flax seed and two tablespoons of smooth peanut butter. Talk about slurping this up. Yum! Give it a try! It’s like a healthy “Elvis” sandwich without the bread.

Bacon is always awesome, Baking, Cheesy Cheese, David Favorite, Eggs, Emily Favorite, Includes Alcohol, Quick and Delicious

A Winning Night

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Yowza! I don’t care what side you were on last night, that was a nail biter at times huh? I wanted to make something quick and simple so we could get back to watching the pundits dissect and predict every single swing state for hours upon end until the polls actually closed and the good stuff got started. I chose this Butternut Squash and Mushroom Tart from Cooking Light with a simple spinach side salad drizzled with my homemade Lemon Oregano dressing.

First, the crust. You know I make crust for a living so I was intrigued by this one with its salt, pepper, baking soda and olive oil as the fat to bind. Interesting. It was like a shortbread crust but savory, and yummy! The combo of butternut squash, eggs, Gruyere cheese, bacon and mushrooms was simply divine. Added bonus, I’m so super duper pregnant right now that I was thankful this was a quick and easy recipe. I’m telling you I can’t stop cooking, I love it too much!

This soared passed any predictions we had and won the popular vote in our house. For picky eaters or if you are in need of a quick crowd pleaser, this definitely has the ability to reach across the aisle and make everyone happy. Oh dear, I’ve been watching way too much CNN.

 

Breakfast, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Eggs, Emily Favorite, Quick and Delicious

Fried Egg Panzanella

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Stop the press, I’m giving you one of my own recipes! Wheeee! I tend to make this little beauty once or twice a week because it’s simple, healthy, and pretty good if I do say some myself. It all started when I had leftover tomatoes and spinach and was hankering for eggs. Voila, Fried Egg Panzanella! I would love for you to give this a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 cup tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 cups fresh spinach
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper, divided

Heat skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Once the oil starts to shimmer, add garlic and breadcrumbs. Mix together until combined (careful not to burn the garlic). Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until softened, about four minutes. Add spinach and combine with tomato/breadcrumb mixture until wilted. Create two little pockets and add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to each pocket evenly. Crack the eggs in the pockets, like so…

Cover skillet and cook eggs for about five minutes or until whites are set. I like my yolks super runny but cook however you like it. Scoop out tomato and spinach mixture into a bowl and top with fried egg. Repeat with remaining mixture and egg. Top with each with 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and salt and red pepper.

 

 

Bread, Breakfast, Dose of Veggies, Eggs, Uber Healthy

Easy, Breezy Breakfast

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Yesterday morning I was starving and needed sustenance ASAP. For anyone who knows me, I AM the Snickers commercial where I turn into a grouchy mcgroucherstein if I don’t eat. Since I needed to eat pretty quickly, I  improvised and created a fun breakfast sandwich that I call the Sanity Saver so I could get food in my belly and David didn’t have to tolerate a hungry diva.

Sanity Saver Breakfast Sandwich (Photo by Emily Ingle)

 

To ensure I get a few more vegetables in my diet, I’ve been grabbing these Green Giant Health Blends in the freezer section. I decided to serve their antioxidant blend (red peppers, carrots, broccoli) and a poached egg on top of toasted whole wheat bread all smothered with Everyday with Rachael Ray’s Good-For-You Hollandaise Sauce. A little salt and pepper on top and you’ve got breakfast in a flash. We both really, really liked this and more importantly the diva crisis was averted. There’s only room for one diva in this house and I think we all know who that is…

Gabriel! Our Diva-licous Cat!
Bread, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Eggs, Emily Favorite

Sunny-Side-Up Eggs on Mustard-Creamed Spinach with Crispy Crumbs

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Love. So much love poodles. WOW. First because it was super easy and lickity-split quick in assembly. Second, the flavors were beautiful together on the plate. However when I tasted the breadcrumbs on their own and the spinach, cream, thyme mixture on it’s own, they were OK but I was a little concerned that this wasn’t going to taste as good as it looked. Wrong.

On the plate it’s a one-two punch of flavor from the crumbs/spinach and the lovely olive oil fried egg brings it all together. What I also liked was that the servings were just enough for each of us –  although secretly I could have run back to the kitchen and made one more batch for us to inhale. I typically have a lot of these ingredients on standby which makes me a happy panda because I may have just found my new favorite egg dish.

I’m slightly begging you to try this recipe.  It is so simple, fresh and absolutely delicious.

Sunny-Side-Up Eggs on Mustard-Creamed Spinach with Crispy Crumbs
Cheesy Cheese, Eggs, Pasta

Walnut-Breadcrumb Pasta with Soft Egg

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Walnut-Breadcrumb Pasta with Soft Egg (Photo by John Autry)

This was an odd dish when I first saw it. “Where’s the sauce?” I said out loud as I was adding it to my menu plan. “Where’s the sauce?” David asked while I was making it. I’ll tell you where the sauce is. It’s in the super inventive breadcrumbs and soft gooey egg! Nom, nom, nom *buries head into bowl of pasta and barely comes up for air*. This seemed like a pretty simple dish to make but I don’t know if it was because I was tired (NO SUN DUE TO ARTIC CHILL) or that you’ve got three seperate things going on, the boiled egg, the pasta and making the breadcrumbs. Yeah, that’s not that hard, I was tired.

This was delicious and it was my first time making a soft-boiled egg. Hard boiled, sure. Soft boiled? Where the heck as this been my whole life? It’s just like a poached egg but with the exterior of a hard-boiled. News flash to me since David mentioned he’s been making these for quite some time. We loved all of the flavors together and don’t omit the goat cheese, it was a perfect addition to the dish. I would highly, highly recommend finishing this off with your favorite olive oil. We thought without this addition, even with the egg and breadcrumbs, that it could have turned out to be a little dry.  Nice little pasta for a weeknight meal. Just don’t make it when you’re a tired panda and you will be just fine.

Breakfast, Eggs, Global Flavor, Quick and Delicious

Eggs Poached in Curried Tomato Sauce

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Mark Bittman, famous cookbook author and well-known food writer of his weekly food and recipe column The Minimalist in the The New York Times can also add Cooking Light contributer to his already impressive list of accolades. Since his debut in the magazine, I’ve wanted to try one of his recipes and his Eggs Poached in Curried Tomato Sauce was a must. I’ve always loved the traditional version of this Israeli dish known as shakshuka, but Mr. Bittman’s version looked out of this world in the flavor category. Get this, it calls for fresh ginger and garlic, jalepeno – for a spicy kick, cilantro, curry powder, coconut milk and of course, diced tomatoes. Flavor to the Nth degree if you ask me.

For some reason I thought this would take longer than it did but it came along in a New York minute. Follow his advice and make sure the sauce is wet before placing the eggs in to ensure proper cooking. I toasted the English muffins, chopped the green onions, plated and bam, an extraordinary and unique breakfast dish. I could have eaten that sauce on anything or just had it alone. I loved the ooey gooey egg sitting on top of the toasted muffin that soaked up the yolk and rock star sauce. Try this for an amazing breakfast treat, or heck, any time of day.

Eggs Poached in Curried Tomato Sauce (Photo by John Autry)
Eggs, Emily Favorite, Seafood

Are you mocking me?

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Imagine this…a “mock” hollandaise sauce from the one, the only Cooking Light. Now you know that I know that Cooking Light can make some seriously good sauces that skimp on fat, calories, and artery clogging ingredients, but even I was a little hesitant that this would turn out tasting like the real thing. David loves crab and he loves eggs Benedict with creamy hollandaise sauce so when I saw this Crab Eggs Benedict with said mock hollandaise sauce, I thought “meh, sure, we’ll see Cooking Light, we. will. see.”

And yes, Cooking Light definitely proved to me (once again) that they can bring their A-game while saving me the extra poundage on my hips. The hollandaise sauce with its mix of canola mayonnaise, reduced-fat buttermilk, Dijon mustard and lemon juice/rind was so simple to put together and was YUMMY. Combined with my favorite – poached eggs, sprouted-grain English muffins, chives and of course fresh lump crabmeat it was an absolutely perfect Sunday morning breakfast. I served with side salad of spinach and grapefruit…easy breezy!  I would definitely try this if you’ve got someone in your house who adores crab as much as we do, it’s an excellent spin on traditional eggs Benedict.

Our finished Crab Eggs Benedict (photo: ME! via Hypstamatic app for the iPhone)
Cheesy Cheese, Eggs, Fruit, Sandwich, Seafood

It’s Simple Really

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It has been said on this blog tons of times, I love magazines and Real Simple has held an organized, gentle and special place in my heart for years now. Each issue is informative and inspirational and I keep them around for years to revisit say when I need to remind myself of the essential spring cleaning routine or the best way to pack a suitcase; I love their little “aha!” moments don’t you? I also wish I could afford the clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry they feature each month but I digress.


I always loved their food section because they had really simple recipes that never seemed to lack on flavor or originality…until a few years ago. I found myself reading the magazine from front-to-back but would skim the food sections because nothing tickled my fancy. Saddened was I to see that I was never inspired to try any of their recipes, until last month when a grilled cheese with fruit chutney recipe caught my eye. When I tested it, it tasted great. “Humph” I thought to myself “could I be falling in love all over again with Real Simple’s recipes or are they just playing games with my food loving heart?” Well there are no broken hearts here as I tested three new recipes from the January issue and they all gave me the old Real Simple razzle dazzle that I loved so long ago.

Coming back from traveling for the holidays, I was quite happy at my foresight to choose these three recipes that were super easy to execute and they all really rocked in their own way. The Skillet-Poached Huevos Rancheros for a late-lunch was awesome and reminds of the Tex-Mex version of the much loved Italian-style eggs baked in tomato sauce. Next, the Seared Tilapia with Mango and Watercress for dinner was YUM. The dressing on top of the tilapia mixed with the mango, spicy watercress and red onion was so simple but delicious. This will be a healthy, quick recipe I can turn to again and again. Finally, for lunch the next few days I made this Kale and White Bean Soup which was simple, delicious, and healthy and it features Kale. I love Kale. Can I please get a t-shirt or mug that says that?

Thanks Real Simple for the delicious recipes and I can’t wait to see your February issue! I couldn’t find any of the recipes online (sigh) so I posted all three below, who loves you?