Out-the-door Eggs

Here's  a great way to start your mornings and the weekend!

Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 25-30 minutes and...

...breakfast for a week!

Some of my favorite combinations:

Black Bean, Cilantro, Bell Pepper (cheese and tomatoes are good additions as well!)

Feta, Chicken, Basil or Parsley, Cannelinni Beans

Ham, Cheese, Pepper, Onion

Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions, Parmesan

Out-the-door Eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin pans.

Chop your add-ins. 

Add one egg per cup.

Add your additions. A small amount will go a long way!

You can either scramble or leave whole.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Store in the fridge and pop in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before eating. (I split mine in half so it doesn't explode) Enjoy!

Yum: Homemade Frozen Burritos

Last weekend we had our annual Cinco De Taco party, and it was fantabulous! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures until much later in the evening. The next day, I thought about putting leftovers back into dishes and taking some pictures. Then just draw some stick people in eating tacos and sitting around having a good time. But I didn't want to do dishes twice. So I'll be certain to take pictures this weekend for our housewarming party, and share them all next week.

But today: What to do with those taco leftovers when you still have 2 pounds of beans and can't stand the thought of another bite?

FROZEN BURRITOS!!!!!!!!

You need:

Tortillas

Cheese

Refried Beans (or just mashed in my case)

1. Take the tortilla

2. For a challenge, first sprinkle the cheese

3. Spread some beans on without getting the knife messy with cheese

Or just be smart: First Beans, then the cheese. Also, make sure the beans are more like this:

More room at bottom and top, thicker in middle than at the ends.

Okay, now fold in the ends:

Fold over one side

Before you fold over the next side, here's the secret: Smear a bit of beans on the edge of the burrito

Finish by folding over the other side, and pressing down along the edge. The beans will help keep the tortilla together.

Now just stack them up (if you're fancy and prepared, put a piece of waxed paper inbetween each so they don't freeze together) and put them in the freezer. Reheat in the microwave for a minute or two, and enjoy!

Little Things: Whipped Cream

Yesterday my husband and I had a wonderful Easter - sunrise service and breakfast with my parents, then we lazily drove back to the cities to have dinner with the in-laws and hang out. And there was no wintry mix, it was sunny! (except the dark foggy drive to church in the morning was a little creepy) Later this week I'll have a couple of photos up for the different things I made. 

But one of the best things I did yesterday was reintroduce real whipped cream to my husband's family. Decadent, delicious and addicting - real whipped cream is soooo much better than anything you can buy at the store. Plus it is super duper easy. Just remember: 1 to 1 to 1. 

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream + 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until thick.

Done. 

If it's not a special occasion, you might want to cut the sugar by 1/2 but a couple times of year I recommend going all out. Like Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and anytime you make a Tres Leches cake.

Just remember: 1 cup to 1 cup to 1 teaspoon - you're done. 

Any more or any less and you can prove to children why they need to learn math.

Chorizo Cheese Dip sans a jar of something...

Last week I wanted cheese dip, but I don't trust cheese that stands alone on the shelf of the supermarket for months and months - I needed something that I knew what was in it and could read the ingredient list. So after doing some recipe gleaning, here is what I came up with:

*warning: if you don't like spicy food or haven't been heavily eating spicy food for the last month, you might want to take it a bit easier on the heat*

Chorizo Cheese Dip

1 pound homemade loose chorizo (I used this recipe for the spices and mixed it with 1# Ground Beef because that's what was in my fridge, and let it sit overnight)

1/2 - 2/3 cup Sour Cream

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt

2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 cup Diced Tomatoes

1/4 cup Jalapeno Nacho Slices

1/2 tsp. Cumin

1/2 tsp. Chili Powder

1/2 tsp. Oregano

Cayenne

Salt/Pepper

Brown the chorizo in a frying pan, drain fat if any.

For Stovetop: Heat cheese, yogurt and sour cream over medium heat until starting to blend together. As you cook this, keep stirring occasionally to keep it melting together and the bottom from burning. If you have an immersion blender, add them as is and blend a bit. If not, chop them up and throw in. Add spices, and chorizo. Let meld together for a bit on the stove, then taste for salt, pepper and heat. Add as you feel needed. Personally, I used a dash of salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper and probably 1/2 tsp. cayenne for a subtle burn.

For Oven Baking: Brown the chorizo, drain fat. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl (or if you're lazy like me, in the baking dish) and transfer to an 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Check on it occassionally, I don't trust my oven yet.

Alternate Versions:

- Add salsa instead of diced tomatoes

- Reduce cheddar cheese to 2 cups and add 1/2 cup cream cheese, maybe a little less sour cream too.

We ate it with some homemade "fried" pinto beans, mexican rice and lettuce/tomatoes. I like to make "bite sized tortas" and layer a chip with beans, a little of the dip, and then top it off with lettuce and tomatoes.

Oh, and here's my salsa recipe: 

1/4 - 1/3 cup onion (depends on how you want your breath to be later)

2-3 garlic cloves

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. black pepper

2 1/2 t. cumin

1 1/2 t. chili powder

1/8 - 1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Pinch of dill

1/2 - 3/4 c. nacho slice jalapeno peppers

1/3 c. nacho slice jalapeno pepper juice

3/4 c. moderately packed cilantro leaves (almost 3/4 oz.)

1 - 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes

rinse the tomato can with a no more than 1 T. spoon water (or if you want a little more spice, use a bit of the jalapeno juice)

Blend, food process, or immersion blend until the consistency you like. Food processor will warrant a chunkier consistency and depending on the machine size, you might need to split it into batches. 

Hope you enjoy and Happy Friday!

Homemade Pizza Rolls!

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a while. I was inspired after making baked egg rolls and still having a handful of wrappers left. A good recipe if you find yourself stuck at home (like in a snowstorm, perhaps?) and want a little fun.

1. Prep your veggies and meat. I use about 1 pepperoni per roll, and just a few pieces of green pepper and onion each. Dice.  

Ingredients

2. Next get all your ingredients ready assembly-line-style to begin making some rolls.

Ingredients all set to roll

3. Add 1 Tablespoon tomato sauce towards the bottom 3rd of the wrapper. Then sprinkle with a little bit of pepperoni, onion and pepper. Lastly add cheese. Don't go overboard or you will have oozing pizza rolls!

Add SauceAdd Veggies and Meat.Cheesy!4. Now we're ready to roll 'er up! Flip up bottom tail, and roll over once Goldilocks style - not too tight and not too loose! Then fold in side points, again Goldilocks style. Then roll the rest of the way.

First RollTuck in corners.5. Cover a baking sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray. Place rolls on tray and brush lightly with oil if you want a crispy outside.

Rolls ready to bake6. Bake 10-15 minutes, turn, and bake another 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees Farenheit. Voila!

Pizza Rolls!Watch out though - just like any pizza roll, these need to sit for a few minutes lest you burn your mouth! You can add or delete any toppings, though I suggest you keep the onion. When I tried sauce, cheese and onion pizza rolls, they still had the idea of pizza and italian food without adding any other spices.

Homemade Pizza Rolls

Ingredients:

Egg roll wrappers

Any veggies desired and/or meat, diced (about one slice of pepperoni or 1/2 tsp. veggie per roll)

Tomato Sauce

Cooking Spray

Oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.

2. Place egg roll wrapper on surface; position so it looks like a diamond. About 1/3 up from the bottom point, add one tablespoon of sauce, sprinkle desired veggies and meat on top. Don't overfill or your pizza roll will erupt!

3. Fold the bottom triangle over filling and roll over once, fold over pointy edges to enclose the edges. Roll it up.

4. Spray foil covered baking sheet with cooking spray, arrange pizza rolls on foil. Brush with oil if you want a crispy outside.

5. Bake 10-15 minutes, turn, bake 10-15 minutes more. Take out and enjoy!

And remember - inside that delicious beautiful pizza roll is a molten lava that will burn your tongue off - so just wait a few minutes before consuming.

Enjoy!