Fiesta Scrambled Eggs

These scrambled eggs were so good. I made them for supper with whole wheat english muffins the other night. I was worried that the jalapeno pepper would be too much and almost only added 1/2 of it. I was glad that I decided to go for it and use the whole pepper. It was perfect. We will be making this recipe again!

The original recipe came out of the Taste of Home Simple and Delicious Cookbook.

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped sweet red pepper

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

8 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Salsa

DIRECTIONS: In a large, nonstick skillet coated with non-stick cooking spray, saute the onion and pepper until tender. Sprinkle with bacon. Pour eggs over the top; sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until eggs are completely set. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Serve with salsa.

YIELD: 6 servings.

Sloppy Joes

I saw this recipe on Megan's blog and new I had to try it. It tastes good and is probably much better for you than regular old Manwich. It was quite easy to prepare too!

Ultimate Sloppy Joes - Tyler Florence

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
12 parker house rolls

Directions: Set a heavy-based pot over medium-high heat and add a 3-count of olive oil. Add onions and saute for 2 to 3 minutes until translucent. Add ground turkey, season well with salt and pepper and brown well all over, breaking it up with a wooden spoon - about 7 to 10 minutes. Add ketchup, mustard, cayenne, brown sugar and tomato paste. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes. Finish with a splash of red wine vinegar and season it once more before serving on parker rolls.

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta - CEiMB

I made this for dinner last week and did take pictures. However, the pictures accidentally got deleted from my camera. Therefore, no pics to prove that it was made. But trust me....it was.

The recipe was chosen by Pamela. Check out the recipe and the photos on her blog HERE. I was excited to make it because I love shrimp and The Hubster loves feta cheese and tomatoes. It was easy to prepare and didn't take a lot of time or energy. However, I was not a fan. I usually don't care for chunks of tomatoes and the feta cheese was not my thing either. However, the Hubster really enjoyed the meal and said it was right up his alley. He even took the remainder for lunch the next day. I served the meal with linguine pasta.

Coming next week: Sesame Stir-Fried Chinese Greens

Caramel Crunch Bars - TWD

These were a hit! Even with the hint of coffee in the crust I am enjoying them immensely.

The recipe was chosen by Whitney of What's left on the table? The recipe can be found HERE. I didn't follow this recipe exactly. I used a 9 inch cake pan to bake them in because after reviewing the P&Q I learned that some others bars were quite thin and crispy. I wanted them to be thick. I also used milk chocolate instead of bittersweet. I did not make ice cream sandwiches out of them as the recipe suggested that you could do. Since they were thicker, I didn't think that I needed to add any more fat to them.

These are perfect. They are still crunchy, a tad chewy and the toffee bits on top make them delicious. YUMMY!

Nutty Granola - CEiMB

The recipe this week was chosen by Leslie from Lethally Delicious. It was a delicious pick. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 38 in Ellie's cookbook.

This granola is simple to make, uses very ordinary ingredients and I can't stress this enough...SIMPLE to make. I used raisins and substituted cashews for walnuts because walnuts are a big NO in this house.

I chopped the nuts a tad finer than I probably should have. All you have to do is mix the ingredients with a 1/2 cup maple syrup and bake it for about 30 minutes. Then let it cool on the cookie sheet and ta-da....you have a very tasty granola.

Next time I make this, I was thinking about adding some mini chocolate chips after it has cooled. Yes, it would defeat the purpose of Ellie's healthy eating. But it would be quite tasty.

Devils Food White Out Cake - TWD

This will be short and sweet. I made this today for my birthday! It is seriously so good. I think that I will be making this one again and again. It is probably the one of the best birthday cakes I have ever had. And all my guys liked it as well. It was fun to bake and put together and I don't really want to toot my own horn but I can't believe that I made something that looks this incredible.

You can find the recipe HERE or on page 247-249 in Dorie's cookbook. And yes....it is the cake from the front of the cookbook. DELICIOUS.

Floating Islands...again - TWD

For the second attempt, my creme anglaise turned out great. No eggs were scrambled, unlike my first attempt. The recipe was chosen by Shari. Her islands turned out beautiful and look like they might taste much better than mine. Check out the recipe HERE and how they should turn out.

I made sure to take it off the custard off the heat before the eggs scrambled. The islands are just egg whites and sugar and then poached in boiling milk. It was easy enough and came together well. However, I burned the caramel that is drizzled on top of the islands. I was NOT going to start over. I have had enough of this recipe. I didn't think that the caramel looked that burnt, however, the taste was another story.

As for the taste....this dessert is OK. Nothing makes me want to make them again though. If my caramel had turned out it probably would have been good. I liked the crunchiness of the caramel to the softness of the custard and meringue. The Hubster thought that it was OK as well. Nothing spectacular, just OK. Except for the burnt caramel that is.

Sesame-Teriyaki Chicken Thighs - CEiMB

The recipe for this week was chosen by Jessica. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 209 in Ellie's book.

This was a very easy dish to prepare. The chicken thighs marinade in a mix of soy sauce, sherry, rice vinegar, brown sugar and garlic for 30 minutes. The chicken is then broiled on both sides and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I lined my broiling pan with aluminum foil and the clean up was a breeze.

I think next time I will use boneless chicken breasts. The Hubster likes chicken thighs so I wanted to make it as the recipe called for the first time.

Great pick Jessica!

COMING NEXT THURSDAY: Nutty Granola

Vanilla Malted Cookies

I participated in another bake along. I don't own the Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook but I wish that I did! I just can't resist a cookie bake along. I am not sure who chose the recipe but I found out about it on Megan's blog.

I was excited to bake these cookies because I have never used a real vanilla bean before. I thought that they would look just like regular old beans. I was surprised when I found the vanilla beans in the spice aisle. I was a long strand that was folded over and smelled incredibly good. And only one bean in the jar. Just not what I was expecting!

Vanilla Malted Cookies - Page 149
2 ¾ c. all purpose flour
¾ c. plain malted milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reserved
1 large egg
½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Whisk together flour, malted milk powder, baking powder and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Mix in sugar and vanilla seeds. Add egg and vanilla extract, and combine. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and mix to combine.

Transfer dough to a pastry bag fitted with a ½” star tip (such as Ateco #825). Pipe 2 ½” strips onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

Bake until bottom edges are golden brown, 11 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

My cookies will not resemble the others. I did not have a pastry bag, nor a star tip, such as Ateco #825?? HUH?!) I was going to use my Pampered Chef Decorator. However, I decided to be lazy after I made the dough and put it in the refrigerator to chill for over 24 hours before baking them. Therefore, the dough was hard and would not come out of the Pampered Chef decorator. I decided to just roll them into balls and bake them.

These cookies were very good. Some of them were very crunchy the next day (just like Nilla Wafers) and others were very soft and cake-like. I think that depended on how big I shaped the balls into or maybe I undercooked those ones. I would definetely make these again.

Great pick! I would love to make some lime meltaways that I read were in this cookbook for another bakealong.......??

Floating Islands - TWD

This just did not work out for me. I wasted a dozen eggs and 4 cups milk before giving up. If I hadn't of run out of eggs and milk I would have tried again. Two times the creme anglaise turned into scrambled eggs. It looked disgusting. This is quite an odd recipe.

I will try again. Maybe this week yet?!

For others that did turn out....check out the TWD website.

Granola Grabbers - TWD

I can't begin to explain how good these are. I just won't do these cookies any justice. They are spectacular. I will make these again for sure. They disappeared from our house in less than 24 hours. YUMMY! The recipe can be found HERE. They were chosen back in August for TWD.

These little grabbers are made with granola, raisins, coconut, peanuts and wheat germ. They are crunchy and chewy at the same time. I think that they are one of my new favorite cookies. I am telling you....they are that good!!

Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip - CEiMB

So. Deliciously. Good!

The recipe for this week was chosen by Cathy from The Tortefeasor. I love reading her posts, whether for TWD or CEiMB, they are always enjoyable (very funny and well written). I was excited when I saw that she had chosen this for Superbowl weekend. If I hadn't been working during the Superbowl I would have made it for the game. However, I made it for lunch yesterday.

This dip is awesome. You seriously can't even tell that it has reduced fat sour cream and cream cheese. I will be making this one again and again! Even The Hubster was impressed. He said that for once Ellie really outdid herself and didn't screw this one up. Next time I make it I may try adding cheddar cheese instead of mozzeralla....might be good?

GREAT PICK CATHY!! You can find the recipe HERE or on Page 70 in Ellie's book.

Sage-Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw - CEiMB

I finally made this for dinner yesterday. I know that I am almost a week late though. The mysterious illness that zapped the life out of my husband last week seems to have disappeared from our household. Knock on wood (Knock-Knock) he was the only one who got sick. We are thinking that it was some sort of food poisoning.

Back to the pork chops. The recipe was chosen by Jen and you can find the recipe at her blog HERE. Or on page 195 in Ellie's book.

I am still on the fence if I liked it or not. It certainly was not very filling. I should have made some sort of starch to accompany the meal. I only served the slaw and pork chops. Two hours after dinner I was starving and ran through Culvers on the way home from running errands to scarf down some french fries.

The dinner took a long time to prepare. There was too much cutting, shredding, peeling, etc. I did get some pre-shredded angel hair cabbage though. I think that it would have taken me much longer to prepare if I hadn't. I also wish that I had gotten boneless pork chops. I really hate all the fat on a pork chop. As for the taste of the dish, I actually liked the apple tasting slaw. The Hubster also thought that it was OK, just nothing fantastic.


COMING TOMORROW: Warm spinach and artichoke dip

World Peace Cookies - TWD

The recipe this week was chosen by Jess from Cookbook Habit. The recipe can be found HERE. I love cookies!!

These cookies are made with a specialty salt, fleur de sol or a fine sea salt. I was going to buy this special salt until I learned that it was $8.99 for a small bottle. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon! Nope. Not happening here. I substituted coarse Kosher salt instead. Not sure that it made a difference or not? I also substituted semi-sweet chocolate for bittersweet. The cookies were fairly easy to put together. I coerced The Hubster into forming the dough into the logs. After chilling the dough for several hours, it was simple to slice the cookies and bake them.

I did like the cookies immediately when they came out of the oven. Even a couple hours after baking they tasted OK. However, 6-8 hours later, they tasted like sand. Very gritty! All I can taste is the gritty salt in them. I probably won't be making them again.