With Two Spoons

A Make It Your Own Breakfast Bake

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As much as I love to bake sweet treats, my own particular eating preferences lean heavily toward the savory. Give me a plate of salty carbohydrates any day over pastries and pies. This sentiment is most true at breakfast time. I can easily pass up the donuts and pancakes, but put a plate of bacon, eggs, and potato in front of me and I don’t stand a chance. Enter: the egg bake. The nemesis of my skinny jeans and my favorite breakfast indulgence. It’s a make ahead, one pan wonder with salty and cheesy carbs. When I got married, my mother and mother-in-law gave me a handwritten book filled with treasured family recipes. Included in that wonderful book is her basic egg bake, which I have made a thousand times and love, for it’s simple goodness and ease of adaptability to all tastes.

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The specific recipe below is her classic combination, a tried and true standby, with only a minor decrease in the amount of butter used in the hash brown crust. It requires minimal chopping and mixing, though I do recommend shredding your own cheese if you have the time.  The dish can be made ahead (fully baked) and gently reheated in a 200 degree oven in the morning, but truthfully it comes together so quickly that it’s not much of a chore to toss it together while sipping on some coffee in the quiet moments before your hungry crowd gathers. Try it as written, or mix it up with chicken sausage and sliced jalapeño, bacon and roasted red peppers with melty gobs of goat cheese mixed in, or leave out the meat and add in some onions, broccoli, and peppers for a vegetarian options. The possibilities really are endless.

Serve it with some good coffee and fresh fruit and you have a hearty breakfast that will feed a crowd!

More Breakfast Egg Bake Inspiration from around the web: 

A leek, ham, and cheese bake from Smitten Kitchen.

Naturally Ella‘s herb and grain filled version.

Giada gives us an Italian twist on the breakfast staple.

And for the more adventurous, Saveur’s Persian Herbed Frittatas.

What family breakfast traditions do you have? Leave us a comment on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and let us know!

Basic Breakfast Egg Bake
 
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A classic egg bake with cheese, hash browns, and diced ham.
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast
Ingredients
  • 16 ounces frozen hash browns
  • ¼ cup of butter, melted
  • 2 cups diced ham
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup shredded pepper jack or swiss cheese
  • 5 Eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
  • 1 Cup milk
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place the frozen hash browns in a 9x13 pan and pour the melted butter over the potatoes.
  2. Bake until lightly browned.
  3. Decrease the oven heat to 350 degrees.
  4. Sprinkle the ham and cheese over the has browns.
  5. In a medium bowl, gently whisk together the eggs and milk until just combined.
  6. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese and hash browns.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. (Note: I like a crispy, slightly burned cheese layer so tend to bake mine on the longer side of 30 minutes.)

 

Cranberry Orange Rolls

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Cranberry Orange Rolls in Pan

Confession time: when a friend recently suggested making Cranberry Orange Rolls as a breakfast dish for our cabin weekend, I didn’t immediately jump at the idea.  I mean, cranberries in January?  I only seem to appreciate cranberries around Thanksgiving, and after that, well, I’m not usually thinking about those tart little fruits.  We typically plan all of our meals for cabin weekends in advance, sharing recipes and making long lists of things we need for our cooking adventures.  So a few days later when my friend texted to tell me she couldn’t find cranberries, I was secretly a little relieved.  I was ready to hit up my recipe stash and find something I considered a more traditional winter staple – warm, doughy, and filled with cinnamon or maple, or even apples.

With my list in hand, I headed to my local co-op where, lo and behold, what did I find staring at me when I walked in?  You guessed it, piles of fresh cranberries.  Fresh organic cranberries.  So I did what any good friend would do and I tucked away my old recipes and I bought those cranberries.

Cranberry Orange Roll Close Up

It turns out sometimes friends just know best, because after my first bite of these perfectly tart and sweet rolls, I knew I may have a new favorite breakfast dish.  Traditional cinnamon rolls are great, but these jewel toned beauties are on a whole new level.  The recipe, adapted from Deb Perelman’s amazing blog Smitten Kitchen, is a total keeper.  Lesson number one: always trust your friends. Lesson number two: never count the cranberry out, it just may surprise you!

Cranberry Orange Rolls
 
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A tart and sweet iced roll, perfect for starting your day out right! This recipe is an overnight recipe so you will need to plan ahead.
Author:
Serves: 12 rolls
Ingredients
  • Dough:
  • 4 large egg yolks (we saved the whites for an egg bake we made the next day!)
  • 1 large whole egg
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
  • ¾ cup buttermilk
  • ¾ of the zest of one large orange (the other ¼ will be used for the filling)
  • 3 and ¾ cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 packet of instant (rapid rise) yeast
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • Filling:
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries
  • I cup light brown sugar
  • ¼ of the zest of one large orange
  • 1 and ½ Tablespoons of butter
  • Icing:
  • 3 and ½ Tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Place egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, buttermilk and ¾ of the orange zest of one large orange into the bowl of a stand mixer.
  2. Whisk ingredients together until well combined.
  3. Add 2 cups of flour, yeast and salt to dough, stir until combined.
  4. Switch to the dough hook.
  5. Add remaining 1 and ¾ cups of flour and knead dough for 5-10 minutes.
  6. Scrape dough into a oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
  7. Allow to rise until doubled (approximately 2 and ½ hours).
  8. In a food processor, pulse the cranberries with the brown sugar and leftover orange zest (1/4 of total orange zest from large orange) until coarse. (you may need to scrape the sides of the food processor with a spatula until all of the cranberries are coarsely chopped).
  9. Melt the butter and set aside.
  10. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  11. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured countertop until it is a 18 inch by 12 inch rectangle.
  12. Brush the dough with the melted butter.
  13. Spread the cranberry-brown sugar-orange zest mixture over the dough.
  14. Roll the dough into a long log, being careful to keep the cranberry mixture inside the dough.
  15. Cut the log into sections, halving the log until you have 12 even sections.
  16. Carefully arrange the sections in the baking dish, with even spacing between them.
  17. Cover with plastic wrap and place baking dish into refrigerator (to rise overnight).
  18. The next morning take rolls out of the refrigerator and allow to warm to room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
  19. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  20. Bake rolls until golden, approximately 30 minutes.
  21. Whisk the orange juice with the powdered sugar until smooth.
  22. Spread the icing over the warm buns.
  23. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

Good (Food) Reads: All About Balance

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Brownies

Bittersweet Brownies

Good (food) Reads for your Wednesday:

It’s another cold winter day here in the midwest and I don’t know about you, but weather like this calls for cozy sweaters, multiple cups of tea, and a few really decadent treats. Lately, I’ve been enamored by these brownies from the genius cookbook Date Night In. With rich bittersweet chocolate and an amazing salted peanut butter frosting, they’re perfect with a latte or a glass of red wine. I wasn’t sure I’d love a peanut butter frosting (it sounds almost too rich!) but I can’t get enough! It’s light, creamy, and a great contrast to the dense brownie. The entire cookbook (and the blog, Not Without Salt) are amazing and worth checking out. It’s got a permanent place on my kitchen shelf.

Salted Pretzel Nutella Fudge. Yes, you read that right. I think this sounds like a great treat for a bookclub or ladies night! Featured on the genius blog, Broma Bakery.

Everything in moderation is my goal for 2016. Since I’ve now posted two links in a row to not-exactly-light chocolate recipes, I’ll share something I’m excited to try tomorrow: Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins from Love and Lemons. Her food photography is out of this world! I love the color pop of the apple peels in the muffins.

Marcella Hazan, genius behind many of my favorite recipes (her tomato sauce is legendary), has a namesake bean! #goals. And if you haven’t made her famous sauce, the recipe is in another of my favorite cookbooks, Food52 Genius Recipes.

Is this why we all love food posts on social media? Food for (food) thought (via The Atlantic).

How Sweet Eats posted a recipe for Palomas With Salty Chili Sugar. Has anyone tried these? They look amazing. And the colors! I’m a sucker for pretty drinks.

 

We’d love to know what you’re reading around the web, recipes you’re itching to make, and things you’d love to read about here on the blog!

Email, tweet, or message us on Facebook or Instagram!

 

 

 

 

Rustic Onion Focaccia

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In my mind, there is very little better than a slice of homemade bread, just out of the oven. This focaccia, studded with bits of sweet yellow onion and topped with crunchy sea salt, is a carb lover’s dream. Sweet and salty with a hint of crispness in the crust, it’s the perfect accompaniment to a rich winter stew or soup.

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I first came across this recipe in the back pages of my dear Williams-Sonoma Cookbook. My copy is well loved – dog eared and splattered pages, frequently with notes scribbled in margins – and has yet to disappointment me with a recipe failure. Given my prior success, despite the fact that I am still very much a novice in the bread baking world, I decided to give it a go. I am so glad that I did as it will certainly be a new staple in my house.

The recipe makes a large amount of bread and could easily be halved for a smaller crowd. If you wind up with extras, however, the leftovers make excellent croutons when cut into cubes and slowly baked in the oven. You can add cheese (asiago is an excellent choice), sun dried tomatoes, herbs, or olives but the original recipes combination of yellow onion and sea salt is hard to beat.

What are your favorite bread recipes?

 

Rustic Onion Focaccia
 
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A rustic focaccia with onion and sea salt.
Author:
Recipe type: Bread
Serves: 1 large focaccia
Ingredients
  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1½ cups warm water
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 4 to 4½ cups bread flour, with extra as needed
  • ½ cup chopped yellow onion
  • Coarse sea salt
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add ½ cup of the water, the yeast, and sugar. Allow to sit at room temperature until foamy, about 5-10 minutes.
  2. Add the remainder of the water, ¼ cup of the olive oil, the salt, and 1 cup of the flour and beat on medium-low speed for approximately two minutes (use the paddle attachment).
  3. Add the onion.
  4. Switch to the dough hook and beat in the remaining flour in small ½ to ¼ cup portions, until a shaggy dough begins to form. It should just pull away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. On low speed, knead the dough in the mixer until only slightly sticky, about 5-6 minutes.
  6. Cover the dough loosely and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.
  7. Line a heavy rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and brush the paper with oil.
  8. Place the dough on the baking sheet and using your fingers, gently flatten the dough into an approximately 1 inch thick shape of your choice.
  9. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until the dough doubles and is around two inches thick.
  10. Make deep indentations with your fingertips over the surface of the dough.
  11. Drizzle the dough with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.
  12. Place a baking stone on the bottom oven rack and preheat to 425 degrees.
  13. Place the pan with dough on the stone and bake until the bread is lightly browned, 20-25 minutes.
  14. The bread can be served immediately, or at room temperature.

 

 

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

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hummus with spoon

My 4 year old son has been asking me to make Roasted Red Pepper Hummus for ages.  Mostly because we always run out of our store made hummus, previous to our next trip back to our local co-op.  It is one of his favorite healthy snacks, especially served with sliced cucumbers.  In the past I had been hesitant to try making hummus at home.  I had been really intimidated by the whole process, especially when my friend, who I consider a great cook, told me that hummus was the one thing that she always preferred store-bought.  This did not bode well for me, who has been cooking for a much shorter amount of time than she has!

One day after cleaning out my pantry, I discovered I had several cans of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) and an unopened jar of tahini (Who else has a pantry full of random ingredients?  The organization of the pantry was obviously overdue!).  What else would I make other than hummus?  First there are the chickpeas.  You can certainly used dried chickpeas, but this takes much longer.  Since using dried chickpeas takes some planning (and an overnight soaking), I decided to use canned chickpeas.  Honestly, I don’t think you can tell the difference when it comes to hummus.  Tahini is a paste made from toasted sesame seeds.  This can also be made at home, but I find it easier to buy this in a jar.  At my local co-op you can find tahini in jars located near the peanut butter.  In the closest big box grocery store to my house, you can find tahini in jars in the ethnic foods section, near other mediterranean foods.  If you live in an area where ethnic foods are difficult to come by, tahini can always be ordered on amazon.  I use an adjustable measuring cup to measure my tahini (truth be told this is one of my most used kitchen tools, a must have for any kitchen.  I got mine from Cooks of Crocus Hill in St. Paul-a fabulous local cooking store, but this could also be ordered on amazon).  I also like a little bit of spice, so I use the full one-fourth teaspoon of cayenne, but you could start with a pinch if you were concerned about your hummus getting too spicy.  One of the really important parts of the recipe is the actual processing of the hummus in the food processor.  There are multiple times when the recipe calls for processing of a minute or more.  Don’t skimp on this.  This lengthy processing times are what add air and makes the hummus light and creamy.  By taking shortcuts you can certainly make a faster hummus, but by adhering to the lengthier processing times, you will make a tastier hummus!

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I considered my friend’s words to be be a challenge accepted.  It turns out that there are many fabulous hummus recipes out there and I think I stumbled upon the one that actually makes a roasted red pepper hummus that is better than store bought!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
 
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This is a hummus sure to please even the pickiest of hummus eaters!
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 can of chickpeas (15 ounces), drained and rinsed
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ cup tahini
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Chopped red pepper, parsley, pine nuts (optional, for garnish)
  • Veggies cut for serving (suggestions: cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, grape tomatoes, pea pods)
  • Crackers for serving
Instructions
  1. Slice the peppers so that they will lie flat.
  2. Place peppers skin side up on foil lined baking pan.
  3. Roast the red peppers by broiling the peppers (place rack close to broiler) until skin has charred, approximately 10 minutes (check at 5 minutes so you do not burn the peppers!)
  4. Place the steaming peppers into a glass lock container and seal. (A ziploc bag can be used as well)
  5. Wait 20 minutes, until skins loosen.
  6. Peel skins from peppers and discard skins. Put peppers aside.
  7. Combine lemon juice and tahini in a food processor. Process with the metal blade for 2 minutes. Scrape sides and process an additional minute.
  8. Add the olive oil, garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt. Process for 1 minute.
  9. Scrape sides and process an additional minute.
  10. Add half of chickpeas and process for 2 minutes.
  11. Add remainder of chickpeas and process for 2 minutes until smooth and creamy.
  12. Turn food processor on and add roasted peppers through chute, process until smooth, approximately 2 minutes.
  13. Check consistency, if too thick, slowly add water until preferred consistency.
  14. Place in a serving bowl and drizzle with olive oil.
  15. Garnish with chopped red pepper, parsley, and pine nuts (optional)
  16. Serve with cut vegetables or crackers.

 

Around the Internet: Good (Food) Reads

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Ottolenghi Vegetable Tart

Happy Wednesday! Winter has finally arrived here in the great Midwest and with the bitter cold we’re having right now, there’s no better time to curl up with a cup of tea (I’m obsessed with Aveda’s Comfort tea currently) and find some kitchen inspiration around the internet. Here are a few things I’m loving this week:

The tart in the photo above is my first attempt at Yotam Ottolenghi’s Roast Vegetable Tart. The recipe itself is a little fussy, but so very worth the effort. You can find the recipe in the link above or in his genius cookbook, Plenty.

Happy Reading!

 

Peanut Butter Cup Bars

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Peanut Butter Cup Bars  I spent the weekend making Peanut Butter Cup Bars.  Simple ingredients, simple recipe, no oven involved.  This is one of my very favorite recipes, not only because of its simplicity, but because of the fact is that it gets my kids into the kitchen every time.   In the interest of full disclosure, these particular peanut butter cup bars pictured above were actually made by my 4 year old with only some minor help from me.  My journey to the kitchen was so much later in life, that I’m hoping that by getting my kids into the kitchen early in their lives, I will spark their interest in cooking.

I have 2 kids, currently aged 13 and 4, and when it comes to food and kids in the kitchen, I have learned a lot of lessons between number 1 and number 2. When my now teenager was tiny, I was in the throes of my education and training.  That meant long days, long nights and meals that involved the path of least resistance.  Our then toddler wanted butter noodles for dinner 7 nights a week?  Sure-we could handle that, we had a fast casual Italian joint down the street.  I’m not sure I knew where my kitchen was back then, and I’m pretty sure that even if I could have found my kitchen, I wouldn’t have known how to make noodles anyway! No surprise that food rapidly became an issue with my firstborn, as her preferred menu involved very few types of foods and none of them could be considered nutritious.

When I started my full time job, one of my new colleagues asked me what we liked to eat for dinner.  Unfortunately, my honest answer did not impress her, to say the least.  Who would be impressed by our crazy array of fast food dinners? From that day forward, my colleague (now one of my great friends) vowed to teach me how to do better.  She encouraged me to cook, encouraged me to try new recipes (even if they were simple desserts like these Peanut Butter Cup Bars) and encouraged me to do a better job of feeding my family.  In my free time, I took some demonstration cooking classes, tried tons of new recipes and read cookbooks like novels (I’ve actually developed quite a cookbook addiction, but that it is a whole other conversation).  I rapidly improved my skills and discovered a true passion for cooking.

MixingBars

When I had my second child, many years after the first, I was in a different place in my life.  I had more time, more energy (it’s all relative, right?) and much more in my repertoire.  I got smart, and fed my youngest child whatever we were eating, and what we were eating had vastly improved by then.  He greedily ate everything including the garlicky pureed beef stew I fed him, the beet borscht his Polish nanny fed him, and the various vegetables we insisted he have at every meal. I also learned that getting my kids into the kitchen with me was a great way to get them enthusiastic about trying new foods.  There was so much they could help with-dumping, mixing, spreading, crushing.  My 13 year old, initially very finicky, is now exploring her own talents in the kitchen and her palate has greatly expanded (she now orders salmon everywhere we go-and together we can make a fabulous salmon at home!).  My 4 year old tells people he’s going to be a “daddy chef” and asks me to put his apron on him so he can help me cook.  Now, this Peanut Butter Cup Bar recipe certainly isn’t a healthy recipe, and it certainly won’t give your kids any nutrition, but it is so easy and gives my 4 year old such a sense of accomplishment to be able to make a dessert that everyone enjoys.  It is a great recipe to start getting your own kids into the kitchen with you!  And who knows, maybe if you get them interested in making dessert, helping you make vegetables will soon follow!

SpoonLicking

Peanut Butter Cup Bars
 
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This is a delicious, no-bake bar, perfect for making with the kids!
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
  • 1 Cup Butter
  • 2½ Cups Powdered Sugar
  • 2 Cups Crushed Graham Crackers
  • 1½ Cups (12 ounces) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions
  1. Mix peanut butter, melted butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl.
  2. Stir in crushed graham crackers.
  3. Spread peanut butter mixture in a 9 x 13 pan.
  4. Melt chocolate chips, stirring frequently to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn. (This can be done using a double boiler over low heat, or using a microwave on medium power, stirring every 30 seconds until melted)
  5. Spread melted chocolate over peanut butter mixture.
  6. Refrigerate until chocolate is hardened.
  7. Cut into squares, serve and enjoy!

 

Chipotle and Stout Chili

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Chili2

We are squarely in that time of year when the winter chill has set in and comfort foods – soups and stews, chili, and rich pasta dishes – are what I reach for again and again. After all of the indulgence of the holidays, this chili is a great balance of healthy(-ish) and hearty.

I’ve been making a version of this chili for years. It started with a recipe from the great Ellie Krieger (find the original here), and over the years has morphed into something a little spicier and a little richer, without totally sacrificing the nutrition. My husband likes it served with generous amounts of shredded sharp cheddar and some sour cream. I think it’s great on it’s own. It freezes well and keeps, refrigerated, for 3-4 days.

Chili1

Most chili recipes are fairly flexible and can be adjusted to fit your personal and family tastes. If you’re nervous about the heat from the chipotle peppers, remove the seeds but don’t eliminate the peppers entirely. They give a beautiful, rich, and almost smoky flavor that is really worth trying. I also recommend taking the extra time to puree whole, canned tomatoes instead of using the more typical crushed tomatoes. I particularly love Muir Glen Fire Roasted San Marzano style tomatoes,   but if you’re wanting to save time and dishes, go ahead with regular crushed tomatoes.

Chipotle and Stout Chili
 
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A hearty chili with a bit of bite!
Author:
Recipe type: Chili
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2-3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly diced
  • 2 red bell peppers, diced
  • 2 heaping teaspoons cumin
  • 16 ounces lean ground beef (grassfed, organic if possible)
  • 2 teaspoons of adobo sauce (from canned chipotle in adobo)
  • 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
  • ½ teaspoon oregano
  • 16 ounces good stout beer (I prefer Guinness)
  • 1 (28 ounce) can of whole, fire roasted tomatoes
  • 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven
  2. Add the onion, carrot, and bell pepper and saute until just softened, about 10 minutes
  3. Add the cumin and stir until fragrant, about one minute.
  4. In the same pot, brown the ground beef until no longer pink.
  5. Add the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, removing the seeds if you prefer less spice.
  6. Puree the tomatoes in a blender and add to the chili mixture.
  7. Stir in the beer.
  8. Mix in the oregano and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  9. Allow to simmer, partly covered, approximately 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
  10. Remove the lid and stir in the beans. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
  11. Adjust seasoning and serve with your favorite toppings.

 

What are your go-to comfort foods in the winter?

Poached Egg and Beet Salad

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full beet and egg salad

Happy New Year!  2016 is going to be the year of great eating.  To start us off right, here is a poached egg and beet salad that I discovered by mistake, but what a fabulous mistake it was!  I tossed together a few things from my refrigerator which came together to create perfection!

My love of beets only goes back a few years, but it is an intense love.  I find beets to be a beautiful food-perfect for the addition to salads, bruschetta, or even to eat on their own.  In my quest to share beets with the world, I served them to some friends while on a girls weekend. Despite their loud protesting, they happily ate their beets (and a kale salad also, although that is a post for another time!).  Although neither of them will admit that they were converted to beet lovers, I know that they were, and the mantra for the rest of the weekend was “beets and kale”!

full beet and egg salad offset

I made some roasted beets for a Christmas celebration, however there were some left over.  Chopping and combining them with some mixed greens, parmesan cheese and pistachios made a great salad.  Going one step further and adding a poached egg, made the salad perfect!  Poaching eggs is much easier when you use silicone egg poaching cups (I do), but if you don’t have these, the recipe below is for poaching eggs without any special equipment.  The runny yolk creates a great dressing and provides some additional protein.  Here is also a link to help you troubleshoot if you are having difficulty poaching eggs.

full beet and egg salad close up

I used a simple drizzle of Siracha to complete this salad, but a balsamic glaze would have worked perfectly as well.  Simple, healthy, beautiful, the way all food should be (well, maybe not always the healthy part…)!  Enjoy!

Poached Egg and Beet Salad
 
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This is a simple, healthy, and beautiful salad, full of antioxidants and protein.
Author:
Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 4 serving
Ingredients
  • 4 Small to Medium Beets (I use a mixture of red and gold, but you could use all one color),
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 Teaspoon White Vinegar
  • 4 Cups Mixed Greens
  • 4 Tablespoons Pistachios
  • Shaved Parmesan
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Siracha or Balsalmic Glaze for Dressing
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
  2. Drizzle beets with olive oil and wrap with aluminum foil to form a tight foil packet (I place each color in a separate foil packet to keep the colors from bleeding together).
  3. Place packets into preheated oven and roast for 1 hour or until fork tender (start checking them at 45 minutes as each oven is slightly different).
  4. Cool beets, peel and dice into small bite sized pieces.
  5. While beets are roasting in the oven, boil water with 1 teaspoon of vinegar in a medium sized pot.
  6. Crack each egg into a separate ramekin or separate small bowl.
  7. After water is boiling, turn down to a fast simmer, swirl water and slowly pour in each egg, while water continues to swirl.
  8. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until egg whites are set (you can simmer longer if you like your yolks firmer).
  9. (if you are using egg poaching cups, please use the directions that came with them, as you will need to cover your pot and the cooking times will be longer)
  10. Remove eggs from water with a slotted spoon and cool on a paper towel lined plate.
  11. Place 1 cup of mixed greens into each of 4 bowls.
  12. Top each bowl with an equal mixture of the red and gold roasted beets.
  13. Add 1 tablespoon of pistachios to each bowl.
  14. Top each bowl with a poached egg.
  15. Garnish with shaved parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste and your preferred dressing.

 

Dixie Pie

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Dixie Pie Overhead (edit)

Ya’ll. This pie is the stuff that holiday dreams are made of, I promise. A twist on the classic pecan pie, it is made with walnuts instead of pecans, and peppered with chocolate and a hint of bourbon. I was first introduced to it as a kid at our annual Thanksgiving celebration we shared with good friends (Hi Pam!). The mother of the family we celebrated with used to make a pie for every child present, each with our own can of whipped cream. While I don’t recommend the pie-per-person serving size (this pie is really quite rich!), I do recommend you make more than one if you are planning a gathering of more than three or four people. …

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