Spring and a Super Simple Recipe

The first buttercups have arrived!  Spring is here.  Our new chicks are huddled in the barn and these two are snuggled down in the hay, awaiting even warmer weather!

They are small and oh so cute! 

So, spring has sprung.  The pigs have arrived.  Indeed, it is my favorite time of year.  Each day is waiting for me to discover something new.  Like yet another rooster trying to get into my chicken coop.  Believe me, the scary lady running through the barnyard dressed in pink fleece jammies and muck boots is enough to scare anyone.  He hasn't been back.  The other two, just to keep you updated, haven't been spotted for the past week or so.  The red one disappeared first.  Now weeks later the beautiful green one is gone too.  I suspect there are some fat coyotes in the neighborhood.

I wanted to share a super easy and yummy recipe with you today.  It is the perfect combination of simple and delicious. 

 BREAKFAST EGG CUPS:

Veggies, chopped  (Use what you have on hand.  I have used broccoli, mushrooms, red onion, green, red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, and celery)
Cooked, crumbled sausage or bacon or even chopped ham (Again use what you have on hand!)
Eggs (1for every egg cup you want to make), beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease a muffin tin (I use coconut oil). 
Place chopped veggies and meat in each muffin tin.  Fill the muffin tin about 1/2 full.

Beat your eggs and gently pour them into the muffin tin.  Leave a bit of room to allow you to stir and incorporate the ingredients.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

So simple and easy!  These are great for a brunch or special breakfast.  They even freeze well and can then be eaten any old time.  If you are not dairy free, you can even add cheese to the mix. Or try topping them with sour cream and salsa.  The variations are up to your imagination.

Peppers, Peppers, and More Peppers

I have always liked the taste of bell peppers.  I also like the color they bring to a dish.  Well, this week seemed like pepper week at our house.  We made pepper steak one night, had egg salad topped peppers for lunch another day, and another night we had stuffed peppers. 

The egg salad topped peppers were a last minute inspiration based on what I had in the fridge and the fact I hadn’t made rolls and someone had eaten the last one.  It was absolutely yummy!  I made a simple egg salad, added celery, and seasonings and topped mini peppers with the mix.  Delicious.  Who needs bread when peppers are available?

Egg Salad Topped Peppers

2 hard boiled eggs smashed
1 stalk of celery finely chopped
1-2 Tbsp mayo
Dash of mustard
Mini sweet peppers halved
Salt and pepper to taste
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb blend

Mix the eggs, celery, mayo and mustard together.  Top the mini peppers.  Add seasonings to taste.

The second recipe has been begged for by Cinnamon for several months now.  She had never had stuffed peppers before and thought they sounded good.  Well finally this week, she got her wish.  She was excited, until she tasted them.  Then she was enamored, asking for them again and making plans for peppers in the future.  She has a plan brewing for stuffing mini peppers for an appetizer dish for Christmas.  Yes, that is how much that girl loved these peppers.  Everyone enjoyed them actually.  I guess they will be on the menu again! 

Stuffed Peppers

1 lb ground beef or venison

1 large onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 celery stalks chopped
4 mushrooms chopped
½ cup parsley minced
1 cup uncooked rice
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1 large can of tomato sauce
6 bell peppers

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cut tops off the bell peppers and clean out the center.  Set “lids” aside. 

Brown ground beef, garlic, and onion in a skillet.  Add mushrooms and celery and cook for a few minutes.   Add parsley, rice, oil, salt and pepper, and tomato sauce.  Mix together.  Fill hollowed out peppers.  Top with the “lids.”  Place the peppers in the baking dish.  Add water to the bottom of the dish (about ¼ inch).  Bake for 90 minutes at 325 degrees.

They are also easy to make and inexpensive if you buy the peppers when they are on sale. You can make them for less than $1.30 a serving. I simply added a spinach salad to round out the meal.

Quick and Easy Lenten Fixes

Thought I would share with you a couple of yummy quick Lenten fixes that are easy and healthy.  The first is a simple crab salad served on romaine lettuce leaves.

Crab Salad on Romaine
1 can crab meat
avocado (cut into chunks and drizzled with lemon juice)
1/2 can of black olives
grape tomatoes (halved)
cucumber  (chopped into bite sized chunks)
2 celery stalks chopped
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Blend to taste
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
romaine lettuce leaves
lemon wedge

Mix crab meat, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, and celery in a mixing bowl.  Break the whole olives into the mix letting the juices run into the bowl.  Season with Mrs. Dash and freshly ground pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Serve on romaine leaves and a lemon wedge to squeeze on the salad.

Quick Fix #2:

When I was in college, I decided that eggs were a fairly cheap way to incorporate protein into my diet.  The problem was that I didn't like the taste of eggs.  I didn't mind hard boiled eggs, but I did not enjoy scrambled, fried over easy, used in quiche, or really any other way.  Then I tried beating eggs and frying them flat like a pancake adding various seasonings and I liked it.  I decided to top it with minute rice and sauteed mushrooms.  I really liked the taste and it quickly became a staple when I needed something cheap and easy. 

I have become much more creative over the years, but the foundation of the recipe is the same.  Start with an egg fried flat and top it with what you have on hand.  I topped this one with zucchini, portabello mushrooms, a small amount of a left over wild rice medley, and shrimp.  You could use all sorts of vegetables: peppers, onions, garlic, squash, tomatoes, you name it.  You can make it with a Mexican flavor by topping it with hamburger, cheese, and salsa.  The varieties are truly endless.  The end results are the same: in ten minutes you have a quick, easy, delicious meal.



Both of these meals are great for Lenten Fridays.  I hope you enjoy.

The Scramble for Dinner

Ever notice that in those hours of pure desperation you are able to come up with something that turns out pretty good.  Being a mom of three incredibly busy teenagers I tend to live on that very edge.  That precipice where as long as you don't look down you will be ok.  That moment when busy can easily become overwhelming.  Yesterday, was such a day.

It wasn't that yesterday was running-with-my-heat-cut-off busy, it was actually somewhat normal aside from the added dental appointments which kind of threw off the day.  It's just that when it was all said and done, I suddenly found myself at 4:30 needing to have dinner on the table by five so we could leave the house by 5:30 for a Bible study and a church presentation.  I looked at the menu, and realized the meal of salmon (still in the freezer), sliced potatoes and onions (made from leftovers that didn't exist), and broccoli, was probably not going to work.

Plan B.  I looked in the fridge for some inspiration.  Nothing jumped out at me and said, "Make me!"  Hate it when that happens.  Looked at the pantry.  Nothing.  Inspiration was definitely hiding.  Then I thought...okay this just needs to be quick, so what is quick.  I know........

What...doesn't everyone think chicken when they are in a hurry.  Well maybe not chicken, but eggs are quick.  I will just make breakfast for dinner.  Perfect. 

 Let me be honest here.  I am not a big breakfast fan.  Never have been.  I usually eat leftovers for breakfast, after all, it is dinner somewhere in the world.  Another issue, I really don't like eggs.   Hard boiled are okay, fried flat like a pancake are good, but that is usually my limit.  Sometimes scrambled eggs with ketchup, but a little goes a long way.  My dinner was going to be eggs, what was I thinking.

Scrambled eggs, fried ham slices from Sunday's ham, and toast.  Then I thought what if I made the eggs more like dinner food.  So I tried it.  It was good.  No, it was really good.  I would even have it again, it was that good.  You know what else?  It didn't taste like scrambled eggs.  My family, who I will admit looked at me rather strangely when I announced dinner was scrambled eggs, really liked it.  That's the true test, isn't it!

So, I thought I would share it with you.

DINNER SCRAMBLE:

12 eggs, beaten

1 carrot chopped

3 celery stalks (including the leaves) chopped

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 Tbsp butter (I use Earth Balance)

1 large can of mushrooms or 4-5 fresh mushrooms sliced

Garlic Salt

Garlic Pepper

McCormick Basil and Garlic (Perfect Pinch) 

Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Saute carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in the butter.  Cook until vegetables are soft and onions are translucent.  Add mushrooms.  Add eggs and thoroughly cook.  Season with garlic salt and pepper and Basil and Garlic blend.  Top with mozzarella cheese.

This is a meal that is great when you are in a hurry and dinner needs to be on the table yesterday!  The "Dinner Scramble" itself, is approximately $4.30 and feeds six.  So, its cheap, and fast, and delicious.  What more could you want out of a meal?  Yeah.  I know.  Bad question.  But when dinner is on the table by five and my family is out the door at 5:30  with smiles on their faces, its all good!  So very good!