Breakfast Cups

A few months ago, my friend invited me to join Pinterest. I didn't really see the reason for bookmarking images (or that's how I explain Pinterest to people anyway), so I didn't use it for months. About a month ago, I had a craft night and another friend showed me a scarf she wanted to recreate on Pinterest. Naturally, Pinterest had a new purpose for me...recreation of awesome things! I mostly pin recipes and craft ideas. As I was searching others' pins, I found a recipe for Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups by Martha Stewart. They looked so cute, I just had to make them! I don't really eat butter, so I changed the recipe up just slightly. Here's my version:

Breakfast Cups

• Cooking Spray (I like the oil olive kind personally)
• 6 slices of wheat bread
• 6 slices of turkey bacon, cut in half
• 6 large eggs (although medium might actually be better, large almost didn't fit in the cups)
• Salt and pepper

Preheat over to 375. Spray each cup in a muffin pan with cooking spray. If using a 12 cup muffin pan, spray every other one.

Cook the bacon till almost done (it will cook more in the oven). Cut the crusts off of the bread. Then smash them down with a rolling pin or your palms. Cut the smashed bread in half and place in the muffin cups. Place the bacon in the cups. I placed mine so a little was sticking up. Then crack an egg into each cup. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the whites are set. We baked ours for about 27 minutes because H doesn't like his yokes runny at all. I probably would have liked them better around 20 minutes, but I like runny yokes. :)

Other Variations: 
I'm really excited to try some other versions of these cups. Browned sausage sounds amazing to me. As does chopped ham. I think when I do those, I'll scramble the eggs and pour on top of the sausage or ham. I also would like to try putting some bell peppers in them.

Creamy Potato Soup

For dinner last night, I really wanted potato soup. I've been craving it like crazy, but I've never made it from scratch before. I don't even have a recipe (that I know of) for it. I decided to take my chances and use the Creamy Butternut Squash Soup recipe as a base. And I even remembered to take a picture! I halved the recipe, and instead of using a butternut squash, I used about 2 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes. Instead of cilantro I added two green onions, sliced, and 1 teaspoon of dried chives. To make it easier for you, here's the recipe:

Creamy Potato Soup
1 T olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed (we love our garlic!)
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
2 lb potatoes, cubed (I used Yukon gold)
one 14-15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cans coconut milk
1 can vegetable stock
2 green onions, sliced
1 teaspoon dried chives
2 t sea salt, plus more to taste


In a stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and saute for five minutes. Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute for another minute or two, stirring frequently to reduce burning.


Add the cubed potatoes, tomatoes, coconut milk and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (till you can stick a fork in them easily).


When everything is cooked, ladle some of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a clean pot or bowl. Continue to blend the soup in batches until all soup has been pureed. If you like your soup more chunky, only puree half of the soup. Add the sea salt, green onions, and chives. Enjoy!

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

This might just be my new favorite soup recipe. I've made it twice now, and neither time I got a picture of it. Just picture a bowl of yummy, creamy, yellow soup! :) The original recipe says that it serves 6-8 people. Either my family isn't big on soup or it's more like 10-12 people. We do usually eat something along with the soup, so maybe that's why. It makes great leftovers and freezes well, so I'm okay with the large batch. Mm-Mmmm. Okay, here's the recipe:

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

2 T olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

6-8 garlic cloves, crushed (we love our garlic!)

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

one 4-5 lb butternut squash, peeled and cube*

one 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 cans coconut milk

4 c vegetable stock

1/2 c chopped cilantro

2 t sea salt, plus more to taste

*Instead of peeling and cubing the squash, you can split it in half and bake it at 350 in the oven until tender. I think this takes about 20-30 minutes. Scoop out the cooked flesh and add it with the tomatoes, coconut milk, and stock. 

In a large stock pot (about 8 quarts), heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for five minutes. Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute for another minute or two, stirring frequently to reduce burning. 

Add the squash, tomatoes, coconut milk and vegetable stock. If you added the squash raw, cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes or until the squash is very tender. If you added the squash pre-baked, just cook until all the ingredients are heated through. 

When everything is cooked/heated, stir in the cilantro. Ladle some of the soup into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a clean pot or bowl. Continue to blend the soup in batches until all soup has been pureed. If you like your soup more chunky, only puree half of the soup. Add the sea salt to taste. Enjoy!

Hummus

I know I've posted a recipe for hummus before, but I think this one is better.


Hummus:
1 can (15-16oz) garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained, but reserve 3 tablespoons of the liquid

1/4 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon lemon juice (more can be added if you desire)

1/2 teaspoon salt

If using a food processor, add everything except the reserved liquid together and blend. If using a blender, I recommend blending it into two mixtures and then combining them. Add the reserved liquid a little at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.

Optional additions: 

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin and sprinkle with coarsely ground pepper

1/3 cup chopped and drained sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil)

1/3 cup chopped and drained roasted red peppers (packed in oil)

Homemade Lemonade

Now that my summer class if over, I'm going to try to post some of the recipes I've made over the past couple of months. Homemade Lemonade sounds like a great one to start with! Last weekend, I went to one of my best friend's weddings. Amber and I met back in 4th grade, and have been great friends ever since. She looked absolutely gorgeous! As did her decorations and bouquets (which I caught; get ready H ;) haha). Here is a picture of one of her center pieces for the reception tables:

There were probably 20 or more tables, so you can tell that they had more than enough lemons to give away. Ryan and I took home 17! We used the peels to make limoncello (if it turns out I'll post a recipe for it) and the juice to make Homemade Lemonade:

1 cup + 3 cups water, divided
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Combine 1 cup water and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until dissolved to create a simple syrup. Cool the simple syrup. Pour the syrup, lemon juice, and 3 cups water into a pitchers. Stir well. Serve with ice, if desired.

Frittata

This was my first attempt at a frittata! After making it I realized how versatile they are. I kept seeing them in my recipe books, but I wasn't really sure what they were. They sounded good, but seemed a bit complicated. As it turns out, they're not. Ms. Betty Crocker helped me create this one. Sorry there's no picture. Maybe next time. :)


Frittata
4 or 5 eggs
1/4 c mozzarella cheese
1 T butter
1 c chopped peppers (red or green)
1/2 c chopped onions
1 small red potato, thinly sliced
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Garlic powder
Dried dill


Beat eggs, pepper, and salt in a bowl until well blended. Stir in the mozzarella cheese and set aside. Melt butter in a oven safe skillet (we used a cast iron skillet) over medium heat on the stove. Saute peppers, onions, and potato sliced in melted butter. Season with sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dill. Once the onions and potatoes are tender, pour egg and cheese mixture over vegetables. Cover the skillet, and cook for 8-10 minutes. Turn oven to broiler setting with the rack set in the top position. Place skillet on rack and cook for 2 minutes, or until the top of the frittata is golden brown. Flip the frittata out of the pan and cut into pie slices. Serve immediately with ketchup or salsa, if desired.

Parmesan Flat Bread

To start out the grilling season, Ryan and I made kabobs! Thank you to my sister and her husband for the awesome flat skewers! We had chicken, onions, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, zucchini, and pineapple (pictured right). The chicken, veggies, and tomatoes were spread with barbeque and grilled to perfection. For the pineapple, we marinated chunks in red wine for a few hours before grilling it. Then for some carbs to go with our kabobs, we made some Parmesan Flat Bread. Mmmm!

Parmesan Flat Bread

2-3 inch ball of Spent Grain Bread dough

Flour

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Salt and pepper

1/4 c shredded parmesan

Preheat a grill to medium heat. Sprinkle the ball of dough with flour. Spread out into a flat, round crust. Press chopped garlic cloves into the dough (alternatively you could mix the chopped garlic into the dough before spreading it out). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill one side of the bread until golden brown. Flip the bread over and sprinkle with parmesan. Grill until this side is also golden brown and the parmesan cheese is melted.

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