Cream Cheese Carrot Muffins

This is another recipe that I got from Full Bellies, Happy Kids. My kids LOVED these! I think her recipe is actually missing an ingredient, because when I mixed up the ingredients as written on her site, the batter wasn't batter-y at all. It was totally crumbly, and there was no way it would have worked. So I just added a bit of milk, and it was perfect.

Another change I made was that I used fresh carrots instead of canned. I don't use canned carrots at all, so I just sliced and steamed my own. I ended up using 4 carrots, and I just used my steamer basket and steamed them for around 10-15 minutes until they were soft.

After I mixed up the batter and went to pour it into my muffin tin, I couldn't find my muffin tin. I have NO idea where it got off to, and my kids were all conveniently clueless as well. So I just poured it into a baking dish, topped it with the filling, and cooked it for an extra 20 minutes or so.

This could easily be served for breakfast, brunch, or even as dessert. It's super yummy!

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can sliced carrots, drained
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
2 eggs
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

In a food processor, blend the carrots until they are smooth. After carrots are smooth, add in 1 egg, the oil, and the milk. Then, in a large bowl combine the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, salt, and spices. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Once batter is prepared, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1 egg. Mix until smooth. Fill 12 greased muffin tins 1/3 of the way full with the batter. Then put a large spoonful of the cream cheese mixture into the center of each muffin. Top with remaining batter.

Like I said, I improvised. So here's what mine looked like this morning:

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (or if you did it like I did, then around 45 minutes), or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

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Breakfast Sandwiches

My semester is over! I finished all my finals last week and have 2 weeks of school-free bliss before summer semester starts. I know it's going to go by way too fast!

Today's post isn't a recipe, it's a method. Since going back to school, I've been so busy that I've had to come up with a larger repertoire of quick and easy meals. My kids aren't lovers of cereal for breakfast. I've spoiled them with hot breakfast too much, I guess. The other morning, my oldest asked if we could go to McDonald's for breakfast since I had a busy day ahead of me with finals. That's when I got the idea to just make McD's at home instead -- healthier, cheaper, and faster.

These would also be a great thing to have on hand in the freezer for even quicker breakfasts.

You can do these sandwiches tons of ways. Poach or scramble the eggs instead of frying them. Add sausage or bacon instead of ham. Serve on biscuits instead of English muffins.

Ingredients:
English muffins
eggs
cheese
ham or Canadian bacon

Cook eggs however you want. This particular morning, I fried them in a little butter. Meanwhile, toast English muffins in the toaster. When eggs are done, assemble sandwiches.

I popped mine in the oven for a couple of minutes just to melt the cheese.

How often do you make a hot breakfast?

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Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

K, the more recipes I try from my new cookbook, the more I love it. It is so awesome! Seriously, go get a copy! Are you sick of me raving about it yet? Go get a copy and I'll stop! ;-)

A couple of days ago, I was so busy that my day flew by, and it was dinner time before I knew what was happening or had anything planned. I had the bare minimum in the fridge and pantry, so I scoured my cookbook to see what I could possibly make. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. I saw a cooking show years ago (Rachael Ray, I think?) where the chef made this dish, but I've never tried it. It was so easy and really yummy! Perfect quick, weeknight supper!

A word about the cheese. Just buy a bag of the pre-shredded Parmesan blend, which has the Pecorino and Parmesan already. It'll save you a lot of time and money, rather than buying a block of each.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken stock
salt and pepper
1 pound spaghetti

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, cheeses and garlic together. Set aside. Then cook the bacon and olive oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat until the bacon is crisp, about 8 minutes. Add the wine (or chicken stock).

Simmer until it is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cover.

Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water before draining the pasta. Toss the pasta with the bacon mixture and the cheese mixture. If needed, add additional pasta water to loosen the sauce before serving.

My kids inhaled this. My 4 year old literally had 4 helpings. Not kidding. Spaghetti and bacon? Yes, please!

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Eggs Benedict

The other morning, I decided to treat myself to a yummy breakfast. Eggs Benedict is something I very rarely get the pleasure of eating. I mean, it's almost the furthest thing from figure-friendly that you can possibly eat. All that butter. That yummy, yummy butter. Anywho, I deserved a treat, if I did say so myself, so I made up a batch. Just for me. And I ate almost the entire batch of hollandaise. By myself. Haven't stepped on a scale since. ;)

This meal really is pretty easy, if you follow the steps correctly. It comes together in minutes and is a really fun breakfast to change things up a bit from the everyday bowl of cereal. Yes, I just confessed that I rarely actually make breakfast. See, by serving such a gourmet breakfast (cereal) most mornings, it doesn't take much to actually impress the fam when I do want to make breakfast. Totally works in my favor! And when I do want to impress with a nice breakfast, I love meals like this that come together so fast but are still showing off more than a bowl of Corn Flakes would.

The sauce is going to be the tricky part. But it's really not that tricky. You have to use a double boiler to make this sauce. You'll need 2 pots (or one pot and a metal bowl). Fill the bottom pot with a couple inches of water, making sure that the water level DOES NOT TOUCH the upper pot. That is EXTREMELY important. If the water does touch the upper pot, your eggs will scramble, which will ruin your sauce. So just do 2-3 inches of water at the very most.

Then place your other pot (or metal bowl) on top to make sure the water level will not end up touching the bottom of the upper pot (or metal bowl). Then take it off the top BEFORE you turn your burner on to bring the water to a boil. That is the second VERY important part. You need to add the sauce ingredients to a COLD pot (or bowl), otherwise, again, the eggs will scramble.

Ready?? ;) On we go!


Hollandaise ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup butter, brought to room temperature and cut into thirds
1 teaspoon salt**

Bring water to a boil. Meanwhile, crack eggs, discarding the whites (or save them for a more waistline-friendly breakfast later in the week, since you'll need it after this dish!). Place yolks into your COLD upper pot (or metal bowl). Then add lemon juice, water and salt.

**NOTE: If your butter is salted, OMIT the salt**

Now place on top of the other pot. Whisk CONSTANTLY. When eggs start to slightly thicken, add first 1/3 of the butter. Once that is melted, add the next 1/3. Repeat with the remaining 1/3. Whisk another minute or two, until sauce is very smooth and thickens slightly. Remove from heat IMMEDIATELY.

To assemble Eggs Benedict: Toast English muffins. Top each half with a slice of Canadian bacon (or thinly sliced deli ham works fine, too, if you have that on hand!), then a poached egg (I like my yolks to be runny still for this dish, so I only poach the eggs for about 3 minutes), then smother with sauce. Face it, you're gonna gain like 2 pounds just by looking at it, so be generous with the sauce!! Enjoy. Then go for a run. 10 miles should do it.

What's your favorite I-don't-care-if-I-gain-10-pounds breakfast?

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Huevos Rancheros

I've been on a mission to find meatless meals and came across this one in my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I'd never even had Huevos Rancheros before, even at a restaurant, so I thought it would be perfect to try. It was super easy and really good.

You can make these for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We had them for dinner tonight, so I served them up with a side of refried beans and cheese.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
16 ounce can stewed tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons diced green chilies
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
5-7 corn tortillas
7 eggs
3/4 cup Monterey Jack or cheddar, shredded

In a large skillet, cook onion in olive oil. Stir in undrained tomatoes, diced green chilies, garlic powder and chili powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, brush tortillas with some olive oil and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until crisp. Once tomato mixture has thickened, crack one egg at a time into a measuring cup. Gently pour egg into tomato mixture, then repeat with remaining eggs.

Simmer gently, covered, for 3-5 minutes, or until the whites are completely set and yolks begin to thicken (but are not hard). To serve, place a tortilla on a plate, top with 1-2 eggs, some of the tomato mixture and then cheese.

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Perfect Deviled Eggs

If you've got any New Year's parties to go to this weekend, this is a perfect dish to bring. Deviled eggs are super easy and cheap, and they are gobbled up like nobody's business by adults and kids alike. Don't worry about starting that diet quite yet. ;)

Here are some tips to make sure you get perfect hard-boiled eggs every time:

1) Fill your pot with enough water to completely cover the eggs. If you don't do this, your eggs won't cook all the way around.

2) Make sure you put your eggs into the water when it's still cold. If you put eggs into boiling water, the shells will crack open.

3) Put a lid on the pot, bring it to a boil and then remove the pot from the heat. Let the eggs sit there, covered, for about 25 minutes. This will perfectly hard-boil them without the risk of cracking the eggs.

4) Drain the hot water, then pour cold water over the eggs in another pot or bowl, letting them sit for about 15 minutes. Cooling them completely will make peeling them so much easier -- you won't burn your hands, and the shell wants to come off a lot easier once they're cooled.

5) Gently crack the shells by banging them against the side of your sink. Crack the shell all the way around. If you don't crack it all the way around, you can easily tear the egg white when you're removing the shell.

6) Remove the shell under running cold water. This will insure you don't have any pieces of shell stuck into your egg white that you can't see.


Ingredients:
6 eggs, hard-boiled, cooled, peeled and cut in half length-wise
5-6 slices bacon, sliced into thin strips, cooked and drained
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste
paprika

Remove egg yolks from each egg half. If your eggs are perfectly hard-boiled, the yolks will come out with little to no work on your part. The easiest way to get the yolk out is to hold the egg in your hand with your thumb on one end of the white, your pinky on the other and your index finger on the back side. Gently pull each end of the egg white back with your thumb and pinky while gently pushing with your index finger. The yolk should pop loose and should be easily removed.


Once all the yolks are in the bowl, add mayonnaise, mustard and salt and pepper, to taste. Mash well with the back of a fork until well-combined. Add bacon pieces and stir to combine. Then drop generous spoon fulls of yolk mixture back into each egg white. Lightly sprinkle the tops with paprika. Cayenne sprinkled on top is great, too! Refrigerate at least 20 minutes before serving.

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