Monday, July 16, 2012

Baked Egg Cups

So, my cousin's beautiful wife, Katie, pinned this recipe/breakfast idea. Having just tried something similar the other day I was intrigued. You see, my first attempt did not turn out so well. The eggs were ok, but it took FOREVER to scrub out the muffin tins for some strange reason. Oh well, here's the OP.

The directions were simple enough, preheat your oven to 350. Grease your muffin cups & drop your fixins into each cup & bake for 15 minutes.

My girls don't like the look of a yolk, so here's what I did: After greasing the cups, I dropped a couple of teaspoons of finely chopped spinach in the bottom of each cup. Next, I cracked an egg into each cup, piercing the yolk and "scrambling" it a bit with a wooden skewer. Next, I added half a pre-cooked sausage link, chopped of course, to each cup. Threw in some salt & pepper and called it a day.

Here are the cups, ready for the oven.

Here they are 15 minutes later, fresh out of the oven... yeah, not much different!

Since I generously greased my cups (ooh baby!) the eggs slid out easily & held their shape nicely.

Let's dig in!

These were very tasty! Imagine the combinations you could create with this.

Peppers & onions
Tomato & bacon
Sausage & peppers

I'm sure adding a sprinkling of cheese for the last 5 mins or so would make these SUPER yummy too! You could even make these ahead for a quick, grab & go breakfast. My family of 5 can go through a dozen eggs in a single breakfast! So give these eggs a try!

Have them on a bagel or english muffin if that's what you like.

We had them with out since we are trying on the paleo diet.

Until next time!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Fruity Frozen Vodka Slush

Now that it's finally summertime, I have been wanting to try this pin from EAD Living.  An adult beverage full of promise of fruity flavor, ready to help cool down those hot, humid, summer afternoons.  On this site, we're urged to double the recipe because it's THAT good.  The following instructions are from the EAD Living site.  My notes are added in blue.  Let's see how it goes...

My inspiration pin

Ingredients:
8 cups water
3 cups white sugar
juice of 2 lemons
juice of 2 oranges
one 48oz can of pineapple juice
one 12oz can frozen Minute Maid grapefruit juice
one 12oz can of frozen Minute Maid lemonade
26oz Vodka - I prefer Ketel One (I prefer Absolute)
all the ingredients
Method:
First, make a simple syrup. Boil 8 cups water and stir in 3 cups white sugar. Continue to stir until the sugar incorporates with the water, for about 15 minutes. Let cool.  (I neglected to photo this step.  Easy enough, although my syrup took no where near 15 mins to incorporate... more like 5.  I love saving time!)

In a separate bowl, combine the juice of 2 lemons, 2 oranges, 1 48oz can of pineapple juice, 1 12oz can frozen Minute Maid grapefruit juice, 1 12oz can of frozen Minute Maid lemonade and 26oz Vodka.

Here are all the juices & vodka combined.
Once the simple syrup is cooled, add the juice/vodka mix to the syrup.
I had to switch to my stock pot to make room for the simple syrup.
Stir and transfer into an air-tight tupperware container(s) with lid(s). Freeze.
I do not have many plastic containers for freezing the slush, so I bagged my mixture.
Be careful!  You will get this sticky mess EVERYWHERE!

Ready to freeze.

When your guests arrive, stir the slush and fill the glass half-full with frozen vodka slush. Fill the rest of the glass with diet 7-Up. Enjoy!

Finished product!  So Pretty!

This frozen cocktail had a very nice consistency.
Now, keep in mind, this needs to freeze overnight before you can enjoy.  If you like fruity, tropically, drinks... this one is for you.  Hubs & I found it too pineappley.  Personally, I'm more a sour/tarty frozen drink girl.  We had so much of this mixture, I couldn't imagine doubling it!  We gave a lot away to thankful neighbors!

The directions were easy to follow.  The drink was tasty, but just not for us.  Maybe you'll try it and like it. If not, make your neighbors happy like we did!