Classic Deviled Eggs

There are a trajillion deviled egg recipes on the internet. Fancy ones with Dungeness crab on top or truffle oil mixed in. Spicy ones with sriracha or horseradish. Deviled eggs with bacon, goat cheese, and avocado. Southern, southwest, and buffalo deviled eggs. I even saw a recipe for breaded, deep fried deviled eggs. Whoa! And, for every crazy, fusion-y, fun deviled egg out there, there are probably 3 takes on the classic version.

Sesame Sriracha Egg Salad

Here's my second egg salad experiment. And, I must say… this one rocks. It rawks, even. 

Before we get to the goodness of this recipe, can I tell you something sort of embarrassing? So, I've had lower back pain on and off for years, and recently, as I've amped up my outdoor running for spring, my backs been killing me. So I went to a sports rehab doc, and guess what? My glutes aren't doing their job, forcing all the effort on my lower back. Basically, in a nutshell, my butt muscles aren't working right. So now, in order to retrain my muscles to do what they're supposed to do, I have four weeks of PT. To relearn how to walk. My butt is broken.

In other news… Sesame Sriracha Egg Salad! After my deconstructed egg salad, I was brave enough to try a mixed up version with lots of fun flavors. This has sesame oil, soy sauce, and sriracha, and the flavor totally kills. So, so good. I seriously want to eat this every day. Egg salad convert!

Sesame Sriracha Egg Salad

This is the 4-egg version, which basically made two overloaded baguette slices. Double the recipe for more, or cut in half for less.  

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon Sriracha

2 teaspoons mayonaise

1 teaspoon sesame oil

4 hardboiled eggs

Salt & pepper 

Baguette slices

Micro greens or spring greens

Extra Sriracha

Black sesame seeds

Whisk together soy sauce, Sriracha, mayo, and sesame oil. Chop eggs in fairly small pieces, add to mayo mixture, and gently toss to combine. Salt & pepper to taste. Top baguette slices with greens, a big scoop of egg salad, an extra squirt of Sriracha, and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. 

Egg Salad No. 1

This is the time of year where all my online feeds fill up with egg salad sandwiches. Which I hate. Well, used to hate.

I’ve mentioned here before that my whole life I had a major hate-hate relationship with eggs, until about five years ago. Now it’s sort of love-hate. I eat a ton of eggs. Love ‘em over medium, baked, scrambled, and sometimes even hardboiled. But I still have a few weird leftover hang-ups from my egg hating days. Like, I don’t want to eat eggs that other people prepare. And I don’t like watching other people eat eggs. And until this week, I hated egg salad sandwiches.

My egg salad memories from childhood are squishy and smelly. Amanda loved the things, and would really disgustingly eat them in front of me since she knew it grossed me out. Since egg salad is all over the place around Easter, I started a little convo about it on Facebook. And, kind of to my surprise, it turned out that everyone loves egg salad sandwiches.

You guys also told me on the 'book that you like dill and green olives in your egg salad. I decided to work with that. But I was still a little nervous, picturing a smelly, mushy mound of squishy egg salad, so I decided to go the deconstructed route: baguette slices with tangy green olive and mustard tapenade, micro greens, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and dilly mayo. 

GUYS! This is actually good. Really good! Hey egg salad, I’m not afraid of you anymore! You hear that? I’m not afraid of you! Sorry, quick Home Alone tangent. Anyway, my first foray into egg salad gave me enough courage to try a mixed up version… today you get deconstructed, and later we’re doing a little somethin’ somethin’ with everyone’s favorite bright red hot sauce. Stay tuned for that one!

Deconstructed Egg Salad Sandwiches

1/2 cup mayo 

2 tablespoons fresh dill

Sea salt

1.5 cups green olives

2 teaspoons grainy dijon mustard

Hardboiled eggs

Baguette slices

Micro greens (I like the Trader Joe's micro greens, but sprouts or spring greens work too)

Dill fronds
Sliced chives

Salt & pepper

Add mayo, dill, and a pinch of salt to blender, and blend until combined. Taste, and add more dill or salt as needed. Scoop into a dish. Once blender is thoroughly scraped out, add olives and mustard, and blend until combined and chunky, but not totally pureed. Scoop into a separate dish. 

For each baguette slice, spread a bit of the mustard tapenade, add a handful of micro greens, sprouts, or other greens, a layer of thinly sliced hard boiled eggs, a pinch of salt and pepper, a drizzle of the mayo (I add mine to a ziplock baggie with the corner cut out to pipe), chives, and a bit of fresh dill. Make as many as your heart desires! 

Baked Tortilla Cup Huevos Rancheros

Evan was sick all weekend, so I made him his favorite chipotle chicken tortilla soup. Which meant I had a jar of chipotle peppers in my fridge, along with half a lime, cilantro, cotija, corn tortillas, and of course, sour cream (which, let’s be real, I always have in my fridge). I also had a can of black beans in the cupboard, and a brand new jar of Mel’s homemade salsa.

I went to bed Saturday night planning Sunday’s brunch, those ingredients dancing in my mind (seriously… who needs sugar plums). First I was thinking a scramble, then maybe something like chilaquiles, or maybe a fried egg tostada type deal. But just before I drifted off to sleep, it came to me: baked eggs in tortilla cups, with mashed chipotle black beans. EUREKA!

I woke up super early Sunday morning (ok, like 8am…which because of the time change should have been 9am, but whatever…I’m not an early riser), feeling like a freaking genius for the idea I had come up with. So I decided to just do a real quick search on the ol’ internetz to find some tips for tortilla cups and egg baking… and the Google search “tortilla cup baked eggs” popped up a recipe that was pretty much exactly what I had dreamt up. The top search result.

Like… get out of my head, Bon Appetit! 

So, while I thought this recipe was totally unique and completely my own, it turns out tortilla cups filled with mashed black beans and top with a baked egg exists, outside of my head. They even used chipotle. C’MON, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!
 

Anyway. These are super easy to throw together, and an awesome brunch party idea, since you can make individual little egg cups for everyone. Or you can make them for breakfast for yourself, then eat all 6 of them throughout the day… that’s also a thing that can happen.

Baked Tortilla Cup Huevos Rancheros
Adapted from this recipe
 

Olive oil 
Six 6-6.5-inch corn tortillas (soft taco size)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, diced + extra sauce adobo sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin 
Salt
3/4 cup grated cheese (jack, cheddar, etc)
6 large eggs 
Salt & pepper

Toppings:
Sour cream
Cilantro
Salsa
Lime
Crumbled cotija cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Brush six 10-ounce custard cups with oil (or cooking spray), or use large muffin tins (not regular cupcake size). 

Wet and wring out a paper towel, and wrap around stacked tortillas. Microwave until warm and pliable, about 30 seconds. Gently press 1 tortilla into each cup, and brush with oil (or spray).

Add beans, a splash of oil, the chipotle peppers and sauce (add more or less, depending on your heat tolerance), cumin, a pinch of salt, and ¼ of the grated cheese to a bowl, and mash with a fork or pastry blender.

Spoon bean mixture into bottom of each tortilla cup.

Crack 1 egg into each tortilla cup on top of the beans, being careful not to let it spill over the edge. Sprinkle each with salt and pepper, and the remaining grated cheese.

Bake uncovered until whites are set, about 25-27 minutes. Serve with suggested toppings.

Food Bloggers Against Hunger

This is a long one, folks, but stay with me...it’s an important one. Oh, and there’s a recipe at the end. Nothing fancy, just an affordable, simple, feel-good recipe.

You probably know that obesity numbers in the US are through the roof. But you may not think about how closely obesity is tied to hunger. Millions of Americans live in food deserts—areas without access to healthy ingredients. The foods we should be eating—fruits and vegetables—are more expensive (and often less available) than fast food and processed food. People who participate in food assistance programs are limited to an average of $4 per person each day to supplement their food budget. That's not very much.

Here’s something else you might not know or think about. Those people on food assistance programs….a lot of them have jobs and still can’t afford to feed their families. Hardworking people doing their best to make ends meet. Families doing their best to make sure that their kids have dinner on the table and don’t go to school hungry. Families like mine.

When I was little, my family participated in a Commodity Supplemental Food Program—a government program that provides food staples to low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants, children up to age six, and elderly people. I wasn’t even school-aged yet, but remember going to the commodity pick up with my mom (the old ladies who handed out the boxes of food always gave me a cookie). Even though my parents worked, they still needed a little help.

I’m lucky that my parents are both great cooks, because I grew up learning how to prepare healthy, low budget meals at home, and I grew up in an area with access to a lot of nature’s edible bounty—advantages that a lot of people don’t have.

That’s why I’m donating this post to Food Bloggers against Hunger—to help people prepare healthy, low budget meals, and to help spread the word about hunger in America. The Food Bloggers Against Hunger campaign is a response to the documentary A Place at the Table, about hunger in America. You can get involved too:

• Watch the film “A Place at the Table” online
• Learn some fast facts about hunger
• Tell congress to end hunger
• Read the hunger editorial series 

So, what would you eat if you had only $4 per day? If Evan and I each had $4 per day to eat, I’d make a big pot of black beans (be sure to plan ahead to soak them first). Dried beans are more affordable than canned and you can control the sodium. Then, I’d make a bunch of meals using those beans and other accessible, healthy ingredients.

Ever had a big bowl of saucy homemade black beans topped with a fried egg? It’s cheap and insanely satisfying. Want to get some green in your diet? Frozen spinach—scramble it in eggs, and make black bean breakfast burritos that you can freeze for later. You can even make your own tortillas with a few additional ingredients. I managed to get a bunch of ingredients that are available at most stores, for under $8, but it wasn't easy.

1 pound dried beans (about 6 cups cooked): $1.79
1 dozen eggs: $1.69
12 oz bag frozen spinach: $1.00
1 onion: $.50
1 Roma tomatoe: $.31
1 package of flour tortillas (10 count): $2.69

Simple Spinach and Black Bean Breakfast Burritos for Two
A splash of olive oil (or vegetable) for cooking
½ onion, diced
½ cup chopped, frozen spinach (or fresh, if available)
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooked black beans
4 flour tortillas

1 tomato, diced and lightly mashed
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium in a large skillet, and add the diced onion. Cook until just turning golden, about 10 minutes. Be sure to watch and stir so they don’t burn. Add the frozen spinach, and cook a few more minutes, until spinach is cooked through and no longer frozen. Add the eggs, and let cook for a minute, then stir to scramble and continue to cook until the eggs are cooked through. Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat 4 tortillas, and fill with eggs, beans, and tomatoes. Roll and enjoy immediately, or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Unwrap and microwave to eat. 

Savory Oatmeal!

Have you seen this blog, V.K. Reese Photography, yet? It's pretty amazing. I love it for 3 main reasons. 1. The photography is phenomenal. Seriously, I could look at her photos all day long. 2. She includes a picture of her cat in every post (dammit, why didn't I think of that?!). 3. Her recipes are fantastic and inspiring. Like this one, for savory oatmeal. 

V.K. Reese's savory oatmeal has all kinds of good stuff in it, which I don't have in my house right now. I want that squashy, tofu-filled oatmeal…like, real bad, but my desire to not head out into a rainy-cold morning won that battle. So, inspired by her recipe, I did a quick Google search for savory oatmeal (who knew, this stuff is everywhere!?), and found a very simple version by Penny De Los Santos. Penny's version is one of those always-have-all-the-ingredient recipes that doesn't even need a recipe, and it took like 5 minutes to make. 

Oatmeal, olive oil, salt, pepper, parm, and a runny fried egg. It's good people. It's really, really good. 

How have I never done this before?

Quiche Cups!

I worked from home last week, so you would think I might have had tons of extra time for cooking and blogging (considering I saved myself nearly an hour and a half in commute each day, not to mention 'getting ready' time). But, I was so busy taking care of my sick man-child, that I barely had time to cook anything other than chicken noodle soup. 

Turns out Evan has pneumonia, and it also turns out that pneumonia can be contagious, so my boss asked that I stay home, to avoid potentially wiping out my entire office. Quarantined! It was probably for the best though, since Evan was far too sick to even get out of bed. Sick men are more helpless than babies! After a couple days on antibiotics, he's finally on the mend… and that means I finally have time to do more in the kitchen than heat up soup and pour orange juice. 

After being home all week in this chilly fall-meets-winter weather, all I want to do is bake! (These pumpkin pie scented candles aren't helping, either). But, since I can't share potentially germy goods, I didn't want to make treats that I would have no choice but to eat all by myself.  So, instead of dessert, I made breakfast, lunch, and dinner: Quiche! And not just any quiche… individual quiche cups! 

Quiche is amazing, because you can add anything to it, and you can eat it warm, cold, or room temperature; next to a salad, or alongside a hot cup of joe. What was once reserved for fancy luncheons can now be eaten for any meal of the day, and these little individual cups pack up nicely for work (that is, if you're not quarantined at home). I use a press-in tart crust dough, so you don't have to chill and roll it—making these little cups of deliciousness even easier than a traditional quiche. I didn't pre-bake my crust, and though they still turned out great, for a flakier, crispier crust, I would recommend popping them in the oven first.

PS. My hot winter drinks poll is now closed, and I see rum in my future! more on that later!

Quiche Cups

Makes 12 cupcake sized quiches

Crust

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold butter, cut in small cubes

1 egg yolk (save white for filling)

Preheat oven to 425 (if you choose to pre-bake crust). Whisk together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender (or a fork or your fingers), cut in butter until mixture resembles small peas. Whisk the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water together, and add to flour mixture. Blend (again, using pastry blender or hands) until combined and can be formed into a ball. Separate dough into 12 balls, and press into bottom and sides of 12 greased cupcake/muffin cups.  Poke each one with a fork, and bake for 8-10 minutes (until golden). Remove from oven and cool.

Reset temperature to 325.

Filling (inspired by The Grand Central Baking Book)

5 eggs (plus 1 white from dough)

1 cup half and half

1 cup grated swiss cheese

salt and pepper

1 large leek, thinly sliced and sautéed in a little bit of butter and olive oil, sprinkled with salt

Whisk together eggs, half & half, salt, and pepper. Mix in grated cheese.

To assemble:

In each crust, add a spoonful of leeks, and top with egg mixture. Bake for 20-30 minutes (at 325) until egg mixture is set in the middle. 

Happy Birthday Blog!

It’s Loves Food, Loves to Eat’s second birthday! This ol’ gal is a toddler now—two years old (but hopefully a lot less terrible with each new post).

A lot can happen in two years, and with this little site, I was able to document little changes and big changes, and everything else in between. Since starting Loves Food, Loves to Eat, I ran my first half marathon, went to Europe for the first time, roasted my first chicken, travelled to paradise, and… by far the craziest thing to happen in the last two years… I became obsessed with eggs!

You may remember a little post I did in June of ’09, about the dish that made me like eggs. At that point, nearly two years ago (just after starting this blog), that was pretty much the only egg dish I could swallow. Now, two years and 155 posts later, I cook, take pictures of, eat, and write about eggs more than almost any other food.

So, on her 2nd birthday, here's to Loves Food, Loves to Eat, and her lovely muse: the incredible, edible egg. Move over birthday cake!

Frijoles + Huevos = True Love

Remember those black beans you made for Cinco de Mayo? The ones that are leftover in your fridge, or perhaps, the ones that you froze for later? Well, they remember you. And they want you to heat ‘em up, shower them with a hearty spoonful of crumbled cotija cheese, and top them with a slightly runny, crispy-around-the-edges fried egg. Trust me, I know these things.

I had a pot of black beans leftover from the amazing rockfish taco dinner I made over the weekend, and when I woke up, I heard them quietly whispering to me from the fridge. By noon, the whisper had gotten a little louder, and by 1pm, those black beans were practically shouting in my ear, begging to be topped with a fried egg. I obliged…no one wants to deal with an angry pot of beans.

Sunday Brunch

I love breakfast and brunch…a lot. I like going out for brunch—the bloody mary bar at the Leary Traveler, the vegan pancake with fresh fruit from Portage Bay the spicy chilaquiles with black beans and eggs from Senor Moose, a cup of black coffee with super thick cream and a California scramble from the Rusty Pelican, an earthy chestnut pancake from Volterra, a veggie-filled hash from Hi-Life—if it’s a delicious brunch in Seattle, I’ve probably had it (or it's on my list...and if I haven’t heard of it or tried it, hook a sister up!). I like going out for brunch so much, that lately I’ve forgotten the one thing I like even more… making brunch at home.

My favorite go-to brunch is always a spin on the following: a thick piece of crusty bread topped with something green, sometimes a bit of breakfast meat, a fried, poached, or even scrambled egg, and sprinkle, slice, or shaving of cheese. No matter what combo you go with, it’s a no-fail winner. Lately I’ve been obsessed with roasted tomatoes, so today’s brunch was a toasted slice of French bread, topped with sweet tomatoes slow roasted in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and rosemary sea salt, peppery arugula tossed with a simple shallot vinaigrette, crispy baked pancetta, a fried egg, and a few shavings of Polder Gold Koe—a hard, nutty aged cow’s milk cheese I brought back from Amsterdam.

Compared with a restaurant brunch, making it at home costs less, tastes better, and has far fewer calories. What a satisfying way to start a Sunday.

Brunch on the Balcony

We had amazing weather this weekend… like, Seattle is finally catching on to this thing called ‘spring’. It was sunny, it was warm, it was beautiful. There was a nice but slight breeze, the skies were blue, and I swear there were even birds chirping. I took advantage of the fantastic weekend in every way possible. On Saturday Amanda, LB, and I went to the UW baseball game, a perfect place to sit and soak up some rays. Today we went to our friend’s beach house and lounged in the sun, kayaked, and played in the sand.

Aside from sunny day activities, warm weather also means al fresco dining. More specifically, it means al fresco brunch. My favorite thing EVER. I love brunch. I love brunch on the balcony with all that delicious food, sun, and nature. So, without further ado, I give you Brunches on the Balcony…my new favorite weekend tradition.

Parmesan French toast with poached eggs and arugula – inspired by a Gourmet recipe.

Poached egg on toasted baguette with fresh avocado, cream cheese, piquillo peppers, a splash of balsamic, and a sprinkle of smoked gouda.

Until next time…

Eggcellent

Eggs are better with cumin seeds! There I said it, whew. I’ve been thinking it for awhile, but hadn’t cooked up something pretty enough using the combo to share with you. But I just can’t sit on this any longer. This hen has got to get off the nest, because you need to know the truth. You need to add cumin seeds to your eggs. Now.

I’m surprised I didn’t think of it myself, because I cook a lot of eggs (which is crazy, since I hated eggs up until a few years ago), and I love cumin. But alas, I’m not the genius behind the egg-cumin love match. This gal is. Shayma on Food 52 posted a recipe for 'Khagina': Aromatic Scrambled Eggs the Afghani / Pakistani way. I’ll admit it, I’ve never actually made the full recipe. But I have used the recipe’s technique for toasting cumin seeds in butter and sautéed onions, until amazingly aromatic, before adding eggs to the skillet. O.M.G. Seriously… I sort of can’t imagine scrambling eggs without cumin from here on out. Eggs without cumin? Get outta here! Seriously, get out of here, get some eggs and cumin, and get busy.

Eventually, when all the stars align and I magically have all the ingredients for khagina, I’ll make the dish that started it all. But until then, I’ll be satisfied with a little toasted cumin in any (and every) scrambled egg I make.

Just to Tempt Your Tastebuds

I don't have a cute story, or a funny anecdote, or a thought-provoking byline about this one. Just some pictures of a really good breakfast I made with what little ingredients I had on hand. What can I say... life isn't always a hilarious wine induced 9 course dinner... but if you're lucky it can almost always be delicious!


I had very little food in the kitchen... about 4 limp asparagus spears in the fridge without much life left in them, 1 too soft tomato, 1 piece of wheat bread (the heel), a couple of eggs, a half block of parmesan cheese, and the remnants of a container of Trader Joe's pesto. I grilled the bread in a skillet of butter. Poached the eggs. Broiled the tomato slices and asparagus spears with a little olive oil and some thyme that I had dried from my parents garden. Made a Parmesan crisp by dumping a handful of grated parm into a hot skillet (I got the idea from Amanda, who once made parmesan crisp bowls for salads!) Stacked. Drizzled the whole thing with pesto (which I had to resuscitate with some extra olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar)...


and voila. Breakfast is served!

The End of an Era

This post is both tasty and tearful, all at once. A dear friend, LeAnn, is packing up and moving far away.