Not your typical Egg Salad.

  So I'm sitting here trying to think of a name for this Egg Salad.  I asked Chris "I need a name for this Egg Salad because it's not your typical Egg Salad."  And then we just smiled at each other because I had just come up with it... I whipped this up over the summer.  I was craving some kind of salad sandwich but I didn't want Chicken Salad.... I looked up some recipes of Egg Salad and decided it sounded too boring.  So I thought "What about egg salad with bacon in it?"  We LOVED it.  I don't make it very often, but when I do it's usually gone in a matter of hours even though I have the intention of it lasting 2 days.  The 2nd or 3rd time I made it I doubled it and that was great because Chris could come home and just have that for lunch.  The time in the kitchen pays off in my opinion. Simple. Easy. Yummy.

Not-Your-Typical-Egg-Salad

Makes 4 sandwiches

You will need:
   6 boiled eggs
   1 diced green onion
   1 diced celery stalk
   6 pieces of bacon, cooked, cooled, crumbled.
   2-3 tbs of light mayo
   1-2 tsp of regular or dijon mustard.  (Depends on your palate)
   1/4 tsp paprika
   1/8 tsp dill weed
   1/8 tsp of cayenne, if you like a little kick.
   Salt and pepper to taste
*All of these seasonings will probably need to be tweaked according to your palate.  This is just what we like.

  So here we go.  The most time consuming thing of the whole recipe is the eggs.  If you don't know how to make the perfect boiled egg... (Surprisingly I couldn't figure out how to do this until last summer) Cover 6 eggs in a pot of water.  Bring it to a boil, remove from heat, and let them sit covered for about 12-15 minutes.  Oh and by the way, any of you that see the baking soda in the water trick, to help eggs peel easier, it TOTALLY works.

After your eggs are peeled and diced, and your bacon is cooked and crumbled, your basically going to throw everything in a bowl and grab a fork to start tweaking the taste to your liking. 

While I was waiting on my eggs I started putting things in a bowl.  

** I only had about half of the yokes.  

After you stir it all together you will get something that looks like this. :) 

If you want your egg salad cold then stick it in the freezer for just a few minutes... But honestly it tastes pretty good luke-warmish.  Grab your favorite bread, slap some on there and dig in.  Chris and I are in love with this Organic Rudis Honey Sweet Wheat that we get over here in Germany.  I have definitely seen it in stores in the states so it's worth checking it out.  

Oatmeal Muffins

A few days ago I was looking around for an Oatmeal Recipe and stumbled upon this one. I bookmarked it and then kind of forgot about it until the next day.

Chris was at work and Ashton and I were building with Legos.  I asked Ashton if he wanted to build a skyscraper? His answer was "Ummmm.. No..." A castle? "No." A house? "No."  I dismissed all of the no's and went to work on pulling out all of his number Legos so we could practice on them. After about 10 minutes Ashton started getting frustrated that his towers kept falling over.  It was too the point that I couldn't even help him so I said "That's it, we're going to go make something in the kitchen," and took him downstairs. I decided we'd take a stab at these Oatmeal Muffins since I had everything on had.  Ashton is really taking a liking to helping me in the kitchen which I absolutely LOVE.  I don't know any other 1 year old that helps me put things together with such patience.  From dumping things in a bowl, to stirring and putting cupcake liners in, he is really so smart and follows directions so greatly.  Ok, enough of me bragging on my kid..

 You'll need:
    1 cup of milk
    1 cup of oats
    1 egg
    1/4 cup of oil
    1 cup of flour
    1/4 cup of sugar (brown or white)
    1 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 tsp cinnamon
    Chocolate chips, walnuts, raisins or anything else your little heart desires.

Before we get started, I must say that I read many of the reviews on this site and it is proven that this recipe is incredibly versatile.  (Which I love).  You can use Almond, Soy, or Rice Milk.  You can use butter or oil, You can use whole wheat flour, you can use bananas or applesauce as a replacement.  You can use white or brown sugar. The list goes on.  This recipe is a great one to throw together on a Sunday and freeze that way you have an easy breakfast, snack on the go, or an extra to put in your kids lunch. :) I will say they only make about 12 so you could easily double the recipe but regardless, I don't see them lasting long because they didn't in our house.

First, preheat your oven to 425.  Line your cupcake pan with liners. Mix your oats and milk together and let them sit for 15 minutes.

In another bowl, mix/sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. 

After your oats have soaked, add the egg and oil and stir it until it's well combined.  Then add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients. 

About to get caught... 

Then, fill your cups about 2/3-3/4 full. I filled them pretty full (on accident) so I only had 11 muffins. Put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Taco Pasta

  We were going to have Chili tonight, I was so excited because I thought I'd grace you with a really good recipe.  Until I looked in my cupboard and saw that I was missing chili beans.  I called Katy in an attempt to tweak some things around and make it work, but we decided it just wouldn't.  After throwing some ideas around, I settled on Taco Pasta.  This recipe comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I've made this recipe at least a dozen times and it's never failed me.  It only takes about 20 minutes to put together and it's one that Ashton LOVES.  :) I failed at taking step by step pictures so just trust me on this one. :) 

You will need:
  1 lb ground beef or turkey.  We REALLY love ground turkey in this one.
  1 small diced onion
  1 clove of garlic, minced
  8-12 oz of pasta shells
  1 14 oz can of Rotel or diced tomatoes.  If you like the spice, go for Rotel.  But if you're making this for kids, stick with diced tomatoes. 
  1 packet of taco seasoning or 1 1/2 tbs of homemade taco seasoning.  (You can always add more if it isn't hot enough.
  3 oz of cream cheese
  1/2 cup sour cream 
  Salt and pepper to taste

 Start by bringing a pot of water to boil and get your noodles going.  Also, start browning your ground beef/turkey and dice up that onion and garlic.  You can be like me and add your garlic and onion so it gets all nice and translucent or you can wait until your beef/turkey is well on it's way.  Drain your meat and then add it back to the pan.  Add tomatoes and taco seasoning and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes.  Also, keep an eye on who ever is helping you.  

Because this may happen.... Oops... 

Drain your noodles as soon as they're done and reserve 1/4-1/2 cup of the pasta water.  Stir in cream cheese and sour cream and that pasta water... Oh and the noodles ;) 

Andddddd.. here it is.. You can always put some shredded cheese or cilantro on top if you'd like : ) 

The Taco Cups I forgot about.

  Does anybody remember me saying a few weeks ago that I was making Taco Cups and that I'd post the recipe soon?  Well I forgot, woops.. So lets get this bad boy rolling.. 

Here's your line up, except I forgot to throw the wonton wrappers in there.  

Wonton wrappers, I found outs in the frozen food section

Olives, tomatoes, green onion, cheese, and seasoned ground turkey.  

I'm in love with how easy and versatile this recipe is.  You can use any kind of meat and any kind of toppings, sometimes Chris and I like to throw some queso or Chalula in there. 

Start off by preheating your oven to 375 and get your meat ready.  We LOVE ground turkey.  Spray some non stick spray on a cupcake pan and put 2 wonton wrappers in each cup.  Kind of put them in so the wrappers aren't lined up with eachother and make a nice pretty cup.  I use my own taco seasoning because taco seasoning packets are known to be LOADED with sodium and I think homemade taco seasoning tastes much better.  

Taco Seasoning Recipe:

1 tsp of chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper/cayenne

1/4 tsp of dried oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

I usually mix a whole bunch of this up and put it in a small rubbermaid or baggy.  :) This may sound odd, but don't freak out if you're missing 1 of the ingredients... I don't have onion or chili powder in my cabinet and this still turns out great.  

Fill em up with your toppings and then bake for about 12 minutes. 

Don't these look yummy? 

Now take 3, or 6, or the whole pan and drizzle some sour cream on. 

and Enjoy :) 

Pfannkucken-German Pancakes :)

  This is probably the 3rd time I've made German Pancakes for breakfast.  They've become one of my favorite with how versatile they can be.  You can put butter and syrup on yours, slice some fruit and a little powdered sugar, or take the savory route and do sour cream and cheese.  This morning I got up and made myself a cup of coffee and got started.  This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen, a cute little blog that I've really come to like.  You can find her recipe for German Pancakes here. 
  Through trial and error I have found that it is absolutely necessary to preheat your oven to 400* and have it COMPLETELY PREHEATED.  Also, your ingredients need to be fairly close to room temperature.  If your oven isn't hot and your ingredients are cold, your pancakes won't fluff up and curl.  They will still taste pretty good but they aren't as pretty.  
  So here we go.  You will need:
                                   4 eggs- room temperature
                                   2/3 cup of flour
                                   2/3 cup of milk room temperature
                                   2 tbs of butter-room temperature, softened
                                   1 tbs of sugar
                                   1/2 tsp of salt
                                   Food processor or a whisk
                                   2 9 inch cake pans.
   According to her blog's reviews, this can be done easily with a whisk, but I just love the excuse to use my food processor, and it does all the work for me :) 

Start by getting your (4 room temp) eggs really nice and fluffy and light yellow. After that, add everything else and get it all very well incorporated. You don't have to worry about over mixing because you want a nice smooth batter. 

Almost done :) This literally took like 2 minutes. 

Put batter in your greased cake pans.  This recipe makes 2 9 inch pancakes but I stretch mine and make 2 9 inch and one small one for Ashton.  Bake your pancakes (in your hot oven) for 15 minutes on 400 and then decrease the temp to 350 and bake for about another 15 minutes.  

Go find a cute little (almost) 2 year old and watch him play while you drink your coffee and your pancakes do their magic. 

Pull 'er out of the oven and gaze... And then decide what you're gonna top 'er with.  

Chris likes his with mini chocolate chips, powdered sugar and syrup. :)

Happy New Year! 

Flour-less, egg-less, (almost) sugar-less Cookies :)

  Now before I start I have to ask all of you to PLEASE keep an open mind :).  I came across this recipe over the summer on Pinterest.  The caption was "Flour-less, egg-less, sugar-less cookies."  You can find the original recipe here. One day out of pure boredom I went ahead and tried them and to my amazement, they were great! My friend Katie told me that they may not be your typical chocolate chip cookie but they are perfect for curbing your sweet tooth.  They are easier to put together as you just use a food processor and THAT'S IT.  Pretty easy clean up if you ask me. 

Chris did most of the work on this one.  :) So I'm guessing you want to know what's in them right? 

You will need: 

1 can of Garbanzo Beans/Chick Peas

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/4 cup of honey or agave nectar

1 tsp of baking powder

1 pinch of salt if your peanut butter isn't salted

2 tsp vanilla 

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350*

Are you with me still? Ok so that's 1 can of GARBANZO BEANS.  Give them a good rinse and then put them in your food processor and get them started.  Unless you want chunks of the bean in your cookie you're going to want to scrape the sides of the blender and blend these babies good. 

You can add everything else (except the chocolate chips) until everything is well blended.  After it's looking pretty smooth, take your blade out and stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.  You can use whatever you want.  If you want to be REALLY healthy you can use a semi-sweet or dark chocolate because milk chocolate chips are higher in fat.  You can be like Chris and "accidently" dump a whole cup in. :) 

Next, you'll need to wet your hands with water and get to rolling your cookies.  I lined a cookie sheet with foil and very lightly greased it because I couldn't remember if these stick or not.  You can put these pretty close together because they don't rise and don't spread very much at all. 

Set your timer for about 10 minutes. 

Next, tell your toddler that we are going to have cookies for snack and this will happen:

Pull them out of the oven and let them sit a minute.. One thing to remember is that these taste the best when they are warm :) 

"Success"

Now go get yourself some garbanzo beans and make these and let me know what you think ::)

Stromboli

These pictures have been sitting on my camera for weeks now. The night I was supposed to blog this Chris came home and told us that he's more than likely deploying in the Spring. :( For a while I've been in a slump and haven't taken many pictures but I'm definitely going to make the effort to get more stuff on here :). So here it goes. 

  Stromboli is a family favorite in our house.  It's basically a rolled up pizza and it's the easiest thing to put together.  What I love about this recipe is you can put in or take out whatever you'd like.  

Preheat your oven to 400.  My pizza dough is hiding under my veggies.  I choose to make it homemade because it's pretty easy.  You can use whatever dough you like, whether it be in a can or package. 

1 cup of lukewarm water

1 packet of yeast

2-3 cups of flour

1 tbs sugar

seasonings if you'd like: oregano, basil, thyme.

Mix your water and yeast together and let it sit in a cup for about 5 minutes to activate.  It's important to remember that your water can't be too cool or the yeast won't activate and it can't be too hot or it will "kill" the yeast. 

Add all other ingredients and let the dough sit, covered for 20 minutes. 

Throw some pizza sauce, toppings and plenty of cheese on there.

Roooolll her up..

Make a few slits in the top.. The one thing I forgot to do tonight was brush an egg wash on top so it'd brown nicely.  

Bake her for about 10-15 minutes

Enjoy!