Creamy Deviled Eggs

A few weeks ago while my Brad and I were sitting together, cuddling and enjoying The Bachelor, Brad told me he really liked deviled eggs. I was shocked by this. Although we are fast approaching our 8th wedding anniversary, this is one thing I did not know about my man. In some small, but significant way, I was greatly affected by this new revelation. I thought "How could I not know after 8 years of marriage that my Brad loves deviled eggs so much?" AND I have never made them for him! I genuinely felt bad. What kind of a wife was I? So...I set out to redeem myself. Though I don't share Brad's love for deviled eggs, I made sure that the next day when he walked in the door from work that I had a plate of homemade deviled eggs waiting for him. After watching him eat a few and feeling satisifed that he was satisfied, I was feeling much better about things. Seems dumb, I know, but my Brad works hard for us and so endulging him with his favorite foods, is the very least I can do.

I had never made deviled eggs before but trust Martha so knew that if I made her deviled eggs, I'd likely be safe. They were quite finicky to make I thought. Just peeling the eggs and cutting them all whilst trying to keep them intact was a little tricky, but well worth it. Brad gave them his seal of approval and so I decided this recipe is a keeper.

Creamy Deviled Eggs
Martha Stewart





Ingredients
8 large eggs
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Paprika, for garnish
Directions

1.Place eggs in a medium saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove pan from heat; cover, and let stand 13 minutes. Drain, and run eggs under cold water to cool them.

2.Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, shallot, and hot sauce.

3.Peel eggs, and halve lengthwise; remove yolks, leaving whites intact. Transfer yolks to bowl with mayonnaise mixture, and season with salt and pepper. Mash with a fork until smooth.

4.Mound yolk mixture into whites. Sprinkle with paprika just before serving, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 8 hours.

Yummy Breakfast Casserole

This breakfast casserole recipe comes from my sister in law Elizabeth. I'm not sure where it originated, but she made this dish for our Thanksgiving breakfast I had at my house last year and after one bite I was hooked. I thought I had actually posted this recipe already but when I was labeling my recipes yesterday I couldn't find the post.

Breakfast Casserole


Ingredients:
-6 to 8 slices of bread (butter on both sides and trim off crust)
-1 lb. pork sausage browned (and drain)
-1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I usually add a little extra cheese since I am a cheese freak!)
-7 eggs
-2 cups 1/2 and 1/2 (OR 1 cup cream, 1 cup milk- either way is fine, I do whatever is cheapest that day and it all tastes the same)
-1 tsp salt

Place buttered bread in the bottom of a 9x13 pan filling in cracks where possible. Sprinkle sausage and cheddar over the top of the bread. Mix eggs, half and half and salt in a bowl. Pour mixture over the bread, sausage and cheddar. Cover and chill overnight. Pull out of fridge 30 minutes prior to baking. Bake in oven at 350 for about 45 minutes or until eggs are cooked and golden on top.

ENJOY!

Dinner Omelet

The other night I wasn't in the mood to make a big dinner. On the way home from work I had been reading my Cook's Country cookbook on the bus and I came across this omelet recipe. Nana Sandy usually makes omelets for Gabe for breakfast so I knew that he wouldn't object. Gabe LOVES eggs. Brad enjoyed it too. It was just fun to try a different recipe than the one I have always made. I didn't have all the equipment I needed, but managed to improvise which is sometimes part of the fun of trying a new recipe for me I find.

Fluff Dinner-Style Cheese and Canadian bacon Omelet
From The Cook's Country Cookbook
Serves 2


3 tablespoons of heavy cream- chilled
5 large eggs at room temperature- (this is the key to a fluffy omelet)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of salted butter
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Set the whipped cream aside. Beat the eggs and salt in a clean bowl on high speed until frothy and the eggs have triples in volume, about 2 minutes. Gently fold whipped cream into the eggs.

2. Melt the butter in a 10-inch oven safe non-stick skillet over medium-low heat, swirling the pan to completely coat the bottom and sides with melted butter. Add the egg mixture and cook until the edges are nearly set, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese and Canadian bacon (I cut mine into strips) and transfer to the oven (see note below).

3. Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and let sit, covered until the cheese begins to melt, about 1 minute. Tilt the pan and, using a rubber spatula, push half of the omelet onto a cutting board. Tilt the skillet so that the omelet folds over onto itself to form a half moon. Cut the omelet in half and serve.

NOTE- I didn't have an oven safe skillet, so I used my regular non-stick skillet and when the sides were set (step 2) I carefully slid the omelet into a 9 inch cake pan (see picture below). Although my cake pan was a little smaller than the 10 inch skillet it worked just fine. I then cooked the omelet in the oven as directed.