NikitaWe just upped our Eggs Benedict game. This right here is Crab Cake Eggs Benedict with a 2-minute Hollandaise Sauce. Seriously, the hollandaise took 2 mins. It was served with tomato, arugula, and (of course) the poached egg. I tried a new technique poaching the eggs using a muffin tin in the oven. It worked out.....ok. I would probably just stick to the swirling water technique going forward. GeorgiaWhen I told the hubs that eggs benedict was this weeks food challenge the first request he had was a country style eggs benedict. And so it was.. Instead of the classic English muffin, canadian bacon, poached egg and Hollandaise,. I made mine with a biscuit, sausage, poached egg (scrambled actually works better) and sausage gravy If anyone asks. It was tasty. Would I make it again. No. I prefer classic Eggs Benedict CammyMandyJenZaneEggs are THE best comfort food. Plus there are so many different ways to prepare them.
This week we all poached in the most positive sense of the word. Until next week, Nikita, Georgia, Cammy, Mandy, Jen and Zane
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ZaneJapanese Nikuman or Baozi Had a fun adventure to H-Mart with Morgan and Ember, got all the ingredients fresh. The buns are filled with pork belly, ground pork, shitake mushrooms and fresh ginger among other things NikitaWow! What a challenge - steamed! Obviously, I could have steamed up some veggies and called it a day, but I truly wanted to challenge myself by trying something new. And this was WAYYYYYYYYY outside of my comfort zone, but hey - that's how we grow, right? Honestly, I can't remember what these were called except "Pan-fried Steamed Buns." They are filled with a vegetarian mix of zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, scallions, and a plethora of asian seasoning like soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and more. SO - the flavors were totally YUM! But - mistakes were made. First, I rolled the dough out too thin before I stuffed them. This caused the dough to take on the texture of a steam dumpling rather than a bun. I also think I may have taken the lid off just a smidge too soon. It looked like the water had evaporated, but I noticed the small amounts of leftover water after I had taken the lid off. It was too late by then. The whole family decided we want to see these again, so I'll get another chance to get it right. GeorgiaSo I had some very ripe bananas that I needed to do something with. And this weeks food challenge was steamed.. How on earth can I mix those two together.. If there's a will there's a way. Actually when I was looking up different steamed recipes I found that you could steam most anything. So I thought. What the heck. What do I have to lose other than a couple of over ripe bananas and a handful of perfectly good chocolate chips. I used the steam setting on my instant pot and steamed them for the same length that it called to bake them. The verdict? I actually liked better than baked. Maybe it was just the muffins because muffins tend to be a little dry and these were not at all, CammyMandySteamed. What a great idea. Found some crab legs on sale and thought let’s do it. Treat Yo Self, right? What a wonderful treat it was! JenSteamed!
A brand new food challenge for us. Until next week, Zane, Nikita, Georgia, Cammy, Mandy and Jen CammyEaster traditions change over the years. As we get older, they become more and more meaningful. I think we kind of lost sight of Easter traditions or maybe I'm just getting more and more forgetful of years past. I don't recall last year at all. Michael says we had Easter with mom, but honestly, pretty much all of last year was a blur. I'm pretty sure he is right. Afterall, he usually is. This year we didn't really verbalize any specific plans so we did something slightly different than years past. The menu consisted of the recipes in the links below. I prepped it all and then we loaded it, pans and all, in the truck and showed up with it at mom's where I cooked the meal. It was fun and it felt really darn good. Mom was surprised and, as always, very grateful. Mom also encouraged us to watch Passion of the Christ. Oh my word. As mom said, watching that particular movie on Easter Sunday really brings home the true reason we celebrate Easter.
Best Spiral Ham Recipe - How To Cook A Spiral Ham (delish.com) - I've always liked ham though I've never bothered with the glaze. I'm here to say that I will never forego the glaze again. I didn't have any apricot preserves so I used some Stonewall Kitchen Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam. It blended well with the Kentucky Maple Bourbon. I'm sure that just about any flavor preserves would work well. The red pepper flakes are a must! I think I've decided that this will be our new traditional Easter meal. The cannoli cupcakes I baked for Sunday Bakery were the perfect dessert as well as they were so light and tasty. GeorgiaWe had a low key Easter. Had dinner with friends and hung out on the front porch taking pics. New find in our yard is a Purple Finch Giving thanks for the greatest gift to ALL mankind. We are Easter people JenNikitaThis year, we offered to host Easter dinner (lunch) at our house. The traditional Ham, Brussels, Carrots, and Pineapple Casserole were on the menu, but I was stunned by these Homemade Dinner Rolls that I turned out. The recipe was easy to follow and the soft pillowy buns were exceptional. Everybody raved about them. We used the leftovers to make Cubano Paninis for lunch the following week. And there was lots of Hawaiian Pizza from all the ham and pineapple leftover. Lots of fun, and it was a true blessing to enjoy this time with family. I don't know who decided ham was the official ham of Easter.. But Thank You!!
Until next week, Cammy, Georgia, Jen, Nikita, Zane and Mandy JenMy challenge this week had to do with using up a bunch of potatoes!! Not sure if I’ve never made a hash before, but this steak and egg hash turned out really good. Saving this recipe to make again. And I still had more potatoes, so everyone got a baked potato on their plate too! 😂 ZaneGeorgiaNo recipe per se for this. Just potatoes, onions, ham and eggs. I microwaved the potatoes first for a few minutes so they would cook and brown up quicker in the pan. After a few minutes I diced them, chopped the onion and ham. Browned up the potatoes with the onions in olive oil. Added the ham. Pre-heated the oven to 350. Made 4 wells in the hash, cracked the eggs in the wells and baked in the oven for 15 minutes. The eggs were cooked a little too well for my taste. Next time I would bake for only 10 minutes Because the ham is so salty I didn't add any additional salt. And to be honest the ham added enough flavor that I didn't add any spices at all. Hash is a tasty way to use up leftovers. Ad let's be honest. Cracking an eye on anything ALWAYS makes it better. CammyWho knew there were so many varieties of hash? I sure didn't. I'd only ever had corned beef hash. I suppose that, just by definition, nearly any mixture of foods could be called hash. Most of the recipes I found included potatoes of some sort. I gravitated to this one with sweet potatoes. Oh my word it is soooooooo yummy! Since I'm the only one who eats sweet potatoes in this house, I cut the recipe in half, well only so far as the sweet potatoes and the bacon went. I still used the same amount of cinnamon and maple syrup because, I mean, cinnamon and maple syrup! Why wouldn't you keep those the same? NikitaThanks Jen for the creative pick this week! I took it upon myself to FINALLY invest in a Lodge Cast Iron Skillet to make this delicious Southwestern Skillet Hash. First - the meal taste amazing! And the soft eggs added a creaminess to the turkey and skillet-fried potatoes. BUT - I definitely scorched the heck out of this meal the very first time I used my new pan. The bottom was so black that I could see the different variations of black from the pan to the burnt bottom. What I learned is these cast iron pans retain ALL the heat they absorb. I left my stove eye on "HIGH" because it generally takes longer to heat up my nonstick pans, and I wanted a good sear on the potatoes. By the time I got the sear I wanted, it was too late, and the skillet was scorching hot. Afterwards, I had to strip my brand new pan and re-season it with two coats of Grapeseed Oil and 500F in the oven. I'll certainly try using it again but have a lighter hand on the heat next time. What a fun and tasty food challenge Jen threw down this week.
Until next week, Jen, Zane, Georgia. Cammy, Nikita and Mandy |
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