Sunday, July 9, 2017

Baked Eggs on Toast

My favorite comfort food breakfast! I mean, I love oatmeal, too, but there's something about this dish that just makes me feel really good inside.

Several times I asked my hubby if he wanted some, but he would always respectfully decline. He thought it was a bit bizarre for him. One day, he brought up maybe trying them. He's asked for them several times since then. My kids weren't excited to try them. This morning, my boys finally tried them - and I know one of them went back for seconds! My daughter will only have them a certain way, but I'll cover that later.

How I came up with this is that I came across a recipe that included cheese with it, and, in my own opinion, has a misplaced step. (HERE)

Since I love to post food pics of my breakfast when I make this, and I've had enough people ask how to do it, I decided to do a blog post about it. Plus? It's been a REALLY long time since I've done one of these posts! Crazy life, yo!

Here's what I did:

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BAKED EGGS ON TOAST


Ingredients:

* 2 slices sandwich bread of choice

* 2-4 (appx) Tbsp butter

* 2 eggs

* salt & pepper to taste

* pinch dried parsley (optional)


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F

2. Take a baking sheet, cover with foil, and spray with cooking spray

3. Place slices of bread side-by-side on the foiled baking sheet

4. Using a spoon, take the edge of the spoon & lightly press inside the perimeter of each bread slice CAREFULLY! Do not tear the bread!

5. Lightly take your fingers to flatten inside the edge created to create a bit of a pit in the bread

6. Carefully butter the raised edges of the bread

7. Add a bit of salt & pepper to the bread pit

8. Crack an egg, then add the yolk & white to the bread pit

9. Repeat with other egg & bread pit

10. If you want a hard yolk, take the edge of the spoon & pierce the tops of the egg yolks (optional)

11. Add a bit of salt & pepper to the top of the eggs

12. Add a pinch of dried parsley for pretties (optional)

13. Place the baking sheet in the oven - 13-15 minutes for a runnier yolk, 20 minutes for hard yolk

14. Remove from the oven & enjoy


Yield: 1 serving

NOTES:

* After you've salted & peppered the eggs, you can add some shredded cheese to the buttered edges if you choose.

* My daughter has an issue with textures & doesn't like egg yolk together; you can scramble one egg at a time before adding to each bread pit - you can use a lesser baking time in this case.

* One time I accidentally picked up Kerrygold garlic & herb butter. I used it anyway, and it actually turned out pretty good. If you want some additional flavor, I suggest this.

* I use whole wheat bread, slivers of Kerrygold stick butter, I pierce the eggs & bake for 20 minutes. The outcome is what you see in the pic.

* Today, I made a dozen baked eggs on toast - the 20 minutes at 375° still worked well.

* If you use the longer baking time, you can do this in the morning while getting ready for the day, just prep it all, stick it in the oven, take your shower & get dressed, then get those suckers out of the oven. I mean, if you can do all of that in 20 minutes.

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Today we enjoyed brunch for our last day of vacation. My husband tried his hand at fried potatoes & onions, so I thought the baked eggs on toast was a great addition! We've been adding a side of fruit, like blueberries right now, to help balance out everything. Having bacon with it is yummy, too!



BOOM! A new go-to comfort food for breakfast or anytime.

ENJOY!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Hot Whiskey Grog

I haven't felt the best lately. So I went searching for remedies, of course.

With St. Patrick's Day around the corner (at the time), and recently getting confirmation that I'm nearly a quarter Irish, I've been looking for some drinks to have some Irish whiskey with.

I found recipes for hot toddies. I saw some use whiskey, some use rum, some use bourbon. I had the whiskey on hand, so I started making one or two each evening for a few nights. When my whiskey ran out, I changed to rum.

I didn't have much of either liquor, so I had to get more.

But I got thinking about this drink. I even found an absolute Irish version as a Hot Whiskey, then figured it was pretty reminiscent of a pirate's grog or bumbo (the drink, not the baby seat).

After getting some more whiskey (because I needed it for St. Paddy's Day!), and we got some rum to have on hand for some other drinks, I got thinking about channeling my inner Irish pirate & mixing it all up!

Here's what I did:

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HOT WHISKEY GROG

Ingredients:

~ 1 Tbs brown sugar
~ 2 tsp honey
~ 1 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground clove (pick one or two) OR pumpkin pie spice OR gingerbread spice
~ 2 tsp lemon juice
~ 2 tsp lime juice
~ 1-2 Tbs whiskey (I used an Irish whiskey)
~ 1 Tbs rum (NOT flavored!)
~ 1 slice lemon, cut in half
~ approx 8 whole cloves - enough to have 1 clove per section in the lemon slice
~ 1/2 C very hot water
~ 1 small mug or Irish Coffee mug


Directions:

* Run very hot water in the mug, especially if it the glass Irish Coffee mug, swish it around & dump it out to warm the mug

* Add in the brown sugar, honey, ground spice(s), lemon & lime juice into the bottom of the mug

* Add in the liquors

* Take a clove & insert it into each section of the lemon slice, which should be cut in half; add lemon halves to the mug

* Add in the piping hot water (you can do this with boiling water on the stove or in a tea kettle OR use a Keurig to pour in the hot water for you)

* Take a spoon & stir

* Sip & enjoy!


Yield: 1

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NOTE:  I have done this with steeping green tea in it, I've added additional vitamin C (i.e., orange juice or Welch's orange, pineapple & apple juice), and I've done it where I've added both. The additions are good, but having it as listed is yummy, too. Also, enjoy on St. Patrick's Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day, when you're feeling yucky, or on a cold night. Oh yeah...and all the measurements are approximate - eyeball it all & enjoy; don't get too caught up in the measurements...I kind of guessed.

This drink is warm, comforting, medicinal & yummy! It appeals to my Irish side plus my inner pirate! Whiskey AND rum; lemon juice, lime juice, the spices; the brown sugar & honey - it all has the makings of a toddy AND grog or bumbo. And I do believe it's helped me feel better, too.

ENJOY!