Eggpocalypse II

So my last post was a fritatta, which was a nice way of using up a boat load of eggs. This is the other way I used up oh so many eggs. Egg salad! Now, I personally don't really like egg salad. I don't really like eggs at all, especially hard boiled eggs. I know that I'm pretty much alone in this, so I made egg salad anyway. This is a super simple recipe and is great for sandwiches.

adapted from allrecipes

6 hard boiled eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup chopped green onions

salt and pepper to taste

Chop the hard boiled eggs into small squares. (If you don't know how to boil eggs, here is a good guide) In a bowl, combine everything but the eggs, then gently fold in the eggs.

Serve in a sandwich with some potato chips on the side!

XOXO

Natalie

eggpocalypse!

So a couple weeks ago me and my roomies went to Safeway and they had this deal going that was "buy one 18 pack of eggs, get a second free." So we went for it and bought 36 eggs. We've done this before and never really had a problem with finishing them. But this time around...we kind of forgot about them. I looked in the fridge last weekend and noticed that the eggs expired in 6 days. 6 days! So I freaked out and ordered everyone to start eating eggs. Nothing else! Just eggs! the eggpocalypse was upon us.

I looked up ways to use a lot of eggs at once and I found a really awesome recipe. It's a ham and cheese frittata and it was soooooo good. Also used up 12 eggs, so that was super helpful. I forgot to take pictures because I'm a failure, but I promise it was beautiful and tasty. Here's how you make it!

adapted from allrecipes

6 Tbsp oil

4 cups frozen hashbrowns

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 lb baked ham cut into cubes

12 eggs

6 Tbsp milk

1/2 tsp seasoning mix (we used pappy spice, and the closest equivalent is probably italian seasoning)

2 cups shredded cheese

salsa (optional)

In a skillet, heat up oil and then add the frozen hashbrowns. Cook them for about 8-10 minutes until they are almost brown. Then add the salt, pepper, and ham and let cook for 2-3 more minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, whisk together the eggs, milk, and seasoning mix. Grease a 9x13 baking pan and layer the potatoes on the bottom. Pour the eggs on top, making sure that they are spread throughout the potatoes. Bake, covered, in 350F oven for 15 minutes then cover with the shredded cheese. Bake for 15 more minutes, or until the eggs are set. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with salsa if you like, but I liked it better plain.

XOXO

Natalie

Torrrrrrrtillas

So I have another very simple recipe for you all today. We had like zero food in the house, but we did have the ingredients to make tortillas! Specifically, gluten free flour tortillas! And if you don't have the ingredients to make these then you need to go to the store more than I do.

adapted from home cooking in montana

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix in the vegetable oil and milk until the dough forms into a ball. You can do this in a mixer or with your hands. I am mixer-less so I just kneaded the milk and oil in. If you are using gluten free flour like I am, you are going to need to use a lot more milk. I added 3/4 cup and it didn't blend well at all. Just add about a 1/4 cup of milk at a time until the dough forms into a ball. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes. Then make eight balls out of the dough. Cover in plastic wrap again and let sit for ten minutes.

Time to cook em! Roll them out between two pieces of saran wrap. They have to be reallllllly thin. Like paper thin if you can. Then throw them into a hot pan. If you aren't using a non-stick pan then you might need to add a little bit of oil. But not too much because you don't want to deep fry them. Use a spatula to prevent it from sticking. Cook for about 30 seconds on each side and transfer to a plate.

These are really good fresh, and I had a hard time not eating them right out of the pan! but please, try to contain yourself and let other people try them too.

XOXO

Natalie

And in the mornin'...I'm making WAFFLES!

Honestly, who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? Brinner is maybe the best kind of meal. Doubly so if you've been in your pajamas all day anyway. The other day I was looking in the cabinets and noticed the waffle iron I had completely forgotten about. So brinner it was!

I've made waffles from scratch before, but I think they're kind of boring on their own. So I made three different kinds. Regular, chocolate chip, and brown sugar-cinnamon. The brown sugar-cinnamon were my favorite, but the boys liked the chocolate chips ones. The recipe below is just the regular waffle recipe, but if you want to make variations, it's really easy.

adapted from allrecipes

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp white sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy, then whisk in all the other ingredients until smooth. Then just throw a spoonful into a (preheated) waffle iron and cook until golden brown! Depending on your waffle iron, you may have to grease it or flip it, so look in the instruction manual for more specific instructions.

Brown sugar-cinnamon: After mixing the normal recipe, add about a 2 Tbsp brown sugar and a generous dash of cinnamon. Mix well and prepare normally.

Chocolate chips: Mix as many chocoalte chips as you want into the batter and grease the waffle iron well. The chocolate chips will melt onto the iron, but you want to be able to scrape them off easily between batches.

Enjoy!

XOXO

Natalie

Shloppy joes

Today I have another semi-recipe for you. That is, I was making it up as I go along and not measuring, so it's not really a recipe but a list of suggested ingredients. Other than the beef and onion, all the measurements are guesstimations. So here ya go everybody! Sloppy Joes!

I made 'em extra Shhhhhloppy for ya!!

(Anyone who can name that movie gets 10 bonus points)

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2-3/4 cup ketcup

1-2 Tbsp seasoning blend (whatever you favorite one is)

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp A-1

First cook the onions over med-high heat until softened then add the ground beef. When the beef is about halfway browned, add the seasoning blend and stir. When the meat is fully browned, add everything else. Cook for about 5 minutes, adding more ketchup and seasoning if needed.

We decided that a pound of beef wasn't enough for all of us, so we added a couple of cut up chicken-apple sausages as well. If you want to add other veggies I'm sure that would be awesome too, but we didn't have any other veggies.

Serve it up in a sandwich or a tortilla and you got sloppy joes!
XOXO
Natalie

I'm a mad scientist

For those of you that are on facebook you may have seen me ranting about my oven the other day. I. Hate. My. Oven. It's like 50 years old, doesn't cook evenly, one of the burners never works, and when the ovens on, two of the burners don't work. that's like a recipe for disaster. On Saturday I had a lot of free time so I wanted to bake something. I decided on chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting but I never got to eat them! Because my oven destroyed them. I double checked the recipe, I didn't over mix (if anything, I under mixed), but still. They sunk. Here's a picture of the spectacular fail.

So hopefully the fix-it people will be coming by and fixing it. Or better yet, replacing it.Now since I had failed so much with the cupcakes, I wanted to make something else that would be awesome. So I put a bunch of ingredients from the pantry, fridge, and freezer on the counter.

Then Dan and Dominick helped me decide what we should and shouldn't use. In the end, I made three different rice dishes. It was super multicultural! Asian, Mexican, and Italian.First I made rice in the rice cooker using a can of chicken broth and a packet of onion soup mix for seasoning. When the rice was done I let it cool in the freezer so that it would be easier to fry.For the Asian rice I fried the rice in butter and added green beans and corn, ground ginger, and Siracha hot sauce.

For the mexican rice, I fried the rice with pico de gallo and taco seasoning then put shredded cheese on top.

For the Italian rice, I made tomato sauce with lots of herbs and spices then added the rice.

Overall I thought this turned out pretty well! My favorite was the Asian rice (the ginger was awesome in it) but the boys liked the Mexican and Italian rice better. They're not much for vegetables.

Sorry I don't have recipes for them, I was kind of improvising. But you can totally make these too! Just season them similarly to your taste.

XOXO

Natalie

"mexican" chicken pasta

So this week I made something called Mexican chicken pasta. Mexican? not really. good? yes!

Sadly, I don't have any decent pictures for this recipe so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like.

here we gooooo!

adapted from pioneer woman

1 lb pasta

3 chicken breasts, cut into cubes

1-2 bell peppers

1 onion, sliced

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 tomatoes

1 cup cream

2 cups chicken broth

2-3 Tbsp taco seasonings

1 Tbsp chili powder

olive oil

salt and pepper

Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water and when it is done, set aside. In a bowl, coat the chicken with 1-2 Tbsp taco seasoning and 1/2 Tbsp chili powder. (This is the only Mexican part of this dish. Taco seasoning.) In a big skillet heat a bit of olive oil to cook the chicken in. Dump the chicken into the skillet and cook until it is done. You might want to cut a few pieces in half to see if it's cooked through. After it's done, set the chicken aside. In the same skillet, add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Season with the rest of the seasonings and cook on high heat until the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for another minute and set aside. With the pan still on high heat, deglaze the pan with chicken broth. If you're using a non-stick pan, this step isn't necessary, just pour the broth in. After the chicken broth is hot, add the heavy cream. Now this is where I messed up because I was too impatient. Let the broth and cream cook for a while and thicken. I didn't let it cook long enough and I ended up with a soupy sauce. Please forgive me for my stupidity. After the sauce has thickened, season with salt and pepper and add the chicken, veggies, and pasta. Cook together for a few minutes until they are all warm. Eat up! yumyumyum!

XOXO

Natalie

Not a pie

So a couple nights ago I made shepherd's pie for dinner. Shepherd's pie is really really good, but I have one problem with it. The name makes no sense!

1. It is not a pie. it is ground beef with potatoes on top.

2. Shepherd? there is no sheep or lamp in this pie.

3. Shepherds would not have the time to make shepherd's pie. takes too long for someone who stands in a field all day.

So therefor, shepherd's pie makes no sense at all. But I like eating it, so that's ok.

2 large potatoes, peeled

1/2 cup milk

1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 lb ground beef

1 tsp dried oregano

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

4 tsp flour

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/4 cup white wine (or beef stock if you don't want to use wine)

1/2 cup beef stock

1 cup green peas

Boil the potatoes until they are soft, about half an hour. Drain and mash them with the milk 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 Tbsp butter , then set them aside for later.

While the potatoes are boiling, melt the remaining butter in a big skillet. Add the garlic and beef and cook until the beef is very brown.

Season with the oregano, parsley, and Worcestershire. Sprinkle 2 tsp flour on top and stir to thoroughly coat the meat. Cook for another five minutes. Take the meat out of the pan and set aside. Dump the remaining grease out because that stuff is icky. Add the onion and carrot and cook for about five minutes, or until soft. Add 2 tsp flour, wine, and broth.

Stir and let cook for a few minutes to thicken. Then add the meat and peas.

Pour the entire mixture into a buttered baking dish and spread the potatoes on top. Be gentle, because the meat will try and escape if you spread the potatoes too roughly. Bake, uncovered, for 40 min at 350F. YUM!

XOXO

Natalie

granola

I would like to announce something awesome. Last week I went to the dining hall for lunch and was annoyed, but not surprised, to find that there was nothing for me to eat. I approached one of the managers, hoping that I had missed-read the ingredient labels. Unfortunately, I had been right. No gluten free food! GRR! He offered to make me a quesedilla, but I told him that I couldn't eat their tortillas. He informed me that they had gotten new tortillas that were both gluten free and nut free! So he made me a cheese quesedilla, which was amazingly delicious, and I was giddy with excitement. What can be better than a gluten free quesedilla at an otherwise unhelpful dining hall? But then...the next day...it got even better! I went to the dinner service the next day, and they had signs up saying: gluten free brown rice and the main course was gluten free by coincidence. I was ecstatic! I love it when that happens. They also had a pasta bar, but I didn't even look there, cause that would be silly. But then I went over to the soups and had to do a double take: gluten free turkey noodle soup. WHAT WHAT?! I beg your pardon!? Well I just had to eat everything. So I grabbed servings of all that gluten free stuff and sat down. Then Dan said: "what, no gluten free pasta? You saw it right?" WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAAAT? I shouted a couple of expletives out of pure joy and ran back to the food. I probably cut a couple of people in line, but I don't care. I was a woman on a mission. I got like two plate fulls of the pasta and it was mmmmmmmm tasty. I was so happy I nearly started crying. I thanked like every dining hall employee I saw. One of the managers informed me that they just hired a new chef who has done gluten free cooking before and they're overhauling their labeling system. I am sosososososososososo happy with this. I have been trying for the longest time to make the dining halls better for students like me, and it seems that all my whining has paid off. And I couldn't be happier. Let's hope they keep it up!

On to the food! Because of the awesome combo of gluten and nut allergies, I never get to eat granola. ever. I think I ate a chewy bar once, but I really shouldn't have. Anyway, I found this recipe for cinnamon granola that is gluten and nut free and it is really tasty. I'm looking forward to eating it with yogurt for breakfast tomorrow! Note: oats have been determined to be safe for SOME celiacs. Depending on your sensitivity, they may not be safe. I have eaten oats plenty of times and never had a problem, but I know that some celiacs choose to avoid oats. Please, use your own judgment if you are gluten-free.

4 cups oats

1 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

raisins or other dried fruits/nuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Then, in a large bowl, combine the oats and coconut.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, oil, honey, and cinnamon. Heat it over med heat until it boils. Stir it while it's cooking because you want the ingredients to blend into a syrup. After it comes to a boil, take it off the heat and mix in the vanilla.

Then pour the whole mixture into the bowl with the coconut and oats. Mix it up really well so that there are no dry oats of coconuts. Then spread the granola out onto a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. I stirred it after about ten minutes and then left it in for another five. After the granola has cooled, stir in whatever dried fruit or nuts you are adding. I just added raisins, but you could really add anything you want.

This granola isn't clumpy, it's more flakey. If you prefer clumpy granola, change the amount of honey and oil to 1/3 cup.

XOXO

Natalie

carrot cake

So my next easter recipe is by far my favorite. Carrot cake! I had actually never had carrot cake before this year. As a kid, I had never wanted to try it because who the heck would want to eat vegetables for dessert? But then I got diagnosed with celiac and never had the chance to try it. But now that I know how to cook, I can make all sorts of things! This carrot cake is ridiculous. Sooooo good. I just...I can't even...I ate like five pieces. That's how awesome it is. So you should all make it!

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups carrots

1 cup chopped pecans (optional. I left them out obviously)

frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease/flour your cake pan. This recipe is originally meant for a 9x13" pan, but I halved it and used a small square pan. In a big bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. then mix in the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Then gently fold in the carrots and pecans, if you are using them.

Pour it into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until it is cooked through. (check it with a toothpick) After it has cooled for at least 10 minutes, carefully turn it onto a plate to finish cooling.

While it's cooling, you can make the frosting. Beat all the ingredients together until it's formed a smooth frosting. Before you frost the cake, you should definitely lick the spoon. Gently frost the cake being careful not to tear the top of the cake. The slice and eat up!

XOXO

Natalie

scalloped potatoes

So the other main dish I made for easter was scalloped potatoes. I love scalloped potatoes, and in fact, I don't think I know anybody who doesn't like them. They're delicious. What could be better than potatoes in cream sauce? nothing, that's what. I also made mashed potatoes because Andy begged for them, and you can find that recipe here. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it seemed like everyone really liked it. So, here's how to make scalloped potatoes!

1/3 cup chopped onions (about one small onion)

5 Tbsp butter

5 Tbsp flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

5 cups milk

6 cups thinly sliced potatoes

Preheat the oven to 350F and peel/slice the potatoes. Then in a sauce pan melt the butter. Add the onions to the butter and cook over med-high heat until the onions have softened slightly. Then add the flour, salt, and pepper and stir it continuously. We're making a roux again!

keep stirring until the mixture is thick then add the milk. Bring it to a boil, stirring every now and then.

In a 9x13" baking pan, layer half the potatoes in the bottom. Then pour half of the mixture on top. Then do it again!

The dish will be really full, so please be careful not to spill on yourself. Bake, uncovered, for 60-70 minutes. The top should be golden brown and crispy and the potatoes will be tender.

Eat up!

XOXO

Natalie

Easter Brisket

Hope everyone had a happy easter! I know I had a crazy one! I basically spent the whole day cooking, but hey, I'm totally ok with that. I wanted to make a nice easter dinner for my roomies, so we had beef brisket, scalloped potatoes (and mashed potatoes cause Andy begged me to make them), and carrot cake. Well those are the things I made anyway, we also had dinner rolls but I just got those from a can. *shame* I'll be posting all those recipes this week, but I thought I'd start off with the main course: beef brisket. This is pioneer woman's recipe for brisket and it is the most ridiculously easy thing I could imagine. So here's how you do it!

1 5-8 lb brisket, with the fat mostly trimmed

1 22 oz bottle of ketchup

1 packet of onion soup mix

So this isn't something you can just do in a day. I almost didn't get to make this cause I forgot about marinating it. Luckily I happened to look at the recipe the night before! This needs to marinate for at least 12 hours, so you can do it right before you go to bed and then put it in the oven in the morning. So first you need to trim the brisket. Ours was trimmed on one side but the other

side was ridiculously fatty. So I got Dan to help me cut it all off. At one point he just started tearing chunks off!

While you get someone else to do that for you, you can make the marinade. Just dump that bottle of ketchup into a bowl, and mix in the onion soup mix. Add about a cup of water to thin it out a bit and stir it all up. Once the meat is trimmed, but it in a 9X13 baking dish and pour the marinade on top. Tightly cover it with foil and put it in the fridge.

When you want to actually start making it, just preheat the oven to 275F and, once it's hot, put the covered brisket in. That easy! It should cook for 6-8 hours depending on how big it is. Mine cooked for 7, but it could have easily gone another hour. After 3 hours, take it out of the oven and flip it over.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL! there is a lot of liquid in the pan and it hasn't all cooked down yet. While trying to put it back in the oven I sloshed some all over my leg. Luckily I had the good sense to put the brisket down instead of throwing it, and then running into the shower. So my leg didn't burn that bad at all, but seriously! It hurt! So don't make the same mistake I did! Bt on the plus side, it also got me the nickname easter burney. which I thought was pretty awesome.

Anyway, after another three hours check on it to see if it's done. Just take two forks and try and pull the meat apart, if it resists at all, then it's not done. Put it back for another hour. After 7 hours, the meat was falling apart when I tested it, which is awesome. Also, after that long in the oven, all the liquid will be soaked up and the pan will look like a bomb went off. Don't worry about it. Cause dinner will be tasty. Transfer the meat to a cutting board and cut it into strips against the grain. Then serve it up! omnomnom!

XOXO

Natalie

Choco-chip cookie bars!

So I've been trying and trying to get that video posted, but it just isn't working! I'm going to try it on a bunch of different computers and see if that will help. So keep your fingers crossed, y'all!

Anyway, yesterday I made chocolate chip cookie bars. omnomnom! I didn't make them gluten free because that would completely go against eating healthy. But the boys loved em, and I'm sure you will too!

2 1/8 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325F. In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking soda and set it aside. In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until they are all combined. Then add the eggs and vanilla. Once those are all mixed together, slowly fold the flour into the liquid mixture.

Stir it together until it forms a mass of cookie dough. Please try not to eat it all at once, you want to save it for baking. Then add in the chocolate chips and try and get them evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.

Line a 9x13 baking pan with foil and spray the foil with non stick cooking spray. Scoop the cookie dough into the baking pan and spread it flat. Here's how Dan described it: "Use it like the smudge tool in photoshop. Don't start from the edges, start from the inside where it's thickest and go out." I promptly called him a nerd and followed his instructions. I suggest you do the same.

Bake it for 25-30 minutes (I think mine was done at 28) until golden brown and cooked through.

Let it cool a bit and then take them out of the baking pan and let them cool more on the counter. When they've cooled, cut it into squares and eat em up!

XOXO

Natalie