Green Eggs & Ham

Actually, they are deviled eggs made with avocado and topped with proschiutto crisps. Happy Easter everyone!

Skillet-Baked Eggs Courtesy of Bon Appetit

There are things I love about breakfast--and when I say "things" I mostly mean bacon. However, there is nothing better than a perfectly cooked egg.  Egg do not need to be a breakfast only food though. I made this recipe as a salad/appetizer and also as breakfast with the eggs served over sourdough English muffins. This recipe truly takes the egg to a place that I did not know it could go. There are so many different flavors that all just work together perfectly--leeks, lemon, and some spicy red pepper, oh and the egg! I loved how the yolks were hot, but not completely set. I also loved how my dish looked kind of like the picture from Bon Appetite.

Since I did not alter the recipe, I will just link to it. If you make this recipe, I would recommend only eating one egg as this dish is incredibly rich. It also holds up in the fridge overnight rather well. Enjoy!

Healthy Loaded Nachos

Did I just say “healthy” and “loaded” in the title of this post? How can that be? These nachos are loaded with toppings and are not bad for you if you keep the cheese to a minimum and use ground turkey. This recipe can either be a late night snack after a night out, an appetizer to share, or maybe even dinner. It is based off of Rocco’s recipe in this cook book, but  I departed from it quite a bit—I could not find black bean dip, so I just decided I would use whatever I wanted for the nacho toppings.  I did try to make it healthy and I have to admit they tasted great.  I loved that each little “scoop” was already loaded with nacho filling.  I absolutely hate when you get to the bottom of a nacho plate and there are a bunch of dry chips with no toppings left.  This recipe solves that problem!

Ingredients

2-3 handfuls of multi-grain Tostitos “Scoop” tortilla chips (I just covered a baking sheet)

8 oz ground turkey

½ packet of taco seasoning (cook turkey according to instructions on back)

1 cup of black bean & corn salsa (or whatever salsa you like)

½ cup black beans

1/3 cup chopped jalapenos (I used ones from the jar)

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt

1)      Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.

2)      In a frying pan, heat ground turkey, following the instructions on the back of the taco seasoning packet (don’t forget to ½ the amount of water since you are using ½ the seasoning). In the meantime, take your scoop chips and place them on the baking sheet with the flat side down, so you can easily fill the scoops with nacho fillings

3)  Once the turkey is done, add the salsa, black beans, and jalapenos and simmer until bubbling. Let cool slightly and then scoop the mixture into the scoops.

4)  Sprinkle each scoop with a bit of cheese.  Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for 6 minutes. Let cook a bit and then dip in Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. 

Deviled Eggs--The Appetizer That Will Never Fail You

It is funny the things you inherit from your mother.  For instance, I have to use Dawn dish soap and Tide for my laundry.  If I drink pop, it is Diet Coke and not Diet Pepsi.  I like my coffee black, I refuse to use margarine, and am liberal with the EVOO.  These are all things that I am pretty sure are learned behaviors that I picked up from my mom.  There are two other behaviors that fall in this category--I dislike making appetizers and desserts.  I will make a salad, a side dish or a main course--but ask me to bring an appetizer and the first person I call is my cousin Sarah, who is the appetizer expert. 

However, there is one appetizer that never comes to mind right away and that is deviled eggs.  The recipe below is the most simple version--but be creative with them.  You can add chopped capers, olives of sweet pickles. You can soak the hard boiled eggs in beet juice and bring them to watch the Vikings, who will hopefully win one of these days.  You can add different kinds of mustard and add different herbs.  They are pretty versatile and hey, if you mess them up, at least eggs are cheap.

Ingredients
6 hard boiled eggs (put eggs in pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, remove from heat, let sit for 17 minutes, drain and rinse in cool water)
1/4 cup mayonaise (substitute with Greek yogurt & 1 Tbs. of vinegar)
1-2 Tbs. of chopped green onions
1 tsp. of dijon mustard
paprika
salt & pepper to taste

1) Peel your hard boiled eggs, slice and remove the yolk, scraping it in a small bowl.  Repeat until all eggs are sliced in half.  Place the egg halves on a place.
2) Mix the egg yolk with the mayo, onion, mustard and add salt & pepper to taste.  Mix until creamy.
3) At this point, you can either spoon the mixture into the egg halves (I recommend a baby spoon), use a pastry bag to make it look pretty, or use a ziploc bag with the corner cut off to fill the egg halves.  Distribute evenly between the egg halves and then sprinkle with paprika.