Easy peesy egg cups

I stumbled across a FANTASTIC idea for breakfast... especially when you have lots of guests and wrapping paper is flying and tummies are rumbling!!!

If you want to have this with a nice piece of crusty bread, it works... with a lovely hash brown potato and bacon... fresh fruit....it works....hurray!!!!!
Experiment with all your own thoughts and ideas.. life is FULL of possibilities!

Happy Holidays!!!!

I made this after thanksgiving and re-purposed the mashed potato to become "hash browns" and enjoyed left over corn pudding!

Ingredients

1 cup cake tin (Serves 12)
 Eggs ( usually 2 per person....)
Ham/Bologna/Turkey/ Lox...... 1 slice per cup cake cup
Shredded cheese of ANY kind
Salt
Pepper
butter to lightly coat the cupcake tin


Prepare


* Turn oven on to 350
* Lightly butter tin cups
* Place 1 piece if said meat in cupcake tin
*Break egg into the tin on top of the meat
* Add a sprinkle of cheese, salt and pepper
* Bake for 15 minutes

Serve with a variety things! Potatoes, Fruit, Hash browns, toast!!!! Add Salsa, Hot Sauce, Holindaise......

Zeppole's/Pizza Frites are little bites of heaven!

At this time of year the family comes together and our food bill goes crazy!
I have a family that LOVES to eat, and I, in turn,am fed by feeding them.
Now hear me clearly...I am not adverse to a restaurant or fast food, if and when the occasion deems... but the expressions and countenance that my friends and family have when they realise I have taken the time to make something fresh, and on some occasions by scratch, are what make me most happy and content.
People feel SO loved.
My goal with this web site is always to encourage people to eat like kings on a budget that doesn't cost like one.
This next recipe is great for this time of year when people are over and needing something to pop in their mouths and also a fantastic substitute for doughnuts.

I hope you all enjoy them!

Makes 3 dozen


Ingredients

1 large, fresh pizza dough (enough to make 2 large pizza's)
3 Cups of vegetable oil
4 cups of granulated sugar
2 Cups of Powdered sugar
Paper Bag

Prepare

Fresh Pizza dough made with my bread maker

Logs and cutting them into small sizes to be rolled

Golden Brown

* Take your dough, either homemade or store bought, and cut it into 4 long logs
* Heat your oil up to a very hot temperature, like 375 degrees
* Put your sugar into a brown paper bag
* Roll the pizza dough into balls
* Add your dough into the hot oil and fry until golden brown
* Drain them either on a rack like the one shown above or on paper towels
* Add the balls to the brown bag of sugar and shake them around until coated


Enjoy these hot!!!!!!

PIZZA DOUGH IS EASY TO MAKE IN A BREAD MAKER AND CAN ALSO BE FROZEN FOR FUTURE USES!

Manicotti with Rosemary infused Marinara

My dear mother in law introduced me to the Italian tradition of having a pasta dish at Christmas time BEFORE the main dish.. !!! To most of us it seems insane, but as I have birthed most of my sons with this understanding, I too have taken on this lovely tradition and simply expect it to take many hours to finish a meal at holiday time!!
My kids were trying to decide ravioli or Manicotti, and since I purchased the ricotta in bulk at a wonderful local shop, I had to use it and made Manicotti a few days later and took a few trays with me to California for New Years celebrations in 2010 to try to help my wonderful cousin with all of the cooking she does when we are there.

I recently planted fresh rosemary in my garden and felt like using it for the sauce, hence the name.... Easy, cheap, of course a bit time consuming, but well worth the effort!!! And can be frozen if you make extras!

Thank you Char for letting me post this!!
xxoo



Serves 12


Ingredients


10 Large Eggs
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 Tsp of Sea Salt
2 1/2 cups water
2 medium cans of diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
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0onion finely diced
5 cloves of minced garlic
3 fresh spriggs of rosemary
olive oil
Italian seasoning
1/2 cup red wine ( what ever you would drink)
Sea Salt
Fresh cracked pepper
A handful of fresh Basil
Fresh oregano
12 oz fresh ricotta cheese
4 oz shredded mozzerella
1 cup thickly grated parmesean cheese
Garlic bread
Mixed salad


Prepare

 Cheese
* Put your ricotta, mozzarella and 2 tsp of Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste into a bowl and mix it and put in fridge

 Sauce
*In a medium sized pot add a splash of olive oil and add your onion and garlic, cook until soft over medium heat
* Add your diced tomatoes and tomato paste, stir
* Add your wine and stir
* Add your fresh rosemary , oregano and salt and pepper
* Turn heat down to simmer and cook until the Manicotti is ready to be assembled

 Crepes
*Whisk together in a mixer or by hand your eggs, flour, salt and slowly add your water alittle at a time until the mixture is smooth
* Get a small pan and put on high heat with a little butter in the pan
* Add about 1/8 of a cup of your mixture and swirl around to create a crepe

* When it bubbles like a pancake, flip it
* Place on a plate after other side is cooked, repeat until mixture is gone adding butter to your pan every other crepe


*Turn oven on to 325 degrees
* Prepare 2 long baking dishes by adding a small amount of sauce to the bottom
* Assemble your Manicotti by adding about 2 1/2 Tbs of ricotta mixture to a crepe, roll it and place into baking dish

 

* Carry on this way until you finish your crepes, you should have about 24

* Cover with sauce and bake about 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly

* Serve with a sprinkling of parmesean cheese, garlic bread and a simple salad

*You can freeze extras simply by letting the Manicotti cool to room temp and then cover with foil and freeze, removing the day before you want to eat and defrosting in the fridge over night..

Can also be a starter to a meat meal!!! 

Wine Suggestion- Zweigelt

Tom's Spicy Jam Recipe

My friend Tom from Bristol, England was kind enough to share his Chili Jam recipe.

I thought it would be the perfect time of year to share it again with you all, as it makes a LOVELY present. You can use it with roasted meats, or with a lovely cheddar cheese and glass of beer or wine for a holiday party..

Like an elegant preserve or chutney, you will be thrilled to give these away or serve them for friends and family!

*Use the conversion chart on the right of the web site for the measurements if you need to.

Use 2lb "Kilner" Style Jars

 Ingredients

2 x 400g tin chopped organic tomatoes
6-8 bird eye chillies (strong)
4 garlic cloves peeled
7cm piece fresh ginger peeled chopped (feel free to use more)
1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
120ml red wine vinegar
375g soft light brown sugar  (must be soft)
12-20 cardamom pods - split them, remove the seeds and discard the husks. Crush the seeds
70g raisins

Prepare
*Put 1 can of tomatoes, chili, garlic, ginger and soy sauce in food processor, blend till smooth.
*Place tomato mix in a big, very thick, non stick pan over medium heat and add vinegar, sugar, cardamom and raisins.
*Bring to boil and add last can chopped toms.
*Turn down heat and simmer for 45-55 mins. Or until thickened to a chutney surprisingly!
(Should keep indefinitely.)
*Warm the jars (very clean) and then add the jam hot, with a jam funnel, putting the lids on before it gets the chance to cool - this is what keeps it sterile.

"Bear in mind, nothing gives burns as nasty as hot jam does, and when you stir the bottom of the pan, it will all bubble up, so be careful. I invested in a splatter guard (like a flat sieve) to cover the top of my pan, otherwise you spend a day scrubbing jam off all the surfaces in your kitchen. But trust me, it's worth it!!"

Enjoy!
Tom

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

The very first cake I learned to make as a girl was a Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I loved the caramelized sugar topping and the tartness of the Pineapple...
I came across a Cranberry Upside Down Cake recipe but for some reason it didn't come out very well, so I went back to my good old recipe for the Pineapple version.... modified it a tiny bit, and it came out perfectly!!
I figured it would be a lovely holiday recipe to have during the season of lots of friends and family coming around. I love to hear your stories so please send them to me!

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter and 1/3 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
12 oz package of fresh cranberries ( substitute 1 can of drained pineapple slices for pineapple  version)
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large or 2 medium eggs
Heavy Cream for whipping


Prepare

*Heat oven to 350 degrees
* In a cast iron skillet put 1/4 cup butter to melt on medium heat
* Add the brown sugar to the butter and let it melt, be careful not to burn it!
* In a bowl add the flour, salt and baking powder
* In a mixer add the butter, sugar and egg and whisk until creamy
* Slowly add the flour mixture
* At the end add the milk and with a spoon finish mixing together
* Add the mixture to the cast iron pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes
* Get your cake plate and when the cake is done cooking place the cake plate over the cast iron pan and flip it over
* I like to serve this with fresh whipped cream and while it is still warm..

Wine Suggestion- Sparkling Rose

 AND FROM MY FRIEND HEIDI ..A GLUTEN FREE VERSION:

Heidi Kalous wrote
at 3:51pm on December 28th, 2009

OK, here is the gluten free version...I used the same recipe but instead of regular flour I used a gluten free flour made for baking. (Gultenfreecreations.com has a good one) When I added the gluten free flour I also added the milk and then used my mixer to beat until smooth. Gluten free flour is really fine and it did not mix well without adding the milk at the same time. Everything else is the same as the original recipe.
It turned out awesome!