Friday Food Craft: Deviled Eggs

I have another picnic-perfect food craft for you all this Friday, deviled eggs! The sunny days, while a little chilly here, are putting me in the picnic mood! Here is another easy recipe to take with you to a picnic, barbecue, or any other get-together. These can easily be made the night before and stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.




You will need:

6 eggs
1-2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
3 Tablespoons Mayo or Miracle Whip
2 teaspoons sugar
Smoked Paprika to garnish

To start, I use my perfect every time method of hard boiling eggs. Place your eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water and place on the stove top. Heat until the water is boiling, then place a cover on your saucepan and turn off the heat. Let these sit for 12 minutes, then drain and cool. *To prevent the yolks from getting that yucky grey/green outer color you want to cool them quickly. I usually run cold tap water over them, and then add ice into my pan, after about 3 minutes they should be cool when you pick them up to remove the shells.

Remove your egg shells and discard them. If you have very fresh eggs, this can be quite a task, fresh eggs tend to hang on to their shells for dear life--I usually hard boil my eggs after they have been hanging out in the refrigerator for a week or so.

Cut each egg in half and place the cooked yolks into a bowl. At this point, I usually do a little pre-smashing of the yolks to try to keep lumps to a minimum, you could also make your entire filling mixture in a sandwich bag and squeeze any lumps out with your fingers (the bag can be used as a pastry bag for filling your eggs by simply snipping off one corner with a pair of scissors when the filling is done).

Add your mustard, mayo and sugar to your egg yolks (you may also add salt and pepper to taste if you wish, but I have never found it necessary. Use white pepper if you want to avoid black specks in your egg mixture). Mix everything together until smooth and then pipe or spoon into your egg whites. Garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika (you can use regular paprika as well, but the smoked gives it a little something special). Enjoy!

Friday Food Craft: Eggs in a Basket

I know it has been awhile, but I couldn't leave you all without a Friday Food Craft, especially before Easter. Sadly, I returned from my trip to Wisconsin with a horrible head cold and have spent most of my week in bed. More crafty goodness will be coming your way next week, I am feeling quite a bit better today.

Now for the food! This is a great take on "eggs in a basket" that is super easy and would make a great Easter breakfast, or part of a larger brunch. It is baked in the oven, so you don't need to babysit it the whole time and doesn't require any turning. I decided to try it with some left over dinner rolls, I'm always trying to use up everything in the kitchen before it goes bad.

You will need:

Dinner rolls (one for each person)
eggs (same number as dinner rolls)
salt and pepper to taste
cheese (I used both a goat cheese and a small sprinkling of grana padano, any cheese you like will do)

*optional additions: tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs, hot sauce, etc.

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Next, slice the tops off of your dinner rolls. I cut off about the top 1/3 of my dinner roll, to leave ample space for an egg in the bottom. Set the tops aside and hollow out the bottoms of your "bread bowls" enough to hold one egg (you can leave a little extra bread because some of your egg will soak into it and you don't want a skimpy bowl).

Place your egg bowls onto a baking sheet. Now comes the fun: add your seasonings and toppings to taste. This is great because each person can choose their own toppings to make a special breakfast without a lot of fuss. Also, if you have some people who prefer scrambled eggs, they could scramble theirs before pouring it into the bread bowl.

Bake your eggs for 20-25 minutes, and then place your roll tops onto the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes so they crisp up a bit.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Place the tops back onto each roll and enjoy this delicious breakfast sandwich!

This is a great way to change up the classic eggs in a basket, which generally uses a slice of bread with a hole cut into it. Topping choices are really limitless so you could do this every week and still be having a slightly different breakfast each time. :) I also like that it is baked in the oven so while my sandwiches are baking, I can be making a fruit salad or some hash browns to go with and not risk burning my eggs. Enjoy!