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!

Friday Food Craft: Hotdogtopus!

I am in the great land of Wisconsin with my two adorable little nieces, and what better thing to do for a food craft than Hotdogtopus, the hot dog octopus! This is a super easy way to make meal time fun for the little ones. Honestly, it's about the only reason I would ever want a hot dog, but the kids love 'em. ALso, you have a lot of serving options, and they are easy enough to make that you can do these special for the kids while you have some more adult fare on your own plate.

You will need:

Hot dogs (I prefer the "bun length" as they give you more room to work with)
a sharp knife
pot of boiling water

See? I said it was easy.

Take each hot dog and cut 2/3 into "legs". Just slice in half, turn slice in half, until you have 8 "legs", these do not have to be perfect by any means. Place your hotdogtopus into a pot of boiling water and watch the legs curl up! If you are like me, you can't eat a plain old boiled hot dog, so I arranged my hotdogtopi on a baking sheet with heads up, resting on their legs to brown a tiny bit and crisp up those legs! Finish by making a little face with toothpick pricks, or a knife. These are great served in a sea of mac 'n cheese, or surrounded by tater tot "coral".

Butterfly Collection Pillows!

It has been a very busy week! Lots of working, laundry, packing and gift making for my upcoming trip to Wisconsin to see my family. I'm excited for the trip but I am also exhausted from all the work! Here is the final outcome of my butterfly project from a couple days ago, butterfly collection pillows! These butterflies would make a lot of other great projects as well: tote bags, a sciency looking butterfly pincushion maybe? Some wall art, shadow box, etc. The best part is you only have to sew around the little body shapes so the wings are free to give your project extra dimension.

For the butterfly template I used, check out this post.

I got the original idea for this project at Ruffles and Stuff but I liked a more intricate butterfly, and wanted to use brighter colors.