Farm Fresh Eggs & Deviled Egg Salad

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Denise
 
the guys that inspired this post
 

Today we were in the mood for egg salad for lunch.  And egg salad is even more of a treat these days because we are blessed to have a “farm fresh egg” connection!  About twice a month I purchase free range eggs from a close friend of mine.  I can’t tell you how much of a difference it makes to us.  Not just in quality, but also in taste and nutrition!!  I really could go on and on about why this should be important to you, but a quick google search will reveal what would take me hours to get into.  Just trust me on this….it makes a BIG difference. I go into detail on farm fresh eggs and omelette techniques here.

I know where they live….how they’re cared for….and what they eat.  They have a “cushy” life.  Those of us that are blessed to know my friend are rewarded with happy eggs!

Deviled Egg Salad

7 eggs hardboiled* & shelled
2 1/2 T mayo (I can’t wait to try homemade)
2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
squirt yellow mustard
1/4 minced/grated sweet onion
salt, pepper & paprika to taste

*Perfect hardboiled eggs – cover eggs with water and turn on high. When water comes to a boil, cover and turn heat off. Ready in 15-20 minutes. Rinse eggs in cold water and shell. Shell should come off easy with this method.

I then refrigerate eggs while gathering the rest of the ingredients. Separate yolks from whites. Place yolks in medium sized bowl. Mash them and add in mayo, vinegar, dry mustard, yellow mustard, sweet onion, salt, pepper and paprika. In a separate bowl (using egg slicer) I dice egg whites. Then I mix them with salt, pepper and paprika. Mix diced whites with egg yolks and refrigerate. To me the colder egg salad is, the better it tastes. Eat plain, as a sandwich, on crackers or toasted bread squares.

Optional add-ins that I haven’t tried yet:
chopped olives of any kind (spanish or kalamata sound good), chives, basil

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Baby, it’s cold in Florida….Chili time!

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Denise

I’ve been living without a true change of seasons for 20 yrs now.  Some years I miss it, and my girls really want to see snow sometime.  But it seems the longer I live here, the more COLD, cold feels to me!!  This week and for all of next week we are having record breaking lows with a wind chill at least 10 degrees colder.  Right now at almost noon…it is only 43 degrees!  I live in South Florida, so it is rare for weather to get this COLD and STAY this cold!!  I don’t mind…it’s a nice change from all the hot, humid days of summer…I just wish we’d get to see a few snow flurries while we’re at it.

Last night it seemed the perfect night for my chili.  We love chili with a sweet cornbread (what some consider cake), but I didn’t have time to make the cornbread yesterday.  I’ll include both recipes.

Denise’s Chili

1/2 to 1 lb organic ground beef, browned
2 15 oz. cans organic tomato sauce
1 can mexican rotel
3 cans organic kidney beans
2 Tbsp organic tomato paste
2 cups filtered water (or a bit more)
1/4 to 1/2 sweet onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cinammon
1/2 to 3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp sugar (or honey)

Brown ground beef in soup pot.  Drain away some grease, if desired.  Then add tomato sauce, garlic, and all spices.  Add in beans, rotel, tomato paste and water.  Bring to high heat, and then let simmer on low, covered.  I then chop my onions and add them in.  It’s ready within an hour or so…when all flavors have melded together.

It seems I can’t even follow my own recipe without changing it up.  Last night I was out of mexican rotel (which gives the chili some heat), so I added extra chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to the ground beef and mixed it in before adding the rest of the ingredients.  We do not like green peppers, but if you do you can certainly add those in.

We made a pot of spaghetti pasta as some of the kids like to eat their chili over pasta.  Top chili with shredded mexican or cheddar chesese, onions or scallions and sour cream.  Delicious!!!!  I’ll have to check in later to add the cornbread recipe…I have to run a few errands now.

If you enjoyed this post, won’t you consider sharing it with others? Handy share and “Facebook recommend” buttons are below. It really makes my day when you pass things along! To make sure you don’t miss a post or recipe you can either follow Creative Kitchen on Facebook or subscribe by Email in the sidebar. Thanks for reading….I love having company in the kitchen!

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Happy New Year!!!

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Denise

Sorry I’ve been neglecting my blog!!  I sure do miss it here, and can’t wait to get back in the swing of normal cooking and posting recipes!  I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how busy December was, and though I’ve enjoyed all the fun, friends, family and parties….it will be great to get back into a routine. 

My brother and his wife were just here visiting this past weekend.  Friday night we had everyone over to our house.  I made shrimp tacos, black bean tostadas, roasted sweet potatoes, yellow rice and homemade salsa to go with chips.  We played the new Wii Resort Sports and had a blast!  Saturday my husband took them for a boat ride, and then we met up with my parents and we all went over to explore Peanut Island and have a picnic.  It was great spending time together!

We usually have warmer weather this time of year, and I feel bad that they didn’t get more tropical weather while they were here.  I don’t even think they were able to put on their bathing suits.  They assured us that was fine because it is much colder where they live.  Sunday we went to see the sea turtles, did some trail hiking and ended up at the mall to get warm.  We ended the visit by going out on a double date since my mom offered to watch the girls for us.  We went to a mexican restaurant and brought home plenty of leftovers.  Good food, fun times!!

We had a bit of a scare after dinner.  My mom called to let me know there had been a fire at the house.  Everyone was safe, and the fire was contained to the microwave.  My oldest daughter apparently put too much time on for 1 potato and the paper plate caught on fire.  Our microwave seems dead now.  I am so glad no one was hurt, but it sure is a bummer to now have to consider to replace our microwave.  It is an over the range kind, and we’ve only had it a few years….very new!  Ahhhhh……life!

Today I have quite a bit of catching up to do…laundry, bills, groceries, menu planning, and we still need to get all our Christmas decor taken down and put away.  I normally do that on Jan 1st so I definitely feel a bit behind.  I also have to get the van in for an oil change this week.  And my husband has a particularly busy week at work this week, so I’m trying to do as much as I can to lighten his load. 

Now back to food.  I have to make up my Costco grocery list this morning and hope to go when the toddler gets up from her nap.  I have to figure out what we’re having for dinner.  It’s downright frigid for where we live, so I’m thinking maybe chili?  It will definitely be something warm!

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Peppermint Pretzels

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Denise

No matter how healthy I try to eat, the combination of white chocolate, pretzels and peppermint still can’t be beat!!  The sweet, salty and pepperminty taste of these treats cannot be missed at Christmas time.  I’m not even bothered by the fact that I found out there is no such thing as white chocolate.  They still taste great!!  This is such an easy treat to make for the holidays.  I just made some today and hope to make enough goodies to share beyond our homestead….we’ll see how much baking I get done this week.  That is always the determining factor. 

1 package pretzel rods (long ones, break in half)
White bark coating (melted in double boiler)
Crushed candy canes

When white chocolate is melted, use a spatula to coat half a pretzel rod. Roll in crushed candy canes and place on wax papered cookie sheet. After finishing, refrigerate till chocolate has hardened.  Enjoy!!

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Celebrating my hubby….his favorite peanut butter cookies

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Denise

My sweet husband loves all things peanut butter:  butterfingers, reese peanut butter cups, any kind of peanut butter and chocolate combination you can think of.  In helping him to celebrate his birthday this week, I wanted to make him a special cookie.  So I took a peanut butter cookie recipe (shared by an online homeschool mom one Christmas), and jazzed it up with milk chocolate chips.  I never have milk chocolate chips in the house since I love dark chocolate, but hubby picked these up by mistake(?) the other night. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
(aka reese cookies since they taste fairly close to a peanut butter cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Makes 6 dozen.

1 cup butter, melted (or soft)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (I use honey granules)
1 cup brown sugar (I use honey granules)
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 cups flour (I use freshly ground whole wheat)
12 oz. package milk chocolate chips

Cream butter, peanut butter, honey granules, eggs and vanilla till fluffy.  Add in baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.  On lowest setting add in flour just till mixed.  Then add in chips until just mixed.  Roll into 1 inch balls and bake about 13 minutes.  Chill dough between batches.  Let cool on cookie sheet for a couple minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. 

These are so addictive!!  Even to me, and I am not a huge peanut butter cookie fan.  But these came out chewy, chunky and moist.  If you love peanut butter as much as my husband does, then you are in for a real treat!

*I hoped to get pictures of these cookies so held onto this post before publishing…..now 8 days later they are long gone! Oops!!

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