These Eggs!

Let's not dilly-dally! Let's not fuss around with stories and details (well, maybe just a little bit!). Let's just make some eggs! Right?

I love these eggs. LOVE. This, is, hands-down, my favorite egg dish ever. It's so easy. It's so versatile. It makes a perfect breakfast or lunch or brunch or dinner. This is, in fact, the recipe I've been using longer than any other. I can't wait for you to make these eggs.

If there is a food that you want to combine with eggs, put it in! Through the years, I have tried nearly every possible addition, and I'm not sure I could even declare a favorite. Every time I make this egg casserole, I say, this is the best egg casserole ever.

Spring is a delicious time to make these eggs. Most recently, I compiled fingerling potatoes, asparagus, green garlic, spring onions, white cheddar cheese, and chives. Mushrooms made it to the top, but not the insides (Andy's out on mushrooms, as we all know). I also love this casserole with cooked sausage as the bottom layer. I've used both ground pork sausage, bacon, and chopped spicy chicken sausage with great success. If there is a cheese you love, put it in! Or put it on top! Or use ten different cheeses! If there is a vegetable you love, put it in! Some of my favorites are spinach, red pepper, asparagus, onion, but I have tried some pretty wacky vegetables that have worked surprisingly well. Go southwest with it, and add pinto beans, corn, plus tomatoes or salsa on top. Go Greek with it and use spinach, feta, and olives. Go diner style and use potatoes, American cheese, and sausage. Go forest-style, and use asparagus, morels, goat cheese, and balsamic on top. Go Denver-omelet style and add onions, peppers, and ham. Agh! Everything is so good in these eggs!

Are you watching this process? The steps are: put things in dish. Put in eggs. Bake. That's it!

Poof! It's done! You will be so happy. I just know it.

Egg Casserole

from the Honest To Goodness Cookbook

serves 4-6, or double it to serve 10-12

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk these four things:

6 eggs

1/3 C half & half

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Grease a pan with butter or oil. I use a 9x9" for a 6-egger, and a 9x13" for the 12-egger. Layer up your bits! I like to add a layer of cheese on the bottom (a hard cheese, like cheddar, usually) and then add vegetables in layers. Pour eggs on top. Alternatively, you can mix the vegetables in with the eggs and pour everything into the pan. It's up to you!

Bake for 30 minutes, or until set and slightly poofy. Add another layer of cheese while it's still hot.

Serve with hot sauce, a little balsamic, or salsa, depending on what sorts of ingredients you put in there. Slices of the egg casserole are also lovely on a sandwich.

Nut Butter Brigade

Here is what happens:

The nut butter aisle lures me in!
But the prices turn me off.

Yet sometimes I fork over eight or nine bucks for a jar!
And I bring it home and end up enormously disappointed.

The layer of oil on the top is natural, I know, but it's disgusting to me.
It sloshes out when I try to stir the nut butter, which is usually so firm
that I give up on the whole stirring thing altogether.

And then the nut butter tastes like nothing but oil!
And it's not worth it! And I feel so sad.

This is why I have developed my own nut butter formula.
Now I am so happy. Let us rejoice, because this stuff is GOOD.

My new favorite variety is an almond butter that has a few basic, yet amazing, additions. The recipe is based on a few nut butter recipes that I've come across this week, so pardon the lack of reference to a specific site.

Alright now! Off you go! Prepare to give your food processor a run for its money. It's gonna get hot, and you'll need to be patient, but you can do it!

Almond Butter 

2 C raw, unsalted almonds
3 oz. freeze dried fruit (I love it with apples or bananas, but any fruit will do)
1/3 C dried unsweetened coconut
1/4 t vanilla bean paste
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon

Roast almonds at 350 degrees in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Watch closely! They should not change color much, but should become slightly fragrant and a bit softer. This should take about 8 minutes, but every oven is different!

Whiz the freeze dried fruit in the food processor until powdery. Add coconut, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla paste and whiz again to combine. Add the almonds and process, stopping to scrape down sides when necessary. The nut butter will look crumbly and NOTHING like nut butter at first, but be patient. Process for about 10-15 minutes, taking breaks when your food processor starts to get too hot to touch. Don't worry about leaving it alone while the device cools down -- this nut butter ain't goin' nowhere!
As you continue to process it, it will get creamier and creamier. Avoid the urge to add liquid, because you don't need it! Keep going, and soon you will have almond butter. Keep in a jar, either in or out of the fridge, depending on your desired consistency and temperature. Never give Whole Foods your nut butter allowance ever again!

Finally.

Winter kicked my ass. It did so with a coy smirk and a sharp-toed boot, and I didn't like it. Not at all. It was long, this winter. It was cold, wet, and miserable for a thousand months, and I have decided to hold a grudge forever. I repeat, FOREVER. Or at least until summer comes and the misery becomes a very murky memory.

But! Today is not winter, as you may have noticed, and I am not as cross as I was for the past seven months. I am starting to thaw out, recover, and put away my boots. Spring isn't a rite of passage around here, you know. It is earned. And now that I have earned it, I am not giving it back, ever!

This past Wednesday marked my return to the farmers market, and today was my second go at it for the season. It is glorious. The earth is actually alive, I have learned, and green things are growing out of it! It's nothing short of a miracle.

I will tell you what I bought: asparagus, leeks, spring onions, spinach, chives, potatoes, basil, irises, radishes, potted herbs for the small & mighty garden, and a corncob with which to make Murray some popcorn. It was all good. Really good. Let's examine the other things that are happening here in my springtime living room: the windows are open, real birds are making real sounds outside, the fan is spinning, a peach candle is blowing its summer-ness around, the sun is shining, the dog is sighing and snoring in the sunlight, those irises are slowly unfurling their petals, the chives' scent is whooshing in from the kitchen, the floors are divinely gritty with sand because we have all spent the entire week galloping along the beach. Everything is leafier and greener and softer and better. 

Spring! It is not on my list of things that I hate about Chicago. Midwesterners would, I suppose, all endure something pretty awful in order to have a true spring like this, and lo and behold, we have! I am really proud of us. We survived! We did it. Finally.

Four Things

But It's Too COLD To Eat