Easter = Eggs

And therefore, Easter = YUM!

I remember finding out when I was in college that most people think of eggs as a breakfast or brunch food. Ha! At my house growing up, eggs were almost always cooked as an easy, protein-rich dinner for little ole picky vegetarian me :-) Which is why I was delighted to get today's email blast from Sara Kate over at Kitchn (a WONDERFUL foodie blog that I believe was sent my way by Emily, perhaps via the other Ms. Bartram?). These ten recipes for making eggs for dinner all look tasty, but the artichoke, ricotta, kale pie looks particularly delicious. So good that I might just be tempted to run to the groceria after work to make this tonight while baking Easter cookies...

Eggs for dinner

Classic

What do these ingredients make?

Those ingredients make one of the best-est deserts ever! Rice Krispie Treats! I believe the other altos who contribute to this blog have a love of these treats and may add their own insight.

I used Target products, but if you must, you can use the Kellogs cereal, and Jet Puffed Marshmallows (btw, Erin and Allie that must be pronouced the way Mrs. Williams did for spelling class).


1/4 cup butter (or half a stick)
1 10 oz package of marshmallows or 4 cups of the mini ones
6 1/2 cups of crispy rice
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Grease a 9X13 pan with Pam.
2. Melt that butter and marshmallows in a medium sauce pan. Stir once it really starts to melt. When the butter and marshmallows have gotten nice and gooey, stir in the vanilla.
3. Add the cereal a cup at a time. I think all at once would be hard to manage. Then pour and press the mixture into the greased pan. Let the bars cool and cut them. Or don't wait for the mixture to cool and eat it off the spoon, whichever works.

These are supposed to be for an event tomorrow night, but I hope they make it that far. At least they are quick to make in case they don't make it past tonight.

At least it isn't snowing...

I don't care that I had just put on a sweater and was preparing to walk through chilling rain on my way to work - I ate an Edy's pomegranate popsicle with breakfast this morning. Which got me to thinking: it's *almost* jello pop season and I don't actually OWN popsicle molds! I might just need to order me some after this coming long weekend's trip to NOLA (where it will be 80 degrees and sunny, totally justifying the indulgence of frozen treats at whatever time pleases me).

I might also have some extra motivation to find one of the two slushie makers likely still stashed in my mom's attic as we clean through the clutter the following week. Would it be wrong to add a splash of vodka to the syrup drizzled over ice shaved in Barbie's giant pineapple tiki bar set? Gosh I can't wait to make the final shift away from winter weather to catch up with spring/summer time foods!

I Miss Walking to Happy Hours...

...but I can't wait to see what Hartford has to offer by way of summer happy hours! Until then, I read about social boozy spaces.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41978100/ns/travel-business_travel/

Hipsterized dinner

Homemade cream of asparagus soup, grilled cheese on pumpernickel, and a glass of wine.

Altos eat classy.

Spinach Strata

Over the summer I first ventured into the land of fritattas and stratas, but I think we hit the peak this past Friday. Right now, during Lent, vegetarian meals on Friday nights can sometimes get boring, especially when we have the same four vegetarian options for the entire season of Lent. So I've been pushing a bit for different and perhaps, new meals. So it all started with Mom's new issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food (which is a v. good magazine, I highly recommend it). In the March issue there is a recipe for a Swiss Chard Strada. We also went online and found a Spinach Strata recipe and kind of combined and made substitutions. Now, we made a few changes, but you'll see.

First the ingredients:
1 day old baguette
7 or 8 eggs ( yes, I know it sounds like a lot, but you don't eat all the eggs yourself)
2 3/4 cups of milk (skim worked fine for us)
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 bunches of baby spinach
6 oz of Gruyere cheese, shredded
nutmeg
couple of cloves of garlic


Spray a 9X13 glass pan or a dutch oven/casserole dish that is deep enough with Pam.
Okay, first you want to clean the spinach and then sautee it in garlic and olive oil, just until it wilts. Set it aside in a bowl.
Cut up the baguette into small pieces. Shred the cheese, preferably in a Cuisinart, unless you are really careful and can use a box grater. Me and my knuckles do not get along with box graters.
Arrange some of the pieces of bagguette on the bottom of the pan. Spread a layer of cheese, then artfully place some spinach over the cheese layer. Season with salt and pepper, as well as a few pinches of nutmeg. Put down more bread, then cheese, then spinach, salt and pepper and nutmeg. Continue in this fashion until all of the bread, cheese and spinach is used. End with just cheese on the top. When we made ours, the baguette peaked through the cheese, and that is a good thing because once it gets cooked it is crunchy and yummy.
Then in a separate bowl beat the eggs and milk together. Pour the egg/milk mixture over the pre-arranged bread/cheese/spinach. Don't worry if the milk and eggs do not come up very high and cover all of the bread.
Then put some Saran wrap over the dish and put it in the refrigerator to sit for a while. The Martha version of the recipe said to put it in the fridge for 10 minutes. However, the Epicurious recipe called for an overnight soak, which is what we followed.
After you have let the casserole soak up some of the egg and milk mixture, take it out of the fridge and let it stand for 30 minutes and preheat your oven to 350. Bake the dish for 45-55 minutes or until it gets puffy and golden on the top.

It was yummy. I promise. I wish I had a picture of it, but you're just going to have to believe me when I say it was good. I also recommend not taking a huge piece because between the cheese, eggs and milk, you have quite a bit of protein. This dish was a really nice, flavorful, and very filling dish, which really switched up the boredom that comes with Lenten meals. Enjoy!

Spargel-fry

I have always dreamed of being the Spargelfrau. Spargelfräulein, I suppose. Asparagus is one vegetable I never get tired of. Usually, roasting it or blanching it is just fine, but I've been craving stir-fry lately, because it's just so clean - right, Em?

So I started with some chicken and mushrooms (yes, Alex, I'm using the teflon-death-pan, because I didn't want to wash the other one). Mushrooms should, of course, be sliced using a hard-boiled-egg slicer. Because it's fun.

Fsssss. Frozen shelled edamame into the pan. How much protein, Sars?

A tasty generic brown sauce with splashes of soy, oyster, lemon juice, and an unintentionally large squeeze of sriracha. It made my nose run.

A tasty spring stir fry with mushrooms, chicken, edamame, sprouts and asparagus. It looked terribly green in my bowl, and I wish the photo did it justice. Not really Chinese and certainly not German, but most definitely tasty.

Edited to add that I further ruined any authenticity by having a piece of Italian bread with butter along with my stir fry.

Alto-y Banter

Typical :-) 

Erin: This is pure awesome on a stick, ~los - you are the best. I can't wait to see all of our culinary adventures/disasters :)

Rhianyn: Erin- you are in charge of adding the "awesome stick" recipe =] Cause I'm wondering what kind of stick would you use? It's holding the awesome so it IS an important ingredient. Is it a popsicle stick, or a toothpick? Or is a stick stick you have to carefully select, and inspect like when roasting 'mallows. Would substituting cabob sticks (cause ew stick sticks!) compromise the awesome?

Reason #232142123 it's good to be an adult

When you want a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast, you have a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast.

Best Blueberry Muffins

Another recipe I made today - blueberry muffins with streusel topping. These are really delicious, and Tom has been known to eat an entire batch (12 muffins) in a day!

Ingredients:



Muffin:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Streusel:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tin with muffin papers
• Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture
• Combine egg, milk, and oil; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened (important - do not overmix, or the muffins will be tough)
• Combine blueberries, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 tablespoon sugar, tossing gently to coat. Fold blueberry mixture into batter
• Spoon batter into lined muffin pans, filling two-thirds full
• Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon; cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter
• Bake for 18 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans immediately
• Yield: 12 muffins