Egg Obssession

For some reason James and I have been on an egg kick lately. Actually, James is always on an egg kick, I just recently joined. Every time I browse recipes I find myself mentally adding a poached egg on top. In fact, I recently coddled an egg for the first time. Stuffed peppers are not a new concept and quite honestly, they have never really excited me. Can you see where this is going? A pepper, a tomato, really any vessel that can adequately bake with an egg inside will do. Look! We hollowed out a pepper and tomato.

Then added a little pesto and dropped in an egg.

Sprinkle with fresh Parmesan and pepper-add bacon (optional).

Bake at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.

Don't overcook it like we did, unless you want the yoke to set completely.
Bon Appetit! More egg recipes coming soon!

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mint Cream

I've never made a souffle, not to mention a souffle cupcake, but this recipe managed to draw me in without an intimidating list of ingredients or massive time consumption. It could have something to do with my new kitchen accessory, an electric beater. Now I can tackle the recipes that require excessive egg beating without breaking a sweat, seriously though, you try making those egg whites stiff using only a whisk and those biceps. This recipe combines the genius of Bon Appetit and Deb.


Cupcakes: (I got almost12)
6 ounces of semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Godiva)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) espresso or instant coffee powder (Yay Starbucks Via!)
3 large eggs, separated
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan. Combine chocolate, butter and espresso powder together in a medium saucepan over low heat until mostly melted, then remove from the heat and whisk until it is fully melted and smooth.

Beat egg yolks (with your new, or old, electric mixer) and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, 2-ish minutes. Lightly beat chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract, into yolk mixture. Clean and dry the beaters, than beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Slowly add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and all of the salt; beat until medium-firm peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 stages. Divide batter among prepared cups, filling each three-fourths of the way.

Bake cakes until tops are puffed with little air bubbles, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan.



Now for lovely compliment to these little chocolate pots, the white chocolate mint cream.
2 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped (again, I used Godiva)
3 ounces heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon mint extract
Maybe I was too liberal with the frosting, but this didn't provide enough cream to frost my cupcakes (that's what she said! Hah! Beat you to it.) so I improvised with just two ounces of whipping cream, two drops of mint extract and a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar. It actually made for a more structured frosting which was aesthetically pleasing. Plus, who doesn't love homemade whipped cream?

Put the chopped white chocolate in a small bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer, pour it over the chocolate allow it to melt the chocolate. Whisk well. Add the mint extract and whisk again. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl and let it chill for two hours.



I loved these while they were still a little warm and gooey in the middle. James gave these a, meh, they're ok. The next day though, after being refrigerated over night, he loved the cool dense chocolate. Go figure.

The Great Meatfest of 2010

Sometimes hamburgers are not enough. When you don't have regular access to a grill, you have to make up for its absence. Hence: The Great Meatfest of 2010. We had cheese stuffed burgers, steak and sausage. Now that it's listed it doesn't sound so grand.

That's better.
Pair that with some of the awesome potatoes (courtesy of Kyle) and grilled asparagus and we were set! Oh, don't forget the beer.
Also, if you haven't tried sandwiching your cheese between the meat, TRY IT. After grilling, it oozes with cheesy perfection

On a side note, do not use cooking spray for photo-ops while grilling pita.

The other side took on a blackish hue...not the appetizing kind, closer to the kind that gets left on the plate because no one wants to touch. Lesson learned.
Oh, and if thought we forgot a meat-themed breakfast, think again.

To answer your question, yes, sausage was indeed added to this dish.

In Other Non-Food News

James and I got to take a couple of quick weekend trips in the last couple of months, all of which involved snow. Lucky for us because Seattle has had nothing on the snow front this winter, not a single flake.
The first stop was Leavenworth, an endearingly overdone Bavarian town 2 hours East of Seattle. We both made our first attempt at cross country skiing. For some of us *coughJAMEScough* it was the last attempt. Could be the amount of time he spent on his ass, just a theory.


Washington DC was definitely a spur of the moment trip, I think the tickets were booked a day and a half before we left. Added bonus: got to see my sister! Fail: didn't take any pictures. Grace and Kevan were wonderful hosts and I was more charmed by the city than I had expected.

Ok, just a little mention of food. It was my first experience in a Dean and Deluca. Oh. My. God. I could have spent hours just looking at all of their overpriced but probably wortheverypennyafterthefirstbite goods.

Cheese anyone?

The last trip was back home to Colorado. Pictures to come. Funny how going home makes you miss your family more. Oh, did I mention I skied? Twice? And even kind of liked it? Yep.