Savory Breakfast Fritatta

This might just be my new favorite breakfast. It's healthy. It's filling. And it sure is delicious. There also so many choices and I love to have so many options. The main purpose of me making this was for a healthy, filling breakfast the morning of my big science exam because I'm always that one person in the exam room with the stomach that sounds like an angry grizzly bear waiting for food. Soooo instead of eating cereal and milk like I usually do I made the almighty FRITATTA. Can I just say that my stomach only growled once! That's a record! Anyway, I'll shut up so we can get to the recipe(lol).

Ingredients:

• 8 eggs
• 1 cup grated cheese of your choice plus more for sprinkling
• 1 tsp. fresh or dry herbs, minced 
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 of an onion, chopped
• 1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped (the color is your choice, I bought a variety of colors)
• 5-6 mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped kale, chopped
• 2-3 slices of bacon
• Salt & Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large bowl whisk the eggs, cheese, herbs, milk, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. In a cast iron skillet or any oven safe skillet fry the bacon.

4. When the bacon is crispy. Lay it on a paper towel lined plate. Then put the onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, and kale into the bacon fat. Sauté until the veggies look softened.

5. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. The reason I season at the end is because mushrooms are involved. Mushrooms are very watery vegetable so when you season it with salt before it is done cooking, you are drawing the water out. By seasoning it at the end you get nice browned mushrooms.

6. Chop the bacon and add to the pan. Spread the veggies in an even layer across the pan. Then add the egg mixture and stir for a minute or so. This ensure that the veggies are distributed throughout the fritatta not just at the bottom but don't over mix.

7. Sprinkle some cheese on top and let the eggs cook until they are set around the edges.

8. Put the whole pan in the oven. Bake until it looks set on top and it doesn't jiggle when you shake the pan.

9. Let it cool and cut into wedges for a great on-the-go breakfast!

Happy Cooking,

~Pree

Surprise! How to get cake in an egg

Guess what I did over my Easter? You guessed it.

I apologize if the image is a little fuzzy. My DSLR camera ran out of battery in the middle of the recipe and I  can't seem to remember where I placed the charger. I don't really know where my head is these days (lol). This and the pictures toward the end are taken by my iPad.

No this is not magic but it IS a good way to trick your friends and family. In fact this would be pretty good for not only Easter but April Fool's Day too. So let's get started!

* Btw this is an adaption of a recipe I saw on The Cupcake Project blog. All I did was change the cake recipe and dyed the eggs. Here is the link if you want to head over to the blog. It's amazing! http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2011/04/easter-cupcakes-baked-in-real-egg.html

Yield: 12 large egg cakes

Ingredients: 

Dozen jumbo eggs

Dye of your choice

1 tsp. vinegar

Cake recipe of your choice

As you can see the ingredient less is very general. There are so many possibilities!

1. Make a tiny hole on the top of the egg. You want the hole to be big enough to fit a piping tip in it but small enough to actually hold the cake while it bakes. I used the end of a thermometer to poke and widen the hole. Then put the egg upside down and let the contents pour out. ( Don't worry I have a few recipes coming on what to do with all of this left over egg.)

2. Rinse the egg thoroughly inside and out. Fill a large bowl with saltwater and put the eggs in. Make sure to fill the hole with water so the egg will sink.

3. Let them soak for 30 minutes.

4. Lay them on a paper towel to dry. 

5. Choose you dyes. I used pink, blue, purple and orange. Fill the bowls with 1 cup hot water, 1 tsp. vinegar, and 5 drops of your food coloring. You can increase or decrease the amount depending on the color you're going for. I found that the orange bowl needed more coloring because it was the lightest color. This dyeing method was adapted from the Martha Stewart method. 

6. Drop the eggs in the dye and let them sit for about 1 minute each side. I flip them using my fingers. The amount of time you leave them in depends on the color you want. Set on a paper towel. 

7. Next I make the cake. I used boxed mix ( I know it's lazy but this recipe is already kind of long and tedious). This is pretty self explanatory since the directions are on the back of the box except for..... 

SPRINKLESSSSSS!!! Apparently they don't sell funfetti cake mix at my grocery store anymore so I decided to make my own.

8. Put the eggs in a muffin tin so they look like this and stand upright. I teared off pieces of foil tin and positioned them so they helped the egg stand up.

After this step is when my camera battery (sadly) died so I don't have any pictures. 

9. Load your batter into a piping bag with a round tip. ( I will have a post where I teach you guys how to use a piping bag in the future.) Pipe the filling into the egg hole. Widen the hole if you need too. Remember to only fill it up 3/4 of the way or else they will totally overflow.

10. Bake according to the recipe you are following. You may need to shorten the time since the eggs are much small then an actual cake.

And voila! 

I used the leftover batter to make cupcakes. 

Again this was taken by iPad so the picture quality isn't as good.

Happy cooking!

~ Pree

Tofu Parmesan

Ya I said it. Tofu parmesan. Your probably thinking "Ok that sounds disgusting." But trust me it is quite delicious actually. And since this is Global Kitchen Kids, emphasis on the Global I'm gonna try something new today. This isn't you regular Chicken Parmesan I am going to use tofu instead of chicken.

Ingredients: 

1 tsp Sesame Oil

1 pack of Firm tofu 

Salt 

Pepper

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1/2 an onion onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

2 Egg

2 c Pank breadcrumbs

1/2 c Flour

1/2 c Parmesan cheese

1. Cut tofu into slices.

2. Brush with sesame oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Put into a ziploc bag and label it tofu so nobody thinks it's soggy bread (lol).

4. Stick it in the fridge and forget about it.

5. Just kidding guys marinate it for 1 and a half hours. I felt this was long enough to get the sesame flavor in the tofu. A little side note: whenever I cook tofu I always put sesame oil because the smoky, toasty flavor compliments it and in my opinion makes it taste a little more like meat.

6. Chop some onion and garlic and put it in the pan.

7. Olive oil creds to Cat Cora where ever you may be. Best olive oil ever! And I'm also loving this automatic can open. So much easier!

8. Put the sauce in the pot and add some oregano, basil and thyme. That is my power trio! Of course fresh basil would be way better so you can add that if you want.

9. So I turned the camera off for this part because it would get way too messy. Basically lay out your flour, egg, and panko breadcrumbs in separate trays. Then season each one with a little salt and pepper. Then season the breadcrumbs with the oregano, basil and parmesan cheese. Dip each tofu slice in the flour then egg then panko. Little diagram:

Flour---> Egg----> Panko (with oregano, basil, and parmesan) 

Lay it in a plate or in my case this cooling rack. It insures that the bottom doesn't get to soggy plus it lets the breadcrumb stick better. 

10. Sear it in a pan on high heat with vegetable oil in it. Put on a baking sheet and pour tomato sauce over it. Sprinkle the parmesan on top. Finish cooking in the oven just long enough to get the cheese melted. 

Eat hot because there is nothing worst than cold tofu.

Enjoy,

~ Pree

Shrimp and Dip Stuffed Mushrooms

 Oh by the way this recipe was inspired by some leftover spinach dip that I had made. If you would like the recipe it will be right here ----> http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/hot-spinach-dip-with-mushrooms.html It really is amazing with tortilla chips or a nice crusty bread and great for a cold winter day when you just want something really bubbly and cheesy.

Happy cooking,

~Pree

Yield: 10-15 Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 slices of bacon, diced
5-6 shrimps
salt & pepper
sprinkle of garlic powder
1/4 c spinach dip
1 tbsp basil leaves, chopped
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese plus more for sprinkling
2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
10-15 baby portabella mushrooms, gills removed

1. Drizzle each side of the mushroom caps with olive oil and bake in a 375 F oven for 10 minutes.
2. Fry bacon in a skillet on medium heat until golden brown. Reserve the bacon fat. Transfer to a napkin lined plate. Crumble when it cools.
3. Pour out a a spoon or so of the bacon fat and add the shrimps. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook 2 minutes on each side.
4. Transfer shrimp to a cutting board and chop pretty finely.
5. Mix the crumbled bacon, shrimp, spinach dip, basil, parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs and together. If the mixture gets too dry add a drizzle olive oil or some more spinach dip.
6. Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps and sprinkle with extra cheese.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
8. Spoon some marinara sauce on a serving place and arrange mushroom over sauce.

Egg Roll vs. Spring Roll

First lets get something out of the way. Egg rolls and spring rolls are NOT the same thing. Yes, I know this is a shock to most of you but I did my research and here are my findings.

Characteristics of spring rolls:

•  ALWAYS rolled in rice paper
• Can be served fresh like so:
• May be stuffed with only veggies or meat, rice vermicelli ( thin noodles), and herbs. All dipped in a peanut sauce. 

Also called "summer rolls"

• OR they may be fried like so: 
•  Rolled in spring roll wrappers (rice- based) making for a thin, crispy crust.
• Can be stuffed with meat, veggies, and seafood.
• Typically Vietnamese or Thai

Fried spring roll

Characteristics of egg rolls:

• Rolled in wonton wrappers (egg noodle dough) making for a thick, crunchy crust.
• Egg rolls are typically Chinese but can be used to describe many different types of foods.

Egg roll

Chicken Roll-ups: Italy

This is my spin off of a Cordon Bleu I guess you can say. What your suppose to do traditionally is butterfly a chicken breast, put some cured meat and cheese inside, and roll it in breadcrumbs. Honestly I don't own much cured meat and a trip to the grocery store was not gonna happen so I had to work with what I got.

• Add bacon to a heated pan with no olive oil. Cook until crispy. When crispy take it out with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate. That thing --->

Slotted Spoon

• Drain some of the fat out but keep some. Add red bell pepper, onion, and mushroom to the pan. Sauté until soft. Then add spinach a garlic. Sauté until spinach is wilted.
• Put crispy bacon, vegetables, cheese of your choice, and cream cheese in a bowl and mix. Salt & pepper to your taste but remember that the bacon is salty.
• Pound chicken breast between to pieces of plastic wrap. Season with salt (remember to go easy), pepper, garlic powder (optional), and herb seasoning. 
• Put a dollop of filling in the middle of each chicken breast and spread it. Then roll the chicken like a jelly roll. Tie with kitchen twine. 

  

  Kitchen Twine

• Put on a baking pan and bake for 30 min or until it is done on the inside. 
• Let it rest for a few minutes then cut into it in thick slices.

Enjoy!

 ~Pree

      

Rachel vs Guy Kids Cook-off, MasterChef Junior, and how to sign up!

Have you guys been seeing kids cook offs sprouting out of nowhere this year? I know I have. First there is Rachel vs Guy Kids Cook Off(finale this Sunday) where kids are mentored by Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri. Then  MasterChef Junior which premiered last night! I don't know about you but I'm pretty hyped to see what other shows will be created. I've sent multiple letters to foodnetwork about kids cooking competitions and now that their here I'm left wondering, how do I sign up? After much research I found this website->
 http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/be-on-food-network/index.html?vty=CASTING
It list all of the castings on food network currently so check often. When auditions for Kids Cook-off come, it will likely be listed on the website.

If you have any questions, comments, or food request please comment below

~Pree