Feta. Do you love it? I just started enjoying it last year. I know… I’m a freak of nature. I also just started enjoying most cheeses within the past 10 years of my life. For the most part my hips were thankful of that. I had been dreaming up Greek Crostini appetizer for quite some time now, when it hit me one day as I was purchasing feta from the store. The container of feta just so happened to be a buy-one-get-one free deal. So, I picked up a regular container and a garlic & herb container. I figured I could do something with it. Fast forward about a week later when I was putting together appetizers for Easter dinner. I made my mini crab cakes and I wanted to bring something else for those who might not enjoy crab cakes (which baffles me, but for each is their own).
That’s when it hit me. Smear this creamy Garlic & Herb Whipped Feta spread onto a crostini. Get ready… because you’ll be addicted to this spread. Whether you choose to add it to your next appetizer or smear it on to a bagel. The flavors from the feta combined with fluffy whipped cream cheese will bring your taste-buds divine joy!
In a stand mixer using the flat beater blade, add the cream cheese (at room temperature) and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
Then add the feta with garlic and herbs to the bowl and beat for an additional 30 seconds. Use right away or place in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Let’s get our egg casserole on, shall we? I think everyone knows by now I’m an egg white girl, but that doesn’t mean that I deprive my husband of eggs. The man LOVES eggs. A few years ago he would be known to eat 2 dozen eggs in one week. I know some might be concerned about his cholesterol levels. Fear no-more they are perfectly normal. He has cut down to about just one dozen eggs a week, and with that comes this Sausage, Egg, & Veggie Casserole. This casserole is ideal for entertaining. Especially if you have a few egg lovers you are feeding. I made this for a few hungry guys the other month and they devoured it. Luckily, I also had a big fruit salad and my homemade cinna-buns alongside. This meant that my husband was the lucky guy of 2 extra slices of this casserole. I must add that this casserole re-heated beautifully over the course of the following 2-days. I even slapped a piece of this sausage, egg, & veggie casserole between an everything bagel. Making for the ultimate breakfast sandwich.
So if you are entertaining this weekend for mother’s day and want to make a light breakfast casserole that is chocked full of meat and veggies I would highly suggest you make my Sausage, Egg, & Veggie Casserole. Note, that if you don’t have all the veggies on hand or if you don’t like one of the vegetables you can always omit or replace with another vegetable. Either way if you are a lover of all things eggs you must give this easy casserole recipe a try!
In a frying pan, cook breakfast sausage for about 5 minutes on medium-high heat ( make sure to break the sausage into bite-size pieces). Add the shallot, yellow bell pepper, and white mushrooms to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat until the veggies start to cook through. Turn the heat off and place the sausage/veggie mixture to the side.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with whole milk, cheddar cheese, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Then add the two pieces of bread to the egg mixture (cut the bread in 1x1 pieces). Mix well with a spoon then add sausage/veggies to the egg mixture. Using an oven-proof casserole dish and spray with cooking spray. Then add the egg mixture to the casserole dish. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 40 degrees.
Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
*You can substitute out vegetables to ones you prefer or have on hand. Note green bell pepper is not as sweet as the red/yellow/orange varieties.
Christine & Terri will be hosting Pin Chat Live tomorrow, Saturday, May 11 from 2-3pm EST. The chat is similar to a twitter chat but on Pinterest and you can even watch them on a Google+ Hangout OnAir. If you can make it you’ll have the chance to win prizes from Lodge Cast Iron just for participating! Make sure you follow the #BrunchWeek Pinterest board. The will also be announcing all the giveaway winners for the big $1800 giveaway!
Wow, day 4 of brunch week. I hope you have been following along with all the amazing brunch week recipes! Today, I’m sharing a granola recipe. Not just any granola… This is my coconut cherry granola that made its debut at the Central Florida Food Blogger Bake Sale this past weekend.
Granola is a great make-ahead food. I love to make granola every other week. I typically mix it in with my morning greek yogurt and fruit. If you were entertaining for brunch I would suggest making one or two varieties of granola and creating a granola bar. Chopped fresh fruit, plain or vanilla greek yogurt, granola…. you get the idea. Let your guest build yogurt parfaits! You also won’t have to stress over who likes to eat what… when you give your guest the option it takes the stress off the hostess-with-the-mostess… yah I totally just said that.
Like I mentioned above, I sold this coconut cherry granola at our annual food blogger bake sale. I happened to be the only granola recipes contributed this year. You know–I try to balance out all the unhealthy and fattening baked goods with a little healthy. A nice breakfast treat. While we are on the topic let’s talk about the Central Florida Food Blogger Bake Sale for a minute. This was my second year co-organizing the bake-sale with my good friend Julie from The Little Kitchen (and third year particiapting). I’m always amazed by the generosity of our fellow food blogging community.
This year we were at The Winter Garden Harvest Festival. With that being said all participants needed to attend the entire day. No one complained… even though it was raining, we all just enjoyed the presence of one another. We talked about food, and baking, blogging, and our personal lives. Despite our rainy weather we all had a great time. I’m sad to say we didn’t raise half the amount of money that we did last year (I know a big part was weather and the other part was that so many of us had pre-sales and other fundraisers outside of our one-day bake sale). However, even though we didn’t raise as much as we wanted I know that all of the money is going to a great cause. We all are fighting to end childhood hunger in America. 1 out of 5 kids in America struggle with childhood hunger! That’s over 16 million children! According to the No Kid Hungry site we helped feed 14 children for an entire year!
I must also give a big special shout-out to the amazing sponsors who donated to our raffle. Without them we wouldn’t have raised half the amount that we did!
KitchenAid donated a $300 Food Processor which our friend over at Droolius.com happened to win!
In a sauce pan on low heat, melt 1/4 cup of coconut oil. Once the coconut oil is melted (do not let it boil) add the coconut extract. Mix well and set to the side.
In a large bowl add quick cooking oats, brown sugar, and sliced almonds. Mix well, then pour the coconut oil on top. Mix some more until well incorporated. Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven, carefully mix and add 1-1/2 cups coconut flakes. Mix well and then place the pan back in the oven for 30 additional minutes. Remove from the oven, mix, and bake 20 minutes longer. Pour the baked granola back into the large bowl and add dried cherries. Mix and let the granola cool. Package in sealed containers and store for up to one week.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Whether you are hosting a brunch or preparing for a Mexican fiesta tonight you will want to make my Cherry Tomato and Chorizo Omelet’s! Or, if you aren’t the Cinco de Mayo celebrating type of person you can serve these up on Mother’s Day. This week I’ll be participating in Brunch Week. A week of delectable brunch-recipes from a wide-variety of food bloggers (31 to be exact)! Today, I’m sharing what I like to call a 2-for-1. This hits both Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day!
I recently had the opportunity to try out some OXO egg kitchen tools. Pictured above is the OXO Good Grips Egg Beater. I shared with the world 2 years ago how much I love this egg beater and how easy it is to use. Check out my How to Cook Fluffy Scrambled Eggs post. It was my first cooking video I ever made, too!
Anyway, I digress.
Whenever I make eggs I have to use my egg beater. I had been brainstorming about a brunch related recipe to share for the past few weeks. Last weekend, we had our first-ever community garage sale. I knew this would be the perfect time to make an omelet recipe and have a few of my favorite neighbors test it out. Like I mentioned the other day I have an abundance of cherry tomatoes. I knew I would have to incorporate cherry tomatoes into the omelet. I reached into my pantry and found a package of chorizo and at that same moment found myself gazing at a few limes I had in my fruit bowl. I knew I was going to make a Cherry Tomato and Chorizo Omelet. Before I got started, I walked out to my garden and clipped a generous bunch of cilantro and a handful of chives. I prepped all of my ingredients before hand so cooking my omelets would be a breeze. That is the key when your cooking omelets or really just about anything. If you do all of the prep work in advance the cooking part won’t be as dautning. You won’t burn nor over cook anything because you aren’t worried about chopping, measuring, and dicing.
Pictured above is me showing off how easy it is to use the OXO Good Grips Flip and Fold Omelet Turner! I love this new spatula! So whether you are celebrating Cinco de Mayo today or just starting to plan for a beautiful homemade mother’s day brunch give my Cherry Tomato and Chorizo Omelets a try!
2 links chorizo, casing removed and quartered 1/2 inch thick
2-1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tbsp jalapeno, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 cup cilantro
4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
8 eggs
4 tbsp half & half, divided
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp pepper, divided
1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco, divided (about 2 tbsp each)
Crumbled Queso Fresco, cilantro, and chives for topping.
Directions
In a medium sauce pan, add one tablespoon canola oil to the pan (medium-high heat). Then add quartered pieces of chorizo. Cook for 2 minutes then add 2-1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic, and salt. Cook on medium for 5-10 minutes. Add lime juice and stir in cilantro right before serving.
Once the cherry tomato-chorizo mixture is almost finished cooking begin to cook the eggs. I made my omelette's in 2 batches using 2 small frying pans.
In a small frying pan add one-tablespoon of unsalted butter (medium-high heat). While butter is melting beat 4 eggs with 2 tablespoons of half & half (*if you don't have half & half use milk--that's just what I had on hand). Add 1/4 tsp of salt and black pepper. Beat well until bubbles start to appear in egg mixture (about 15 seconds).
Divide the egg mixture in half among the two frying pans. Cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes until eggs have set. Carefully flip the egg over, cooking 30 seconds more. Place 1/4 cup of tomato/chorizo mixture on one side of the omelette as well as 2 tablespoons of queso fresco cheese. Flip the egg to form an omelette, and carefully transfer to plate. Repeat this step until all of your omelette's are done cooking. Top with additional crumbled queso fresco, minced cilantro, and green onion.
Disclaimer:OXO sent me the egg kitchen tools to try out. I was not compensated nor required to blog about it. I love OXO and use their products on a daily basis in my kitchen. There are affiliate links in this post. All brunch week sponsors are providing prizes. I did not receive anything from the sponsors nor was I compensated to write about them. As always all opinions are my own.
Yes, two days straight of non-stop enchilada recipes. I know–I apologize in advance. Some may say I have an addiction to enchilada sauce or others may say poor planning. Whatever side you decide on I know you will be thanking me later for introducing you to my Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers!
You see… I kind of have a thing for my slow cooker. Whenever I can get it to work for me–I make the move. Who doesn’t love dinner cooked for them by someone else? Ok… maybe I am going a little bit too far with calling this slow cooker a person, but for the most part you set it and forget it and hours later your home smells wonderful and didn’t is pretty much cooked!
Remember, my homemade spicy enchilada sauce I shared last week? Well, today I have yet one more way to utilize that delicious spicy sauce. Let’s switch up the traditional stuffed peppers and go for something with a bit more of a kick.
If you still don’t know what your cooking tomorrow for Cinco de Mayo you should most definitely think about these stuffed bell peppers. And if you happen to have leftover rice and rotisserie chicken in your refrigerator, well then my friends you know what you are destine to make. So head on over to Food Fanatic to get the full recipe for these easy-to-make slow cooker chicken enchilada stuffed peppers!
Let’s get our enchilada on today, shall we? With just 3 days until Cinco de Mayo I hope I’ve been able to inspire you with a few new Mexican recipes this week to share with your family and friends. I’m the first to admit that enchiladas are not top on my list. I’d much rather prefer a chicken chimichangas or grilled chopped chicken tacos. But my husband on the other hand loves enchiladas. He has complained that my enchiladas were never that great over the years. That was until I created this recipe!
I also created this recipe during my husbands brew day back in March. The guys tore threw my beef and green chile enchiladas faster than I could even try a bite! Our friend Ricardo (who blogs at The Beer Guerrilla) even mentioned to me that he thought these were extremely authentic and asked where I got the recipe… of course, me being me, responded “I just created it“! To be honest I was taken back by that statement. I have finally gotten to the level of cooking where I’ve turned everyday recipes into authentic recipes. Now, don’t get me wrong–that was just one person telling me that but I feel like I’ve finally jumped to the next level in my culinary journey. I think a big part of the authentic flavor came from my homemade spicy enchilada sauce. The deep bold flavors of this rich sauce really bring this recipe to the next level. So I can also credit me taking a risk and making my own sauce. Let me just tell you… you will want to lick the jar clean. If you can reserve a little extra sauce for topping/dipping your enchiladas in. We were all scraping the jar dry. We couldn’t resist the homemade enchilada sauce.
So whether your hosting a fiesta this Sunday or just making a quiet meal at home with the ones you love… give these (authentic (I say that term loosely here)) Beef & Green Chile Enchiladas a try!
Cook the ground beef in a skillet on medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Stir frequently, and break up the beef. Then add the chopped green chiles, garlic, and onions. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the drained black beans, mix well, and remove from the heat.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spray a large rectangular glass pan with cooking spray. Spread a half cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan. Warm the corn tortillas in the oven for one minute. Remove and then begin to create the enchiladas. One spoonful of filling per corn tortillas, carefully roll, making sure not to tear the tortillas. Place seam side down. Repeat until all the tortillas have been used/filled. Pour the remaining 1-1/2 cups of enchilada sauce over top of the enchiladas. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Top with 1 cup shredded cheese. Serve immediately and top with green onions and cilantro if desired.
If you follow me on Instagram, you might know that I have a garden. For the past two and a half months while everyone has been shoveling snow, my husband and I have been picking cherry tomatoes like it’s our job. Well, I guess its our side unofficial job–but you get the point. It all started back in late January when we both walked past our raised garden beds. We noticed a 2-foot tall rogue tomato plant. Neither of us had planted the tomato plant. It just popped up. Since we had a tomato plant in the same exact spot last summer ,we figure it must have regenerated from a few rotten tomatoes. This poor plant had been neglected for who knows how many months. We even had a plastic covering the garden beds in hopes to kill off some of the crazy weeds that had grew into our beds over the past few months. So, we started to tend to the tomato plant. Although, we weren’t religiously watering it and we definitely didn’t cover it during any of the 3 freezes we had in Florida this winter.
The cherry tomato plant continued to flourish. Fast forward to present day. This plant has taken over our raised garden beds. It is over six feet tall and we have had to add a few additional supports since it spans about 10-feet wide. I kid you not when I say we pick 20-50 cherry tomatoes just about every other day. This tomato plant is made of steal although I realize that its days are coming to a close. We will probably get about another 100+ cherry tomatoes form it and then I think its done for the season.
So with our influx of cherry tomatoes came this salsa. Oh, and the fact that we have 4 big bushes of fresh cilantro in our garden. I decided I would hack off one bunch of cilantro. If you garden you know that it is extremely difficult to grow cilantro. This is our first successful year from seed in almost 6 years!
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not really one for salsa made from cherry tomatoes. As I was driving home from work the other week I knew I was cooking Mexican for dinner. I wanted to make salsa and knew I only had cherry tomatoes on hand since I refuse spend money on tomatoes right now since we have so many growing organically in our own garden. We like our salsa spicy and I was trying to think of what else I could use in substitute for the traditional jalapenos. That is when it occurred to me that I had a jar of chipotles in adobo sauce in the refrigertor. This was an experiment of sorts and let me tell you that the experiment worked beautifully. The sweetness of the cherry tomatoes complimented the subtle sweet tones of the chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. My husband was head over heals in love with this Chipotle Cherry Tomato Salsa. I didn’t think he would be nor did I think I would like it but it was truly a success. He even told me that this should be my new go-to recipe. I’m not sure I would go that far, but I will tell you that when you have ingredients on hand and need to whip up a simple appetizer–make this recipe for Chipotle Cherry Tomato Salsa.
In a food processor combine the cilantro, green bell pepper, shallot, garlic, and chipotle in adobo sauce. Puree for 30 seconds. Then add the 4 cups of cherry tomatoes, salt, and 1/2 lime juiced. Puree for 15 seconds until everything is well incorporated.
Refried Beans. You either love them or hate them. In the past few years I’ve grown to love them. I will be the first to admit that I had no idea you could make them from scratch. DOH! (in a Homer Simpson voice). I honestly thought they just came in the canned variety. Little did I realize that (duh), you could smash the beans and fry them yourself.
Of course, once I started experimenting in the kitchen and making my own homemade refried beans I reached for my bacon fat jar. Don’t look at me that way… you know what a bacon fat jar is. Don’t act like you don’t. You know… that sacred jar you store in the refrigerator with solidified bacon renderings from your last batch of fried (or baked) bacon. Mmmmm. Bacon…
I digress.
So I reached for a spoonful of bacon fat and let me just tell you… it brought these refried beans to another level. Bacon Refried Beans. Even my non-bacon loving husband loved these beans and commented about how much flavor they had. When I asked him if he knew what the secret ingredient was he gave me a smirk and said “let me guess… bacon”. Of course I proudly proclaimed “yes”. I mean, first off… the man knows me well. But also if the thick scent of bacon in our home didn’t give it away then I’m not sure what else might have.
Back to the Bacon Refried Beans… to kick this easy side dish up a notch (woah, that was very Emeril of me), I added some crumbled bacon on top. Oh and lots of shredded Mexican cheese. The best part about my Bacon Refried Beans recipe is that it doesn’t take long to make, you’ll impress your family and friends, and they taste a whole heck of a lot better than the canned variety.
Cook bacon in a cast iron skillet until crispy. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon fat to the side. Remove bacon from pan, crumble, and put to the side. Then cook shallot, garlic, and bell pepper on medium heat for 5 minutes or until browned (but not burnt).
Once the veggies are cooking in a food processor puree pinto beans and slowly add the 1/2 cup of water. Then add the 1 tablespoon of bacon fat and the veggies. Puree for 30 seconds until well incorporated.
Add the pureed beens back to the cast iron skillet with bacon grease. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes mixing a few times. Top with shredded Mexican cheese, cilantro, green onions, and crumbled bacon. Serve immediately.
Have you ever made your own baked corn chips? They are super easy to make and best of all you get to control the seasoning on them! This go-around I made a blend of Mexican spices to spice up these chips. The day I made these baked corned chips was the same day that my husband had his “brew crew” over to brew up a few batch of home brew (beer). I made them a huge Mexican spread. I served them these chips and they all thought they were fried chips. I ensured them that they were baked in the oven for just 10 minutes. I think I impressed them two-fold. One, I made my own chips. Two, they were baked chips that tasted fried! Making baked corned chips is the best way to use up excess corn tortillas. Later this week, you’ll see a super simple and yet authentic enchilada recipe using corn tortillas. After I made the guys the enchiladas I knew I didn’t want to have extra corn tortillas laying around so I decided to use up the rest of the tortillas to make my own chips. This is such a simple thing to make and yet everyone forgets to make their own!
I also love that these are a gluten free snack. I have a few friends and family members that have a gluten allergy and I’m always looking for new things to make them… these spicy baked corn chips, my friend, are it! Whether you just want a snack for yourself or entertaining a crowd these spicy baked corned chips are sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Cut the corn tortillas in quarters. Lay them out flat on a baking sheet.
In a bowl mix the chili powder, cumin powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and salt together. Using a brush lightly coat the corn wedges. Then sprinkle the seasoning on to the corn tortilla wedges.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
Remove from oven and serve with your favorite salsa or guacamole.
Split pea soup. You either love it or hate it. I grew up hating it. My mom would make it a few times each year, and try to persuade me to try her families recipe for split pea soup. Of course, me being a young bratty child I always refused. It wasn’t until I was in college that I finally gave the soup a try and found out that I loved it. I think it is the green murky color that this hearty soup has. It’s a turn-off, and quite frankly what us food bloggers like to call “ugly food”. Its hard to photograph and convey how delicious it really does taste.
Last year, I made my first large stock pot full of split pea soup. It was ok. Both my mother and mother in-law make split pea soup and ironically both are pretty different (each using their own family recipe, both equally delicious). When I made my Brown Sugar Honey Glazed Ham in the slow cooker the other week I knew I wanted to take that bone and make a decadent pot of split pea soup. I combined ingredients that both mothers use plus put my own spin on it. You know I love veggies. So why not add lots to the pot. I also did something daring. I put a few parsnips in the slow cooker. Yep, that’s right. I’ve never even cooked or consumed parsnips. But I knew it was a root vegetable and I figured this Split Pea Soup was the perfect dish to put it in. Another spin I put on it. I used my slow cooker. Both mothers let theirs simmer on the stove top for hours on end. I don’t have that kind of time. One morning before work, I peeled and chopped up all my veggies, tossed everything in my KitchenAid Slow Cooker, and then let it go to work. I love letting my slow cooker do all the cooking for me! I got home, removed the bone, stirred the split pea soup, added the fresh herbs, and voila–dinner was done!
I even brought some over to my neighbor to try. In her thirty-some odd years on this planet she had never consumed split pea soup! She tasted the soup with hesitation and then requested more. I’ve now converted one more person to becoming a split pea lover. So if you have a ham bone from Easter Sunday dinner–don’t hesitate to throw it in your slow cooker with tons of veggies, dried green split peas, and a whole lot of water to make a thick and hearty soup (large enough to feed an army).
Katie Original Recipe for Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
In a 6 quart slow cooker, place the ham bone, diced ham, and split peas in the slow cooker. Then add the sliced carrots, parsnips, white potatoes, onion, celery, and garlic on top. Add bay leaf, season salt, and black pepper followed by 6 cups of water. Stir until everything is incorporated. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Once the soup is done, mix well, and add 3 tablespoons fresh parsley and 5 of the 6 sliced green onions, mix well. Ladle soup into bowls and top with remaining fresh parsley and green onions.
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. {more}
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. 
