Eggalicious- My Favorite Egg Recipes

My Favorite Egg Recipes

Blue Chip Frittata Recipe


Egg and Pesto on Grilled Toast Easy Recipe


Crustless Roasted Vegetable Cheddar Quiche Recipe


Italian Pasta Frittata Recipe


Artichoke & Jalapeño Savory Pie Recipe


Purple Potato Quiche


Eggs Diablo on Soft Polenta Recipe


Potato Frittata Recipe


Roasted Vegetable Frittata Recipe


Easy Mediterranean Pasta Frittata Recipe


Salmon and Goat Cheese Strata Recipe


Roasted Vegetable Noodle Kugel Recipe


Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta aka Eggs Ranchero Recipe

Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta aka Eggs Ranchero

Santa Fe Huevos on Polenta Recipe aka Eggs Ranchero

Huevos rancheros- a traditional Tex-Mex recipe featuring fried eggs, refried beans and salsa on top of warm corn tortillas- is a delicious brunch recipe, no doubt. But I decided to change up tradition. Just because.

Using a roll of pre-made polenta makes this a perfect weeknight supper or a quick and easy Sunday brunch. For the more ambitious cooks out there, stirring polenta from scratch isn't hard, it just requires a little patience. Kinda like motherhood. And meditation. And selling a house. For how to make make polenta from scratch see below.

Ingredients:

1 18-oz roll pre-made polenta, sliced

1 cup cooked black beans (rinsed canned beans are fine)

1 14-oz can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chiles

1/2 cup tomato sauce or your favorite salsa

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small red onion, diced

1 smallish zucchini, chopped or diced

1 small red, yellow or green bell pepper, cored, seeded, diced

2 tablespoons chopped jalapenos or roasted green chiles

1/2 teaspoon each: cumin, chili powder, oregano or cilantro

2-3 ounces goat cheese, or feta sheep cheese, cubed

4 large organic free-range eggs

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Lay the polenta slices in an oiled 8 x 8-inch baking pan or a 9-inch glass pie plate. I used an oven-safe skillet.

In a bowl combine the beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic, onion, zucchini, bell pepper, jalapenos, and spices. Spoon this mixture over the sliced polenta and place the pan in the pre-heated oven.

Bake for twenty minutes until hot and bubbling.

When the polenta is bubbling and almost cooked, scatter the cubed feta or goat cheese over it; and continue to bake while you...

Fry the eggs.

Remove the polenta from the oven. Lay the cooked eggs on top of the polenta. Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, if desired.

Serves four.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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How to make polenta from scratch:

You'll need:

1 cup gluten-free corn grits polenta
4 1/2 cups light broth
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

You can also add chopped fresh herbs or grated cheese or non-dairy cheese, if desired.

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, bring the broth to a high simmer and pour the cornmeal into the simmering broth in an even, steady stream, whisking as you go. Keep stirring. When the polenta has thickened and is pulling away from the sides of the pot a bit, add in herbs or shredded cheese and season with sea salt and pepper, to taste. This takes about 20 minutes, or so. Remove the pot from the heat.

If you make your polenta ahead of time, you have the option of spooning it evenly into a pie plate or cake pan and letting it cool. This makes a firm polenta you can later slice into wedges, brush with olive oil, and broil.

More fabulous egg recipes for Spring from favorite food bloggers:

Southwestern Egg Casserole from Kalyn's Kitchen
Chorizo and Eggs from Elise at Simple Recipes
Best Basic Deviled Eggs from Nicole at Pinch My Salt
Huevos alla Amy at Cooking with Amy
Fried Eggs and Collard Greens Over Polenta at The Kitchn
How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs from Elise at Simple Recipes

Note: As always check ingredients and product labels for 100% gluten-free status- especially with cornmeal and polenta.

 

Big Banana Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Gluten-free banana muffins. Oh yeah.

Sometimes you crave banana bread but not the slice. 

You have a hankering for the whole, not the part. A thing intact. Weighty and complete and an entity all on its own. All yours. Maybe it's the simplicity you want. The curve and weight of it snug in your hand. Hefty but compact. Portable.

You want a muffin.

Maybe even a big muffin. A jumbo muffin tender and sweet and fragrant. Worthy of sinking your teeth into. Worthy of the calories. That kind of muffin. The trouble is, most standard gluten-free muffins turn out so small they resemble snack time for tiny people. I'm not exactly sure why, but I've noticed the shrinkage factor with gluten-free baking in general. You use the same amount of flour as an old school wheat flour recipe, but when all is said and done, when the muffins are baked and cool and ready to wrap- or better yet, nosh- you hold one up to the morning light to inspect it and think, What the Hades happened? Did it shrink- or is it me? Am I imagining this minor disappointment?

Am I getting neurotic about muffin size now?

I don't have the answer for you. I'm a cook not a scientist. But I suspect it is the lack of gluten that makes the difference between yummy-plump and expansive and, well, shrunken and kinda sad. Gluten is a giving protein that lends breads and muffins that lovely je ne sais quoi (French for, I don't know what). That It Factor, that elastic, rising... generosity (even if it is evil for celiacs).

My point? I began to wonder if twelve Lillipution muffins were worth the effort. If I might be better satisfied by going for six. The jumbo set. Less servings, true. But.

Maybe baking these babies larger would produce a more muffiny muffin. You decide.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Multi-Grain Sandwich Bread

A combination of gluten-free grains makes this my favorite 

new gluten-free bread recipe. Hands down.

A Multi-Grain Bread To Love

As promised I've been experimenting again with my favorite gluten-free bread recipe. This latest incarnation is my husband's new favorite. Why? It features cornmeal. I learned a long time ago that cornmeal (and polenta) warmed the cockles of his heart. So I bake with it every chance I get. This bread was tender and soft enough for sandwiches. Delicious flavor. The cornmeal gives it a mild and almost grainy texture without overpowering it. It's not heavy. And it toasts up like a crunchy golden dream.

This part- the crunchy toast part- is why I perseverate in gluten-free baking. Because no matter how old I get (and I hate to tell you, I've got a milestone number waiting for me in June that is scaring the juniper pollen infested daylights outa me!) I crave the simplest of foods.

Like toast.

It's my go-to all time favorite form of culinary bliss. I kid you not. My tastes are childhood simple. That fancy-schmancy stuff folks swoon over captures my attention for maybe a minute. Haute food is pretty and all, but. I've read Kitchen Confidential. I know what they're up to in there, behind those greasy swinging doors. I know not to order fish on a Monday. And I know that even at the famous Rainbow Room food gets dropped on the floor. And re-plated.

Not to mention, they puts gobs of butter and salt and sugar in everything. Everything. Like, crazy. And they par-cook and make stuff ahead of time- hours ahead of time- so that when you show up hungry on an early- not too busy- Sunday evening, with a simple request such as, May I have (fill-in-the-blank) prepared without butter or dairy? the waiter grimaces and spins off toward the kitchen with a wiggle of disapproval only to return and tell you, The Chef will make you a special plate. And you exhale with relief.

You think, Margarita time.

When the dinners arrive, your husband is greeted with a heaping platter of grilled shrimp and garlic on greens and savory dirty rice and your son is presented with the mouthwatering carnitas and warm tortillas and calabasitas. And you. You are given a gleaming white dinner plate with enough dry broccoli and cauliflower tops to choke a horse. A big steaming horse. Except that a horse wouldn't be interested enough to risk the whole choking thing.

Horses are pretty smart.

I think I audibly gasped in horror (you don't want to know, Darling what that much Brassicaceae would do to a girl like me). The server kept his eyes down and skulked away. The waiter ignored us the rest of the night. I suspect he knew enough to know that charging $23.95 for a plate of broccoli and cauliflower tops was a tad passive aggressive on the Chef's part. Maybe he thought I was a rich and trendy [insert fad diet of the week] kind of girl. It was Santa Monica, after all. And the saddest part of this story is the punch line. Where this took place. The Border Grill.

Yeah. Those Two Hot Tamales girls. Who are wonderful cooks. And whose gracious Chef Ishmael served up a lovely, safe dinner for me the last time we were visiting Hell-A. He must have been off that night. Watching No Reservations. Or maybe he moved on to another gig. (Hey, Chef Ishmael- where are you Bubbe? It's not the same without you.)

Good thing I have toast. It often saves my life. In body and in spirit.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Happy Spring! A Vernal Equinox View

I just took this photograph as the sun was setting over the western mesas. A Vernal Equinox sunset. Happy Spring everyone!

And here are my Favorite Spring Recipes for living gluten-free- to celebrate new beginnings.

How to Live Gluten-Free on a Budget: 10 Tips + 2 Recipes

Farmers' market potatoes. Gluten-free and budget friendly.

How to live gluten-free on a budget? It's a legitimate concern. I feel your pain. $7.95 for a gluten-free baking mix? Ouch.

There's a lot of chit chat lately about food budgets, food prices, and stretching a dollar. Budget talk is in the air. Eating in and cooking from scratch is a trend now. And for those of us living gluten-free, a  trend unlikely to burn out soon. 

So if- like me- you are struggling to balance your cranky budget, here are ten tips and tricks to stretch the green and keep it tasty.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Gluten-Free Vegan Potato Leek Soup

Creamy potato soup- no dairy needed.

Soup for an Insomniac

Twenty-nine hours. That's how long I've been awake. I could blame the full moon, big as a gleaming white soup plate hanging in the clear desert sky last night. Or the pollen. The hostile spiky spewing of hundreds of junipers rooted round our plucky little casita. Every time I drifted toward the promise of sleep I would sneeze straight up and fumble in the dark for a Kleenex, my throat as raw as Tom Waits' vocal chords after belting forth, Make It Rain. We're talking ragged.

It ain't pretty.

So excuse me if I keep today's ramblings short and sweet. I'm hovering outside my body- nineteen inches to the left of myself. Any moment now, I might spin off with the tumbleweeds and roll down the dirt road to the highway. I might not even mind, if I end up tumbling west, rolling into the City of Angels in my sleep, snoring down Sunset Boulevard all the way to Ocean Avenue and south to Venice Beach where I live a parallel life in an alternate universe surfing at dawn.

And if you see me, give me a sign.

Any sign will do.

As long as you dream walk the same blue wavelength.

But before I spin toward the rutted crooked highway I'll leave you with a perfect soup for spring. Stir it up when the March winds blow, and soothe your winter weary bones.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Irish Cottage Pie | Shepherd's Pie

Gluten-free shepherd's pie, Irish style cottage comfort.

Old School Comfort

I have been craving comfort food and shepherd's pie- even though it's been a warm and breezy week here by the Chama River north of Santa Fe. The promise of Spring is tugging at our sluggish winter bodies, cracking and stiff and a tad thicker than one would care to admit. We are itchy to walk- just as the junipers are shedding pollen in curtains of dirty yellow. We walked and sneezed and rubbed gritty eyes.

For this we waited all winter? I complained.

It strikes us as ironic if not downright diabolical. Mother Nature is taunting us. The coyotes are laughing on the rim of the mesa. I listen and note they are closer than usual, emboldened by our wintery hibernation. The land belongs to them now. We're simply tourists.

This doesn't bother me. I'm just here in passing, on my way home. Taking the long way- dreaming of the west coast and glassy blue-green waves curling in to shore. I'm an ocean girl, a beachcomber.  Not a cowgirl. I've never ridden a horse in my life. Or handled a rifle (two skills highly valued in this part of the world). The desert does not feed me. She takes from me. Sucking every last drop. If I stay here much longer I fear you will find me as brittle and sun-bleached as one of Georgia O'Keeffe's bone paintings.

I'm not quite ready to give up on the juicy part of my life.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...

Roasted Brussels Sprouts Medley with Refried Butter Beans & Rice

Roasting Brussells sprouts brings out their inherent sweetness.

Happy March! We made it through. The days are stretching inch by inch, noticeably longer. And just in the nick of time for this winter weary gluten-free goddess and her serotonin deprived little brain. Let's do a collective happy dance, Steve Martin style. We're sneaking up on a big turning point in the year. You know the one- when daylight equals darkness. The Spring Equinox will be here before you know it (March 20, 2009, to be exact). And then? You know what then. Luxurious long days, evening walks warmed by the sun. Sprouting going on everywhere you look. Buds bursting. A brand new season. Fresh. Life.

After the winter we've had- with all the Wall Street inspired doom and gloom infused with a shaken-not-stirred cocktail of fear and hope? I choose hope. This shouldn't surprise you. It's in my nature. New paradigms and inventive beginnings? Bring it on. 

I love learning a new skill set.

So in the spirit of celebrating the whole sprouting and greening thing that is waiting for us right around the corner (if the wheel of the year could sport a corner, that is), the impending balance of the coming Vernal Equinox, I offer you a budget-friendly vegan meal that is fresh and earthy, green and nutty, savory and sweet. You know, that whole yin yang Real Food Daily approach to eating (how cool is Anne Gentry?). Food to feed you, body and soul, as the March winds blow and scatter the remnants of winter into memory.

I know some of you don't believe me when I tell you Brussels sprouts can be tender and sweet. You think these tiny cabbages are mushy and smelly and not worth consideration. To those of you in that particular camp, I must ask. Have you ever roasted Brussels sprouts? Because here's the thing. When you roast these little green babies they get all caramelized and nutty and they take on a whole new demeanor. And the best part? Roasting vegetables makes for an easy dinner. It's almost a night off from cooking. Well. Okay, maybe not a night off, but. 

Pretty darn simple.

READ MORE and get the recipe ...