Frittatas Mini

I like the idea of bite sized anything-- firstly, I think it's adorable, and secondly I think it makes me feel better about eating any number of things! Of course, it always helps to have kids around, so I tried out the FamilyFun recipe for mini frittatas when our goddaughter was over last weekend...

We didn't have a lot in the fridge because I'd neglected to defrost... everything! So, I had my four eggs, some cheese, red and green bell peppers, and salt and pepper. Of course, when I went to cook, I discovered that my husband had put the bell peppers in the freezer without bagging them first...

I decided to let them thaw a little bit and go ahead and use them-- good news, they still tasted alright!

First, I whisked the eggs with some 2% milk, then added the salt and pepper:

Then I poured it in to the molds-- we got about 8 frittatas out of four eggs-- you can see in the first one that I over poured, so the rest got filled up to about half way full before toppings got added in.

I broke the cheese up in to bits since we didn't have shredded cheese, but it wasn't nearly as cheesy as I thought it was going to be-- next time, loads of cheese! CHEESE!

Fresh from the oven, they're lookin' good!

I was really pleased with the way this turned out-- the FamilyFun site didn't show a finished picture, which I think was pretty nice of them, but I'd like to think this is a little what it looks like when done properly! They were a hit with our goddaughter, and even with my husband (who mocks my love of bite sized food) in spite of the fact that they were "just a tease" in the breakfast department. Not my fault you ran 8 miles!

Of course, because if y'all know nothing else about me it's that I don't plan ahead!, I didn't read the step where you're supposed to spray the muffin tins so the end result was...

Well, just in case you didn't believe that eggs are used as a binding agent, it's true.

Materials Used: eggs, peppers, cheese, milk, salt, pepper, and PAM or BUTTER. You know, depending on how fat you're feeling that day...
Cost: inexpensive-- you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one
Conclusion: Super easy, totally worth it, and I'm hoping to use this at a brunch we're doing soonish and add in things like bacon, chicken sausage, and fresh hot peppers in addition to the sweet ones!

Sesame Noodles with Beef and Broccoli

This is an example of when you see a perfect looking recipe and it turns out completely delicious but perhaps a little bit different looking. I feel a little less badly about how my version below turned out compared to Sandra's over at The Daily Grind... she seems somehow less [insert favorite derogatory comment about MS here] than Martha Stewart AND she has adorable daughters!

Here is Sandra's noodle dish, as circulated on Pinterest:

And here is the end version of mine:

Granted, I didn't bother to set mine up in a pretty bowl and then use a decent camera to shoot it, however mine's a bit... dark. On to the recipe, though, and I think you'll see why mine turned out so differently!

You will need a box of linguine, a bag of steam in the bag broccoli, about a half pound of stew/stir fry sirloin and fixin's for the sauce...

For the sauce, you will need:

(you should ignore the rice wine vinegar... it just stuck its nose in)

1/2 cup of soy sauce (this is the major difference-- I used a half cup of dark soy sauce as opposed to 1/4 cup of low sodium)
1.5 tbs sesame oil
4 cloves minced garlic*
1 tbs minced ginger*
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs agave nectar
Juice of half a lime*
Siracha (or other chili paste) to taste

Of course, I made a few adjustments for ease and ability to store things in my kitchen...

This is minced garlic from the farmer's market-- I also used powdered ginger and, in the right hand corner there, is a jar of lime juice... 

* So, since I made these changes, here is my estimate of what I ended up using:
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs powdered ginger
1 tbs lime juice

Clearly I can't tell you how it fares against the original recipe, but it ended up quite yummy!

Now, down to business!

Cooked up a box of linguine (yes, that was the only clean pot, don't judge me!)

Pour all sauce ingredients in to a bowl for whisking together (discipline the white wine vinegar for sneaking out of the cupboard in the first place)

Do as the bag says

We had stew beef for ours, so I sliced it up a little thinner to cook without oil in a pan

When all of that was done, I tossed the pasta in a bowl, tonged out the broccoli (because nobody likes broccoli water in their pasta), and tossed the beef in...

Then I whisked the sauce one more time, poured it in, and mixed it all up!

And VOILA!

DINNER!

Rating: Definitely easy, as long as you're not likely to catch things on fire when you cook

Cost: Inexpensive, but not cheap-- if you don't already have some of the sauces in your cabinet they can be a few dollars a bottle to stock up on, BUT worth it because you'll use them again! Plus, there are tons of leftovers, we've made at least three meals out of this!
Time: About 30 minutes
Conclusion: We will DEFINITELY be eating this again. It's healthy, yummy, and if you brown the beef ahead of time the only thing you have to spend time on is the pasta. Great weeknight dinner!

Caprese Breakdown

We still had some tomatoes and mozzarella left (the basil decided to peace out, the little twerp!) after those caprese bowls/balls/bakes and I love that caprese salad so I thought to myself, "Now that you have some balsamic vinegar, you could make a REAL variation on caprese!"

Yeah, anyone notice something wrong with this picture?

Correctamundo, dear reader, the Red Wine Vinegar and the Balsamic Vinegar have a nearly identical label and I did not manage to notice this until AFTER I'd started dashing a decidedly NOT dark substance on my deconstructed caprese!

Before that, I chopped up the tomato...

And pulled out some mozarella balls to be quartered...

Then tossed it all together with the salt, olive oil, and red wine vinegar...

Gotta love the glow of olive oil on mozarella! And the red wine vinegar actually wasn't a bad addition-- you have to super like sour stuff, though, because it was on the tart side. Thankfully, I adore sour/acid so it was right up my alley. I ate the tomatoes first and let the cheese soak up some of the liquid... superb!

Rating: Easy Peasy
Cost: Cheap-- it's leftovers!
Conclusion: Delish! Definitely a great "re-hashed" leftovers sort of deal