Baconnaise Deviled Eggs

Baconnaise Deviled Eggs, originally uploaded by predictablyhungry.

Easter away from the family is pretty tough so last year I decided to make my own little feasts for myself (with a Quiche Lorraine).

This year I opted for my egg dish to be Deviled Eggs. For those of you curious, the rest of the Easter menu included Orange Icing Cinnamon Rolls, Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese, and Margarita Fruit Salad (I'll post more recipes as the day progresses).

Anyway, back to my deviled eggs. Having just bought Baconnaise a few weeks ago I decided to give them a try in my eggs.

They turned out pretty damn good, without an overwhelming taste of bacon.

I hard boiled 9 eggs, peeled, split, and set aside the yolks.

Ingredients needed:
1. Baconnaise
2. Mayonnaise
3. Yellow mustard
4. Peppered Bacon Salt
5. Tabasco
6. Green onions
7. Sweet relish
8. Paprika
9. Salt and Pepper

After the yolks are gathered in one bowl stir in Baconnaise and mayonnaise on a 1:1 ratio until you reach consistency desired.

Squirt in a ribbon of mustard (not too much).

Add tabasco to taste.

Add green onions.

Add a generous amount of bacon salt (it isn't too overwhelming).

Add salt and pepper to taste.

I like to make the filling the night before, as I find this allows the taste of tabasco and green onions to full absorb into the yolks. If you are doing the same, keep the yolks and white separate overnight or they may get funky. Be sure to keep the yolks covered or you can even slip them into a ziploc bag for easy dispensing later (by cutting a corner off the bag).

When you're ready to serve the eggs, spoon the mixture in and sprinkle with paprika.

Enjoy!

Easy to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs, originally uploaded by sunnyd1225.

People have asked me how I've made hard-boiled eggs that are so easy to peel that they slip right out with one crack. They've been curious how the egg yolks are a wonderfully brilliant yellow color, so much so that it's a shame to mush it into egg salad sandwiches.

First off, the fresher the eggs the more bold the yellow of the yolk will be after boiling, and the easier they will be to peel. Don't get me wrong though, I still use fairly old eggs for egg salad goodness.

Most people will tell you to make sure the eggs are room temperature before boiling. From my understanding this is to avoid cracks in the egg after they're submerged into boiling water. I never do that.

I'll let a pot of water start simmering and place the eggs in straight out of the refrigerator. Then I let them boil, a high, rolling boil for about 10 - 15 minutes. I generally wait the 15 minutes to ensure they're boiled thoroughly.

Now, what I have found is the most important part in an easy peel egg can be done two different ways:

1. Once the boiling has ended, remove the pot from the stove and run under cold water. Immediately place the eggs in an ice cold water bath (bowl) and place in the refrigerator if you'll be saving them for later. Yes, keep them stored in a bowl full of cold water for however many days you have left over eggs.

2. If you're in a rush and want them now for some reason then remove them from the boiling water and place in the freezer for a few minutes. Then take eggs out one at a time as you crack them and slip them out of the shell. Becareful though, because the eggs will still be fairly warm, if not hot to the touch. So don't hold on to them for too long or too tightly.

If you happen to be interested in what I put in my egg salad here goes (all mashed and mixed in with a fork):
- Just enough mayo to moisten and let the egg stick together

- A drizzle of yellow mustard

- Salt and Pepper to taste

- Diced pickles

- Red pepper flakes.

Credit for photo: Sunnyd1225

Quiche

Quiche, originally uploaded by predictablyhungry.

(Pardon the not so good picture, as it was taken with a cell phone camera.)

I thought I'd share a recipe for Quiche Lorraine. It's a dish my mother always made on Easter while I was growing up, and as I spent last Easter away from home I made it for myself.

A quiche is a baked dish usually consisting of eggs and cream as the main ingredients. You might hear a lot of men saying they won't eat anything named "quiche," but yes people, real men do eat quiche.

What you'll need:

- 9" deep dish pastry shell

- 12 slices bacon (about 1/2 lb)

- 1 cup shredded swiss cheese

- 1/3 cup minced onion

- 4 eggs

- 2 cups whipping cream

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 teaspoon sugar

- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne red pepper

Making the dish:

1. Pre-Heat oven to 425.

2. Fry bacon strips crisp. Once they are cooked drain them. I place them on a paper towel on a plate to pat dry. Crumble the bacon.

3. Sprinkle bacon, onion & cheese into pastry pie shell.

4. Beat eggs slightly, and then beat in remaining ingredients.

5. Pour cream mixture into pie pan.

6. Place on a cookie sheet in case of spillage in the oven.

7. Place in over and bake for 15 minutes.

8. Reduce oven temp to 300 and bake 30 minutes (I usually bake for 45 minutes) until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.

9. Let stand 10 mins. before cutting.

Wolferman's English Muffins

English muffin, originally uploaded by stu_spivack.

I received a catalog from Wolferman's a bit before the holidays.

I'm not quite sure why.

Needless to say I got sucked in and decided to purchase some Pumpkin Spice english muffins for my sister. They're pretty expensive, and the more you buy the "cheaper" they get.

So I bought more.

I purchased some for my sister and myself. My purchase included: pumpkin spice, maine blueberry, cranberry citrus, cherries jubilee, original, sourdough, apple orchard, cinnamon and raisin, and chocolate chip.

I freezed most of mine except for the sourdough and apple orchard.

My first tasting was of the sourdough english muffins which were rather large and fluffy. Biting into them with a thin layer of butter was absolutely wonderful. Way better than Thomas'!

I was a bit disappointed with the flavored ones I've tried thus far: apple orchard, cranberry citrus, and pumpkin spice. They all smelled really good, but their flavors just weren't strong enough. However, a tiny bit of jam does help those flavors come out.

I'm not sure I'd buy the flavored ones again, but most definitely the sourdough and original... there's just no going back to Thomas' now.

(Thanks to stu_spivack for the picture).