Last Thursday, I came home from work with absolutely no plan as to what to make for dinner. Most nights I have at least a semblance of a plan, whether it be 1). Eat leftovers from weekend cooking, 2). Turkey burgers and salad or 3). Gather the boyfriend and go out. There weren't any leftovers, nothing was defrosted and Scott was working late, which ruled out option three.
Taking stock of the fridge, my eyes hit upon the teeny farmers market eggs I had picked up the previous weekend. Egg salad it would be, made with finely chopped green pepper (I was out of celery and needed something for crunch), grated onion and a tiny bit of fresh dill. After the eggs finished cooking and were cooling down, my eyes found the pastry blender resting in the dish drainer. Normally I'll just chop the heck out of the peeled eggs on my cutting board and then scrape them into the bowl, but this time inspiration (and a bit of laziness) led me to use the pastry blender instead. It worked perfectly, created less mess and gave a nice variable texture to the eggs.
I ate some of the salad open-face on a piece of toasted whole grain bread, sliced tomatoes standing in for the second piece bread. It was a quick dinner that was fresh tasting and left the kitchen cool and not too messed.
Behold the Whatafarm burger, which according to alanbeam.net, via about.blank is "a burger ordered from the Whataburger chain and includes chicken, egg, cheese and bacon. 2 parts cow, 2 parts chicken, 1 part pig."
I'm all for the orgiastic multi-species chow down, what with my penchant for Kentucky burgoo (2 formats of cow -- old and young, lamb, pig, and chicken) and applaud the orderers for their gastronomic gumption. If I were being all harrumphy about it, I could note that the menu offers pig in sausage form and a fish filet as well and they opted for neither, but hey - Michelangelo didn't knock out the Sistine Chapel on his first jaunt up the scaffolding.
We salute you with all hooves, claws and trotters up!
The floods in the Mid-West are causing a nationwide increase in food prices across the board. Corn and soy prices are increasing dramatically which means other foods that depend upon them are increasing as well. Expect to see many grocery items like meats, cheese, eggs, milk, oil, etc. increase in price.
I spent summers as a child in the corn fields of Iowa, many of which have become lakes, with the gently hills small islands. Now many of these farmers are calling it quits, selling off the farms and getting out of the business. Animals are being sold off, which means a short term meat glut, but a long term shortage. Don't expect prices to go down from the quick influx of meat, because the long term shortage is so visible that prices have to start reacting now.
This is going to have such long term effects that you can expect your Holiday turkeys and hams to cost quite a bit more than last year, and possibly even more the year after that.
One more great eggs-ample of food art! This piece was created by artist Henk Hofstra, and the Wooster Collective reported back in May about the project that's located in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.
Each egg is about 100 feet wide, and they were spread out in one of the largest squares in Leeuwarden, called Zaailand, where they'll be walked on and photographed for six months.
Diana Eid of Inventor Spot said that this art project was just made for Google Earth, which tickled me to no end. I wouldn't have thought that, but I think it's great that someone did. New and creative ways to view food and art are always welcome in my book.
Are you concerned about your kids eating their eggs? The Egg Robot is here to help.
The Egg Robot comes with the robot suit and the spoon, but you have to provide the eggs, of course. It's a newish toy that claims to make eating eggs more fun for your kids, thus they will now eat their eggs (it's really nothing more than a fancied up egg cup). That's assuming you have trouble getting your kids to eat eggs, otherwise it's just a novelty item that'd hang around and clutter up your house.
I know I didn't like eggs when I was a kid, except hard cooked eggs. There wasn't very much my mom could do to convince me otherwise, but I don't remember that being such a big concern for her. Maybe you could put other foodstuff in the robot to make your child want to eat whatever it is, something a little more important, like vegetables. Do you think this is a good idea?
We're usually talking about foods we love here on Slashfood, but occasionally we talk about foods we hate. This post had so many comments about yucky foods that freak out people. So here is my most hated food combination. Eggs and ketchup. I find the smell personally disgusting, especially with scrambled eggs. My mom used to use ketchup on her eggs when I was a kid and one day I tried it. Well I have to say it was loathe at first taste, and smell. It has this weird sickly sweet, odor reminiscent of vomit and corpses. Well, maybe not really, but it feels that way to me. I wonder if somewhere way back when I was young, I was ill and my mother served these to me and then I barfed. I can't think why this smell would be so powerful to me.
A few years ago I ordered one of my, several times a year, road trip treats. I was on my way to several days of food and wine events and needed some quick calories to sustain me on the drive. This is usually the only time I do this, and I requested a breakfast sandwich of ham, bacon, eggs, and cheese on a toasted, buttered, kaiser roll at my local deli. I got to my car and as soon as I opened the bag that odor wafted out. The pong (as my English mom would say) made my nose hairs curl. KETCHUP WAS ON MY EGGS. Holding the bag at arms length, wishing that my arms were even longer, I proceeded back to the deli and dropped the offending substance onto the counter and requested an edible sandwich.
Not long after this I was starting on a vacation road trip with fellow blogger and good buddy Joe DiStefano, heading up to Down East Maine and New Brunswick, Canada for a week or two of camping. We ordered breakfast sandwiches at the same deli and headed out to the car. Before we even got in I smelled that rank excrescence assaulting my sense of smell and sensibility. JOE HAD ORDERED KETCHUP ON HIS EGGS. I made him stand outside my car to eat his slop why I ate my tasty sandwich inside, with the windows rolled up. Lucky for him it was a gorgeous summer day.
So what about you folks? Who else hates the smell/taste of ketchup on eggs? Anyone?
A satiny, butter-yellow Hollandaise is a beautiful thing, whether spooned over poached eggs or dribbled on lightly cooked asparagus. A 'broken' hollandaise, however, is a nasty, grainy, wet mess.
Younger readers might not remember that ad slogan, but the theme has been rattling around in my brain since I found out that today is National Egg Day. Treat yourself to a nice Eggs Benedict (which I bet is something you don't eat that often) or maybe visit IowaEgg.org for some great recipes ranging from omelets (I have my eye on this Apple, Cheddar, and Bacon one) to desserts. I used to have Fried Egg Sandwiches once a week when I was a kid. Topped with ketchup! Mmmmmmmmmm. I never put mustard on it like that recipe has, but that actually sounds pretty cool.
And don't forget that we have an egg category too.
Here in New Mexico, they put green chile in everything. EVERYTHING. Eggs. Cheeseburgers. Steak. Salad. Ice Cream (seriously). Even the Dunkin' Donuts has a little hand-lettered sign letting you know you can have green chile on your breakfast sandwich.
But one of my very favorite green chile delicacies has been the green chile and cheese pie. A local cafe does a great version, thick and eggy and oozing with asiago. Gourmet Sleuth has a similar recipe, for a green chile quiche with bacon. Substitute real New Mexico green chiles and some asiago for the Monteray Jack, and you're in business. Next time I'm going to add a healthy pinch of cayenne and serve this for brunch with salad.
A couple in Cornwall, England, who have been keeping chickens for more than 25 years, thought they had seen everything that the agricultural life could dish out. But then one of their 30,000 hens laid an egg that is four times the size of the eggs they normally see on the farm.
They say that it is a perfectly shaped egg, with a smooth shell and even finish. They can't determine which chicken laid this honker of an egg, but inspections have uncovered nothing and all the hens appear to be in good health. They plan on blowing the contents out of the egg and displaying the shell at their stand at the Royal Cornwall Show.
Easter, both the mainstream and Orthodox ones have come and gone, leaving behind honest-to-God Spring (at least where I am. I hear tell that it's already Summer in some places). However, when I spotted this picture in the Slashfood Flickr pool, the colors and patterns caught my attention and spoke to me.
When I was growing up, my mom had a bowl of wooden eggs that were carved and painted. I loved to play with them, but wasn't allowed particularly often, as they were old and the paint was a bit flaky. They looked just like these Easter eggs.
Thanks Andreea, for adding your image to the pool and for giving me a brief trip in my childhood memories.
I love waffles (I own four waffle irons and wouldn't hesitate to buy another if I came across an old, working one with cast iron plates). I also love French toast (all week long, I've been planning writing an ode to that breakfast dish), mostly because it makes it possible to create something delicious out of the most humble of ingredients. For these reasons, I am horrifically embarrassed that it never occurred to me to cook my french toast in my waffle iron, like the Kitchen Chick has done.
A craving for buttermilk waffles, coupled with a dearth of buttermilk and some brioche that needed to be used helped inspire this tasty creation. She proceeded to make French toast as normal, soaking the bread in an egg and milk mixture. Then instead of cooking it in a pan or on a griddle, she put the bread on the waffle iron and cooked like any other waffle. Deliciousness abounds!
I can't, and I know it. But does that qualify me for world renown? Maybe, if I gather my gumption and enter the American Egg Board's second annual search for the Worst Cook in America.
Why the American Egg Board is hosting such a contest perplexes me a bit. I mean, for those of us who are challenged in the culinary arts, eggs are relatively forgiving fare. Even I can make scrambled eggs. I can make an omelet. I've even taught myself how to make a decent Tortilla Espanola (although it took many tries).
I have something of a weakness for cute food. I love things like tiny-BLT sandwiches, little quiches and mini-cupcakes. These small quail egg and cherry tomato mushrooms have been catching my eye in the Slashfood Flickr pool for the last couple of days and last night they finally pushed my cute-o-meter into overdrive.
According to Pille, the Estonian food blogger who made and photographed them, they are fairly common in her country, having appeared in a children's cookbook in the eighties. They are new to me, but I think they would make a fun addition to a brunch spread, especially since they offer a fun variation of the deviled egg.
Are you concerned about your kids eating their eggs? The Egg Robot is here to help. 
Here in New Mexico, they put green chile in everything. EVERYTHING. Eggs. Cheeseburgers. Steak. Salad. Ice Cream (seriously). Even the Dunkin' Donuts has a little hand-lettered sign letting you know you can have green chile on your breakfast sandwich. 
So you think you can cook?
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
