Bacon and Gruyere Popovers

Bacon and Gruyere Popovers 

My husband LOVES popovers.  After seeing some featured in an Austin restaurant on a food television show, we made reservations and tried theirs.  They were delicious, and he ordered a popover pan for me.  It only makes 6 at a time, so it isn't an easy quick breakfast or side dish for the masses.  My mom gave me a popover recipe around the same time, and I have modified it over the years.  This is the result....

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs, room temperature or warmed in a bowl of warm water
• 2 T. melted butter
• 1 1/4 C milk, warmed
• 1 C flour OR 1 C gluten free flour & 1/4 t. xanthan gum
• 1/2 t. salt
• Gruyere, cut into small chunks. (Shredded cheese doesn't create the cheesy pockets in the popovers.)  I use about a teaspoon of cubes in each popover, but use as much or as little as you like.
• Thick-cut Bacon, cooked and crumbled into chunks
• Ground pepper as desired

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Grease popover pan
3. Whisk butter, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, and *xanthan gum (if using)
4. Gradually sift and whisk flour into the batter until smooth.
5. Place chunks of Gruyere in the bottom of each popover tin.
6. Pour batter into each popover tin until 2/3-3/4 full.
7. Add bacon to the top of each tin.
8. Bake for 25 minutes at 400.
9. Reduce heat to 350, and continue to bake for 15 minutes until deep brown.
10. Remove from oven.
11. If you don't want your beautiful popovers to collapse, simply use a sharp paring knife and pierce the bottom of the hot popovers to allow steam to escape and place them on a cooling rack. Do not let them cool in the pan, they'll lose their shape.
12. Enjoy!

Homemade Tomato Basil Soup & Tomato Basil Bisque

Printable Recipe

Our local warehouse store had 2 lb. clamshells of Campari tomatoes, and while I usually use San Marzano tomatoes for soup or bisque, these worked beautifully!

Cut 4 lbs of tomatoes in half.

Clean and slice a red bell pepper.

Add tomatoes, bell pepper, and 8 garlic cloves to a rimmed baking sheet (the tomatoes will render a lot of liquid) or cake pan.

Drizzle with olive oil & generously season with salt and pepper.  Roast the tomatoes, pepper, and garlic at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Slice 1 yellow onion and place in a pan on the stove top with 2 T butter.  Caramelize over low heat while tomatoes are roasting. 

Transfer tomatoes, pepper, garlic, and onion to blender or large pot to blend with an immersion blender. 

Add 1-2 Cups of broth to reach the consistency you want if you are keeping it as a soup and not a bisque.  If you are making a bisque, add 1 C of broth.

Add 1/2 Cup of packed fresh basil, and blend.

Add 1 Tablespoon of Oregano, and Salt & Pepper to taste.  I also added 1 clove of Black Garlic.  It's a sweet and savory addition to the soup.

This is what it looks like when you remove the husk. Blend it into the soup.

If you have a a Parmesan rind, toss it in as the soup simmers for some added flavor.  

Allow the soup to simmer over low heat for at least 10 minutes.

You can remove the Parmesan rind and serve the Tomato Basil Soup with a basil garnish, fresh cracked black pepper, and grated Parmesan.  (If you're like me, you're probably also going to serve it with a grilled cheese sandwich.)

If you wish to make it a bisque, stir in 1 Cup of heavy whipping cream before serving.

Homemade Tomato Basil Soup or Bisque

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. tomatoes

• 1 red bell pepper

• 8 cloves of garlic

• 2 T butter

• 1 whole onion

• 1-2 Cups of broth (vegetable or chicken)

• 1/2 C packed fresh basil

• 1 t dried oregano

• Salt & Pepper

• 1 clove Black Garlic (optional)

• Parmesan Rind (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut 4 lbs of tomatoes in half.

2. Clean and slice a red bell pepper.

3. Add tomatoes, bell pepper, and 8 garlic cloves to a rimmed baking sheet (the tomatoes will render a lot of liquid) or cake pan.

4. Drizzle with olive oil & generously season with salt and pepper.  Roast the tomatoes, pepper, and garlic at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

5. Slice 1 yellow onion and place in a pan on the stove top with 2 T butter.  Caramelize over low heat while tomatoes are roasting. 

6. Transfer tomatoes, pepper, garlic, and onion to blender or large pot to blend with an immersion blender. 

7. Add 1-2 Cups of broth to reach the consistency you want if you are keeping it as a soup and not a bisque.  If you are making a bisque, add 1 C of broth.

8. Add 1/2 Cup of packed fresh basil, and blend.

9. Add 1 Tablespoon of Oregano, and Salt & Pepper to taste. 

10.  Add 1 clove of Black Garlic and blend.

11. If you have a a Parmesan rind, toss it in as the soup simmers for some added flavor.  

12. Allow the soup to simmer over low heat for at least 10 minutes.

13. You can remove the Parmesan rind and serve the Tomato Basil Soup with a basil garnish, fresh cracked black pepper, and grated Parmesan.  (If you're like me, you're probably also going to serve it with a grilled cheese sandwich.)

14. If you wish to make it a bisque, stir in 1 Cup of heavy whipping cream before serving.

Easy Pickled Peppers that are good on (almost) EVERYTHING!

You can use this recipe for ANY pepper!

Y'all!  A few months ago, I needed some pickled peppers for a recipe, and I realized we were out of jarred/canned pickled peppers.  <*Gasp* The horror!>  I sliced up and pickled a few fresh jalapeños we had on hand, and I LOVED THEM. Like, I never intend to buy pickled peppers again. 

We normally grow jalapeño, Serrano, and scotch bonnet peppers in our garden, but they have cross-pollenated the last few years making every pepper a "surprise Scoville mystery pepper."  This year, my husband picked up a Cowhorn Pepper plant that we have kept away from our gardens in its own container.  I had never had a Cowhorn.  

They are long skinny curved peppers that are green until they reach full maturity, but I love how pretty they are when I mix the red and green! 

Everything I've read puts them on par with an "average" jalapeño with regards to Scoville heat, but personally, we feel like they are hotter than most jalapeños - more like somewhere between a jalapeño and Serrano. 

They have great flavor, and when you pickled them with Rice Vinegar, Sugar, and Salt, they are so good on most ANYTHING! 

You can use this recipe to pickle any peppers that fit your personal heat preference. 

EASY PICKLED PEPPERS 

Ingredients:

Peppers, washed and sliced

6 T Rice Vinegar 

2 T White Sugar

1/2 t kosher salt 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a sealable container, seal, and refrigerate.

Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites

My husband came home raving about the Sous Vide Starbucks Gruyere Egg Bites, and he asked if I could recreate them based on his description.  Let me just say that I have made A LOT of egg bites in the past 3 weeks to find the best way to make fluffy Gruyere & Bacon Egg Bites for easy grab-and-go breakfast.  Yes, I even made a "Green Eggs and Ham" version. 

While we have a Sous Vide, trying to recreate the egg bites using other recipes I found didn't produce the results we were looking for.  I also tried pressure cooking them, but they came out much more dense than we wanted.  

So noting all that didn't work, I've finally come up with a recipe that we love.  I have used Gruyere and sharp white cheddar, arugula, spinach, and kale.  We LOVE adding my pickled cowhorn peppers and blending them into the mixture for some extra kick, too.

Enjoy!

Copycat Starbucks Gruyere &  Bacon Egg Bites

Printable Recipe

By Dawn at LearningAsISew.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs - yolks & whites separated

• 1/4 C Heavy whipping cream

• 1+ C  grated  Gruyere cheese (or hard cheese of your preference)

• 1/2 C cottage cheese

• 2 C fresh greens of choice, chop for about 1 C (spinach, kale, arugula, etc.)

• 4-6 slices of thin cut bacon, cooked, and chopped

• Tabasco - to taste (optional)

• Peppers (optional)

• Salt & Pepper as desired

Directions:

1. If using the Instant Pot and Silicone Egg Bite Mold, add 1 C of water to the pot, cover with glass lid, and set to saute.  If using the Egg Poaching pan, add water to the bottom reservoir, cover with the lid only, and place over low heat on the stove.

2. Spray the molds (silicone or for the egg poaching pan) with cooking spray.

3. Place egg whites and heavy whipping cream in a blender or whip with an immersion blender until very frothy. (2-3 minutes)

   
   
   

4. Add cheeses (reserve a bit of the grated Gruyere to top the egg bites after they cook) and Tabasco or other hot sauce as desired and blend until smooth and uniform.  (I wouldn't recommend salsa, because it will make it runny.)

   
   

5. Add yolks, and blend.

   
6. If you choose to add pickled or fresh peppers, you can add them now and blend again, or you can just stir them in according to your preference.

7. If you want "Green Eggs & Ham," add the spinach and blend thoroughly.   If you want "regular" egg bites, you can add greens and pulse very briefly to mix them in.

   

8. Add most of the chopped bacon and stir.

9. Place remaining bits of bacon in the bottom of molds.  (If you need to reserve some for a second batch based on the size of your molds, then set some aside.)

   

10. Pour EQUAL amounts into each mold.  I would recommend filling them about 3/4 of the way, because they will "inflate" like a soufflé before shrinking, and if they get too big, they can break and fall into the water below.

    

11. If using the Instant Pot, use the metal trivet with handles to lower the mold into the I.P. and recover with the glass lid.  Do not seal and set for pressure.  If using the Egg Poaching pan, add the tray layer with the egg poaching molds, recover with the lid, and turn heat to medium.

12. Set a timer for 8 minutes.  Do not uncover while they cook.  If you have a glass lid, you will see them puff up and "dome" as they cook.  If they aren't fully domed, continue to cook for another minute or two.

13. Carefully remove molds and use a small knife to loosen the egg bites from the sides of the molds and turn onto a clean surface.

14. Top with remaining shredded cheese and a slice of pepper if you desire. (You can broil them at this point to brown the cheese, but I just let the residual heat melt the cheese.)

    

15. Refrigerate or freeze, and reheat when ready to eat!  

    

Wicked Easy Thai Chicken and Long Kow Vermicelli Noodle Soup

I needed a REALLY fast meal tonight.  I had zero time.  Truly.  I know my pantry may contain some items that not everyone keeps on hand, but if you DO...this is an incredibly easy meal that comes together in no time.  (I told you I had NO TIME!😉)  It's similar to a Thai Tom Ka soup.

Wicked Easy Thai Chicken and Long Kow Vermicelli Noodle Soup 

3 Long Kow Vermicelli noodle bundles (126 grams)
4 C chicken stock
2 cans coconut milk
1/4 C Thai Red Curry Paste
2 T Ginger paste from tube or 1 T of freshly grated ginger (adjust to taste)
1 t kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1/4 C low sodium soy sauce (GF if preferred)
3 T brown sugar
Meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, cubed
1 C carrot sticks (hand-cut or pre-cut)
1 can bamboo shoots, drained and sliced into sticks
Fresh basil
Fresh cilantro
Sriracha

Place Vermicelli noodles in a bowl and cover with cold water.
Place next 7 ingredients in a pot on the stove and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Add chicken.
Drain noodles and add to pot.  Heat through for 3 more minutes.
Place in bowls and garnish with remaining ingredients.

Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes over Brown Rice

 Y'all, I try; I really do.  Let's be honest here though, I don't use recipes when I'm cooking, so even though I try to get a picture of all of the ingredients at the beginning,  I AM MAKING IT UP AS I GO!  I frequently have to add ingredients later.  Forgive me?

Here we go! Last night I came home after 3 days of camping with our Girl Scout troop,  and I was beat!  I didn't want to cook.  After rifling through my fridge and freezers, this is what I came up with, and I loved it! It was a bit more work than I had planned, but I'll definitely be making it again.

I started by putting short grain brown rice, salt, butter, and water in my rice cooker while I used my IP for the rest.

For our family of five, I used 8 chicken thighs that provided a few leftovers, but this recipe could easily be divided for fewer portions.  Remove the skin and fat from the thighs and season them with salt and pepper.  Set your pressure cooker to saute, and add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Sear the chicken in the butter, and dice 1/2 an onion (I love this Global knife for cutting onions) and press the garlic while the chicken is browning.  Remove the chicken to a plate.

Look at all those browned bits in the bottom of the pot!  I used 1 cup of white wine to deglaze the pot and scrape up the browned bits.  Add the diced onion, pressed garlic, and 1 to 1.5 cups of chicken stock to the pot.  Return the chicken to the pot and set it to high pressure for 10 minutes.

 While the chicken is cooking, heat 2 packages of frozen chopped spinach and then press to strain the liquid.  Slice 1 block of cream cheese (low-fat if you wish) into smaller blocks.  Grate 1/2 Cup of Parmesan.  Strain 1 - 2 cans of artichokes (depending on how much you like them) and rough chop them into bite-sized pieces.

When the chicken is finished cooking, turn the pot off and let it naturally release pressure for at least 15 minutes.  You can do a Quick Pressure Release if necessary at that point, but it is better to let it release naturally when time permits.  Natural release helps maintain the moisture in the chicken.

Remove the chicken to a plate or foil-covered pan while you finish the creamy sauce.

Turn the pot to keep warm if it's still fairly hot or saute if you allowed full natural pressure release.  Stir in the cream cheese until melted, add the spinach and stir to combine.  Add the Parmesan and artichokes.  If the sauce is too thick, you can add 1/4 cup of milk at a time to reach the right consistency for your preference. 

Add brown rice to the bowl and top with a chicken thigh, creamy spinach & artichoke sauce, and some crushed red pepper.  Yum!

Click here for a printable version of my Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes over Brown Rice.

Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls

My husband loves cabbage rolls.  He came into the kitchen, and he said, "Ooooh!  Cabbage rolls! You know who makes the BEST cabbage rolls?"  Me: *side eye* "You better watch it."  He responded, "Andy's mom's cabbage rolls were the BEST!  I ought to give her $50 to make a big batch for us.  They're SOOO GOOOOOOD!"  Fast forward to after dinner...He ate those words, quite literally, because THESE were the best cabbage rolls...even according to my hubs.  Now, I can't say I've ever seen a "beautiful" cabbage roll, but they do TASTE amazing.  Next time, maybe before digging in, I should stage my food.... Nom. Nom.

Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls - by Dawn in an 8 qt. Instant Pot
1 lb ground turkey (or pork)
1 lb ground beef (80/20 or 70/30, but not super lean)
2 lg egg
1 C uncooked white rice
Garlic, minced
2 T butter (or oil)
2 C shredded carrots (food processor or wet chop in blender...if you've not seen this, just wait!)
1 large onion, minced (or wet chopped)
1 C chicken stock
2 large onions, sliced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 C sour cream
Salt & Pepper
2 heads of cabbage
Sour Cream for garnish
Dill


Cabbage:
The cabbage needs to be "softened" one way or another.  There are several ways to do this.  I have found that if you cut the core out of the head(s) of cabbage and put it in the freezer for 24 hours, and then allowing it to defrost, it creates soft leaves that aren't mushy and completely disintegrating.  Then, you also need to cut the hard center "vein" out of each leaf as you take the cabbage apart leaf by leaf.

I've *heard* that you can cut the core out and place the head of cabbage in your Instant Pot with 1 cup of water for 3 minutes on manual high pressure.  I tried this...once..., but my outer leaves were literally falling apart and the inside leaves weren't steamed/cooked.  So while I lurve my IP, I didn't love it for softening the cabbage.  You can also soften them old-school style by putting the cabbage head(s) in boiling water.  You'll still need to cut that hard "vein" from the center of each leaf so that you can roll your cabbage rolls. 

Wet chop?  Well...confession here...I do not own a food processor.  I had one, and it broke the first time I used it, and I have never replaced it.  I've got crazy cool attachments for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer and this awesome blender that has the Ice AutoPulse function, and I've got old school kitchen tools that get me through just fine.  I *have* found that while my KitchenAid attachments work great for grating cheese, they do NOT work as well with carrots.  
(That's quite the carrot cake story - that involved plastic shreds from my attachment to be dumped into my cake batter and noticed *just* before I put them in the oven.  I could have died!  My sweet husband (knowing how frustrated I was) offered to run to the store to just pick up some shredded carrots along with a few other items on our list.  He returned WITHOUT the carrots, so he proceeded to hand-grate all of the carrots I needed for the cake, because quite frankly, I was OVER the cake.)

So, fast-forward to now, and I'm a busy mom, and although I think you keep more of the onion and carrot flavor by doing them all by hand, I'm not going to lie and say I do it that way all of the time.  Throw the carrots and onions in the blender and cover with water.  Use the "Ice Auto-Pulse" function until they are sufficiently "grated."  Strain the water, and you have "grated" vegetables.  Seriously, SO easy!

  Add olive oil to the inner pot of your Instant Pot and saute your strained carrots and onions.  I recommend cooking these until they are caramelized to really add some tremendous flavor.

Add your crushed/diced tomatoes, sour cream, salt, pepper, and dill to the vegetables and heat through.  

Meanwhile, place your meats, eggs, uncooked rice, garlic, and salt & pepper in a bowl.

Add 2 cups of the veggie sauce to the meat and mix well to combine.  Set remainder of veggie sauce aside.

Pour 1 C Chicken Stock into the empty inner pot of the IP.  Place the "cores" or "veins" from the leaves along the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching the bottoms of the rolls.

Place  ~1/3 Cup of meat/rice/veggie mixture into a softened cabbage leaf and roll tucking the ends in as you do to create a little package.  Place the rolls on top of the cabbage in the pot.  Once the bottom is filled, pour 1/2 of the remaining veggie mixture over the cabbage rolls.  Repeat with remaining meat and cabbage leaves, followed by the veggie mixture. Top it all off with sliced onions.

Be sure the valve is set to seal, and turn your Instant Pot on to Manual High Pressure for 15 minutes and do a natural release when it is finished.  (Alternatively, you can do 18 minutes and quick release with very similar results.) 

Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls - by Dawn in an 8 qt. Instant Pot
(Click for printable recipe)

1 lb ground turkey (or pork)
1 lb ground beef (80/20 or 70/30, but not super lean)
2 lg egg
1 C uncooked white rice
Garlic, minced
2 T butter (or oil)
2 C shredded carrots (food processor or wet chop in blender...if you've not seen this, just wait!)
1 large onion, minced (or wet chopped)
1 C chicken stock
2 large onions, sliced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 C sour cream
Salt & Pepper
2 heads of cabbage
Sour Cream for garnish
Dill


Remove core and soften cabbage (Instant Pot, freeze & defrost, or boil.)

Grate carrots & onions (wet chop or use food processor.)

Add olive oil to the inner pot of your Instant Pot and saute strained carrots and onions.  Cook until caramelized.

Meanwhile, remove center "vein" from each leaf. 

Add crushed/diced tomatoes, sour cream, salt, pepper, and dill to the vegetables and heat through.  

Meanwhile, place meats, eggs, uncooked rice, garlic, and salt & pepper in a bowl.

Add 2 cups of the veggie sauce to the meat and mix well to combine.  Set remainder of veggie sauce aside.

Pour 1 C Chicken Stock into the empty inner pot of the IP.  Place the "cores" or "veins" from the leaves along the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching the bottoms of the rolls.

Place  ~1/3 Cup of meat/rice/veggie mixture into a softened cabbage leaf and roll.  Place the rolls on top of the cabbage in the pot.  Once the bottom is filled, pour 1/2 of the remaining veggie mixture over the cabbage rolls.  

Repeat with remaining meat and cabbage leaves, followed by the veggie mixture. Top it all off with sliced onions.

Be sure the valve is set to seal, and turn your Instant Pot on to Manual High Pressure for 15 minutes and do a natural release when it is finished.  (Alternatively, you can do 18 minutes and quick release with very similar results.) 

The VERY Best Gluten Free Waffles Ever (recipe)

After our family went Gluten-Free, our kids really missed simple treats (that were still only very occasional for our family) like waffles.  My waffle recipe below is sweet enough that you really don't need syrup!  You could certainly cut the sugar if you *need* syrup, confectioner sugar, or whipped cream.  Personally, I love these gems with some fresh fruit.  They have the perfect crunchy exterior with the soft fluffy middle.  They do work better in waffle irons that are "thicker" (like Belgian), but I've made them in a super thin waffle iron (almost the thickness of a pancake) and had RAVE reviews and repeated requests for the recipe.  Truth be told, this recipe came about in a search for a great waffle for Chicken & Waffles.  So...here they are, the VERY Best Gluten Free Waffles Ever. 
(I often double this recipe and make some to freeze for lunches and snacks.)

Ingredients

• 2 cups Pamela's Artisan all-purpose flour (not an affiliate of LaIS)
• 3/4 cup (scant) granulated sugar (If you want a less sweet waffle that is able to "take" syrup, try 1/3-1/2 C sugar.)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs, whites and yolks separated
• 1  1/2 C milk
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted OR coconut oil (and I LOVE it if the coconut oil still has the coconut flavor for these waffles.)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons clear Mexican vanilla (I use Danncy's - not an affiliate of LaIS)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl, stir to combine.
3. Place egg whites into a medium mixing bowl, whisk continuously until stiff peaks form.
4. Place milk, lemon juice, melted butter, Mexican vanilla and egg yolks into a large bowl, whisk to combine then slowly stir into dry ingredients. Once combined, fold in egg whites until just combined.
5. Scoop 1/2 cup of batter and place into center of waffle iron, close lid and let cook until steam subsides and waffle is golden and crisp. Remove hot waffles and place on cooling rack. Continue cooking waffles until all batter is used.
6. To serve, place waffles onto serving plates, top with fruit of choice and toppings.

Freaking amazing.  I made 2 batches tonight.