Deviled Eggs

Oh my. How did I let myself go so long without posting again? By way of apology, let me explain that I've been on three trips in the last month and a half (Boston, DC, and Indy for my little sister's wedding) and am now working on editing wedding photos while also catching up on actual work. I guess time has just gotten away from me, and I apologize for leaving you hanging for so long. It seems like it comes to this every few months, unfortunately, but you know, life gets in the way sometimes.

Spring is in full force here in Hampton Roads. (Actually, when we came back from the wedding, it seemed like we had skipped spring entirely and gone straight into summer. when we left it was in the 50s, and when we came home, it was seriously in the mid to high 80s.) With spring, comes picnic foods--ham sandwiches, potato salad, macaroni salad, and deviled eggs. I personally am not a fan of deviled eggs, but Justin loves them. Being the wonderful wife that I am, I do occasionally make them for him. This recipe is our attempt at recreating his mother's deviled eggs. She doesn't use a recipe, of course. She just adds the ingredients until it tastes right. Someday I'm going to use a food scale to weigh the containers before and after to figure out her exact recipe, lol, but I haven't done that yet and so this is as close as it gets.

Macaroni & Cheese Muffins

Ok, so these aren't really muffins. They're more like muffin-shaped baked mac and cheese. Because of that, they would really make great party food; you can just pick them up and eat them--no fork needed! They're also good for when you just want something a little different and fun. I made them to go with some creamy red pepper and gouda soup. A couple of the ingredients overlap nicely between the recipes. I hate buying something like half-and-half and then only using half a cup of it with the rest going to waste. Therefore, this recipe and the soup recipe together use up all of the half-and-half and gouda that I bought. You don't have to make them together, but that's part of the reason that I did.

Chopped Challenge #5, Part 2: White Cheddar Bread Pudding

When I worked at the coffee shop, my boss would always talk about taking the leftover croissants and making a savory bread pudding with them. He never did. He'd make chocolate bread pudding but never a savory one. Going into this challenge, I knew because of that that savory bread pudding was a thing, but I'd never actually had it. (I'd never even had normal, dessert bread pudding until I made this one for Thanksgiving last year.) I knew that this is what I wanted to try to make though, but I wasn't sure how it would come out.

Now that I've made it, I think it might be one of my new favorite things. Justin seemed a little weirded out by it because he said that the texture reminded him a little bit of quiche. (He doesn't like the texture of baked eggs at all, which is really sad because I love quiche.) That being said, he still ate it, so I guess that's something. I, however, can't wait to make this again. It was fluffy and flavorful and filled with cheese & garlic goodness. I might have to try to adapt it into a dinner recipe of its own. Throw in some more veggies and some meat and see where it takes me.

Braided White Bread

Working in a coffee shop, you get to know your regular customers. You get to actually like some of them, too, to the point that you actually enjoy making their drinks and talking to them when they come in. On my first day of work at the coffee shop, my boss introduced me to a lovely couple who came in for a cup of coffee or two pretty much every afternoon. They're big into baking (and are generally super awesome people, too), so we hit it off pretty well. They're baking speciality is bread. Lots and lots of bread. Every now and then they'd bring some in to the shop for us to try out, and oh my. There really is nothing like fresh, homemade bread.

Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts

The first time Justin or I ever had Brussels sprouts was in England during our honeymoon. We stayed with a friend in the city of Kenilworth for the first few days we were there, and her roommate made oven-roasted Brussels sprouts one night. Brussels sprouts get a pretty bad rap, so I wasn't particularly excited about it but figured I'd try them anyway. I'm glad I did because they were surprisingly tasty. The key, apparently, is to prepare and cook them properly.

Despite being more of a cold-weather vegetable, Brussels sprouts have appeared on almost every grocery list we've made this summer. Justin has become a bit obsessed with them. It's become his go-to answer every time I ask, "What should we have on the side?" This is the really simple, reltively quick way we've been preparing them lately.

Simple Egg Drop Soup

Egg drop soup will forever be something I associate with my mother. No, my mom wasn't Chinese, but when other kids would have asked their moms to make them some chicken noodle soup when they were sick, I asked mine to make egg drop soup. As soon as I was old enough to use the stove by myself, I asked her to show me how to make it.

Chopped Challenge #2, Part 2: Fried Leek Biscuits

*I'm splitting this post into two parts, one each for the entree and the side dish.

To compliment the turkey and dumplings that Justin made for Chopped Challenge #2, he also made fried leek biscuits. You could really do this with whatever you wanted to fry. You could fry up some jalapenos and make spicy biscuits. You could fry up some apples and cinnamon and make dessert biscuits. You could fry up some bacon and make--be right back, I've got bacon biscuits to make...

Chicken Fried Rice

Justin loves Chinese food more than probably any other type. (I, on the other hand, could eat Mexican food until I pop.) The beauty of Chinese food is that it's so cheap and can be found in abundance here; therefore, we don't make it at home very often. Justin's been asking for fried rice lately though, and I can't help but oblige.

Cheesy Macaroni Salad

I'm not a big fan of "salads" that don't actually involve lettuce. I've never found an egg salad that I like. I will try a bite or two of potato salad on occasion. I never even wanted to try macaroni salad. (However, I love pasta salad, but they are two totally separate things.) Have you seen that stuff in the grocery store deli cases? Sometimes it's pink. Sometimes it's neon yellow. Sometimes it's unnaturally white. No matter what, it's always unappealingly moist and contains unidentifiable chunks of... something. Nothing about it ever seemed appetizing to me, and I was content in my macaroni salad-free life. Then I found this recipe.