Chalkboard Easter Eggs

So easy and so much fun.  I painted wooden goose egg sized eggs with Martha Stewart's Chalkboard paint. I bought the paint and the eggs at Joann's.  I thought about sanding them.  I thought about putting a base coat on them.  What I did was get out a 1" foam brush and just started painting them.  I made 6.  I put probably 5 or 6 coats on them.  I knew I had put enough on them when they dried they had a nice shine still.  Before that they would dry and be a flat color like the wood had absorbed the paint.

Then I primed them with chalk I had bought at Walgreens.  It was $1 for a plastic box full of 12 large sticks of chalk.  I figured when the kids were tired of drawing on their eggs they could draw on the sidewalk.  That's exactly what they did.

I wrote their names on the eggs and hid them with a stick of chalk with the other Easter eggs.  They had a lot of fun finding them.  I had also made an egg for the oldest cousin who was 16.  I didn't want her to feel left out even though I figured she was too old for such nonsense.  I over heard her say as she sat and drew on her egg "This is so cool."

State Fair Frittata

2 years ago DH and walked around the 2009 State Fair by ourselves.  This hadn't happened in about 15 years.  Our teens were off with their friends.  We happened upon a cooking demo that smelled so good before it even began.  We decided to stay and see what they were cooking.  I took notes all along knowing I'd like to try this recipe at home.  They were demonstrating for Del Monte canned foods particularly their canned potatoes.  I've always thought canned potatoes would be terrible.

They said not to worry the recipe would be on their website soon.  I checked their website for 6 months.  As far as I could tell it never arrived.  I was so glad I wrote down the recipe.  Every now and then I can't find it though.  Like tonight I had a mini panic.  I finally found it in my email.  Where the printed copy in my recipe file went I don't know.  I might be in there as I'm not really sure how to file this recipe.... under eggs, pork (for the bacon), potatoes, breakfast, or dinner?

We eat it for dinner.  It's a very easy recipe, but a bit fussy to make.  I discovered that canned potatoes are very good, which was what Del Monte was trying to prove.

State Fair Frittata

1 pound of bacon, diced and cooked until crisp
½ onion, diced
1T bacon fat
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 T cilantro, coarsely chopped
a pinch of oregano
a pinch of marjoram
Salt & Pepper to Taste
2 T bacon fat
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
2 cans of Del Monte sliced potatoes drained and dried of all water
a pinch of oregano
a pinch of marjoram
Salt & Pepper to Taste
9 eggs
½ cup cream
pinch of salt
Nonstick Cooking Spray
¾ Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
¾ Cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Optional - 3 sliced avocados
Green onions, sliced

Preheat Oven to 500 degrees.

Heat 12 inch nonstick skillet over med. high heat.  Add bacon.  Cook until crisp and drain.  Set aside and reserve fat.

Meanwhile, in smaller skillet prepare sauce by sauteing onion in tablespoon of bacon fat.  Once translucent add tomato sauce, cilantro, pinch of oregano, pinch of marjoram and salt and pepper to taste.  Let simmer on low.

In 12 inch skillet add 2 tablespoons of bacon fat.  Sauté red pepper and green pepper.  After they have sautéed for a few minutes add dried potatoes.  Continue to sauté adding pinch of oregano, pinch of marjoram and salt and pepper to taste.

Beat eggs and cream together, add pinch of salt and whisk again. Set aside and spray rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Sprinkle pan with sautéed pepper/potato mixture.  Sprinkle cooked bacon over top.  Pour egg mixture over top.  Top with cheese and place in oven for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted, bubbly and slightly brown. Cut into rectangles, top with tomato sauce, avocados, green onions and serve.

The Dutch Baby

My mom introduced me to the Dutch Baby when I was a teen. It's a German pancake. It is usually served sweet like American pancakes. It can be season with vanilla and cinnamon. It can be sprinkled with powdered sugar or a fruit topping. We would just drizzled with maple syrup.  One impressive characteristic of the Dutch Baby is how it looks when it's baked.  One bakes it in a metal pan in the oven.  When it comes out of the oven the batter has grown up the sides of the pan to probably 5 times the size it originated.  Like a Soufflé though it quickly shrinks down to less than half it's former state.  That is why mom always made sure we were seated around the table before the Dutch Baby came out of the oven.

The sweet Dutch Baby was never our favorite when we discovered the savory type. I found a recipe call a Meaty Dutch Baby back in the 1980's. I don't know where I got it and a search on the Internet provided no Meaty Dutch Baby recipes to my surprise.  It came from a magazine and I'm guessing it might have been Sunset.  As it was my favorite magazine at the time.

Like the original Dutch Baby it does puff up in the oven, but not nearly as high.  I have baked it in a glass pan and a metal pan and it does puff higher in a metal pan.  The puffing does really nothing to the flavor it's just very appealing to the eye.  I have made this more and transported it than eaten it at home.  It's a favorite wherever I take it.

Another characteristic of making a Dutch Baby is you can't... let me put this delicately... fart around once you get to the mixing of the batter.  Have your eggs, milk and flour already measured and ready to blend.  You mix up the batter in order stated, pull hot pan from oven, pour into hot pan, throw on cheese... don't take a lot of time here to sprinkle too neatly.... and return pan to oven.  The pan and filling being hot is what makes the pancake rise.  Too much dilly dallying or not mixing batter in proper order results in a flat pancake.  Now don't get all nervous and burn yourself trying to be fast.  Just remember to not take the time to pour batter in neat concentric circles or scrape every drop of batter from blender or try and sprinkle the cheese on evenly and consistently.  It doesn't matter.   Keeping it hot does.

Meaty Dutch Baby
Prepare filling (recipe below)

4T butter
1 cup cheddar cheese or 1/3 cup Parmesan
4 eggs
1 cup each milk and flour

In same frying pan, make sure there is at least 5T of fat, add butter to make up difference.  Place pan with filling in 425°F oven until butter melts and bubbles.  Quickly, in blender break eggs, whirl for a minute, with motor running add milk then add flour whirl 30 seconds.  Quickly pour into hot pan and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake about 20 minutes.

Sausage Filling - Crumble 1/2 pound jimmy Dean regular sausage into frying pan.  Stir over medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add chopped green chiles (1 small can California green chiles), 1 small onion (chopped), 1 minced garlic clove, and 1/2 tsp each dry basil and thyme leave.  Brown slightly.

Return above for instructions.

My daughter likes it with Tapatio hot sauce.  Lots of Tapatio hot sauce.  Youch!

A Day That Warms A Mother's Heart

I get my heart warmed a lot with my kids, but Sunday was a particularly heart warming day.  My daughter belongs to a group at school called "Caring for Cancer Patients."  I thought it would be great to host a machine knitting day, so they could make Chemo Caps for donation.

My plan was to teach them to machine knit and to feed them.  Both went off without a hitch.  They all really enjoyed learning to machine knit.  They were very excited to have knitted hats themselves. 

While they were machine knitting I tried a new appetizer call Chile Relleno Bites.  Excellent Recipe.  The recipe is not kidding when it says "cool and cut into squares."  When fresh out of the oven my daughter couldn't wait and asked to dip in.  I said sure.  It was a gooey mess.  I suggested she scoop some out and eat it with tortilla chips.  She made a bowl for all her friends and it was great.  What was left in the pan actually cooled.  It cut up into beautiful squares that one could pick up and eat as the recipe intended.

Chile Relleno Bites


2 small cans diced green chiles
5 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
6 eggs, beaten well
1 dash Tabasco sauce


Preheat oven to 350. Spread the green chiles on the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. Add the Tabasco sauce to the beaten eggs, and pour over the chiles and cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.


I also had dinner plans.  Thank goodness my son came home as I found out I couldn't make dinner and machine knit.  I had started dinner, but couldn't finish.  My son came home and asked, "Anything you need help with?"  What a nice son.  I said, "Yes, could you finish dinner?"  He jumped right in.

We were knitting and dinner smelled so good.  The teenagers couldn't wait to eat.  My friend that was over helping with the knitting couldn't wait to eat.  Next thing I knew Diana was back from Pennsylvania.  She is the leader of the CCP group.  She lives next door and she and her older brother (who picked her up at the airport) stopped in to see the progress of the knitted hats.  Allison announced, "Diana's here to see the hats!  Andy's here to raid the fridge!"  Allison laughs.  Andy laughs.  I laugh.  Then Allison says, "No really Andy here's looking for food."  I laughed again and told Andy to get a plate and help himself.

We all ate and knitted and it was just a really fun day.