Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

A little over a month ago, I saw these delicious little breakfast delights on Pinterest and knew they were a "must pin".  The recipe comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything originally, and is so perfect, you do not need to adjust a thing.  They are amazing!

NOTE:  This recipe is for 6, but you just can make as many or as few as you want.  You just select your quantity, and then you need that many pieces of bacon, bread, and eggs...

Ingredients:
6 slices of bacon, uncooked
6 slices of bread (I've had great success with whole wheat white bread.)
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese (I've varied the type of cheese, and I never measure it...)
6 eggs
salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Spray the cups of a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Cook your bacon in a frying pan for about 5 minutes, so that it is partially cooked, but not crispy.  Transfer to a paper towel lined plate when finished.

While the bacon cooks, cut out circles  in each piece of bread using a cookie cutter or a drinking glass turned upside down.

Here's where it gets a little tricky.  I have the best results when I push the bread into the muffin cups to shape them gently, but then I take them back out.  Wrap the bacon around the muffin cup, and then replace the shaped bread inside the bacon.  I kind of shimmy the bacon up a little and shape the bread to the inside of the bacon on the sides and into the bottom of the tin.

When you've got your cups ready, sprinkle cheese on top of the bread.  Then, crack one egg over each piece of bread.  I do this over the sink, with the muffin tin just to my right.  You may not want to use all of the egg white, so it's easier to crack the egg and let a little of the white run out into the sink and then pour the egg into the cup.  You can use the whole white, but it sometimes bubbles over the bacon when you do that.

Bake until eggs are cooked through to your liking and the bacon is crispy.  We've found 15 minutes is perfect if you don't use the full white and you like your eggs with a little bit of run in the yolk.  Run a knife around the outside of the bacon in the muffin cups, and pop them out.  I use a fork on one side, gently sliding between the bacon and the tin, and a knife on the other side to pull them out...

Salt & pepper for seasoning, and enjoy!  We love these.  They are the perfect breakfast bite!

Sweet Potato & Green Bean Gratin

This one was a real adventure.  I'll be honest.  If I make this again, I will add A LOT more cheese...  So, think about a creamier cheese variety between the layers or just more of what I did.  But, it was a little boring as it stands... 

And, also, I almost mandolined my fingernail off.  I seriously escaped with just a divot out of the middle, thanks to a timely manicure... 

Just being honest.  They aren't all home runs!

Sweet Potato & Green Bean Gratin

Ingredients
2 Sweet Potato (medium size), peeled and sliced
1/2 candy onion, sliced and carmelized

1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and snapped
1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. grated parmesan
1/2 c buttermilk
2 pieces of bacon, crumbled

 
(Measurements on the cheese and buttermilk are not precise)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease or spray a baking dish to keep from gratin from sticking.  Layer the ingredients in this order:  sweet potato, green beans, carmelized onions, bacon, shredded cheeses, buttermilk.

When all layers are complete, place in the preheated oven and allow to bake about an hour.  Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes before cutting and eating.  Serves 9. 

Again, I would add more cheese than what you see here.  And, I would probably heavily salt and pepper this on each layer if I made it again.  I think it could really stand up to a stronger, creamy cheese.  The bones are good, but it needs more flavor!!!  If you improve this, please let me know what you did!

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Skillet

We finally got yellow squash in the CSA delivery a few weeks ago.  I love zucchini & yellow squash in the summer, and it's one of the first vegetable side dishes I was able to convince Mark to try...  And, he likes them!  Bonus!  Even though we've established that he likes them, I still like to give vegetables a little extra oomph from time to time.  And, when I give oomph, that means I add bacon and cheese...  This was delicious!

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Skillet (with oomph)

Ingredients
2 slices of bacon , sliced and quartered
1 medium zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 medium yellow squash
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 red bell pepper, diced to quarter inch
1/4 red onion, diced to quarter inch
1/3 c shredded monterrey jack cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place two slices of bacon in a large skillet and pan fry over medium low heat.

As bacon is frying, slice and chop the zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, red pepper and red onion.

When bacon is done, remove from pan.  Pour the majority of the bacon grease out, leaving just enough to coat the pan.  Add the chopped vegetables to the pan.  Cook over medium heat, until the onions and squash become chopped and translucent.  Turn heat to low, and crumble the two slices of bacon into the mixture and sprinkle the top with shredded cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

Serves 4

The bacon grease really adds a nice richness to this side dish.  We ate it alongside some homemade bacon cheeseburgers (so really I made more than the two slices, but you only need two slices for this dish!), and it was a great meal!

Creamy Potato Leek Soup (PLUS)

So, @markphilip tells me this is probably the best soup he has ever eaten in his life.  I can tell you that he doesn't love soup the way I love soup.  So, I deem this a winner.  (He doesn't know what leeks are, but he now loves them!) 

SO, Here we go...  Thanks to Menaka for the extra pressure to post the recipe!  :)  I love you!

Creamy Potato Leek Soup (PLUS)

 3/4 pound bacon, cut into 1" pieces
5 small to medium sized red potatoes, cubed
3 cups chicken broth
2 leeks, cleaned, cut in half and sliced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 leaves of Swiss chard
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
Cracked black pepper to taste
Shredded cheddar jack cheese


Start by frying the bacon pieces over a low-medium heat.  You'll want to not rush it, to give you time to chop the other things.  Stir occasionally to keep the bacon cooking evenly.

In the meantime, peel the potatoes and dice them into small cubes.  Put the potatoes into a large pot with the chicken broth.  Cook over medium high heat until it begins to boil.  After it reaches boiling, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to a simmer until the potatoes are soft. 

Keep stirring the bacon, and start cleaning and chopping the leeks.   If you haven't worked with leeks, they are notorious for storing mud between the leaves.  So, first cut back the dark green parts to where they really start to fade to a yellow.  If it's green, it is too tough to eat so cut it off.  When you cut off the extra leaves, cut off the roots on the end, and then make a long cut through the middle to about an inch from the root origin.  Run it under water to really clean out between all the leaves.  Make sure you get all the dirt out in the running water.  Then, slice the leeks in thin slices from one end to the other.

When the bacon is done, set aside about 4-5 tbsp of the bacon grease.  Remove the bacon from the pan, drain the remaining grease from the pan.  Add the leeks and the bacon grease you set aside back to the pan.  Saute over low-medium heat for five minutes.  During that time, chop the two leaves of Swiss chard into one-inch squares.  After five minutes, add the garlic and Swiss chard to the leeks and simmer for another 5 minutes.

When the leeks and Swiss chard are tender, add them to the potatoes and chicken broth.  (I used an immersion blender to blend about half of it into a creamier texture.  I like soups that have both some texture but also creaminess.  The flavor doesn't require it, so you don't have to do it.  If you like it that way, but don't have an immersion blender, put half into a blender and then add it back in when you've blended it.) 

I added the bacon (reserving a few pieces for garnish) and simmered it while I made a salad at this point, but it's pretty much ready to go.  Add the cream, buttermilk, pepper and cheese to taste.  You do not need salt - you will get plenty from the bacon. 

Garnish with bacon and cheese, and serve.

You will love this soup.