Frittata with Tomato, zucchini, cheese and bacon

    
I absolutely love to make Frittatas.  They are very simple to make yet have a great presentation and are so delicious,  The variety of what you can put in them is endless  Today's version has fresh picked tomatoes and zucchini, crumbled fried bacon, shredded cheese and eggs.  Here is the recipe:

5 medium very ripe tomatoes, chopped.  Drain off excess juice.
1 zucchini, shredded
3 slices of thick bacon, fried and then crumbled
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)
6 eggs, beaten, with a splash of milk, salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. coconut oil to saute the veggies in

Break the 6 eggs into a medium bowl, add a splash of milk, salt and pepper to taste and whisk until well mixed.  Set aside.

Start with a large skillet on the stove on medium high heat.  Though you do put the skillet in the oven for a little while, I used my non-stick skillet, and kept the oven door open while broiling, and had the handle facing out of the oven.  It worked fine.  You can use an oven proof skillet if you have one.

Add the coconut oil to the skillet and let it melt then spread it around the pan.  Add the tomatoes and zucchini and saute until tender.

Meanwhile, fry up the three slices of bacon and let them drain on a paper towel or cloth.

Here is what the veggies looked like when they were done.

Add the egg mixture on top of the veggies and tip the skillet a bit until the egg mixture covers all of the veggies.

Sprinkle the bacon pieces onto the top of the egg mixture.  I put the bacon on only half of the Frittata so half of it was bacon free.

As the egg mixture cooks, GENTLY push a spatula into the mixture in a few places to displace some of the cooked eggs on the bottom so a bit of the non-cooked eggs on top drip down to the bottom.  Let the entire mixture cook for several minutes until the sides start to lift away from the pan.  Shake the pan gently to feel if the mixture is set and sliding a bit in the pan.

Remove the pan from the stove top onto the counter (use a protective pot holder under it if you need to)  Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the Frittata and turn your broiler on LOW, making sure you have a rack on the highest setting.

  Place the entire skillet into the oven on the highest rack with the handle of the skillet facing out of the oven.  Leave the oven door open slightly.

Broil the Frittata for a few minutes, watching continuously.  The cheese will melt and it may start to brown ever so slightly and bubble when it is done.  I had this one in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Remove it from the oven and slide the Frittata onto a large platter or round plate and serve immediately.

Our version of Tacos!

     My family LOVES tacos!  We have been making tacos at home for soooooooooooooo many years, and the recipe has evolved over time, however, this version has become the ultimate way we enjoy them!

INGREDIENTS:

*ground beef (we usually use 80-20)  substitute ground turkey or ground turkey, or build up the base with pinto and/or dark red kidney beans if you would like it to be non-meat. For a large amount I use 3 pounds of meat.
*one large onion, chopped
*one small can green chiles chopped (4.5 oz)
*1 tsp. olive oil
*cumin
*garlic - (1 clove, minced or 1 tsp. powdered)
*chili powder
*salt
*pepper
* 1/2 cup salsa of your choice
*tortillas  (your choice, flour, whole wheat or corn)
*1 can of black beans - do not drain or rinse

Toppings:
chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh cilantro, diced mango, chopped lettuce, shredded cheese (we like the mexican style), sour cream, sliced avocados or guacamole and more salsa of your choice.  We also like to add 1 can of black beans to our toppings, just heat in a small pan right before serving time.

In a large heavy skillet add 1 tsp. olive oil, the onions and the green chiles and saute over medium heat until moderately tender, stirring often. 

Add the ground meat and start to break it up and cook.

You can see from the above picture that I have added the spices.  We use spices generously as we all like our food really spicy.  I think in this batch I used almost 3 large teaspoons of the ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of chile powder, several shakes of sea salt and fresh ground pepper and the garlic.  Continue cooking the ground meat until it is all cooked through and broken up into small pieces.  If the meat is overly fatty you can skim off some of the fat before you add the spices.  When the meat is cooked through add the salsa into the mixture and mix thoroughly.

Prepare all the toppings and garnishes into individual bowls or separated serving platters and start your tortillas. 

We like to heat our tortillas in a large skillet sprayed with a vegetable spray on medium heat.  I flip the tortillas over after a few minutes and serve immediately.  I cook the tortillas just until they start to puff up a bit.  They might have just a bit of browning on the edges.  Layer the tortillas with the ground meat and black beans then the cheese and garnish to your liking!   Enjoy!

Cake Balls

My daughter is having a small party tonight and I jumped at the chance to make a little dessert!  I absolutely adore baking cakes, desserts, pies, bread and cookies. However, my kids are basically grown up and my husband has been losing weight and is being very careful about what he eats. What this all means is that I dont have anyone to bake for so I am literally baking deprived and constantly have baking withdrawals. 

I have seen gorgeous photos of cake balls on Pinterest and I decided right away I had to master these little treats. As an artist, I love nothing more than to create works of art out of my baking endeavors.  I think cake balls might just do the trick. I have also already fantasized about being a cake ball Queen and turning my house into a cake ball factory and selling hundreds of cake balls from my home each week. 

I have read over several recipes and directions on how to make them so here goes my take on them. For this first time I decided to use a basic cake mix from the supermarket along with pre-made frosting. I have chosen a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I plan to melt white chocolate to dip them in then decorate away to make them pretty. 

So the first step is to make the cake according to package instructions and let it cool.  One recipe said to put the cake in the fridge for three hours before crumbling the cake and another one said to crumble while the cake was warm. I am going with the majority of the recipes I read and letting the cake cool on the counter on a wire rack. 

 

So here is my cake after cooling for about a half hour. 

Now the fun begins!  I made about six slices in the cake making huge squares then just let the cake tumble into an extra large bowl. 

Using my hands I crumbled the cake into fine pieces. It was really easy and fun too. 

Now I mixed in about two thirds of the can of frosting, just a standard pre-made chocolate frosting and mixed it up really well into a smooth dough, again with my hands.  (Really get in and squish and knead away)  I am glad I didn't use the entire can because it would have been too much. The amount I used was thankfully just right. When the dough felt like it would hold together I made a sample ball by rolling it in my hands. Pretty tasty play dough!  It rolled really nice so I rolled all the dough into balls, setting them on parchment paper. 

I transferred the balls to the freezer where they stayed for an hour and a half. I removed half the balls and let them sit out for about ten minutes while I melted six ounces of white chocolate baking morsels  in the microwave with one tablespoon of vegetable oil for one minute on high. I stirred it well then microwaved again for thirty seconds.  I stirred it up really well until it was all melted, silky smooth and light. I gently rolled the balls in the chocolate one at a time and lifted them out carefully and returned them to the parchment paper. I sprinkled them with multi colored sprinkles. I did the other half of the balls in milk chocolate, melting the chocolate the same way with one tablespoon of vegetable oil. After all the balls were rolled in chocolate I melted another half cup of chocolate morsels and squiggled them over the white cake balls.  One thing to remember is to never try to re-melt chocolate. It does some sort of strange chemical change and gets really hard and will ruin any fresh chocolate you might have added to the batch!  I learned this the hard way and that is why I ended up using milk chocolate for the  other half of the balls! 

I am really happy with the finished product. I chilled them again before serving. They are delicious!  Making them satisfied all my baking desires.  They are fun to make, they are exquisite to look at and they taste fantastic. There are so many possibilities and variations for types of cake and frosting plus endless ways to decorate. Cake ball success!