Kids in the Kitchen--April Makes Scrambled Eggs

First off, our apologies. We haven't posted anything new in over a year. We have a ton of posts to write for you, but our lives keep getting busier and busier. At the same time, we love blogging about food and family and truly desire to continue to do so. We hope this is the first of many more posts to come in the near future.

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Last summer we started a routine in our house. Each kid is responsible to cook dinner one night each week. They plan the menu, do the prep work, cook the meal, and set the table. When it's time to sit down to eat, one of the other siblings prays for the meal and include giving thanks for the one who did the cooking.

When I started posting about this on my personal FB page last summer, I received some questions about how I get my kids involved in the kitchen. At that time, the kids were 11, 7, and 4. So this summer, I've been taking pictures of their dinner nights so I can share with all of you. Of course, you know your own children and their limits and abilities. Since there are a lot of opportunities for injuries in the kitchen, always supervise your children and never let them do anything outside their skill level. At the same time, don't underestimate what they are capable of. Teach new skills by demonstrating and talking them through it. Then help them do it. Finally, watch them do it themselves.

Technically, April isn't making dinner in these pictures, but she is involved in the kitchen. And she has become so good at making scrambled eggs, that she can do the whole thing herself. I just light the stove for her because our igniters are broken and we have to use matches. She probably makes eggs 4-5 days a week now.

First she collects her ingredients and tools.

I love those little hands!

The easiest way to end up with shell-free eggs is to break them into a clear dish. This day April was breaking them into my quart Pyrex. Once the eggs are cracked, pick up the dish and look through the bottom. The shells will have sunk to the bottom. You can use a spoon to fish them out, but April and I find it easier to just use our clean fingers.

Cooking is a great way for kids to learn math skills in a practical setting. April is just learning to recognize fractions, but the boys are learning how to double and triple amounts when they cook.

Another fun aspect of cooking for kids is getting to use the kitchen tools and gadgets. For some reason she used a fork the day I took these pictures, but she is usually really thrilled to get to use the wire whisk.

These were plain eggs. She usually makes green eggs with sausage. Just add a few drops of green food coloring and throw some cut-up cooked sausage on top after pouring the eggs into the hot pan. And remember: it is imperative that you let the pan get hot before adding to eggs to prevent them from sticking. See the post here.

April's Scrambled Eggs

4-6 eggs

1 1/2-2 Tbsp. cream

1/2 tsp. salt

few shakes pepper

few drops green food coloring (optional)

sausage, cooked and chopped

Heat pan over medium to medium-high heat. Meanwhile, crack eggs into clear dish. Look through bottom to find and remove any shells. Whisk in cream, salt, pepper, and green food coloring if desired. Add butter or oil to heated pan. Pour egg mixture into pan. If desired, toss sausage on top. Turn heat down to medium. Once bubbles start to form, stir to scramble. Cook until desired doneness, stirring occasionally.

Easy Eggs, Take 3 (Spinach and Feta Easy Eggs)

So last week, I may have mentioned something about weight loss...or something crazy like that.  Anyway, I have been exercising way more than any sane human being should exercise, and after I do, I like to make sure I eat some protein.  Sometimes this just means eating some almonds and turkey lunch meat.  But my favorite way to get protein after a workout is from egg whites.  At first, I was content eating egg whites prepared in the same fashion as the easy eggs I posted last year.  If you're in need of some carbs along with your protein, Sumiko's take on easy eggs would be good too.  One day, while preparing my egg whites, a lightbulb came on.  In my fridge, I had some extra spinach and some Feta.  Hmmmm...I bet those would taste amazing on my egg whites!  So, I tried it and it was delicious!  I use egg whites, but you could use the whole egg if you prefer.

Easy Eggs with Spinach and Feta
Olive oil (or canola)
Egg whites
Spinach, torn or cut into bite-sized pieces
Crumbled Feta
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper

Lightly grease the bottom of a skillet with oil.  Heat over medium heat.  Add egg white.  If using a whole egg, break the yolk.  While the egg is still wet, add the spinach, feta, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Cook until the egg is cooked almost all the way through, then flip.

Time to flip!

When the egg is cooked through, remove from the heat.  I like to add hot sauce to mine (Tapatio), but it's delicious as is.  One time I added some diced tomatoes along with the spinach and Feta.  It was good that way, too.  Basically, the possibilities are endless!!!

Breakfast Casserole

This year, Christmas falls on a Sunday.  This means getting to church may require altering some of your usual Christmas traditions.  But it doesn’t mean you have to toss cold cereal in front of your family.  This delicious breakfast casserole can be assembled the day before and baked in the morning while everyone gets dressed!  This hot and hearty breakfast is just the thing to fuel you and your family through the morning.

It calls for bread slices.  I sometimes use French bread and sometimes white bread.  I have yet to experiment with whole grain bread.

Breakfast Casserole

6-8 slices bread

1/2 lb. cooked bacon, ham, or sausage, chopped

1 c. shredded cheese (cheddar or cheddar/jack mix)

1 dozen eggs

1 c. sour cream

1 c. milk

2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350°.  Place bread in single layer on bottom of 9”x13” pan.  Sprinkle with bacon, ham, or sausage and cheese; set aside.

In large bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, milk, and salt; whisk together.  Pour egg mixture over bread, meat, and cheese.

The sour cream should be mixed in more thoroughly---it was
one of those days when the kids were really needy.

Bake 30 minutes.  If assembling the day before, increase baking time to about 45 minutes, or until hot all the way through.

Easy Eggs, Take 2: Egg-on-Toast and Eggs-in-a-Hole

Last week, Kimiko wrote about making eggs over-hard.  One of our faithful readers, StaceyN, commented about making egg-on-toast.  If you haven’t seen any or her comments, I suggestion you go back to some of our previous posts and read them.  She has great ideas and insights from her experience feeding a house full of men, big and little.

Anyway, StaceyN’s egg-on-toast sounded so good, I had to try it.  As an introduction to the recipe, here’s her original comment:

One thing ALL my kids like is egg-on-toast, which basically is a hard fried egg bonded with a piece of toast. I just make the egg like you do, but I throw a piece of buttered bread on top while it is still runny, buttered side up. When the egg is cooked, I flip the toast (with egg stuck to it) and toast the buttered side in the pan. It's really a quick and easy breakfast. Not sure why my runny-egg-eaters think hard eggs are good this way but not with toast on the side. Kids are just weird.

From my personal experience making this, which was only once so far, I found that I needed to use slightly lower heat than just making eggs over-hard.  I generally use medium-high for eggs.  Because the second side doesn’t come into direct contact with the pan, it needs to cook longer on the first side.  To prevent an overdone outside with a runny inside, I turned the heat down to medium.

StaceyN’s Egg-on-Toast

Butter, for pan and toast

Bread

Eggs

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Heat skillet over medium heat.  Meanwhile, butter one side of bread, set aside.

Melt 1-2 Tbsp. butter in skillet.  Crack egg into skillet and break yolk.  Quickly season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Before egg is set, place bread on top, buttered side up.  When egg is cooked, flip over to toast bread.

Egg-on-toast is perfectly delicious as is, but my boys liked this when I put ketchup on it in the shape of a smiley face or rainbow.

While I was making this, it reminded me of eggs in a hole that I used to make occasionally but haven’t done so in years.  Rather than egg-on-toast, it’s egg-in-toast.  Just cut out the middle of a slice of bread with a biscuit cutter, glass, or cookie cutter.

Butter both sides of the outside of the bread and place in heated, buttered skillet.  Crack an egg into the middle, break the yolk, and season.  Alternatively, you can fill the middle with scrambled eggs, but don’t thin them down very much or they will run out under the bread.

When egg is mostly set, flip to cook second side.  And don’t forget to toast the middle that you cut out.  Sometimes the fun shapes got lost in the egg so I outlined them with ketchup, which my kids thought was completely fun.

And neither of these dishes has to be served just for breakfast!  I often serve eggs and toast for lunch, and sometimes for dinner on a crazy day.

UPDATE:  I made egg-on-English-Muffin this morning--SO YUMMY!!

Easy Eggs

As a little kid, I remember eating eggs only two ways: scrambled and over easy (dippy eggs, as we called them).  Today, I still eat them only two ways, but I think dippy eggs are disgusting, so I've replaced over easy with over hard.  My husband grew up eating them that way and introduced me to them.  After a morning run, eggs over hard is my favorite way to get my much-needed protein, and they're so easy to make.  They're so easy, in fact, that my 3-year-old daughter likes to watch me and tell me how to make them!

Eggs Over Hard

Oil or butter

Eggs

Salt and pepper

Garlic Powder

Ketchup (optional)

Hot sauce (optional)

Lightly grease the bottom of a skillet (I use nonstick) and preheat the pan over medium heat.  When the pan is warm, crack an egg and drop it into the skillet.  

With a spatula, break the yolk of the egg.  Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  

Allow the egg to cook for a couple minutes, them flip egg and cook until the egg is cooked through.  My favorite way to eat these eggs is with hot sauce (Tapatio) and ketchup.  

Egg and Tomato Sandwich

A couple weeks ago I had some of Jerry's tomatoes sitting on my counter, waiting to be used.  I was trying to decide what to do with them as I made scrambled eggs for the boys' lunch that day.  Then it clicked--egg and tomato sandwich!

I love eggs sandwiches any time of the day, not just breakfast.  I normally don't put mayonnaise on my sandwiches.  I'd rather spend those calories on chocolate.  But when it comes to egg sandwiches, mayo is a must for me.  And the creaminess really complements the fresh tomato.

I started with my basic scrambled eggs.  On this particular day, I sauteed some diced onions before I poured the eggs in the pan.  I really liked the onion; the boys did not.  It would also be good with some sauteed peppers.

The only way I can think to make this sandwich better is to serve it on a warm croissant.  So yummy!  It would also be great on a toasted English muffin.

Egg and Tomato Sandwich
2 slices whole grain bread or 1 croissant, sliced in half
Mayonnaise
Scrambled eggs
Fresh tomatoes, sliced

Lightly toast bread or warm croissant.  Spread one of both sides with mayonnaise.  Fill with scrambled eggs and tomato slices.

Breakfast Burritos Revisited

We will occasionally be revisiting some of our previously posted recipes with updates and things we have changed.  Part of the reason for doing this is to introduce some of our newer readers to our earlier posts, but one of the main reasons is to show that recipes don't need to be followed exactly.  At least most of them don't.  With cooking, you can be creative and make adjustments to create new flavor combinations and make old recipes new and exciting again.  I don't have measurements for this "recipe," but I just want to show you how you can easily spice up or alter a recipe.

Back at the beginning of Near to Nothing, I wrote a post about potatoes, which featured a recipe for breakfast burritos.  We got tired of eating these, so we hadn't had them for a long time.  I decided to make them again, but made a few changes to the recipe, using different ingredients I already had on hand.  You can find the original recipe here. 

And now, for the changes I made this time:

• Potatoes: I used garlic powder, salt, and pepper as the recipe calls for, but I also added a little bit of cumin and some chili powder to kick up the flavor a bit.

• Onions and Green Bell Peppers: I sauteed them with some chopped fresh tomatoes, minced garlic, and chopped green chiles.  

• Sausage: I left it out completely.
• Black Beans: I added black beans.

They are just small changes, but can liven up a recipe.  We encourage you to try different things and to even stray away from recipes if you're feeling adventurous!

No-Stick Scrambled Eggs

About three weeks ago I posted about my spiffy new Costco cookware.  I can enthusiastically say that I have been nothing but pleased with it!!  I love that I don’t have to worry about scratching the surface and that I can put it in the dishwasher.

                     

Anyway, that post prompted a few questions about scrambled eggs and whether or not they stick to the frying pans.  While I did post the answer in the comments, I thought the issue deserved it own post.

Scrambled eggs is one of those dishes that there are as many ways to make as there are cooks.  I am very picky about my scrambled eggs and seldom come across any that I think are really good.  My basic “recipe” is there to serve as a guide—use more or less milk or cream, use different seasonings, add sautéed veggies, melt cheese over the top—the possibilities are endless.

The one factor that should remain the same is pan preparation.  Regardless of what you are adding to your eggs, you should always start with a hot, oiled pan.  This is the key to prevent them from sticking.

You don’t need a lot of oil.  Spray oils work, but I don’t buy them because you pay a lot for the can and the accelerant.  I simply put some vegetable or olive oil on a paper towel and wipe it around the inside of the pan, bottom and sides.

My oiled pan.  The film of oil is so thing it doesn't even
look like it's been oiled.

You want to heat your pan and cook your eggs slightly above medium.  My stove knobs are marked 0 through 10.  I cook eggs at about 6.5.  I recommend starting to heat the pan after you’ve gathered your ingredients but before you start preparing the egg mixture.  Once everything is whisked together, test the pan to make sure it is hot enough by dripping a few drops into it.  If the pan is hot enough, they should start to sizzle immediately and cook within seconds.  It is then safe to pour the remainder of the eggs in.

To illustrate the difference a hot pan makes, I made two identical batches of eggs—one with a well-heated pan and one with a cool pan.

Heated pan

Unheated pan

Coming off the bottom nicely!  A little
over-done because I was taking
pics.

Uh-oh!  Looks like trouble!

Hardly any sticking!

Lots of stuck-on eggs.  Ick!

Basic Scrambled Eggs

2 eggs

1-2 Tbsp. cream or milk^*

⅛-¼ tsp. Montreal steak seasoning

Lightly grease small frying pan.  Preheat pan just above medium.  Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, cream or milk, and seasoning.  Pour eggs into heated pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through.

For the sake of this "experiment" I only made one egg at a
time, but I rarely make less than six.

^*I usually make scrambled eggs with milk.  But when I happen to have cream in the fridge, I like to use it as it produces fluffier eggs.