blogging

There was a time I cooked or baked something different every day. Then, life, school, work, eventually a wedding happened, and the food blog was repeatedly neglected. But I refuse to retire it.

A few months back, while still completely devoted to wedding planning, I asked Steven what he thought about starting a blog together. Understandably, he was skeptical. I mean, I can’t even keep my food blog running, how could I start a second blog? But he didn’t dissuade me either. Maybe he was enticed by the prospect of writing about craft cocktails.

The truth is, blogging is hard work. Kudos to the people who are able to make a living blogging full time. I am not a chef or photographer and certainly not a writer. Cooking and snapping a few pictures is easy, taking a good picture is hard, using photoshop with nonexistent photoshop skills is ridiculous, and the writing, oh man the writing, would easily take hours. That is how blogging became tedious. This time around, the pictures with be straight out of the camera and there will be typos. If you want stunning photos or witty prose, I can recommend some other food blogs, but chances are you’re already reading them.

My blogging will return to being my creative outlet. Now is a time of change; a new job, new city, new place, and a new blog with just a little bit of everything.

the new blog, a work in progress

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Valentine's Day 2012

Steven and I just celebrated our 9th Valentine's Day dinner and our last as an unmarried couple. Instead of going out, we continued our yearly tradition of dining quietly at home. Each year, we mix up the menu a bit but we always do ribeye for Steven and some kind of seafood for myself. We started out the day with some wedding cake tasting.
Cake place #1

Cake place #2

For tasting #3, we ordered a cake from Macrina (they didn't offer the flavor we wanted as a cake sample, so we had to buy a whole cake), which we ended up using as our dessert.

After that, we went down to Pike Place to get some dinner ingredients.

A cooked crab and a half pound of "butt cheeks", the fishmonger's words, not mine.
And we fell madly in love with DeLaurenti all over again. Steven with the upstairs bar selection and I with yeast (I finally found SAF instant yeast after weeks of searching).

Multiple shelves of bitters and Pok Pok's drinking vinegar!
Menu:
pan-seared ribeye with mt. townsend trufflestack cheese
halibut cheeks with hedgehog mushrooms and grapefruit beurre blanc
dungeness crab and dijon mashed yukon golds
pan seared brussel sprouts

manhattans/honey som and chambord spritzer

macrina's passion fruit cake

Next up: cleaning a crab

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Thanksgiving 2011

I'm a night owl. It is officially Thanksgiving as of an hour ago, which marks the start of the holiday season and my favorite time of year. Now it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat a little more than I should, indulge in buttery baked goods, and most importantly, listen to Christmas music.

 I have been spending Thanksgiving with Steven's parents for many years now. We usually alternate between doing a turkey or prime rib for our main event. In the past, Steven has mentioned more than once that turkey is dry and bland so naturally I didn't think he'd mind that his mom and I were talking about forgoing the turkey entirely and doing something like rack of lamb and duck confit. To my surprise, Steven specifically requested turkey this year. I later discover this is only because I told him about a Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen version (link to recipe and episode) that involves roasting a salt-pork covered, self-basting turkey.

In addition what is essentially a bacon covered turkey, I made my holiday tradition twice baked potatoes and pumpkin creme brulee. For now, it's bedtime and in 8 hours, we will make the (30 minute) drive down to his parents house while listening to Michael Buble's Christmas album.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

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Blueberry Muffin

The fact that this is my seventh muffin recipe on the blog shows how much I love them. I'm certainly not the first to proclaim the muffin top to be the best part. When the muffins are not intended for any occasion the following day, there can be half a dozen mangled muffin bodies after Steven and I are through with them. The tops are best after the muffins have rested for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. This crucial wait allows for the exterior to set into a slightly crunchy crust and allows for the muffin to cool enough for eager fingers to pry the tops off of the unsuspecting body. We can't let the precious tops go to waste. After muffins sit around, you lose the distinction between the top and bottom and the next day, you're left with a plain, uniform muffin. The tops are never the same, even after reheating them in the oven. I wondered why I’ve never seen a pan that capitalizes on muffin-top love like game changing edge brownie pan.

But a quick google search proved me wrong!

In fact, Chicago Metallic deemed themselves the creator of the Original Muffin Top Pan . While the idea is brilliant, I’m not for paying $15 for a pan that only makes 6 muffin tops when my current muffin pan that was a fraction of the cost works just fine. For similiar reasons, I never purchased the $30 (highway robbery for a student in debt) brownie pan when I can still bake them in my $5 pyrex.

But with a little more digging, I unearthed a similar shallow "whoopie pie pan" that looks like it will make the same end product. The ridged edge along the rim of the pan will make it a little more difficult to wash than the Chicago metallic but it’s cheaper and bakes twice as many muffins. This one is going on the registry.

Now back to the actual muffin. Four years of blogging and I have finally made the quintessial blueberry muffin. My past recipes have used sour cream or a combination of sour cream and buttermilk. But years of baking have led me to refine my original recipes (which are still good by the way). I’ve found that batter made with sour cream alone is very thick and a little difficult to work with. Batter made with plain milk becomes a good consistency but the finished product lacks in flavor. Buttermilk muffins have the same subtle tang and delicate crumb of sour cream muffins but the batter is easier to work with. When it comes to the fat in the recipe, butter offers the best flavor hands down, but adding a little bit of a neutral oil creates a moister product when eaten at room temperature. As for the berries, it’s best to use frozen or fresh blueberries. I think canned berries have an odd, sometimes metallic flavor, and their squishiness does not stand up well to being mixed into batter. Lastly, a note about baking. I've been baking my muffins at 400 degrees for years now. After experimenting with a different recipe at various temperatures, I found that the higher temperature gave them a handsome golden brown crust. Now I discover that higher temperature also contributes to the coveted domed top. How serendipitious!

Blueberry Muffin
2 cups (8.8 ounces) all purpose unbleached flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted 
4 tablespoon (1/4 C) neutral oil like vegetable or canola 
1 large egg 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1 cup buttermilk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup blueberries 
Butter or oil spray for muffin tin 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray. If you are using paper liners, lightly spray them with some oil so less muffin sticks to them when they're being peeled.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, oil, egg, and sugars. Then whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold the two sets of ingredients together.

When the batter is starting to come together and no large clumps or streaks of flour remain, add the blueberries. Continue folding until the blueberries are evenly distributed and batter is mixed, a few streaks of flour are okay. Do not over work the batter

Scoop a mounded 1/4 of batter into each muffin tin, making sure the batter is distributed evenly amongst the 12 tins.

Bake at 400 degrees F until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin in the center of the pan comes out clean, about 15 - 17 minutes. But like the article linked earlier in the post says, if your muffins are looking too "peaked" and scraggly for your tastes, try baking them at 375 for 17 - 20 minutes. Every oven is different.

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Guide to Crabs: how to clean and pick meat from a crab

Seattle is best known for salmon but my favorite local seafood is the Dungeness crab. Eating crab is messy and time consuming so the puny guys are not worth the time. Dungeness crab, on the other hand, are sweet, meaty, and easily two to three pounds. Whenever it was Dungeness crab season, that is, when they were cheap, my family would buy a few live ones from the Asian market, steamed them at home, and make a rice noodle soup with the flavorful liver. Because of this, I've become quite adept at extracting meat from a crab.

For the freshest possible product (barring catching the crab yourself), you would buy a live crab and steam it yourself. If you do buy a fresh crab, don't boil it. Boiling it will cause all the flavors to leech out into the water. What a waste.

Unfortunately, the seafood vendors at Pike Place do not sell live crab. It was either Dungeness crab meat for $40/lb or whole cooked crab for $10/lb. Being the cost-obsessed, poor student that I am, I figured with the average whole crab at the market being 2 pounds or $20, I would have to get at least 8 ounces of crab meat to be worth the trouble. There is the added benefit that a whole crab comes with the flavorful liver, which is I wanted for my recipe, and the meat might be fresher than the meat in the case. So we bought the whole crab and hoped it was worth it.

If you have a live crab, steam it for about 6 - 7 minutes per pound. When you place the crab in the steamer, it will undoubtedly try to escape. Show no mercy and hold down the lid until it struggles no more.

With your purchased cooked crab or steamed live crab, run it under some cold water and scrub the exterior with a stiff brush, especially the belly and legs.

On the belly side, there's a flap of shell, which I believe is called the apron (long on male crabs, wide on female crabs). Lift it up and break it off close to the body. This will leave you with a hole that you can stick your finger in to pry the shell off the body. If it's a freshly steamed crab, there will be more fresh juices so make sure to do this over a bowl to save all of the flavorful juice. Hold the crab with the top shell down, which serves as a vessel to hold the juice.

Set aside the body. Inside the shell, there will be some yellowish-green stuff. That's the liver or tomalley (lobsters have that stuff too). The whitish pieces are albumin, which is harmless protein and fine to eat. There will be some thin transparent membranes, not tasty, and some membranes covered in purplish stuff, also not tasty. Take a spoon, scoop out the liver and albumin into a small bowl and set aside. If this stuff disturbs you, you don't have to eat it. I think it makes a lovely soup or sauce and I try to use it in my recipes. The color of the tomalley is more appealing in a freshly steamed crab. It's more of a muddy green in an already steamed crab so I don't blame anyone by being grossed out. Female crab, not commercially available, have a delicious bright orange roe.
After you scraped out what you want from the shell, discard the random membranes and the purple stuff. If you want to keep the shell for serving, break off the mouth pieces and random crab bits here and there, rinse it out, and set aside.

Now moving on to the body. There will be some residual liver, scrape it into your bowl if you'd like. I didn't get a good picture of this but there will be multiple white triangular shaped, feathery, spongy type things lining both sides of the body. Those are the gills and are not edible. Peel them off and discard them.

Now you're left with the cleaned crab body. Hold firmly with both hands and break it in half where the body naturally divides. Crack the crab such that you bring the exterior of the shell together (let me know if that doesn't make sense).

Now you have two crab halves. With each crab segment, pull the legs from the body like breaking apart a chicken wishbone. You want to pull them apart such that the break will sometimes separate the crab's cartilaginous body. Sometimes, you're not so lucky and the legs break off cleanly. Once you have all 10 legs separated, if any of them are connected to parts of the crab body, separate the body from the legs so you have 10 clean legs and various bits of pieces of the crab body. When you break apart the crab, try to break and pull at the same time. Sometimes big nuggets of meat will be pulled out of the shell with a break, making your job easier.

Now, you can start picking the meat meticulously out of all the nooks and crannies. A long pointy object like a chopstick is very useful for pushing the meat out. Do things in systematic batches. First get the meat out from the body pieces. The body meat is delicate and sweet but encased in a thin cartilaginous maze. When working with crab, you want to use a delicate hand so you don't mangle the meat. Try not to break up the meat too much. Sometimes you can peel the shell apart from the meat, other times you need the chopstick to push the meat through.

When it comes to the legs, you can use a crab cracker or a swift whack with a mallet. For the smaller, delicate tips of the legs, you can sometimes cut the shell with a pair of scissors and fetch the meat out that way. there's sometimes a center sheet of cartilage that runs through the meat, you'll have to make sure to get that out.

From the start of washing the crab, to weighing all of the meat, it took a total of 27 minutes. The 2 pound crab yielded about 12 ounces of meat and about 2 tablespoons of tomalley.

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Be-Ro Baking, Scottish Seafood, Italian Peppers and Picnic Pies for my Monday Meal Plan

Italian Stuffed Red Peppers

I missed last week, nobody said anything to me, so I let it slide, but I FORGOT to post my Monday Meal Plan last week and when I realised, it was Wednesday and too late! Our social life is to blame – it’s FEAST or FAMINE! One month you hardly see anyone, and the next month you’re invited out two or three times a week as well as having friend’s over……as we have done for the last two weeks, along with village fêtes and village BBQ’s, it’s been all go on the “dining out and getting fatter” front…..but here I am with a Meal Plan for Monday and with lots of NEW recipes, all of them being seasonal and summery to boot! Look out for mirabelles (yellow plums)  from my garden, tomatoes and peppers from my potager as well as picnic pies and some FABULOUS Scottish seafood too…..it’s a great week to showcase easy and mostly meat-free recipes, as well as some lovely old-fashioned baking too! So, I won’t keep you a moment longer, and oh yes, as I FORGOT to post my Sunday Patchwork of Recipes yesterday too, I will add a small one at the end of the post…..have a GREAT week! Karen.

NB: With thanks to Mrs M who hosts the Meal Planning Monday platform – where I link up to when I remember to post my plan!

A Beach Picnic

Meal Plan Monday Week Beginning 6th August 2012

Monday 6th August:

Brunch: New Recipe – Mexican Eggs Two Ways

Mexican Eggs Two Ways

Mexican Eggs Two Ways

Tea: Cheese and Ham Salad with home-made bread

Tuesday 7th August:

Breakfast: Fresh Fruit and Yoghurt

Lunch: Bruschetta with Artichokes, Olives and Mixed Peppers

Bruschetta with Artichokes, Olives and Mixed Peppers

Picnic Tea on Beach: New Recipe – Sausage Plait (Picnic Pie)

Sausage Plait (Picnic Pie)

Wednesday 8th August:

Breakfast: Marmite on Toast

Marmite on Toast

Lunch: New recipe - Vegetation Italian Stuffed Red Peppers

Italian Stuffed red Peppers (V)

Tea: Sandwiches and Scones

Be-Ro Scones with Jam and Cream

Thursday 9th August:

Breakfast: New recipe – Grandma’s Stotty Bread with Cheese

Lunch: Cauliflower Cheese

Cauliflower Cheese

Dessert: New recipe – Mirabelles Clafoutis with Pineau des Charentes

Freshly Picked Mirabelles (plums) from my French Garden

Tea: Wild Garlic, Lemon and Lovage Soup with Stotty Bread

Wild Garlic. Lemon and Lovage Soup

Friday 10th August:

Breakfast: Brioche and Home-Made Apricot Jam with Lavender

Brioche with Home-Made Apricot and Lavender Jam

Lunch: Wild Purslane Salad with Olive Oil Dressing

Wild Purslane Salad
with Olive Oil
and Lemon Dressing

Dinner: Fish on Friday – Langoustines and Scallops with Black Pudding cooked on a Hot Stone

Langoustines and Scallops with Black Pudding cooked on a Hot Stone

Weekend 11th to 12th August:

Baking in Black and White from 1929 to 2012 with Be-Ro

Baking in Black and White from 1929 to 2012 with Be-Ro

Baking in Black and White from 1929 to 2012 with Be-Ro

A Patchwork of Recipes & Photos from Lavender and Lovage

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Jeremih - Go To The Mo

Thai Peanut Slaw Salad or Wrap - A 95 calorie, healthy main dish, side salad, or wrap filling. Vegan and gluten-free friendly, too.

This healthy, crunchy veggie slaw with Thai flavors has only 95 calories per serving and works well as a side with dinner or as the main course. Store it in serving size mason jars in the fridge for a quick grab-and-go lunch. Or, roll the slaw in a wrap and add some shredded chicken, if you like. Versatile, nutritious, and flavorful. Vegan (without the chicken) and gluten-free.

A flavorful sesame peanut dressing that's only 18 calories per tablespoon!
The dressing for this slaw was inspired by a recipe I read in the current issue of Nutritional Action Newsletter (a great source of up-to-date nutritional information). An apple blended into the dressing serves as an oil and sugar replacement; the apple both thickens and sweetens the dressing. In place of peanut butter, I used PB2 powdered peanut butter, giving the dressing the flavor and nutrition of peanut butter without the calories and fat. (You can use regular peanut butter, if you prefer.)

What is PB2? It's a powdered peanut butter. It's simply peanut butter with 85% of the fat removed. With all of the flavor and protein of regular peanut butter, PB2 is recommended as a great way to reduce calories in all of your favorite peanut butter recipes. It's available at some Whole Foods and health food stores, and on Amazon.

view on Amazon:
?Nutritional Action Newsletter   ?PB2 (powdered peanut butter)

Nutritional information

This slaw is wildly nutritious. It's especially high in fiber, and vitamins A and Cfor 3/4 cup of slaw (no chicken, using PB2): 95 calories, 5.3g fat, 9.3g carbs, 3.2g fiber, 4.1g protein; Weight Watchers Points Plus: 2for 3/4 cup of slaw with chicken (using PB2): 152 calories, 6.5g fat, 9.3g carbs, 3.2g fiber, 14.9g protein; Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

Step-by-step photos for making
Thai Peanut Slaw Salad and Wraps

Step 1: Assemble the dressing ingredients. Granny Smith apple (peeled and chopped), PB2 or peanut butter, rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar), soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, cayenne pepper (optional--it gives it a little kick, if you like that kind of thing). I didn't end up adding the honey shown in the photo below. The apple made it plenty sweet enough.

view on Amazon:
?toasted sesame oil    ?low-sodium soy sauce   ?rice vinegar

Step 2. Throw everything in a blender or food processor and give it a whirl until it is pureed and has a consistency similar to applesauce.

view Monica's blender on Amazon

Step 3. Assemble the slaw ingredients. Shredded cabbage (I used a ready-made coleslaw mix for convenience), raw green peas (I used frozen), thinly sliced red bell pepper and green onions, diced fresh mint and cilantro, coarsely chopped peanuts.

Step 4. Throw all of the slaw ingredients into a big bowl.

Step 5. Pour on the dressing and toss. 

Step 6. Put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

Done! How easy was that? 

The slaw can be eaten as a main course. (You can toss in some chicken, if you like.) It also makes a great side; I especially like it with grilled chicken and fish.

Turn it into a wrap! This slaw makes a flavorful wrap filling. If any liquid has collected in the bottom of the bowl of slaw, use tongs or forks to lift and shake the liquid off of the slaw before using it the wrap. That way the wrap won't get soggy. You can add some shredded chicken if you want to pump up the protein.

The combination of flavors, textures, and colors makes me a happy eater.

Great for grab-and-go, make-ahead lunches. I put my leftover slaw in serving size half-pint mason jars or plastic containers. They are the perfect size to take along to work for a quick, healthy lunch or afternoon snack. The slaw will keep in the jars for up to 3 days. Wrap the wraps in plastic wrap (I could use a thesaurus, sorry), and they will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.  The wraps and slaw are great picnic food, too.

view on Amazon:
?1/2-pint mason jars    ?white plastic lids for mason jars    ?1/2 pint plastic containers

Would you prefer the slaw as a salad or in a wrap? I'm likin' it both ways. 

Make it a Yummy day!

By Monica              Servings: 10 servings--3/4 cup DRESSING INGREDIENTS: 1 Granny Smith apple, cored, peeled & chopped 1-1/2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon white rice vinegar 2 tablespoons PB2 powdered peanut butter (or substitute 2 tablespoon regular creamy peanut butter) 1 tablespoon water 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (optional; omit if you don't want it spicy) SLAW INGREDIENTS: 5 cups shredded cabbage (or one 16-oz bag cole slaw mix) 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 2 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint 1 cup raw green peas, fresh or frozen 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped 2-1/2 cups cooked & shredded chicken breast (optional) FOR WRAPS whole grain burrito-size wraps (use gluten-free, if desired)Puree dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor to a consistency similar to apple sauce. In large bowl, toss together slaw ingredients and dressing. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. Serve as a side or main dish salad, or use as a wrap filling.

Nutritional information
--for 3/4 cup of slaw (no chicken, using PB2): 95 calories, 5.3g fat, 9.3g carbs, 3.2g fiber, 4.1g protein; Weight Watchers Points Plus: 2
--for 3/4 cup of slaw with chicken (using PB2): 152 calories, 6.5g fat, 9.3g carbs, 3.2g fiber, 14.9g protein; Weight Watchers Points Plus: 4

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The Hot & Spicy Breakfast Club! Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

I LOVE breakfast and I LOVE Mexican food, so when I saw that Heather from Girlichef was the guest host for Helen’s (Fuss Free Flavours) Monthly Breakfast Club, and that her theme was MEXICAN, I knew in a flash I was IN – well, I AM a Cinco de Mayo baby, as my birthday is on the 5th May, so I am a FIESTA kinda gal and pretty hot and spicy (in my dreams!) too. I SAW a version of this idea somewhere on Facebook, well, the photo anyway, not the recipe - in the photo the eggs were just fried in the pepper rings, like a veggie egg ring…….anyway, the idea must have stuck in my mind, as one morning I decided to make my own spicy version, using peppers as egg rings and as part of the dish of course. I made these last week, as a trial and then served them for brunch yesterday, for my Meal Plan on Monday. There was a wee problem however; I LOVE scrambled eggs, and my husband prefers fried eggs (sunny side up)……problem solved however, as with this recipe you can have your eggs JUST the way you like them – you can even have TWO types of eggs on one plate, so a sunny side up one as well as scrambled eggs too……it’s SO versatile and such a SUNNY and COLOURFUL recipe, these Mexican Breakfast Eggs really make you smile when they are set down before you!

Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

This breakfast or brunch dish is vegetarian and makes use of the rest of the pepper flesh that is not needed after the pepper rings have been cut, as well as using tomatoes and onions – so LOTS of your five-a-day…….all that is needed then, to SPICE it up, is some lovely smoked paprika and then the warming flavours of cumin, for that authentic Mexican taste. I finished the recipe off with a hefty dollop of sour cream, a sprinkling of paprika and some freshly chopped coriander (cilantro) and it really was a STUNNING dish! Notice how yellow my eggs are in the photos - that’s all thanks to my LOVELY hens, they are totally free-range and so happy, that they lay happy eggs! 

Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

These eggs would also make a lovely supper dish as well as a vibrant and festive breakfast dish for Christmas or New Year. I have suggested you use TWO colours of peppers, red and green, but if you really want to push the boat out, use some yellow peppers too for a breakfast platter, where everyone can help themselves. Serve the sour cream on the side and allow the diners to help themselves to paprika and chopped coriander (cilantro).

Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

Other ideas for serving these? Well, for a meat version, how about adding some slices of Chorizo sausage? Or, some crisply fried bacon of course, or maybe some mushrooms too……or when the asparagus season is in, some asparagus tips would also be wonderful. I am sure that children will like this, especially the scrambled egg version - just adjust the heat and spice accordingly. I hope that these fit the Mexican Breakfast theme, I am rather pleased with this new recipe of mine, and  I hope you enjoy them too if you make them, do let me know if you do! That’s it for today…….have a great Tuesday, I’ll be back tomorrow with my Sausage Plait (Picnic Pie) recipe for Tea Time Treats - the theme being Picnic Pies…….see you later, Karen.

Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

A bright and cheerful breakfast or brunch dish that uses lots of vegetables and a little spice to enhance your eggs! These Mexican inspired eggs are cooked and served in red and green pepper rings that then sit on top of a lightly spiced bed of vegetables with sour cream to complete the dish. Suitable for children as the paprika or chilli powder that is used is mild. 1 small, but fat green pepper1 small, but fat red pepper1 tablespoon vegetable oil2 small onions (peeled and diced)2 cloves garlic (peeled and finely diced)1 medium tomato (diced)1/2 teaspoon ground cumin1/2 teaspoon ground mild chilli powder (I used smoked paprika)salt and pepper (to taste)4 medium eggsa knob of butter2 to 4 tablespoons sour creamfresh coriander (cilantro) leaves (finely chopped for garnish)

A bright and cheerful breakfast or brunch dish that uses lots of vegetables and a little spice to enhance your fried and scrambled eggs! These Mexican inspired eggs are cooked and served in red and green pepper rings that then sit on top of a lightly spiced bed of vegetables with sour cream to complete the dish. Suitable for children as the paprika or chilli powder that is used is mild.

Cut the top and the bottom of the red and grin peppers, and core them - removing all the seeds and membranes. Cut both peppers in to two rings, so you have 2 green pepper rings and 2 red pepper rings, about 1/2" high. Finely dice the remaining pepper flesh. Set the 4 pepper rings to one side. Heat up half the vegetable oil in a large frying pan and add the diced onions, diced red and green pepper flesh, diced garlic and the chopped tomato. Cook over a low to medium heat for 5 to 8 minutes, or util the vegetables are soft but still retain their shape. Add a little water, and then add the cumin and paprika, mix well, cook for a further minute and then put the mixture into a dish and keep warm after seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.Put the remaining vegetable oil on the frying pan and add the pepper rings, cook for 4 to 6 minutes. Meanwhile, crack two of the eggs and whisk them together; melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the eggs, scramble them for 2 to 3 minutes and take off the heat but leave in the pan. Crack the two remaining eggs into 2 of the pepper rings, and cook over a medium heat sunny side up until the eggs are cooked to your liking.Spoon the spiced onion mixture onto warmed serving plates, and then carefully place the whole sunny side up eggs in their pepper rings on top on one of the plates. Then add the other two pepper rings to the other plate and spoon the scrambled eggs into the middle of the cooked pepper rings. You can at this stage choose to have one scrambled egg and one sunny side up egg each.Serve immediately, and add a spoon of sour cream on top of the sunny side eggs whilst sprinkling paprika over both types of eggs and finishing off by scattering chopped coriander (cilantro) over both plates of eggs. Serve with tortilla wraps if you like. Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

Mexican Breakfast Eggs – Two Ways

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