Meaty Egg Cups: Bacon vs Ham!

Thanks Pinterest! You have me making all type of low carb goodies! Earlier this week I saw some bacon and egg cups aka muffins. They looked really good, but they only tasted okay.  I added fresh spinach chiffonade to half of the cups.  

Not so pretty...right?

My husband and I both like our bacon with crisp to it, and this bacon was totally soft. So that along wasn't that appetizing to us.  Also, they didn't have that eye appeal that I like when I make food. Mines definitely did not turn out looking like the ones in the original recipe! Instead I got little egg balls! LOL, I contribute that mostly to using to much egg in each cup.  I also didn't even taste the shredded cheese. If I make these again, I'd have to play around with how to get the bacon crispier, change the cheese, add more seasonings to the eggs and I would reduce the amount of eggs used.  In my personal opinion, this recipe needs some serious tweaking.

Source: Bacon Egg Cups 

Rating: 3 forks

Prep time!

So I returned to the scene of the crime (Pinterest) and saw a picture of some ham cups.  After what I consider the bacon and egg cups to be a mild fail, I thought this would be a good option to test out next.  So a few nights ago I decided to make ham egg muffins and they are AMAZING! It reminds me of a  western omelette. So because I felt I couldn't detect the shredded cheese in the bacon ones, instead this I used Sargento Double Cheddar slices and cut them into four smaller squares. I briefly cooked fresh bell pepper and onion in a tablespoon of butter!  I also added various seasonings including a dash of salt and pepper in the egg mixture.

Step by step layering ingredients!

They totally top the bacon ones not only are they delicious they are beautiful to look at also! The only thing I would change is I purchased thin cut ham, so I used two slices of ham for each cup, next time I will get a regular cut ham and use one slice per cup. I'll be making these again, for sure!


Source: Ham Egg Cups 
Rating - 5 forks

Ham Cups are the clear winner! Delish!

Both of these recipes are highly customize-able  so you should throw in what ever you like. Change it up and add cooked sausage or mushroom or even some fresh tomatoes or spinach!  

Have you made any egg cups? How do you like them?

Southern Smothered Pork Chops

I was craving something a bit decadent and old school, and I figured Sunday dinner would be the best time to cook it. I chose smothered pork chops, mashed potatoes and collard greens. It was great!! I found five recipes online, watched a few YouTube videos and decided on a recipe that seemed closest to what method I wanted to use and had flavors I thought I'd like.

I liked the detailed photos on this website also. I did make a lot changes based on what I knew I liked. Without these changes, this recipe wouldn't have even reached 3 forks....with my changes, a solid 4!

~ I seasoned my meat way more than this recipe says. The recipe says to only seasoned the flour, but I seasoned both the meat and the flour. I'm glad I did, my thick chops would have been bland otherwise.
~ I added 2 pieces of uncooked chopped bacon to the onions and cooked them together.
~ Once the onions and bacon were cooked down and stirred in the the flour, I deglazed the pan with  Pinot Grigio before I added the stock. I'm not sure how much wine I used, I eyeballed it, maybe a half of cup.
~ I used chicken stock instead of beef. Something seemed wrong about beef broth and pork.
~ I tasted the gravy then added more seasonings in the gravy before I put the meat back in. I added garlic powder, a good amount of salt and pepper. I'm glad I added more at this point too, because the gravy needed a little "umph".

I made my standard collard greens (LOVE THEM) and some basic mashed potatoes using russet potatoes.  This meal was totally Sunday Dinner worthy! 

Rating: 4 forks

Source: Southern Smothered Pork Chops

Smothered Pork Chops & Crash Hot Potatoes

Smothered Pork Chops.

This recipe was so close, yet so far from its potential. I usually love Tyler’s recipes, but I honestly can’t believe that so many people rated this 5 starts on foodnetwork.com. I was very disappointed with this gravy. I’ve got to say the seasonings on the meat was spot on, BUT this gravy wasn’t that good. After tasting this, its crystal clear I don’t like oil based gravy. Not only was it bland, the consistency was kind of greasy. I kept whisking away hoping it would change. No such luck. I added more flour, no such luck. I gave up and settled on the consistency the way it was. After it was made, I tasted it and it was gross! So bland and oily! Side note: Remember always taste your food! Anyways, I had to add a good amount more of onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to it to make it edible. Then I didn’t use much of it at all over the chops. I just basically finished cooking them in it and that was it.

Overall, I liked the smothered pork chops so next time I’ll make some major changes to the gravy because I know it can be done better.

Additional notes: I watched the video of him preparing this dish the day after I made this and he used WAY less than ¼ cup of EVOO which his recipe says to use. That may have been the issue with the gravy, too much oil…if you make this, be sure to view and then copy the video method, ignore the amount of oil the recipe says to use.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/smothered-pork-chops-recipe/index.html
Rating: 3 forks



Up Next, Crash Hot Potatoes!

YUM! Thank you Pioneer Woman! They are really good and not much work….and a little bit dangerous! I’m saying dangerous because I ate four of this little suckers. Must have control over the potatoes! LOL I’ll be making these again.

Source: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/
Rating: 5 forks

Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops, Rice Cooker Macaroni and Cheese & Sautéed Collard Greens

Sunday – Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops, Rice Cooker Macaroni and Cheese & Sautéed Collard Greens

Very yummy meal. This was a true “Sunday dinner”. The pork chops were awesome. When I plated the meat, they didn’t really look like pork chops anymore since the meat fell off the bone! I didn’t have any bay leaves, so I omitted it and it was still very good. This did have a lot of prep work and even additional work prior to serving it, which was a bit more work than I usually like to do for a crockpot meal, but well worth it in this case.

The macaroni and cheese was a perfect match up with the greens and pork. I usually make the macaroni and cheese this was when I want to do a 20 minute version, and trust me, the tastes is identical to the oven baked kind. The only difference is that you won’t have a crispy top.

I love making my greens in this manor because I don’t like greens sopping in juice. So this cooks them, adds nice flavor and it’s the texture I like.

Source w/ Ratings: Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops ~ 4 forks

                              Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese ~4 forks
                              Sautéed Collard Greens ~ 5 forks (Me!, original recipe)

Sautéed Collard Greens

Ingredients:
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
8 oz of 99% fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp red pepper flakes
5 dashes of seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 pound of collard greens
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute onion in a deep skillet with olive oil.  Once onion becomes translucent, add garlic and saute for a few minutes longer.

Reduce to medium heat.  Add chicken broth, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper.  Add greens and stir.  Add seasoned rice vinegar.  Stir.

Cover and steam for 20 minutes until it reaches the texture you like.  Stir every 5 minutes or so.

Serve warm.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs, Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries & Coleslaw

Saturday: Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs, Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries & Coleslaw

Now this was a really tasty dinner! This is a great alternative when you want to kill that craving for ribs but can’t fire up the charcoal grill. The ribs were supper easy and not much work at all. I think the only thing I would change for next time is take them out the crock pot and try to “dry” the outside of them a little in the oven. I’ll probably try flashing them at a high temp for a short amount of time. Maybe even put them under the broiler for a few minutes. I hope doing that would make them seem more like they are off the grill and not out of the pot.

The oven fries were also good. It was welcome different take on potato wedges. The cold and crispy coleslaw was a perfect match for this meal.

My ribs are supper simple.

Sources w/ Ratings: Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs – (Me!, orignial recipe) ~ 4 forks
Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries ~ 5 forks

Easy Crockpot BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:
1, 2-3 lb rack of pork spare ribs
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
2 Tbsp of ground black pepper

Directions:
Chop the onions and evenly lay into the bottom of Crockpot.

Clean the ribs. Dry them with paper towel. Cut off excess fat. Cut the ribs into pieces of 2 bones at a time. Season with seasoning salt and pepper. Added them to the Crockpot and top with BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 9 hours.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.