Chickens + Time = Eggs! (An Herb Baked Egg Recipe)

You may remember from this post that we adopted day-old chicks back in March, and lo and behold, a miracle happens when they hit 5 or 6 months old: they start laying eggs!  Being the good foodies that we are, we're diligently trying new recipes with our fresh little backyard prizes.  (In retrospect, "fresh little backyard prizes" sound more like poop than eggs, but I'm sticking to it.  Although we certainly get our fair share of those other prizes, too.)

Our Americauna, Violet, the brown one in the picture, lays lovely green eggs... when she's actually laying.  Currently, though, she's going through her first molt, which means no eggs, a growing mass of feathers all over the yard and an extremely scrubby looking chicken. She also happens to be much feistier than her sister, Lily, our Black Australorp.  Let me tell you, it is not fun trying to convince an angry, half-naked chicken that there are better things to peck at than your bare toes.  Because, come on, toes look delicious, don't they?  All pink and plump and wriggly.  How could she resist?

Lily's eggs are large, brown and gorgeous, as you can see from the top picture.  It's almost a shame to cook with them, though once I discovered this Herb Baked Egg recipe from Strawberry Creek Inn, I quickly got over it.  Justin and I made a fair amount of modifications to this recipe, as I'm not a big fan of mustard and neither of us cares much for nutmeg in savory dishes, but the basics are the same: you line a ramekin with a delicious breakfast meat, add a layer of cheese and top it off with eggs and herbs.  The result is so much better than I imagined - we seriously made this two days in a row.  The addition of yogurt to the beaten eggs is just pure, creamy, yummy genius.

Herb Baked Eggs
adapted from Inn Cuisine
(makes 2 servings)

4 slices uncooked turkey bacon
3 large eggs
1/4 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (we used sharp cheddar and fresh parmesan)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh herbs (we grow basil, oregano and chives in our yard, so we used those)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Grease two oval gratin dishes with vegetable spray.
2. Arrange two slices of uncooked turkey bacon across the bottom of each dish.  Separate 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese and divide evenly between the two dishes, sprinkling directly on top of the turkey bacon.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, herbs and the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.  Pour this mixture into both gratin dishes, dividing evenly.
4. Bake in oven for 10-20 minutes, depending on how done you like your eggs.  I prefer the shorter end of the scale, when the eggs are set on the sides but a bit soft in the center.

As the wonderful blogger over at Inn Cuisine points out, this recipe is ripe for reinvention - you can sub in your choice of breakfast meats or veggies on the bottom layer, and suit the herbs and cheeses to your taste.  Consider yourself warned, though: this is a highly addictive recipe, one that will have you craving baked eggs every weekend, imaging their cheesy herbed goodness even as your eyes open in the morning.  And considering how completely easy this breakfast is, you'll probably be giving in to those cravings.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

At six months pregnant, I am finally back to baking with a gusto.  In the throes of my first trimester, I couldn't eat anything - I subsisted mostly on apples and oatmeal, and even the smell of my prenatal vitamins made me want to run to the sink.  The saddest thing wasn't that I couldn't cook, or be in the kitchen, or even glance at the jar of tartar sauce on the top shelf of the refrigerator, but that morning sickness robbed me of my love for food.  It made me dread eating, something I didn't even think was possible.  So at the end of this second trimester, to be out of bed, back on my feet and conjuring up goodies like these muffins from the wonderful Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook?  It's seriously the greatest feeling in the world.  That, and getting kicked by the little alien living in my abdomen.  That's pretty great, too.

What I loved best about this recipe was the intense banana flavor.  Four super ripe bananas for a little over a dozen muffins turns out a rich, bright taste that's only improved by the tiny bit of instant espresso powder and cup of chocolate chips.  If you're looking for an intensely espresso muffin, this isn't the recipe for you, but I think the teaspoon of grounds give the muffins a deepness that they wouldn't have had otherwise.  And, of course, you can't go wrong with chocolate chips.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins
from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
(makes 15)

4 mashed, very ripe medium-sized bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk (recipe calls for whole milk, but I used skim without a problem)
1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (make sure you use instant, and not just regular espresso grounds!)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line muffin pan with liners or spray with nonstick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine mashed bananas, sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, milk and egg.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt.  Make a large indent in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well.  Stir until just combined, and fold in chocolate chips.
4. Fill liners about 3/4's full.  Bake in center of oven for 20-25 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean.
5. Cool muffin pan on cooling rack for 15 minutes, remove muffins from pan and let them finish cooling outside of the pan.

These muffins are beyond heavenly, and tasted even more banana-y the next morning.  They can be kept for up to two days, but let's be honest - are they really going to last that long without getting eaten?