Weekday Breakfast: Baked Egg and Beans

I have to confess that I'm not much of a breakfast person and this is primarily due to laziness. Given the option between getting up and having a healthy breakfast before work or sleeping fifteen minutes longer, I'll always choose the sleep. However, the current tube strike means I've been working from home for the last two days so I thought I'd use this as an opportunity to try out a few breakfast dishes. 

Beans ready for the egg topping

Baked eggs are a really healthy option since they don't use any oil or butter while cooking. I have another recipe where the egg is baked in a bell pepper but, since I didn't have any bell peppers in the fridge, I thought I'd try branching out a bit. I had purchased the little 200g cans of baked beans so for this recipe, you only need half (or a quarter of the regular cans).

Egg and beans ready for the oven

While in Tesco the other day, I had a sudden craving for baked beans on toast so I picked up a few little cans of Heinz baked beans and some soda bread. So of course, this seemed like a great chance to use them! This recipe was super easy and the cooking time (10-15 min) means you could pop it in the oven, jump in the shower, and then have a tasty breakfast waiting when you get out. I left mine in slightly too long so be warned: keep an eye on it during the last minute or so. You mainly are just waiting for the white to set but if you prefer a more cooked yolk then leave it in a bit longer. It was still tasty albeit slightly less photogenic...

Finished product! 

Prep Time: 1 min

Cook Time: 10-15 min

Serves: 1 

Ingredients: 

100g baked beans
1 large egg
Salt and Pepper
Bread to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.

In a small ramekin, spoon the baked beans into the bottom and spread them out to make a nice bed for the egg. When ready, crack the egg on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for ten to fifteen minutes and serve with buttered toast. Enjoy! 

Marbled Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are a party staple in our household (as my parents, sister, aunt and cousins can attest!) but I've been wary of making them for British friends since they don't seem to be as popular here as they are in America. However, after my successful marbling of hardboiled eggs last week, I thought it might be nice to use that technique to jazz up my favorite party food. Surprisingly, our guests seemed to enjoy them (although many were more intrigued by the colors I think!). If you're hosting a party, give the marbling technique a try since it adds that extra level of fun! This is just my go to method of making deviled eggs and the ingredients are usually just eyeballed. You want a nice amount of crunch from the celery and onion but you also want to chop them very finely so they don't dominate the flavors. The same goes for the cheddar: you want enough so that you can taste it but not so much that you lose everything else. If I'm at home, I'll throw in some Mrs. Dash or Worcestershire sauce if it's on hand but anything you like will work!

Freshly peeled eggs

And again

Sliced, ready for deviling 

Finished product!

Prep Time: 30-45 min

Cook Time: N/A

Makes: 20

Ingredients: 

10 eggs
Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
Cheddar cheese, grated
Celery, finely chopped
Onion, finely chopped
Red pepper, finely chopped (optional)
Paprika (optional)
Food coloring (optional)

Method: 

Hard boil the eggs and then leave to cool in cold water. Once they have cooled, dry the eggs and lightly crack the shell in different places. Place the eggs in plastic bags divided by colors and add enough food coloring to coat the shells. Seal the bags and leave aside for thirty minutes. Rinse each egg with white vinegar followed by water and then remove the shells.

Slice each egg in half lengthways and remove the yolks to a bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork until they resemble cornmeal. Add the onion, celery, cheese and enough mayonnaise to hold the mix together. Carefully spoon this mixture back into the yolk spaces of the eggs and top with the red pepper and paprika. Enjoy!

Marbled Eggs

Marbled Hard Boiled Eggs 

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays with great memories of my grandparents setting up (surprisingly difficult) easter egg hunts and having tasty dinners all together. Plus, there was always the added bonus of getting to wear a special hat to church for mass. This year, however, I'm on my own in London and not really celebrating in the more traditional ways. Therefore, I wanted to find a way to take some of the traditions and use them more appropriately for the situation. I settled on dyeing eggs since it was always one of my favorite activities and I haven't actually been able to enjoy it for a couple of years now. However, I can't really set up an easter egg hunt for myself (cheating!) so I found this technique online for marbling hard boiled eggs.

Ingredients

Cracked Eggs

Eggs in their food colorings

Essentially, you're dyeing the eggs as usual but cracking them before hand so the dye gets into the shell and colors the white of the hard boiled egg inside. I was really pleased with the results and with the fact that this technique only requires eggs, food coloring, vinegar and plastic bags... all things I usually have on hand. If you're looking for something fun or a little different for a party, these would also make really cute deviled eggs - something I'm considering for an upcoming wine and cheese party since my recipe for deviled eggs includes cheddar... I'll have a separate post on the recipes I use for that event (I like to serve some cheese or wine based food options alongside so that no one leaves hungry!). In this post, I'm also including my recipe for egg salad as an example of how you could also use these eggs to brighten up your lunches.

Dyed eggs 

Marbled eggs fresh from their shells

Blue

Green

Marbled Eggs Method

You will need: 

Hard boiled Eggs
Liquid Food Coloring
White Vinegar
Water
Paper towels
Kitchen gloves (optional)

After hard boiling the eggs, rinse under cool water until they have cooled enough to handle or leave to cool completely if you aren't in a hurry. When cool, tap on a hard surface to crack the egg all over it's shell. I was a little overzealous with my cracking for one of my eggs and as a result I had a colored egg and not a marbled one. The fewer the cracks, the more the marbled effect will show but that's entirely up to you. When ready, place the eggs in plastic bags designated by color (I only had three eggs so I used three different colors and three bags but you could probably add several eggs to each bag). Pour the food coloring in a few drops at a time until you feel the egg is well covered. I was very generous with my pours and the eggs turned out great although it seemed a bit wasteful. Twist the bag so that the food coloring won't slide out as you turn the eggs and make sure they're well coated in color. Leave the bags to sit for 30 minutes. When ready, remove the egg from the bag and give it a quick rinse with white vinegar to set the color. Next, rinse with water to remove the excess food coloring and place onto paper towels to dry. When ready, remove the outer shells and reveal the marbling! I wore kitchen gloves for this because there will be food coloring in the cracks of the shell etc and it can dye your fingers some interesting colors but that's entirely optional. Enjoy!

Ready to grate the egg

Grated Marbled Egg 

Finished egg salad! 

Egg Salad Recipe

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: N/A

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

1 hard boiled egg, grated
1/2 stalk of celery, finely chopped
1 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
20g mature cheddar, grated
1 tbsp sweet pickle relish
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise or miracle whip (I use a mix of both)
Crackers or 2 slices of bread

Method: 

Using a cheese grater, grate the egg and cheese and add to your mixing bowl. Next add the celery, red onion and pickle relish, followed by the mayonnaise or miracle whip. Mix thoroughly and enjoy with crackers or make into a tasty sandwich. 

Bell Pepper Baked Eggs

Easy. Quick. Delicious. I'm not much of a breakfast person so when I do take the time to make something, I want it to be simple, fast and worth the effort. Bell pepper baked eggs are definitely all of those things. Pop the egg in the pepper and throw it in the oven for 20 minutes and it's ready. Basically by the time you've had your shower, your breakfast is ready. I know most of you lovely readers won't want to try this on a weekday but I really think it could be incorporated into a morning breakfast routine if you're looking for something healthy and easy. I think this might be the healthiest way I've ever made eggs (I'm terrible at poaching...) since there's no butter or oil involved. I sauteed up a quick kale, garlic and onion mix to go along side but toast would be equally tasty. I cooked my egg all the way through which made it more of a hard boiled consistency so if you'd like a runny egg, start with 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven). It's ready to go as soon as the white sets. My bell pepper was amusingly lopsided so I had to construct a foil lift to keep it steady - you don't want the egg sliding out while cooking!

Preparing to bake

Heading into the oven 

Finished product: bell pepper baked egg and kale saute

Prep time: 3 min

Cook time: 15-20 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

1 bell pepper (any color)

2 large eggs

Salt

Pepper 

Spring onions or herbs to finish (optional)

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 400F / 205C.

Halve and deseed the bell pepper, removing the stem and white ribs to create an open space for the egg. Line a baking tray with foil (in case of spills) and ensure that your pepper halves will stand on their own. Crack an egg into each half and season with salt and pepper. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the white has set and the yolk is at your preferred consistency.