Mini kale frittatas with herbed goat cheese

Lately I have been trying to fit lots of greens into my diet, as well as my husbands. We were not getting nearly enough leafy greens so I bought a ton of spinach, and most importantly kale. Kale has recently been named a "superfood" because it is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein and is rich in calcium. It's basically one of the healthiest vegetables there is. Last time we went grocery shopping I bought a few bundles, figuring I would find uses for it. I wanted to make a frittata this morning out of spinach and feta BUT realized a had a little bit of kale left. So, I used that in place for the spinach, and used a very creamy and flavorful goat cheese in place of the feta. The goat cheese was reasonable at $3.99 for a few ounces at Farm Fresh. It is loaded with all sorts of herbs and the taste just pops in these little frittatas.

Making them could not be easier either. You only need a few ingredients, and you can make it in a 9" pie plate, or you can make individual frittatas (like the one above) by using a muffin pan :) To make them you will need:

2 cups chopped kale
3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced thin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
6 eggs
crumbled goat cheese

In order to chop the kale you first have to remove it from the rib. After doing so, cut it into thin strips. Heat the 3 tbsp oil in a 10" skillet and heat the garlic, kale and red pepper until the kale begins to wilt, around 2 minutes or so

Next, in a medium bowl, crack the eggs and whip them up real good, and add the kale mixture-whisk until well combined. Grease 6 wells in a standard sized muffin pan (that makes 12 muffins). I have a wilton muffin pan that I got from my mother a million years ago, and I still use that one today :)

Using a laddle, or a very large spoon, fill the prepared wells about 2/3 of the way with the egg mixture. Then sprinkle the tops with as much, or as little goat cheese as you would like. I like a lot!

Then, pop 'em in the oven and bake for 23-30 minutes until the tops are set, and the goat cheese is melted. Once they cool a little, the tops may cave in a little bit-totally normal. We aren't making perfect souffles here!  If you prefer, you can leave them in until the tops get browned, but I like mine just done enough...

 PERFECT! :D

Egg in the hole: Not just good food, but good memories as well

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Egg in the hole is one of those things that when I make it, it always reminds me of some really great times. It's amazing that with such simple ingredients, and a little bit of nostalgia, you remember the weirdest things. That thing for me was the summer of 2010.

My best friend Jen had finally moved home after four very long years, and we moved in together-into her childhood home. This place both held very special memories of Halloween parties, and secret wine coolers, trips to mighty taco, and most lovingly the lyric "it's 8:45!" from our favorite song by Brand New. We had an absolute ball living in that house as kids, and as adults. Fast forward to 2010 when we moved in together- I remember things like punching an air mattress down the stairs because the only TV in the house was the one in the living room and we HAD to watch the Degrassi movie. Eating leftover antipasto salad and Manhattan clam chowder from her brother's benefit that was the night before. Special trips to Tops to steal all of the peppers out of the antipasto salad, and her ever reliable "baby car" which even had it's own theme song (which I will explain in detail soon)

Jen and I were invited to her friends birthday gathering at a bar called K Gallagher's. Neither of us had been there before, but we were excited to go out and get some drinks. Little did we know that this bar would become our favorite place of ALL TIME, making one, sometimes two trips there a week. I remember our second time there asking the world's greatest bartender, Max, to make us "something fruity" that we could take a shot of. So we took shot, after shot, after shot, staying out late and waiting for them to finally play "The Lonely Island" album so that we could sing to our favorite song "We Love Sports" (When I say sports, you say nutz, when I say cheating, you say sucks). We declared it out "secret bar" and no one else was allowed to go there but us. Shane and I weren't married at this point but he was none too keen on the idea of us going out in the city and having no idea where we would be, which i GUESS is understandable, but I told him not to have a crap attack. Anyway-one night a bunch of us went out to K Gals, it was the weekend so parking spaces were slim...but the baby car could literally fit into any space imaginable. "Sick nasty" spaces, if you will. And my husband would sing a song about the car every time we fit into a tiny parking spot: "Babay car, fuck yeah! It's the best tiny car in the whole fuckin' world!" We still sing that til this day when the car magically parks in tiny spots. So every week/weekend we would go out, drink our fruity drinks, do some shots, and come home (there was always a DD, don't worry!). When we would get home we were always starving...and this is where egg in the hole comes in. Jen used to make it every week, and it became our late night snack before bed, where we would recap the night, and dance to Michael Jackson if we weren't quite done partying yet. That bar gave me some of my closest friends and acquaintances, and some of the best memories from the best summer ever.

Egg-in-the-hole

2 slices of bread
butter
2 large eggs
S+P to taste

It could not be easier to make this dish. Cover each side of the bread with a healthy amount of butter. Cut out the middles of the bread with a biscuit cutter, and place into a hot skillet. Crack one egg in each hole and continue to cook until set on the bottom. Flip and cook until the other side is also set and browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and ENJOY! Great for breakfast, great as a drunk snack, or even a hangover lunch. Now go make some memories with your food. :)