Eggs and Toast with a Twist

I'm sure you've seen eggs of all kind....scrambled, over easy, sunny side up.....but have you ever seen them cuddled up all inside their own piece of toast?

Eggs and toast have long been considered breakfast staples, but sometimes they can get a bit routine.  In an effort to switch things up a bit I decided to try nesting my egg into the toast as I cooked it.  Not only does this make for an easier prep process, but it cuts down on the time you spend standing over the stove since you cook your breakfast all at one time.   And the sooner I can get food in my belly each morning the better :)

And if you have little ones this is a breakfast you can get get them in on as well.  I used a glass to cut out the little hole in the toast, but you could certainly use different shaped cookie cutters to do so.  Stars or hearts, anyone?

It's already set up perfectly for you to dip that 

toast into the egg.

PS PLEASE for the love of Pete use butter!!  I normally use olive oil to cook my eggs, but butter just makes everything better with this dish.  It not only keeps your egg from sticking to the pan, but it flavors your toast to perfection.  If you use Pam or something similar you will be left wondering why I thought this dish was worth blogging.  Yes, butter is definitely better.

Tuesday's Tips, Trick and Tid-Bits ~ Farm Fresh Eggs

Most of these themed Tuesday posts revolve around how to do something better or in fewer steps, but this one is more or less my two cents.  I think I had mentioned in a previous post that I had read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.  I'll save my 10 page long review of that book for another day, but one thing I took away from it was the importance of supporting local farms.  By buying from smaller local farms you support farming sustainability and get a much better product (that will also come at a much better price).  This is true for virtually every food (meat and produce) out there, but today I want to focus on eggs.

If you've never had farm fresh eggs you're seriously missing out.  The color of the yolks is a much deeper yellow (almost an orange) and they just taste phenomenal.  They have a very rich taste...if that makes any sense.  You're also assured that the hens that laid these eggs were running around outside perching and flapping their wings and doing innate birds things like eating bugs and poop and grass.  They're doing things that birds should be doing.

Look at all those gorgeous colors...blue, green, tan...

Herbed-Baked Eggs

I guess the first thing I need to do is apologize for being so sketchy last week.  I normally do a post every week day, but I last week I only did three.  I was sick on Monday, and then had a gala on Thursday and neglected my Friday post.  Forgive me!!  It usually takes me over an hour to put together these posts, and some days it's just too much to juggle.  But today marks a new day and a new week....so back on track I go!

Today's post features Ina Garten's baked egg cups.  I love eggs and don't really discriminate against any variety of them (scrambled, over easy, in an omelette, etc).   My only gripe is that they can be a bit hard to do if you are whipping up any other part of the meal.  You've got your pancakes going, bacon in the frying pan, and then you've got your eggs you're trying to watch too.  It's just too much sometimes, which can result in me shying away from them.

But these based egg cups give you a chance to put your focus on something else.  I will say that it's tricky to get them cooked just right.  The first time I took them out of the oven I realized that maybe using the broiler wasn't the best idea and decided to go with a straight baking method next time.  For me, the broiler cooked the eggs too much on top and left the bottom of them completely raw.  No good.

The herbs below are just what Ina had listed, but use whatever you have on hand that you're fond of.  I would also suggest making toast on the side for dipping.  These eggs have cooked whites, but running yolks and the toast is a nice vehicle for getting them scooped up :)