Avocado and Egg Salad

Avocado and Egg Salad

Ingredients
(serves 4)

• 1 diced avocado (2 if you want to be fancy and serve this inside the shell)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• Diced red onion (just a sprinkling, unless you really love the taste of raw onion!)
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use low fat with olive oil)
• 1/4 cup sour cream (I use nonfat)
• Generous sprinkling each of Dill, Paprika, Garlic Powder, and Oregano
• 20 crumbled crackers (Add right before serving) 

How to Make Avocado and Egg Salad
This recipe is so easy peasy, let's learn it through pictures. You're really just throwing everything together in a big bowl.

We aren't the only ones around here who love avocado.

This photo shows "sliced", not "diced". Tsk, tsk!

You'll want to squeeze out most of the juice. Don't be a dope like me and realize, halfway through, that you should pour the flavorful tomato juice into a jar of tomato sauce, not down the drain!

Some feta-y goodness.

Red onion! The first time I made this recipe, I went waaay overboard and threw in an entire half a red onion, which was overpowering. My Avocado and Egg Salad was still tasty, but expect people to take a step back from you if you choose to go the onion-packed route.

Next up, it's time for the eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, and spices. I don't have photos of those last ingredients (perfect for a recipe "through photos") but, hey, aren't my eggs pretty?

You're almost done! Once everything is mixed up in the bowl, and right before serving, stir in 20 crumbled crackers. I've made this using Saltines and Ritz crackers and both ways are delicious.

Wasn't that so simple? If you're feeling fancy, you can use the avocado shells as bowls for your Avocado and Egg Salad. So much more impressive than a paper plate!

Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce Review

What the heck is a masala?

I wasn't in the mood to prepare anything elaborate tonight, so it seemed like an ideal opportunity to try the Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce that has been sitting in our pantry.

I poured the contents of the jar, some small pieces of chicken, and a cup of water into a pot and covered it, then let it heat on the stove. Easy enough.

I also added some carrot, celery, onion, and peanuts.

Sexy Nerd made some instant brown rice to accompany our meal.

The finished product, piggy and all.

So, how was the Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce? Lemony. Really, really lemony! I'll be honest. I wasn't quite sure what "Masala Simmer Sauce" was supposed to taste like. The jar is no help. All it says is that the product makes a great base for authentic Indian meals. Silly me, I didn't realise that authentic Indian meals meant full of lemon juice. When I did a search for masala recipes, the results came back with lots of cumin, coriander, and cinnamon, but not a lot of lemon. Altogether, tonight's dinner was a bit of a dud.

For tomorrow's leftovers, I'll try adding a little spinach and coconut milk. In defense of Trader Joe's, I do enjoy their curry sauce. In fact, the next time I'm in the area, I plan to stop by for curry sauce, soy chorizo, pizza dough, and something called "mangolicious".

No Masala Simmer Sauce though.

Popovers. Why Did I Only Make 12??

Over the weekend I spent my time browsing through several newly discovered food blogs. Thank goodness for the creation of tabs! Seriously, I stayed up past midnight on Friday, past 1am Saturday night, and was so grateful that my office was closed on Monday so that I could spend even more time searching for new things to cook. Work. A decent paycheck. These things seem overrated when faced with photo after photo of drool-inducing yummiess.

That said, I only made one recipe during my entire three day weekend. Popovers, courtesy of one of my favorite food blogs, Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice.

They were quick, easy, and delicious both when fresh and reheated. I bookmarked the recipe under the title MAKE THESE POPOVERS EVERY DAY!!! Most of my tried and true recipes only have 1 or 2 exclamation marks, so that should really give you an indication of how great these are. My only changes were to use butter instead of oil and, because I'm impatient, to let them sit in the oven for only 10 minutes instead of 15 after the heat had been turned off.

Three days of nonstop food blog stalking (did I mention that our original plans to go out - first on Saturday and then on Sunday - were scrapped?) left my mind somewhat mushy (food talk!) and I never once thought to photograph my freshly baked popovers for LambAround. I reheated the last popover this morning while unloading the dishwasher. About to devour it, the need for some popover blogging suddenly overtook me.

Blogging calls. The dishes will have to wait!

The inside, all gooey and jam-covered.

Not the best popover photo, but look at that tongue!

Photographing my food mid-air always attracts a crowd.

The flaky top of this deliciousness.

Also, did you notice that Pica is just about ready to pounce in that last photo? She leapt up at my last popover while I was distracted by the camera and almost stole it. Little punk.

I enjoyed the popovers with this Campagna Blackberry Guave Daquiri Jam, which was a gift from Sexy Nerd's uncle. If he reads my blog, he'll probably be mortified to see that we're still eating this, as it was given to us several years ago when I met him for the first time.

When I receive something nice, something that I wouldn't normally buy for myself, I hate to actually use it up and not have it anymore. Thus, I have been mixing in the cheap raspberry jam I typically buy so that we can have fancy jam forever.

I'm all set to replenish our popover supply later tonight. I've found another recipe to try:

Cinnamon Sugar Popovers (OMG!) from Vanilla Basil

And, yes, the dishes are still waiting to be put away.

Shouldn't Sexy Nerd have done it by now?

*Update*
After reading all your wonderful comments, (thank you!) I think I had better point out that I used an everyday cupcake/muffin pan to make these - no fancy popover pan necessary!

The World's Cutest Easter Recipe

"Peep! Peep!"

What You'll Need
(makes 10 super-cute Peeps nests)

• 7oz melted chocolate chips (approximately 1 1/4 cups)
• 5oz Fiber One bran cereal (or similar)(Chinese Noodles should work just fine as well)
• 10 Peeps chicks
• 20-30 Jelly Beans

Not a photo of worms in a bowl, I promise!

Combine the melted chocolate chips and the cereal. To melt the chocolate, I've found that microwaving it in a glass bowl on half power works well, stirring every 45 seconds. The 7oz were fully melted after about 3 minutes.

Such a healthy cereal, such an unhealthy use.

Then again, I might be looking at this all wrong. With all these nifty vitamins and minerals, surely these Peeps nests are good for me, right? No more multivitamins for this gal.

Behold, a healthy mound of chocolaty goodness.

An ice cream scoop makes these nests the perfect size, with very little mess, especially when dropped onto a silicone baking mat.

Next, add a Peep. Kinda press him down into the nest, but there's no need to go overboard. I was skeptical that my Peeps would stay in their nests. They did. The same goes for the jelly beans.

Are these the green eggs Dr. Seuss was talking about?

Be careful positioning your Peeps and jellybeans. Once you get melted chocolate on a Peep, there's no getting it off! 

Let your chicks chill out for a few hours.

And, yes, my fridge is just as bad as my pantry. Two loaves of bread, three containers of butter, and so, soo much nacho cheese.

 Ta da! Peeps picnic.

Surely, I didn't go so far as to stick one of these nests in our cherry tree.

No wonder none of my neighbors talk to me.

An extra special thanks to Carrots n Chocolate and Sun Scholars, who both helped inspire this post!