Egg Salad, Straight Up

Egg salad is good stuff. This is a very basic recipe, but that's how The Husband prefers it, so it's what we do. I've fancied it up before and tried different verisons. Nope, this one always wins. It tastes like a deviled egg in salad form - good stuff. 

I'll update this picture eventually. The lighting in my kitchen is really bad late at night when I typically make this. Go figure. 

I always have eggs, so unless requested, this is the back-up to the back-up of the 'what the heck are we eating for lunch tomorrow' question. 

The recipe serves 4, with a decent portion size for a sandwich. Don't want to add on bread calories? Celery is an awesome scooping vessel for this. I actually prefer it. 

Anyways, I introduce to you, Egg Salad...

But first things first though. Let's boil some eggs.

Hard Boiled Eggs:

Eggs

Water

Salt

Ice

Place desired amount of eggs in a single layer, in a stock pot. Fill with cold water, covering by one inch. Pour in a bunch of salt (I do a two second pour from a container - no clue what that equals, but one heaping Tbsp sounds about right).

Heat on stove top over high heat until water reaches a slight boil.

Remove from heat and cover. Allow to sit for 12 minutes.

Transfer cooked eggs to an ice bath, (big bowl of ice, filled with water) and allow to cool completely.

When ready to peel, give one good crack on the bottom and while making sure to break the thin membrane, remove the shell. Toss the egg back into the ice bath to insure any leftover flakes of shell get swept away. 

Egg Salad:

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup mayo

4 green onions, chopped

2 tsp plain Greek yogurt

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork, mashing egg slightly until combined. 

Leftover Broiled Quesadillas

The easiest thing out there. It's pretty hard to mess up, and contains cheese. Eveyone likes cheese.

We normally have some leftover food from the previous dinner (excluding items for The Husband's lunch). It can be meat, or veggie, or both. The beauty of a quesadilla, is that it can contain anything. It's like a pizza. Endless possibilities.

Typically, I chop everything to a fine dice and then add in extra vegetables. I prefer the 6 inch corn tortillas, for bite sized portions.

This is an example, using leftover BBQ ribs and a side of sauteed spinach with garlic. I had about a cup of leftover filling with this appilication.

Leftover Quesadillas Example:
4 leftover baby back ribs, bone removed and diced fine
1/2 cup leftover sautéed spinach
2 green onions, minced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 Tbsp BBQ sauce
3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
8 - 6 inch corn tortillas*

Combine first 5 ingredients, mixing to incorporate filling.

Place 1/2 of cheese on one half of each tortilla. Top each tortilla evenly with filling, and finish with remaining cheese. Fold tortilla over to create one 'half moon'.

On a baking sheet, lined with foil and with the addition of a wire rack, arrange quesadillas. Coat with cooking spray.

Set oven to broil, and using a middle rack position, cook quesadillas until browned bubbles appear. Remove from oven. Flip, coating new side with cooking spray and continue to broil until browned again.

Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.

*Watch for stubborn tortillas. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds to allow flexiblity.

Silly Sloppy Sliders

Now, I know that quick sloppy joes aren't the healthiest meal out there (I'm looking at you, absurd amount of ketchup and sugar), but they're good. They're also easy, so let's just add a bunch of vegetables and call it a day.

I goofed on my grocery trip and didn't have a critical ingredient for the planned meal. I was not hauling two under napped kids to the store and then frantically speed cooking. I needed an alternative and the pound of ground beef was looking like a contender. I had rolls, so sloppy joes made sense. I did some googling and found a recipe labeled "healthy". It had two measly carrots in addition to the traditional ingredients. Ha! I'll see you those two carrots and empty my fridge of plant life.

H can be wary of any sandwich without peanut butter, so I talked these guys up as 'silly' because they could get messy. It worked I guess, or the sugar content did. Either way, kids ate them and the included vegetables up. I'm calling it a win.

I tallied the nutritional content on the final result, and it's not horrible - except the sugar. Under 400 calories for 2 sliders. Also, I literally just grabbed random vegetables from my fridge. Do the same if needed. You don't have to have the exact things as long as they make sense together.

Silly Sloppy Sliders:

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1-1/2 cups (ouch) ketchup

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp fish sauce (optional)*

2 carrots, peeled and grated

1/2 cup onion, diced fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced small

1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced small

1 cup packed fresh spinach, diced fine

2 stalks celery, diced fine

4 crimini mushrooms, diced fine

1 pound lean ground beef

S&P to taste

Slider buns

Provolone cheese slices

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Set aside.

Brown beef in a large skillet, coated in cooking spray, over medium high heat. When just a bit of pink is left, add vegetables and cook until slightly softened. Stir in ketchup concoction and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. Season to taste.

Broil cut side up slider buns in oven until lightly toasted. Remove from oven. Add broken provolone cheese slices (half a slice per sandwich) to each exposed side and return to oven to melt.

Top one side of cheesed roll with beef mixture and create a sandwich with the other side.

Eat.

*Fish sauce is awesome and adds that umami taste you've heard about somewhere. It's good stuff.