A favorite snack of mine – I love eggs cooked just about any way! My friends and family keep asking for this recipe. I didn’t really think there was a recipe for deviled eggs, but I guess everyone has their own little secret. So – I’ll share my process.
First of all – I only buy large, organic eggs. You have to do your research here on who you are buying from as the industry is not regulated very well and the labeling can be very misleading. Local farms are the best, but there are a few grocery store options I am also good with. Farm fresh eggs are just as good as a tomato picked right off your backyard garden plant! Then – I follow this website’s exact process for boiling my eggs. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel here – this one is absolutely perfect! I follow this to the tee and cook mine right around 10 minutes for my deviled eggs.
They peel super easy every time (use the ice water bath!) and then the yolks pop right out with no problems. Cut your eggs in half and pop the yolks into a medium size bowl. I made about 18 eggs this time. My carrier only fits 2 dozen (halves), but I was taking to a big party so made a few extra.
Next, I add in some mustard. I make a homemade mustard from my banana peppers I grown in my garden. It’s fantastic – a little tangy, slight spice. You can use a store bought mustard. (I will share my recipe soon as I’m waiting to pick enough banana peppers currently). I would look for a tangy maybe honey mustard – should be kind of dark like this:
Next, add in some mayo. Again, I much prefer to use homemade and it’s so easy to make: avocado oil, 1 whole egg, squeeze of lemon juice, mustard powder, pinch of salt. It’s creamier than the store bought and tastes way better. If you are in a rush it’s totally fine to use one from the store. I like the Primal Kitchen avocado oil mayo (it’s sold on Amazon or lots of other places including Target). For my 18 eggs I used about 1/2-2/3 cup of both the mustard and mayo – it’s all about preference and texture. Just add a little of each and you can continue to add more until it’s perfect for you. I also pour in a little apple cider vinegar or if I have pickled red onions in the fridge I’ll use a little of that juice – just about a tablespoon.
Next comes my secret ingredient! I love this stuff! We purchased this for the first time at the Old Town Scottsdale farmers market, but don’t worry – you can buy it online! Saucy lips have great sauces that you can use to marinade meats, use as dressings, or put in things like deviled eggs! The Zesty cilantro is what I use for this one. I use quite a bit as I want the flavor to show about the mayo and mustard. Just mix in about a 1/4 cup and then keep adding to your preference. Here is what my final mix looks like..
I try my best to get the eggs as smooth as possible so the mix is easier to “pipe” into your egg whites. I do not have any fancy piping tips as – I do NOT bake 🙂 So, I dump this into a zip lock bag and cut the corner off and squeeze. If you have larger chunks of egg you will just have to cut a bigger hole into your baggie.
In case you’ve never done this before.. here is what I’m talking about. Just cut that little corner and start piping! That’s it! If you want to make them look pretty for serving you could sprinkle on some paprika or some diced chives on top. Or some micro-cilantro if you are using the saucy lips already. There are so many different ways you can dress up your eggs! I didn’t this time as they were being transported in my little carry case and I was just keeping it easy. Enjoy!
Easy Deviled Eggs
Ingredients
- 18 Eggs large, organic
- 2/3 cup Mustard tangy, honey mustard
- 2/3 cup Mayo avocado oil
- 1 tbsp Vinegar apple cider
- 3/4 cup Saucy Lips Zesty Cilantro Sauce less sauce to taste..
Instructions
- Cook your eggs according to website instructions – 10 minutes. Put in ice water bath for 5+ minutes. Peel.
- Cut your eggs in half and dump your yolks in a medium size bowl.
- Add your mustard, mayo, vinegar and sauce to taste and texture prefered. Try to get your mixture as creamy as possible, removing any large chunks of egg.
- Dump your mixture into a zip lock bag and pipe into your egg whites.
- Top with anything you desire – or a combination – paprika, chives, cilantro.
Spiralized Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Last night.. I actually got my husband to eat fresh green beans – and he loved them. Polished off the pan! I am so happy. I will share that simple recipe with you later this week. It’s absolutely gorgeous weather in the Phoenix metro right now. We are all trying to enjoy this and soak up as much as we can before the ovens are turned on.. and ran all summer long. So I often take my lunch to the patio and enjoy it outside this time of year.
Most of the time I am looking for a super quick, simple and healthy lunch option. The spiralizer that I have is so easy to access, use and clean it really helps speed up the process for things like this. I knew that I had a few cucumbers in the fridge and wanted to be sure to use them up while they were still fresh! So I pulled 2 large cucumbers out, washed and cut off one end and started spiralizing. I used the coarse noodles – like spaghetti noodle size blade. So much fun.. I love transforming foods into noodles and such.
If you have ever made a cucumber salad before, or actually if you have ever eaten a cucumber before, you know that they are very watery. So – for the first time, I decided to use a little of the salt method for this. I sprinkled on some Kosher salt and mixed together well letting the (cucudooles) sit while I dug for what other ingredients I had in my fridge to turn this into a salad. Hehe.. I will have to think of a better name for them! About 5 minutes later – I squeezed the cucumbers between a LOT of paper towels to take out quite a bit of liquid. You will never get it all and if you do – I’d like to see what that looks like.
Next, I added some cherry tomatoes, cut in half. I cut them in half because it’s so much better when those tomato juices mix in with everything else. I also had some quick pickled onions already in my fridge – so I added the remainder of a jar. I have found I really enjoy keeping the pickled onions on hand and they are so easy to make!
I then added some dill weed – you can use a dried or fresh. And then top off with about 1/2 cup of plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt. (organic of course) That is something else I like to pretty much always have on hand. Much better than sour cream, so many uses and it really stays fresh for a long time. Mix this all together really well. You might want to cut up your cucudooles if they were in the really long strands. Just like you would cut up a kid’s bowl of spaghetti noodles at a restaurant.
There is is – that simple. It’s great when you eat it right away, but even better when you let it sit at least for a few hours. Great idea for a summer BBQ side or if you are like me, lunch. You could even throw in some rotisserie chicken if you wanted to add some protein for your lunch. This will still get pretty watery – that’s just what you get with cucumbers!
Spiralized Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large cucumbers
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes approx
- 1/3 cup pickled red onion
- 2 tbsp dill fresh or dried
- 1/2 cup plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Wash your cucumbers and cut off one end. Spiralize using the coarse noodle (spaghetti noodle size) blade.
- Sprinkle with Kosher salt and let sit for approx 5 minutes. Squeeze out the water between several paper towels as much as you can.
- Wash and cut your cherry tomatoes in half. Add your cherry tomatoes and pickled red onion to your cucumbers.
- Sprinkle in your dill. Mix in the yogurt and still well.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours before enjoying. OR – eat now if you don’t want to wait.
Mushrooms and Butternut Squash “Zoodles”
Vegetables have ALWAYS been my favorite. Cauliflower first. Extremely close seconds are pasta and mushrooms. When I was a kid in 1/2 day kindergarten, my mom had an in-home daycare in our house and therefore was always home with lunch ready when I got off the bus. One of my favorite lunches was her creamed cauliflower. I know, not healthy at all, but oh so good. I always felt extra special when she made me that meal. These days it is a very rare occasion that I eat cauliflower or any veggie prepared that way, but veggies are still my favorite. And once I discovered my body’s dislike to gluten they have become my favorite substitute for pasta as well.
Today, I needed something that would be quick to make and also wanted healthy. I dug through my refrigerator and started pulling out what I had on hand. Luckily I had a few shortcuts to help with the time and mess – I’ll share those here.
My first shortcut today – already “zoodled” noodles. I love the Cece’s Veggie Co options. They save so much time and mess and they are Organic – even better! Don’t get me wrong – once my garden is going with fresh veggies for zoodling and ricing again I will zoodle my own as well. I also had a package of baby bella mushrooms on hand and some already minced garlic. Sitting on my counter were some of the fresh lemons from our tree outback – we still have an abundance.
First things first, I always press any extra moisture out of my zoodles. I love butternut squash because they are denser and typically don’t hold the moisture like zucchini noodles do, but I still want to make sure I get any excess out. So, once I had them pressed in between some paper towels, I melted a little ghee butter in a pan on the stove, added about a tablespoon of minced garlic and sauteed for a couple minutes before adding in my mushrooms. I decided a little extra ghee would be needed as both the mushrooms and squash will really soak it up – so about 2-3 tablespoons.
Then, I squeezed in 1/2 of a fresh lemon (mine are very juicy), and stirred around until the mushrooms were about 1/2 cooked. I then added a couple tablespoons of parsley (I used dried this time – faster!).
I then added in my “noodles.” I like to pull them apart and add a little at a time so they aren’t all stuck together. I then sauteed the noodles for about 5 more minutes. I topped my bowl off with a tiny bit of shredded Parmesan cheese and there you have it – lunch!
Mushrooms and Butternut Squash “Zoodles”
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Ghee Butter
- 1 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1 pckg Baby Bella Mushrooms small
- 2 tbsp Parsley dried
- 1/2 lemon squeezed
- 1 pckg Cece’s butternut squash “noodles”
- 1 pinch shredded parmesan
Instructions
- Melt butter in pan and add minced garlic. Saute for a few minutes.
- Add mushrooms and saute until about 1/2 cooked or more. Sprinkle on parsley and squeeze in lemon juice and stir.
- Add the butternut squash and saute for approx 5-7 minutes.
- Top your bowl with a pinch of shredded parmesan cheese.