Baked Eggs by Any Other Name | NO-FAIL Brunch Idea

Shirred eggs...baked eggs...Oeufs en cocotte...no matter which name you prefer (or think sounds most delicious), we must share our new favorite NO-FAIL brunch dish – Baked Egg Cups.

SO versatile, SO tasty, SO presentable, and so EASY to make.  Just a few basic ingredients and then let your creativity take over!

Dress them up with brie, chevre, asparagus, chorizo, prosciutto and fines herbes…OR keep them casual with cheddar, bacon or sausage, and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.  Serve individually - at table - or from a buffet.

This is one dish that has become a permanent replay in our brunch repertoire.  And we're sharing this recipe for brunch success!

Snack Attack? Break with us at Foodies Night In (8/16)

It's been a long MONDAY already...just enough time to share our inclination to take a munchie break with you - our fellow foodies - this afternoon at Foodies' Night In.  We celebrating foodie fun with a Snack Attack for #fni today at 3pCT/4pET!

From treats to power bites to mid-morning munchies, we’re talking snacks, snacks, snacks.  Think you can handle it? Crunch away and join us ;-) 

Our special sponsor today is newcomer, Nuts About Granola.

Nuts About Granola is dedicated to providing fresh, wholesome, natural granola, from local ingredients to satisfy your hunger. We offer unique flavors, handmade in small batches and served fresh from the oven. This unique treat can be found in our beloved café or through our many outlets. Our simple recipes are full of flavor and made with love. We are truly nuts about granola.

Our emphasis is on building a local, sustainable economy. We support our local community by sourcing local ingredients, sponsoring local events and donating to local charities. We take pride in our affiliation Buy Fresh, Buy Local and the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network. We only sell to independent retails with an emphasis on Farmer’s Market to encourage our customers to buy even more local products.

What's a savvy host to do about Double-Dipping?

Continuing to share some of the best, brightest & most creative resources for entertaining - and overall savvy perspectives - let's introduce Saucy Dipper, an expert in Hosting your Own Dip Party, who's bringing some focus to an issue of etiquette (and guest health ;-) - asking "What's a savvy host to do?".

The human mouth has somewhere between 10 to 50 billion bacteria hiding out (source NPR), which includes up to 100 different species of bacteria. Some bacteria protects you mouth and health, but the bad bacteria—the kind that will rot your teeth or cause illness—is swimming around in there, too.

This kind of information is not necessarily useful to the average person, except when you are a savvy host and have 12 mouths to consider at your dinner party. The truth is that you don’t know what’s happening inside your fellow party-goer’s mouth, and this is cause for a strong stance against double dipping. In case you don’t know, double dipping is the practice of dipping a single chip or single veggie into a bowl of dip more than once.

In 2008, Clemson University published a report in the Journal of Food Safety that was inspired by a Seinfeld episode. In the episode, “The Implant,” Timmy, an incensed party goer, becomes enraged with George Costanza saying: “That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!”

A Toast To The Hosts: Organize a Drink-Themed Progressive Dinner!

Photo credit: Sebastian Pothe

Introducing our next guest contributor in the Savvy Experts in Entertaining series, author Felicia Coley of The Well-Heeled Society. Sign us up for this dinner party idea!

It may take a village to raise a child, but it only takes a few swanky neighbors to raise a toast to a drink-themed progressive dinner party! 

Photo credit: Gözde Otman 

In keeping with the state of the economy, a progressive dinner is the poshly frugal answer to group entertaining.  Done in the radius of a neighborhood block, condo highrise or apartment building, each host has a minimal monetary obligation.  This list of recipes for five hosts will serve at least eight people, providing the fact that the hosts may involve singles and couples (adjust accordingly for your event).

Once a date and time is confirmed by all neighbors involved, it's a matter of deciding which hosts serves what.  Cheers! 

For the Love of Copper

Browsing some of our favorite foodie blogs, a shiny glint of metal caught our eye in David Lebovitz's post Cookware Shops in Paris.



Our love for copper in cookware includes All-Clad (shared in our recent post Must-Have Cooking Tools Take 3) and Mauviel ... our cooking benefits from the excellent conduction of heat from gas burners and our whipped egg whites find that magical "je ne sais quoi" when whipped in a copper bowl.

It was the warm twinkling of copperware from Paris gourmet gear star, E. Dehillerin - the Les Halles cookware specialty shop featuring Cuprinox Extra Thick copper pots and pans (pictured below).

But we'd like to share the beauty and elegance copper offers in another entertaining dimension - outside of the kitchen.

Old World Ambiance

In the home, copper provides a warmth and a glow.

Accenting a living space, or dining area, it brings to mind the great cities of Europe, or the spice markets of India, or an ultra industrial flair.  We like the use low rimmed trays to hold plants on a table, or copper urns and pots to display flower arrangements.