• This is a great recipe for adaptation.  If you have ham on hand instead of procuitto, go for it.  If you've got cheddar on hand instead of parmesan, perfect!  If you have chives instead of parsley - perfect.  The possibilities are endless.  Bacon, pancetta, ham, turkey, cheddar, gouda, just think of your favorite omelet and make it frittata style instead!
  • (If using bacon or pancetta, cook in skillet, drain on paper towels, and crumble before adding to egg mixture).
• I used Heavy Cream b/c other than that, all I had was non-fat milk.  I probably should have mixed a little of each to get a light yet rich milk, but I just poured in the cream.  Use whatever you have on hand and I'm sure it'd work fine.
• Can be rewarmed next day for breakfast.
• Can make even smaller mini's by using a tart-size muffin pan instead of the standard cupcake pan.  If doing this, cut cooking time down to 10 - 12 minutes.

INGREDIENTS
 
    8 Large Eggs
    1/2 Cup Milk or Cream
    1/4 tsp Salt
    1/2 tsp Pepper
    4 - 6 oz Procuitto or thin sliced ham, chopped
    1/3 Cup Grated or Shredded Parmesan
    2 Tbs Chopped Italian/Flat Leaf Parsley

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat oven to 375 F.  Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray and set aside. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk/cream, salt and pepper until well combined and eggs are no longer seperated.
• Stir in chopped procuitto or ham, parmesan, and parsley.
• Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop egg mixture into prepared muffin cups.  Cups should be mostly full.
• Bake at 375 F for 20 - 25 minutes or until puffed and set in center.
• Serve immediately.

 Recipe Origins: adapted from recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

• Salt: If using Salted Butter, do not add salt to the recipe. If using Unsalted Butter, add 1/8 tsp of salt to water/butter boil.
• Eggs must be added ONE AT A TIME.  Just one.  Just one at a time.  Please.
• Like any egg-puffing baked item, ensure your oven is at the pre-set temperature before putting in the dough.  If it is not perfectly hot when the éclair go in, they will not raise correctly.
• When removing eggy-center, don't overkill or you'll make the pastry so thin that you're filling will seep out.  Just pull enough out that you have a more hollow center for filling, and other than that, the rest of it will be just fine.
• Cooked but unfilled pastry shells can be frozen for future use.

INGREDIENTS
 
    1/2 Cup Butter (not margarine)
    1 Cup Water + 1/8 tsp Salt (see Tips & Tricks)
    1 Cup Flour
    4 Eggs
    Chocolate Pudding/Mousse/Flavored Whip Cream
    Chocolate (for Drizzling; see Tips & Tricks)
    Powder Sugar (for topping)

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
• In a small or medium sauce pan, combine water and butter.  Bring to a boil and add cup of flour all at once.  Stir quickly to combine/until is holding together and round-like when stirring.
• Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Add eggs, one at a time, by stirring in with wooden spoon/spatula.
• Put dough into frosting bag with large open end (or large round tip) or a large zip lock with end snipped off.
• Pipe in 4 - 5 inch strips on a greased cookie sheet.  Leave a minimum of 2 inches between each piping.
• Bake in 400 F pre-heated oven for 30 - 35 minutes.  Pastry will be puffed, golden and crisp/hard to touch.  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
• While pastry is cooking, assemble filling per package instructions (pudding/mousse/flavored whip cream).
• When pastries are cooled, slice tops off and pull eggy-center out with fingers or spoon. (see Tips & Tricks)
• Fill with preferred filling, put pastry tops back on, and drizzle with melted chocolate and dust with powdered sugar if desired.

 Recipe Origins: My very old red & white checkered Better Homes & Garden cookbook.

• You can use mild or hot canned green chilis.  Just depends if you want to kick it up a little or not.  I usually use just mild, but that's because I'm feeding little toddlers. 
• There are times that for some odd reason, I can't fit this all into one pan and I have to overflow into an 8x8 one as well.  If this happens to you, no worries. Just freeze it and have more for another time!

INGREDIENTS

    2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
    1 Cup Sour Cream
    1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
    1 4oz Can Chopped Green Chilis, undrained
    1/2 Yellow Onion or 1 Bunch Green Onions, Chopped
    1 1/2 Cup Shredded Montery Jack or Mozarella Cheese
    2 Tbs Milk
    12 Large Flour Tortillas

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Grease 9 x 13 baking pan and set aside.
• In a medium sauce pan, boil chicken breasts in water until cooked through.  Dice cooked chicken and set aside.
• While chicken is cooking, stir together sour cream, cream of chicken soup, green chilis, onion, and 1 Cup of cheese in a large bowl.  Reserve 1 cup mixture in smaller bowl, stir in milk, and set aside. 
• Stir diced chicken in with mixture in large bowl.
• Place a scant 1/4 cup of chicken mixture in each tortilla, then roll up and place seam-side-down in greased pan.
• Pour reserved sauce mixture over enchiladas and top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
• Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes.  Broil just a minute if toasted cheese top is desired.

• The Jalapeño salsa - use as little or as much as you like depending on tastes. I think the amount I've suggested gives the dish a mild to medium amount of heat, whereas if you wanted it hotter you could easily add more.  And if you're like me - you're wondering where on earth this salsa is at the grocery store?  If you've ever purchased the little cans of Salsa Verde in the Mexican Food aisle (pretty standard item in most grocery stores), this should be right next to it. 
• The 2 chicken breasts may seem like not enough, but it is.  I boiled extra assuming I would need it and nope.  I now have extra boiled chicken in the freezer for some random future use. 
• The cheese is definately up to personal preference.  You could use montery jack, white cheddar, regular cheddar, or even a standard crumbled Mexican Cojita (yummmmm). 

INGREDIENTS

    2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
    1 Bunch of Cilantro, stems chopped off
    1 Heaping Cup of Sour Cream
    2 7oz Cans Jalapeño Salsa
    2 7oz Cans Salsa Verde (Canned Green Salsa)
    1 Onion, Chopped
    12 Tortillas
    2+ Cups Shredded Cheese (see Tips & Tricks)

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Grease 9 x 13 baking pan and set aside.
• In a medium sauce pan, boil chicken breasts in water until cooked through.  Shred with forks and set aside.
• While chicken is cooking, combine cilantro, sour cream, 1 and a half cans of jalapeño salsa, and half of one can of the salsa verde.  Blend until creamed well.  If more heat is needed, blend remaining half a can of jalapeño salsa into sauce.
• In large bowl, stir together shredded chicken, chopped onion, and the remaining one and a half cans of salsa verde.
• In greased pan, add enough sour cream mixture to barely cover the bottom of pan.
• Place two heaping tablespoons of chicken mixture in each tortilla, a tablespoon of cheese, then roll up and place seam-side-down in pan.
• Pour remaining sour cream mixture over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
• Bake, cover with foil, for 20 minutes.  Remove foil, and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Recipe Origins: adapted from recipe on www.allrecipes.com

• Just follow the recipe.  I can't tell you how many fancy other Dutch Baby recipes I tried until I got ahold of this version.  Worked like a charm and per Garin, will now be our regular Sunday morning staple.
• I used chilled eggs & milk, but I think next time I'll experiment with room temperature eggs & milk.  The less distance the batter has to go to get warm, the better it'll react.  So, we'll see how much bigger I can get this "baby" next time!
• This is the basic recipe, but feel free to improvise with flavors: add some sugar and cinnamon, or some nutmeg!  Yumm!
• Oven MUST be at 420 before putting in eggs.  If you put the eggs in before the oven has warmed up, they will not rise correctly.
• When melting butter in oven, make sure it's melted - but not browned.  Just keep an eye on it that you don't burn it before adding the batter. (No!  I've never done that!!  Don't even suggest it!)
• Do NOT (DO NOT) open oven to check on eggs.  They will deflate.  This is your first warning.

INGREDIENTS

    3 Tbs Butter
    6 eggs
    1 Cup Milk
    1 Cup Flour
    1 tsp Salt
    1 tsp Vanilla

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 425 F and place rack just below middle of oven (and ensure no additional racks are above your cooking rack).
• Place butter in 9 x 13 glass/metal pan.  Put pan in pre-heating oven until butter is melted and pan is hot.
• In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients until smooth (and flour no longer has lumps).
• Pour batter into heated pan with butter and place immediately in pre-heated oven.
• Bake for 20 minutes.  DO NOT OPEN TO CHECK ON PROGRESS. (This is your second warning)
• Serve immediately with favorite pancake condiments.

Recipe Origins: adapted from Crazy N8

• Ground Meat: a good ground pork sausage works best for this recipe, but I used turkey kielbasa and it was fabulous. 
• Spices: because this meal was for my little kiddos, I used the minimum amount of cajun seasoning possible (1/2 tsp) that would keep it mild enough they'd still eat it, and yet flavorful enough it didn't get lost.  For heat lovers, I'd go up to 1 1/2 tsp of cajun seasoning and perhaps even add in hot sausage instead of regular.
• This recipe is a great base for what could become... really anything you want.  Toss in some cooked veggies, or add the holey trinity (when sauteing your ground meat).
• If you don't have Cajun Seasoning, you can make your own by combining the following dried herbs & spices.  Store cajun seasoning in airtight container. (Recipe: Emeril Lagasse)
  • 2 Tbs each: Salt & Garlic Powder
  • 1 Tbs each: Black Pepper, Onion Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Oregano, Thyme

INGREDIENTS

    2 Cups uncooked White Rice
    1 lb Ground Sausage (see Tips & Tricks), removed from casings
    4 - 6 Green Onions
    1/2 tsp Chicken Bouillon/Base
    1/4 Cup Water
    1/2+ tsp Cajun Seasoning (see Tips & Tricks)
    
DIRECTIONS

• Cook rice per package instructions.
• While rice is cooking, chop green onions - making sure to seperate white bottoms from soft green tops.
• Spray a large skillet/wok with non-stick cooking spray.  Add ground sausage and onion whites.  Saute until sausage is browned, breaking into very small pieces as it cooks.
• Add chicken bouillon/base, cajun seasoning and water.  Stir until combined, and remove from heat.  Stir in soft onion greens and cooked rice.
• Serve warm.

• Don't even try to substitute the butter here.  Besides, are you pretending to be healthy or something?  Yes?  This is so not the recipe for you.
• The dough may seem softer than normal cookie dough (before you add in the chocolate chips and the nuts).  Do not fret.  Once the other things are tossed in, they will be just fine.  If you need to, you can up your flour a tad (I just use a heaping 1/2 cup).  But try to resist the urge unless you really feel the need.
• 2 cups of nuts may seem like a lot.  And it is.  But it is necessary (at least in my opinion).  The cookie is so insanely chocolatey, that the nuts are a welcomed offset.  They help you find a small sliver of balance in flavors.
• Dough does not spread like normal cookies (where you can put a heap on a cookie sheet, and it spreads/flattens out).  This means you can place cookies closer together, however if - when dropping scoops onto the cookie sheet - you find your mounds of dough pretty high, use the back of your measuring cup to flatten them down somewhat.

INGREDIENTS

    1 pkg (8oz) Baker's semi-sweet baking chocolate, roughly chopped
    3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
    1/4 C Butter, softened
    2 Eggs
    1 tsp Vanilla
    1/2+ Cup of flour (see note)
    1/2 tsp Baking Powder
    8oz Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
    2 Cups Pecans, chopped (or Walnuts)

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
• Place chopped baking chocolate in a large mixing (and microwave-safe) bowl, and microwave in 1-min increments until melted.  Stir between each set minute.
• Stir brown sugar and butter into melted chocolate. 
• Stir in eggs and vanilla, then stir in flour and baking powder.
• Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.
• Using a 1/4 Cup measuring cup, scoop cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. 
• Bake at 350 F for 12 - 15 minutes.
• Let sit 1 minute on cookie sheet before transfering to wire cooling rack for cooling. 

Recipe Origins: From 2002 Baker's Chocolate mini cooking book.

• Use more or less chilis per your own taste.  I used about 1/3 a can and the end result definately had a bit of zip to it (to which I'd just stir in some more sour cream).  But I'm not sure I would have used less... the adobo flavoring is an excellent addition I'd hate to scrimp on.  But if you need to cut down heat, look here first and then you could even trim down the cajun if needed.
• I had a hard time getting this as thick as I wanted, so I took just over 3 cups of beans and blended them with my immersion blender (food processor would work fine as well).  Stirring in the "bean paste" helped thicken my chili up to perfect standards.  Depending on the intensity of your "simmering" step, you may need to blend more/less.  It's not an exact science, just blend a bit, and blend more as needed.  If you like your chili thinner, then blend less.  Thicker, then blend more.
• Great for freezing!

INGREDIENTS

    2 lbs White Beans (dry)
    1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
    2 Cups Onions, Diced
    6 Cloves Garlic, chopped
    2 Chicken Breasts, boiled & chopped
    8 Cups Water
    1 Bay Leaf
    1 Small Can (4oz) Chopped Green Chilies
    1/2+ tsp Oregano
    1/2+ tsp Cumin
    1/2+ tsp Dry Mustard
    1/2+ tsp Basil
    1/2+ tsp Old Bay Seasoning
    1/4 tsp Cajun Seasoning
    6 Chipotle Chilis in Adobo, diced
    1/4+ Cup Chicken Bouillon Granules
    1 Cup Heavy Cream
    Sour Cream (optional, topping)

DIRECTIONS

• Pour beans into large stock pot.  Add water until beans are covered by at least two inches.  Bring water to a boil, then cover, and immediately remove from heat.  Let sit for 2 hours. 
• Add oil to another large stock pot.  Heat over medium-high heat and add onion and garlic.  Saute until just tender.
• To sauteed vegetables the chicken, water, bay leaf, green chilies, oregano, cumin, dry mustard, basil, Old Bay seasoning, Cajun seasoning, chipotles, and chicken bouillon.  Simmer, stirring ocassionally, for 1 1/2 hours.
• Drain the beans, then add 3+ cups (see note) to food processor.  Blend in food processor until smooth.  Add whole soaked beans and blended beans to the soup mixture.  Add heavy cream and simmer another 1 hour, stirring ocassionally.
• Serve warm with sour cream.