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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Another Poached Egg and Kale Chips

What's for dinner??
Oh sorry Sunny bunny, that's not for you!  You get kibble.  

So I've been dreaming of a poached egg ever since my first attempt over the weekend (first attempt at poaching an egg here!).  So I decided as part of my dinner I'd have a poached egg with toast.  I successfully poached another egg!  Despite having done it so recently, I still freaked out when the egg was cooking in the water.  The water turned all white and murky and I was convinced I had egg drop soup and I'd have to start over.  Luckily, after 3 minutes, out popped a cute lil poached egg - phew!  

I followed the same method as last time and since it worked again I think I'll stick with it.  A couple tips I forgot to mention.  Take your egg out of the fridge a few minutes before poaching.  It's best to not have a super cold one.  And some people whirl the water before dropping the egg.  I tried that this time and I don't think it made any difference.  If anything it made my whites spin out more, which led to an exponential increase in my panic.

So after I dried it on a paper towel, I put it on top of some wheat toast.  If I was feeling more indulgent I would have buttered that bad boy but since this is only one part of my dinner feast, I decided to leave it dry.  I figured the yolk would moisten it up.
Slice!
Oooooh yeeeeah.
Doesn't that look good Sunny?
Oh oops, sorry not for you!  I know you must think I'm mean but I did give her her own treats (she has issues with eggs) and she got her revenge later...

After I sliced the egg I remembered to salt and pepper this.
And then smash!
Drooool.  I love poached eggs!  This was cooked perfectly and the combo of the runny yolk, soft egg white, and toasted hearty bread was perfect!  I foresee many poached eggs in my future!
I also decided to try out some baked kale chips.  I was skeptical but had read so many rave reviews.  Let me tell you, these are surprisingly awesome!!!  Don't believe any of the lies.  These do not taste like potato chips at all.  Of course not!  But they are surprisingly yummy and the baking makes the kale texture way better - crispy instead of chewy.

I just got a prewashed prechopped bag of kale from Trader Joe's (if you get whole, unwashed kale, make sure it's completely dry before you bake it), sprayed it with Trader Joe's olive oil spray (I'm lazy), and then sprinkled a little bit of salt and cracked black pepper.  The kale stem doesn't cook as well so it won't get as crispy.  For my first batch I removed them, but then I got lazy and just left them on.  I read somewhere that kale has a lot of its own natural sodium and so you don't need a lot of salt.  Trust me, I'm a salt fiend, and these were plenty salty.  Recipes usually call for 1 tsp of salt for a bunch of kale but I say just go with your personal taste.  You can also add other things to this like various spices, cheese, and vinegar.  I did one batch with balsamic vinegar and that was yummy too!  I baked for 12 minutes at 325 degrees.  I probably could've gone a little longer but I'd rather have a few soggy pieces, then any burnt ones since I hear burnt kale tastes super bitter.
Muahaha!  Lil pug this is for me, not you!  Na na na na na na!
Aw shoot.  I dropped some.  And Sunny pounced on them right away and gobbled them up before I could take it away.  She knows that if she manages to get any spare morsel she should gobble it up quickly before I can take it away.
I hope kale isn't bad for dogs...
Ugh, now that she's had a taste for them, she's begging for them!  I never give her food I eat because I don't want her to get into the habit of expecting my food.  My first pug was the WORST food beggar.  Super sad face, whiny, and physically intrusive (if you were on the couch, forget it).  So normally Sunny doesn't bother me during dinner time.  But tonight, as soon as I started eating my bowl of kale chips she started trying to climb on me and she actually had the nerve to paw at my arm!

Naughty pug!

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