BONUS RECIPES! Breakfast and dinner

I've been very busy trying new recipes so I wanted to share two great dishes that I made today.

We started off our day with Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups. I found this on Pinterest but the actual recipe link can be found here - http://littlebirdiebaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/tutorial-tuesday-linky-party-trio-of.html

Ingredients:

• 1 24 oz. bag of shredded hash browns
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbs oil (I use olive oil)
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar
• Bacon bits or 8=10 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled
• Eggs
• Extra shredded cheddar
• Muffin tin

Take your bag of hash browns and mix in the salt, pepper, oil and 1/3 cup shredded cheese.

 Divide among the cups in your muffin tin, making sure to grease tin beforehand.

Bake hash browns at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until toasty.

Once they're finished, take them out and lower the temp of the oven to 350 degrees. Crack an egg into each of the cups. Top with bacon and a sprinkle of extra cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes (or until the eggs are as firm as you like them). Slide a knife along the edges to remove from pan when cooled.  Serve with ketchup and enjoy! These came out awesome! These would be a great breakfast/brunch dish for company too!

The second dish I made was for Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli. I found this recipe on my friend's website food blog here - http://flavorsbyfour.blogspot.com/2013/01/slow-cooker-beef-and-broccoli.html

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Beef Chuck Roast Cubes - Sliced into Strips
• 1 Cup Low Sodium Beef Broth
• 1/2 Cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 3 Cups Fresh Broccoli Florets (I decided to use green peppers instead of broccoli)
• Sesame Seeds for Garnish if Desired
• Cooked Rice (White, Jasmine or Brown)

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the beef broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar and garlic.

 Place your beef slices in the sauce and toss to coat. Pour the entire bowl into the slow cooker and turn it on low, cover and cook for 4 hours and 30 minutes. The last 30 minutes of cooking you will be adding the vegetable and the corn starch to thicken up the sauce. You want to be careful not to over cook the meat because then it will begin to shred.

When the beef has cooked for 4 hours take a few Tbsp of the sauce from the slow cooker in place them in a small bowl. Whisk the corn starch into the sauce. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and stir to combine.  Toss the vegetable of choice into the slow cooker on top of the beef, give it a few good stirs so it has some of the sauce on it. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes. While you are waiting for the broccoli to cook and the sauce to thicken you can prepare your rice.

Spoon rice into bowls, ladle beef and vegetable with some additional sauce on top of the rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you want to. 

This was just as good as the beef and peppers we get from the chinese restaurant and very easy and cheap to make!!!  This portion made enough for 2 of us plus extra leftovers too!

Another good recipe to make again!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Sunday Funday Addition with another new recipe!