There’s only one kind of deviled egg recipe in the world that I’ll eat, and it’s this one. I grew up on these deviled eggs, first from my grandma, then my mother. Now I’m sharing the recipe because there are entirely too many deviled eggs recipes on the internets that don’t have bacon!

I will be honest and say that I’m a little reluctant to share the pictures. I think deviled eggs don’t make for the most photogenic of foods…

Deviled Eggs

These eggs are perfect for picnics, family gatherings, and cookouts. This recipe is for a lot (48!), so adjust proportions as necessary.

Ingredients:

• Two dozen eggs
• 1 pound of bacon
• Yellow Mustard
• Miracle Whip

1. Boil all of your eggs. Peel them, and slice them in half longways.
2. Cook the bacon. Straight pieces don’t matter, and it’s better to have the bacon well done.
3. Remove all of the yolks and place them in a small mixing bowl. Use a fork to break up the yolks into little pieces.
4. Add mustard and miracle whip. I started out using about 1/2 cup of the miracle whip and 1/4 cup of the mustard. After mixing that in and tasting, I increased both. The final measurements are probably close to 1/3 cup of mustard and 2/3 cup of miracle whip.
5. Crumble bacon and add to the egg mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Spoon the egg yolk mixture back into your eggs.

Easy, tasty, mmm…bacon!

Deviled Eggs - Close-up

When I was a kid, I used to love the Butterscotch Haystacks. This recipe modifies the traditional haystack recipe by shaping it like a bird’s nest and adding eggs to create a really cute (and tasty) spring dessert recipe. (I was totally inspired by the No Bake Easter Nest Cookie Recipe at Prudent Baby.)The other best thing is that it’s super easy to make.

1) Assemble ingredients: Two, 5-oz. cans of Chow Mein Noodle, Peanut Butter, an 11-oz. Bag of Butterscotch Chips, and a Bag of Peanut M&M’s.

Ingredients

2) Sort the peanut M&M’s by color. (So pretty).

Sorted Peanut M&M's

3. Combine Ingredients. Melt 3/4 cup of peanut butter and the butterscotch chips in a pan over medium heat. Stir regularly; you don’t want this to burn! Then add in the chow mein noodles, & take the pan off the heat. Stir in the chow mein noodles until they’re evenly coated with the butterscotch.

4. Spoon the noodles into “nest-sized” blobs on parchment paper. Add three M&M’s in an egg formation.

5. Allow cookies to cool on the counter; for good measure, I also chilled them in the fridge.

Butterscotch Bird's Nest

Butterscotch Bird's Nest - Close-up

I think everyone craves hearty, warm foods in the winter. At our house, we usually cook a lot more curry, stew, and chili. One thing we love to make is our spaghetti sauce; Rob and I both like hot, so this is a pretty hot dish. However, this dish only uses cayenne and crushed red pepper flakes because we generally have that on hand. (lots of it) When we recently made this spaghetti, we served it with Tracy’s Killer Garlic Bread. That bread was awesome, amazing, words cannot describe the joy…

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground hot sausage
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 medium-sized chopped onion
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes (14.5 oz can)
• 29 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 2 cans of tomato paste (6 oz. can)
• 2 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. parsley
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• Black Pepper to taste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes*
• 1 tbsp Cayenne Pepper*

*Adjust to your liking; we love spicy!

In a large skillet, brown sausage and beef on medium heat. When they’re no longer pink, add in the onion to brown also. Stir frequently. When the meat is browned to your liking and the onions are tender, spoon out most of the remaining oil from the meat. Add all the other ingredients, cover, and cook for two hours on medium-low heat (stirring occasionally). Serve over pasta and top with some good grated parmesan (or skip the parm if you’re my cheese-hating husband). Yummy!

Rob and I wanted to try our hand at toffee this holiday season (what a great gift for everyone!), so I decided to try this AMAZING recipe from Apartment Therapy. I never knew toffee was so easy to make. And because I’m not a big candy maker, I found the whole process truly fascinating. I took pictures step-by-step to share the coolness.

We ended up making 3 batches. It’s pretty easy clean-up (hot water melts all the hard candy), and each batch goes very quickly. I tried to use my candy thermometer to measure the temperature to make sure I got it to a “hard crack” temperature (300-310), but the mixture wasn’t deep enough in the skillet. That said, the cracking on the toffee is perfect. You just have to get it to a deep golden brown (constantly stirring). We made one change from the original recipe; we used toasted pecan bits as our topping because it just felt more southern to us than the almonds. It’s seriously a perfect recipe!

For Thanksgiving festivities this year, I made/created a Chocolate Kahlua Pecan Pie. I know some pecan pie lovers are purists and against adding other ingredients to their traditional pecan pie, but I am not. And I love chocolate…and liquor! There’s nothing better to add to a pecan pie to make it even better!

Ingredients:
9″ Deep Dish Pie Shell
3/4 cup Sugar
1 cup Light Corn Syrup
1 Stick of Butter (1/2 cup)
4 Eggs, beaten
1/4 cup Kahlua
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Chopped Pecans
1 cup Whole Pecans (for top of pie)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Cool slightly. Combine eggs, Kahlua, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Slowly pour sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Stir in chopped pecans. Spread Chocolate Chips evenly throughout the pie shell. Pour mixture into the pie shell. Starting from outside of pie edge, place pecans in concentric circles on top. Bake in oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until set and golden.

It’s so good!

(And although my husband made fun of me, I posed my pie with some woodland creature candles I got at Pottery Barn last year. They wanted to be in the pictures!)