Sugar-Tinted Glasses and The Southern Living Kids' Cookbook

For Christmas my daughter received the Southern Living Kids' Cookbook. Last week I gave my daughter some Post-It Notes and had her mark recipes she'd like to try. I did this to foster her love of cooking and to combat her finickiness at the table.

After 30 minutes she had about a dozen recipes marked. They all had one thing in common. Can you guess that one thing from viewing pictures of four of those recipes?

The girl knows what she likes.

Next time I'll make sure she gets a cookbook without any desserts.

keep on the sweet side,

muddy

Fabulous Yellow Roman Candles and Guerilla Cooking

The Avett Brothers don't need a microphone and speakers to amplify their passion. They just need time and space. The world needs more passion like this.

I have a feeling that they bring the same energy playing to an empty room that they exhibit on stage performing to an auditorium brimming with fans. The Avett Brothers will play anytime, anywhere.

I admire this.

They 'll play in an office.



They play on a gondola lift in Jackson, Wyoming.



They'll play in a hallway.



They'll raucously perform on a bus.



They'll perform in the backseat of a car while someone feeds them lyrics to a LanghorneSlim song.



This year I resolve to take my cooking to new venues.

I'll start by cooking under the hood of my car. Let me repeat that and give my wife time to groan and roll her eyes.

I'll start by cooking under the hood of my car. Sometime next week, after this arctic blast passes, I'll cook some breakfast potatoes under the hood of my car.

I'll keep you posted.

trampin' the perpetual journey,

muddy

Individual Baked Omelets

When it comes to breakfast, I dine in the rut. It's either peanut butter and jelly sandwiched between whole wheat bread or granola and yogurt. Sometimes on Thursdays, which is biscuit and gravy day at school, I'll shuck routine and indulge

Lack of time and the fact that my brain cells don't charge until noon, keep me from deviating from my breakfast routine. Though last year I tried a recipe that allowed me to shake up my breakfast routine. The recipe is for individual baked omelets from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather. I found that I could prepare these omelets during the weekend and that they heated up nicely in the microwave. When these omelets are between a sliced English muffin, they make the perfect breakfast sandwich.

In independent studies conducted by me, eating a breakfast sandwich raises one's mojo and morning tasks are completed with 75 percent more gusto than those who eat yogurt and granola.

Don't rely solely on my scientific evidence, give this recipe a shot and tell me what you think. Be sure to adapt the recipe to fit the ingredients you have on hand and put your personal twist on the recipe.

Individual Baked Omelets
(From Rebecca Rather's book The Pastry Queen)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium potato peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes.
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces
• 1 fresh tomato, seeded and finely chopped
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• dash of Tabasco

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 6 Texas-size (3 1/2 inches diameter and 2 inches deep) muffin cups. I found my Texas-size muffin cup pan at Wal-Mart, so you should be able to track one down. If you don't have a Texas muffin tin, simply use a ramekins.
   
2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add potato, onion, and half of the salt. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove the vegetable mixture form the heat and stir in bacon and tomato.
3. Whisk the eggs, cream, remaining salt, pepper, and hot sauce together in large bowl. Stir in the vegetable mixture. Pour the egg mixture evenly into the muffin cups.
   
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until firm.

A similar recipe can also be found Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks, a book I'm currently enjoying. I encourage you to check it out.

make mine with spinach and feta,
muddy