Carlie and Taylor's Favorite Deviled Eggs aka Zippity Doo Dah Eggs

I sometimes forget what it was like to be a smoker. I did it for a long time... a tough habit to break really. But one thing that came from it... it my need for spices and what my kids call zippity doo dah. I had to drown my salads with pepper to taste it. I started adding more and more garlic to my cooking. My taste buds hadn't been what they could be. With that in mind, I quit smoking years ago... many years ago... but my love for the Zippity Doo Dah never ended.

Now, with as much as I love to cook... I could easily get offended that people always ask me to bring my deviled eggs and they really are not able to figure out how I make them. I just smile... not one has broken the *secret code* code yet. I, like most of my other recipes, vary the amounts here as well and I sometimes add a little bonus to them.


My Zippity Doo Dah Eggs

Boiled eggs (get ready as you are not getting the exact measurements as there are none... but trust me on this one....

Boil, peel and crack the eggs. I know it should go without saying, but cut the eggs the long way... point to point. P.S. TJ... if you are reading this, I still love you doll face, but I just needed to add that.

Scoop out the middle of the eggs, also known as the yellows or yolks (SMILE)

In a bowl, blend your yolks with a mixer. Get them as fine as you can. If you like lumpy eggs, so be it, but not as good as smooth centers in our house... and my kids, I must say are deviled egg experts... I mean they can eat a whole plate of them in a day... that makes them experts... right?

Add mayonaise to moisten the yolks... but don't add to much. The secret is coming up... trust me here and you can always add some later if you have never been a smoker such as me... or if you are a big cry baby from the secret ingredients...

next... add a few drops of tapito. If you don't know what this is... you will find it either in the mexican food aisle, or near the tabasco. A few drops will do it... (like 7 here... for luck of course). NEXT... add creamy horseradish! Yes... creamy horse radish, and about a teaspoon of mustard. I am sure you are assuming I mean mustard such as French's? WRONG. Chinese powder form of hot mustard! OMGawsh... it will wake you up in a heart beat. I don't mix it with water or anything... why dilute a great thing? Add your salt and lots of pepper.

Fill the egg halves with this mixture. Now for garnishment... I know most people use paprika, to make their eggs look pretty... but around in these parts... (our house) we use... cayanne pepper.

There you have it. Carlie called them fire cracker eggs for our block party. They were devoured in moments. I took two plate fulls and they were gone... completely... 100 percent gone. Not saying I didn't get any first. I said I TOOK two plates... but we actually made three plates full. WINK... sometimes I am stingy and don't share very well.

Fresh Tomato Basil and Mozzarella Salad

I went to Trader Joe's today. If you really know me, you know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Trader Joe's. So much so that yesterday was their fourth day open here in Salem and it was my third trip in... I love them that much. I think I will even go there today. EWWWWW... this may be a problem. Anyhow... there was fresh basil there that I will be planting in the yard so it will continue to grow. I love it. They also had a sample of a mozzarella cheese logs. This is fresh, where it is not hard, or in the string cheese form. It is soft and wet and ohhhhh so good. So, this was simple....

Collect fresh tomatoes. Aren't tomatoes fantastic right out of the garden and when they are fresh? I love them. So good to just eat with salt. Also gather fresh basil, and the mozzarella cheese for the salad. I put a bit of garlic powder in it as well...
This is what I am talking about... don't those tomoatoes look good... just slice the tops off and wash... eat them raw. So good.
I had to include the above photo... it is Carlie, my six year old daughter. She picked the basil off of the plant for me and was ripping the leaves and adding it to the salad for me. I love she is six and tells me... mommy it is so fun to cook together. It makes me so very happy.
Cut the tomatoes and add the basil as shown above. I love the colors and how they contrast against each other so much. It just looks so fresh and appetizing.

Slice and add the mozzarella cheese to the mix. Easy enough. Now... add balsamic vinegar to the salad. I also added, after the photo... a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I thought of getting wild and crazy (hahahaha, this is my idea of wild and crazy at 44) and adding red onion and olives to the mix. It was so very good. If you wanted a meat to the salad, a salami would be nice or prosciutto would be fantastic. I served this with some french bread, and it was dinner. Grantid, nobody in the house liked it. He didn't like fresh mozzarella and she didn't like balsamic vinegar. However, mommy loved it... and that, for last night is all that counted. THUS... I had to make a spinach salad as well and a turkey pita pocket for miss Carlie.