Believe it or not, unemployment can occasionally be boring. Shocking to hear, right? I fill my time with a lot of things: my writing, cooking, reading. The internet can be a huge time suck. However sometimes, that all is not enough. Or sometimes I just need a little additional inspiration.

The other day the boredom got the best of me. So I reached out to my dear friends and asked for suggestions. I’ve gotten a couple of interesting ones.

Unfortunately the one involving a trip to Portland isn’t quite possible for the girl who has hardly worked this year. Drawing a Mermaid Punk Band though? That I can handle.

Even more exciting than my bad art, is my baking. My friend Liz suggested I bake but left the What up to me. After some thought I decided to go savory with some baked eggs. You can bet I am happy I went with that decision.

Combining ideas from Tastes Like Home and 101 Cookbooks (I love this site), I made this incredibly satisfying lunch.

Baked Eggs

3 Eggs (or 2 or however many you want, I was hungry)
Butter
1/2 Tomato
1/2 Onion
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic
paprika
cumin
red pepper flakes
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat Oil in a skillet. Add Onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, red pepper, salt (and any other seasoning you want). Saute a few minutes until the onion is soft but don’t brown the garlic. Add the tomato. Saute another few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Line a small oven safe dish with butter (or whatever buttery spread you prefer). Crack one egg and add to the dish. Add the onion and tomato mix. Add the next egg or two. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I decided to top my eggs with salsa and it was delicious. If I had planned ahead a little more I think I actually would have made some salsa from scratch. The tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market were that good. I also had a couple of pieces of toast and a side of blueberries.

I think next time I’d go closer to the 15 minute end rather than the 20 minutes. Or possibly try the oven at 350. Either way, this oven I’m using runs a little hot and I generally like my eggs just slightly less done than they were. I think next time I’ll also leave off the salt. The cumin and paprika were more than enough and the red pepper adds a nice kick.

I seriously need to make this all the time. It’s so amazingly good. I also really want to try a few of the variations suggested on 101 cookbooks.

Sunday Brunch anyone?

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I’ve also received a few other suggestions I plan on exploring over the next couple of weeks. Or however long it is I end up being unemployed for. Next week there will be cake baking. There may also be some knitting. And more bad art. Definitely some more bad art.

Feel free to suggest anything else I should try! I’m open to almost all things new.