Armadillo Egg Recipe

Wow, an actual recipe with pictures and everything!  :P

So, like most of our favorite recipes,

this one is a tried & true one from the fam.

(In this case, Jon's brother Eric's wife, Danna.

Thank you for sharing!)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage
• 3 Jalapenos (fresh) (optional?  see note in instructions)
• 1 egg
• 1 package (envelope) Shake 'n Bake
• 1 package Stove Top Stuffing (preferably Pork)
• 1 block pepper jack cheese (1 lb is what we used with leftovers, main thing is you wouldn't want to run out of cheese before you use up all the meat)

Gear:

• 1 large bowl
• 1 small bowl
• Broiler pan (see our workaround in pic)
• my note:  magic bullet (in place of food processor/blender)
• my note:  trusty metal scooper thing (you know, the same one you use for making cookies)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut pepper jack cheese into 1/2 inch cubes & set aside.
• Take package of Shake 'n Bake & empty into small bowl & set aside.
• Cut the tops off the Jalapenos.  Process until fine in food processor.  Put in large bowl.
• (my note:  we weren't able to add these this time because the grocery store ran out!  We're *so* not in Texas anymore!  lol)
• Process Stove Top Stuffing until fine.  Add to large bowl.
• Add Egg & Sausage in large bowl.
• Take off all jewelry.  Coat your hands & wrists in vegetable oil.
• (my note:  this is seriously what the recipe says--no kidding!  I skipped this step & it was fine.)
• Mix ingredients in large bowl with hands until even.
• Take a palm size of the mixture & flatten.
• (my note:  this is where my handy dandy scooper came in--consistent amount.  We also happened to like the smaller-than-palm-size of the scoop--definitely made it more appetizer-y.  lol)
• Add a cube of cheese & wrap in meat mixture, forming an "egg" shape.
• Roll the egg in Shake 'n Bake.
• Place egg on broiler pan.
• Bake for 30 minutes.

Yield (not in the original recipe!)

• based on using our scooper, about 3-1/2 to 4 dozen eggs
• but will really depend on how big you make your individual eggs

sorry, forgot to take a before pic of all the ingredients

thanks to Jon for taking to pics,

since I was up to my elbows in raw meat

I was already about half way through forming the eggs when I remembered to take pics

Jon cut up the cheese for me

this is what they look like all ready to go in the oven

how do you like our workaround for a broiler pan?

(no, our oven has only 1 single rack, & no broiler pan

I think Alton Brown would be proud!)

this is what they look like when they come out of the oven

you can see that the cheese oozed out of some of the eggs

it makes your house smell "meaty"

here's the first egg we cracked open

yum yum yum

We took these over to our friends the Joachims

on Friday (Jan 1st) night,

when we had a little pizza/game night.

Suffice it to say that it was a big hit!

So nice that they get excited about food too!