Easy Quiche (with homemade crust!)

I have always wanted to make a delicious quiche with a crust from scratch. Quiche can be eaten any time of day, at any meal. I decided to finally figure out how to do it just in time for Christmas brunch.

I've already made four quiches and it becomes easier and easier each time! The best part is that you just need to know the simple recipe for the crust, and then you can fill it with whatever you want. I made one with shrimp, bacon, and white cheddar, which was a hit at Christmas. I also made one with avocado, tomato, and cheese, that didn't go over quite as well. My favorite that I've made twice so far simply contains green peppers (which I've been craving majorly this pregnancy) and shredded white cheddar. This is the recipe...

Ingredients:
Crust:

3/4 cup flour
1 tspn salt
1/2 stick butter (slightly chilled)
1/4 cup freezing cold water

Filling:

5 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk
2/3 green pepper
1 cup shredded white cheddar

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a quiche dish (or pie plate) with canola oil, and set aside.

Pour the flour into the food processor. Add the salt and pulse a few times. Chop up the butter and add it to the food processor. Pulse five or six times. With the food processor running, pour the water into the top and let it blend until just mixed. Do not let it form a ball.



Spread a square of plastic wrap on the counter, and put the dough on top. Roll it out until it is about 4-5 inches in diameter (or use your hands, like I did since I don't have a rolling pin). :) Wrap the dough in the saran wrap and place it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Slightly overlap two sheets of plastic wrap on a damp counter (just use your hands to sprinkle some water on the counter). Place the dough in the center of the saran wrap, and roll it out to about 10 inches in diameter. Cover the top of the dough with another sheet of plastic wrap and make sure it is wrapped on all sides. Place the dough in the freezer for five minutes.

Remove the dough from the freezer, remove the plastic wrap, and place the dough in the greased dish. Pinch the edges and push them up against the side of the dish. Lightly cover the dough with foil, and place the dish in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 degrees, and let the crust bake for five more minutes (without the foil).

While the crust is baking, chop up the green pepper and saute it in a greased/buttered pan for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the milk, and beat until well blended. Add a pinch each of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Remove the crust from the oven, and spread the green peppers on top of the crust. Layer the cheese over the peppers, then add the egg mixture last.

Place the quiche in the oven, and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Insanely Delicious Steak Marinade

I searched allrecipes.com for a good marinade recipe that used ingredients I already had in my kitchen. I didn't find one specific recipe that I liked, so I took some tips from a bunch of them, and added the following to my blender:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce (I just discovered that it contains HFCS. I am not pleased. I will look for a replacement sauce to use once we have used up our bottle).

Juice of one large lemon

3 T Herbs de Provence

1 t white pepper

1 T garlic powder

1 T Tabasco Sauce

It literally took me about three minutes to pull all of the ingredients and blend them up. (Tip--before squeezing the juice out of the lemon, roll it on the counter to loosen up the juices). I poured the marinade over two porterhouse steaks,
covered the dish in plastic wrap, and let it marinate for a few hours before broiling them. (We would have used the grill, but it is currently buried in almost two feet of snow). :-)

I served the steak with baked potatoes and a simple salad (I always keep cucumbers, red peppers, and mixed greens on hand to throw together a salad). It was quick, easy, and pretty healthy.

Spinach Loaded Lasagna

I decided to make a lasagna last night, but wanted to make it as healthy as possible. My family really enjoyed it. Dan said it had a little too much spinach in it, so next time I might cut out about 1/3 of it. However, my 10 month old, Audrey, wolfed it down, and I knew she was getting her veggies, so that made me feel good. Hopefully she'll continue to enjoy her spinach as she gets older and learns to talk back. :)

Ingredients:

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 lb ground turkey or lean ground beef (I used beef, which is a rare occurence for us)
1 16 oz container part skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 16 oz bag frozen spinach
1 and a half jars of marinara sauce
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 head of garlic, chopped (I chopped it up in a mini food processor)
2/3 of a small yellow onion
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Brown the ground beef, drain the grease, and set the beef aside in a bowl. Using the same skillet (just to make less mess), saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil on medium heat. Add the ground beef back in with the onion and garlic, and pour one jar of marinara sauce in with it. Simmer on low while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, and spinach. Mix until well blended. Set aside.

Grease a 9x13 inch glass dish (I use spray canola oil). Pour about 1/3 of the marinara/ground beef mixture on the bottom of the glass dish, and spread it out in a thin layer.

Place three lasagna noodles on top of the marinara mixture (not overlapping). Scoop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles, and spread it into a thin layer. Top with 1/3 of the ground beef mixture, and spread thin. Top with three more noodles, the rest of the ricotta, and another layer of marinara/beef.

Add the three final noodles on top, pour the 1/2 jar of marinara sauce over the noodles and spread it to completely cover the dish, and sprinkle the mozzarella on top.

Loosely cover the dish with foil (don't set it too close to the cheese or it will stick).

Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for another 10 minutes. When you pull it out of the oven at the end of 50 minutes, let it sit and cool for about 15 minutes.


Enjoy with a salad and some garlic bread. :)

Whole Wheat Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I found the following recipe for blueberry muffins on http://www.allrecipes.com/:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, diced
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
Combine 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. In a small bowl, sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, and set aside. (This simple trick will keep you from having "purple" batter)
In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter with 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, and stir in vanilla and lemon zest. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries. Remember, fold gently, don't stir. Spoon batter into prepared cups.
Combine 2 tablespoons flour, 5 tablespoons sugar ,and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle over batter in muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack. These muffins freeze really well, and re-heat in the microwave successfully.


I made the following changes to the ingredients:

whole wheat flour instead of white
2 cups frozen blueberries (I still did the flour trick to keep them from turning the batter blue)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 t lemon zest
a squirt of fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup applesauce

All other ingredients were kept the same. I did use skim milk. Although the recipe doesn't specify what kind of milk to use, baking recipes usually call for whole milk.

The muffins turned out great and everyone at our Wednesday baby playgroup gave them a thumbs up! :)

A Long Weekend of Turkey

Roasted Turkey and Turkey Chili

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with Dan's parents in Richmond. We had a wonderful traditional turkey dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, green beans, and stuffing. This was the first time in four years that we did not host Thanksgiving at our house. Therefore, I decided to roast a turkey today so we can have "leftovers." :-)

When I roast a turkey, I do two things to ensure that it comes out juicy and delicious. First, I brine the turkey. Clean the turkey, remove the insides (make sure you get them all!), and place the turkey in a big, black crab pot. Fill a large liquid measuring cup (4 cups) with about 1/2 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup of salt. Then fill it to the top with water. Mix the water, sugar and salt, and pour it over the turkey. Then continue to fill up the crab pot until the water is almost to the top. Place the lid on the pot and stick it in the fridge overnight to marinate.

Next, I plop the turkey (breast side up) into a roasting pan. I then use a knife to get under the skin just above the turkey breast. I use my fingers to slide pieces of butter and fresh garlic under the skin. I also stick a few cloves of garlic inside the bird.



Then, I pour a little olive oil over the entire bird (about 3/4 cup), and sprinkle seasonings on top . I used herbs de provence, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. Some people tie the legs back, but I usually skip this step as it is a pain and I don't really notice a difference.

Roasting the turkey (these directions are for a 22 lb bird)...


Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast for about 20 minutes. Then, lightly cover the bird with foil, lower the oven temperature to 390 degrees and continue to roast for a few more hours. You need to check the temperature of the thickest part of the bird to be sure that it is done. It should be about 165 degrees. You can also check to make sure that the juices run clear. I cooked my 22 lb turkey for 20 minutes at 500 degrees, then for another 3.5-4 hours at 390 degrees. About two hours into the last step, take it out of the oven, and baste the turkey using juices from the pan.

I will be serving the turkey this evening with cornbread stuffing (made using leftovers from a loaf of cornbread I made yesterday, sauteed with butter and peppers), mashed potatoes (skin on), green beans, cranberry sauce (what can I say, I love the canned stuff!), and rolls. This meal may not deserve to be in my "healthy" cooking blog, but it sure will taste good! And turkey is good for you. It's loaded with protein, and olive oil and garlic are good for your heart. :-)

Turkey Chili (Crockpot)

As if we didn't have enough turkey this weekend, I decided to make some turkey chili on Friday. It's extremely simple and pretty much impossible to mess up. I sometimes use canned black beans, but prefer to use dried black beans because they add a nice texture to the chili. Here's what you need:

One lb ground turkey
One bag of dried black beans (you need to boil them for five minutes, and then let them sit in the hot water for an hour before adding them to the crockpot)
One small yellow onion, diced
One head of garlic, minced
One can of corn (you can also use frozen)
One can of kidney beans
One can of stewed tomatoes
One can of diced tomatoes and green chiles



Soak the black beans one hour before you start the chili (or skip this step if you are using canned beans instead).

Brown one pound of ground turkey, and drain the grease. Return the turkey to the pan, add a bunch of spices (about a T of each of ground cumin and chili powder, a t of garlic powder, a t of crushed red pepper (omit if you don't want it too spicy), a t of salt, a t of pepper, and a splash of Tabasco sauce.) Pour 3/4 cup of water over the meat/seasoning mixture, and cook on low heat while stirring occasionally. Add the onions and garlic to the pan, and continue to simmer.

While the meat is cooking, add all of the veggies to the crockpot. Last, add the meat mixture to the crockpot, give it a good stir, and cover the pot. Cook the chili on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 8-10 hours.


I serve it with shredded cheddar, a dallop of sour cream or plain yogurt, and a side of cornbread.

I Cheated.

I went to the grocery store today when I said I wouldn't grocery shop until Thanksgiving. But, in my defense, I am in charge of an appetizer for Thanksgiving, so I had to get the ingredients today. I refuse to shop in day-before-Thanksgiving store madness.

Also, we ran out of Audrey's baby oatmeal that she eats almost every morning, so I had to get more. I also happened to find a TON of great deals matching coupons with store promotions and sales. :)

This is a picture of what I got for $21. I saved about 70%!

Missing Ingredients = Accidental Muffins!

So, yesterday I decided to make some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. It didn't go quite as expected.

I preheated the oven, and realized that I was out of whole wheat flour. No big deal, I decided I would splurge and use regular white flour. I mixed the flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl, and went to the fridge to get out the butter and sugar. It was then that I realized we were completely out of sugar! I decided that I would use some extra applesauce in place of the sugar, and hopefully they would turn out ok.

As I went to pull two eggs out of the fridge, I realized that I had used them all up making breakfast two days earlier. So, I guess there is something to be said about grocery shopping every weekend (I skipped it this week in order to use up what's in our fridge; see blog from last Thursday). Eggs are a pretty major ingredient in baking. After trying to borrow from a neighbor who turned out not to be home, I decided to dig through the fridge for some replacement ingredients.

I settled on a container of Audrey's YoBaby yogurt (peach flavored). I figured that the yogurt mixed with about a cup of applesauce and extra pumpkin would be enough to replace the eggs and sugar. It turned out that the muffins were absolutely delicious! I MAY not use sugar in them in the future. :)

Here's yesterday's accidental recipe:

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
1 T pumpkin pie spice
Approx 12 oz pumpkin
1 container Yo Baby yogurt
1 cup applesauce
3/4 stick of butter, softened
6 oz chocolate chips
I mixed all of the ingredients together, and baked them in a greased muffin tin at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Simple!