Individual Quiches

Tonight on the menu is individual quiches, and spinach side salad. 

The ingredients I'll be using are:

Carrots chopped into small bits

Chopped broccoli

Small onion minced

Pre-made store bought pie dough (to save on time)

4 strips of Bacon cut into small bits

Cheddar cheese

4-6 Eggs 

Milk

Pressed or chopped garlic

Butter

Parsley and rosemary

Pepper to taste

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

First I rolled out the pie dough and cut it to slightly larger then my ramekins. Then I pressed it firmly into the ramekins trimming any overhang. Then you can press around the edge with a fork or make a scallop edge using your fingers.

Setting those aside; Then I sautéed the vegetables and bacon with 2 tablespoons of butter, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and herbs.

After the vegi's are tender and the bacon cooked fill the bottom of each ramekin liberally with the mixture. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the filling as much as you like.

Crack the eggs into a separate mixing bowl. Add some milk and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with a fork or beater till the egg mixture is smooth.

Once thoroughly mixed pour over the filling in the ramekins up to the brim.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees on the bottom oven rack, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes more, or until the filling is set and the tops are brown. Then tada yummy quiches.

They taste like a cross between an omelette and a meat pie. The best part is you can use any meat, vegi's, cheese, or herbs you prefer with this recipe and it will still turn out great.

Valentines Day Cakes

For my hubby I made some vanilla yellow cakes in the shapes of hearts from scratch. 

The recipe is nothing special but the secret to fluffy cake is having room temperature warm eggs and butter. They whip up fluffier at room temperature.

 

 Then i made some vanilla cream frosting with a little red food coloring to match the theme.

then once i found my heart cookie cutter i placed it  on the cakes and put rainbow sprinkles in them to make cute sprinkley heart shapes.

The cakes also have a marionberry jam filling to add a little something to all that vanilla flavor.

They tasted great and Hubby was quite surprised and happy to come home to baking of treats.

No baking is complete without a trusty kitten to keep you company.

Princess Scarr managed to fit herself perfectly into an empty stropewaffle box.

Lol my hubby says she looks like a hotdog in it.

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day with treats and fun.

Eggplant Parmesan-picture heavy post

After getting my new fryer I decided to make some Eggplant Parmesan.

This is the way I do it. It might not be the "correct" way but it turns out very tasty.

This is the Ingredients we'll be using.

One medium sized eggplant, a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese, Italian panko crumbs an onion, mushroom, some peppers and celery. You can do this without the extra veggie's I just really like the texture they add.

First chopped up all the veggie's into small pieces and set them aside. While I'm doing this I have the fryer heating up.Then slice the eggplant into little medallions chopping it up.
I made an egg mix of three eggs and some milk whipped it and then you cover the eggplant with the egg mixture.

Then in a separate container i mixed panko crumbs a bunch of Parmesan cheese and about a quarter cup of flour. You put the eggplant from the egg mixture into the crumbs turning it so it is well covered.
Then set it flat on a pan lined with paper towel.

I let them sit a moment so the egg mixture kind of dries on them with the crumbs. Then you fry them in the fryer or a pan of oil till dark golden brown. At this point i set the oven preheating to 350.

hmmm fryed eggplant is yummy. I could eat these just with some fry sauce lol

Take the paper towel out of the pan and lay the eggplant medallions flat. Cover them with the chopped vegetables.

Once you have the chopped veggie's liberally covering, cover that mix with some more Parmesan cheese and some salt and pepper to taste. Once seasoned pour the spaghetti sauce over the top of that.


I added more Parmesan on top of the sauce cause my husband is a cheese fiend.

I then added liberal covering of cheddar cheese to the top and baked it for 30 minutes in the oven.
Once finished you have a savory, gooey, crispy, cheesy dish.

Very tasty and filling.

Brand New Toy! Eeeeeeeeh!

Yes my very own Oster Fryer!
I love making special home made fried foods but always made do with just doing it in a pot on the stove. My problem is my stove has uneven heat. So the first time i made jalapeno poppers half were burned. Then i tried making onion blossoms and it wouldn't get hot enough and they ended up mushy.
Oh but those days are behind now cause I got a fryer woot!





Here you can see it nice and shiny just out of the box.
It was very easy to assemble and hook up. The direction were clear and concise with a few good recipes included.

I decided to break it in making one of the dishes my hubby loves but I rarely make. Which is Eggplant Parmisan. I'll post the how to on it later.

As to the fryer it worked beautifully. It's a 3 Liter capacity. The basket in it is big enough I could put several slices in at once without them touching. I'm looking forward to making some more stuffed Jalapeno poppers and scones.
So far this baby has worked beautifully and I would definitely recommend it.

I got mine at Target, but also saw them available at walmart.

Onigiri Bento in pink

If you are not Japanese but love Anime or Manga you probably were introduced to bento's and onigiri's in this way. This is how i was introduced to them and always had wanted to make my own. They are really easy and now I make them all the time.

I've showed many traditional square, rectangle and even circle shaped bento's before. This time i want to show my cute onigiri bento. These are shaped much different from my other ones. I got this cute pink one at a store in Seattle, Washington called Daiso. You can buy their stuff online at
Daiso Online
They have all sorts of cute Japanese things for decent price and ship to all over the us. Granted much cheaper if you find an actual store. I think I got this bento for a buck, where online they are about $18.

The little sauce bottle next to it is full of soy sauce. Its convenient non messy way to bring it. I squirt a little soy sauce on my rice balls as I'm eating them for more flavor. The top of the bento is a big domed shape.
This way your rice balls wont get smushed.

You can see i've got two medium sized triangle onigiris sitting on the platform the lid goes over. I also have them resting on some extra seaweed. I got this flavored sea weed squares at Uwajimaya

You could find these at most asian supermarkets. I'm not sure what flavor these ones are but they are crisp with a nice salty seasoning. I like to put extra on my rice ball for a crunchy texture on the outside.
It's also popular to season the outside of the rice balls with Furikake flakes like These.

Then the little part the Onigiri's rest on comes off and there is a little compartment for some more snacks or food to go with them. I put some small strawberries in for a sweet addition to my salty lunch.

Onigiri are a great lunch or snack. They are healthy, tasty and best of all very easy to transport. They hold shape well and can be eaten quickly with no mess, no need to be heated. You can also put fillings inside. Popular fillings are tuna and red bean paste. I have mine made plane with no filling.
It's best to use shortgrain rice because it's softer and holds together better then long or medium grain ones. If you're desperate you can use long grain it will taste good your rice balls just might fall apart since its not as sticky.
The best recipe for sushi rice for making rice balls i got here. I do it exactly like she directs except i use rice vinegar instead of white vinegar cause i adore the flavor of it. I make a whole bunch at a time and then keep them in a glass flat container with lid in my fridge. Then just grab them as i get hungry or am making lunches.

Muir Fresh Harvest Bundle

So I'm excited to share about the new thing I'm trying out. I found out about it from another Utah food blogger and it really seemed to fit just what i needed. Probably many of you out there who like me have been interested in trying farmer co-op but find the up front fees way to expensive. Plus I find it a downer that co-op only works for harvest season which means winter you get nothing.
This is different!
You get a bundle of mixed fresh produce every two weeks all year round. You order each individually so there is no up front fee, and it is very affordable at only 35 dollars plus tax. If you're interested check out there site Muir Fresh

Here is what i got in my first bundle.

Minneloa Tangerines (2 lb,)

Mangos (2)

Red Grapes

Pineapple

Fuji Apples (8)

Vegetable Express, SLC, UT- Root Vegetable Medley (2#)

Banana Fingerling Potatoes (2#)

Baby Spinach (10 oz)

Green Onions

Italian Fresh Parsley

Shallots (5)

Pumpkin Seeds

Purple Sticky Rice

A little close up of the pumpkin seeds and the exotic purple rice. The seeds we broke into the moment we got home and started snacking on them. I liked them even better then sunflower seeds. I don't think i'll get to cook with them cause hubby and my sister already eaten most of them just as they are.

I also made a fabulous gumbo/stew using the purple rice.
I put in my crock pot some cream of mushroom soup, chicken, and herbs. Then when i got home with the bundle i added about a cup and a half of the purple rice, some of the potatoes, onions, and shallots. The rice turned everything including the chicken super dark purple and thickened it a bunch. It made it look almost like a chili then a soup. The flavor was amazing. Everyone had seconds and thirds.

Tonight we had pasta where i added some of the the root medley. It also was a hit. I liked the texture of the parsnips and squash in the root medley. It was my first time trying parsnips before and I was surprised that i liked them so much.
Definitely a fantastic bundle. Now to figure out what to do with all the fruit.
I'm sure the apples will get sliced up with cheese.
It's a favorite snack that my mom got us hooked on.

Quick and Easy Meat Pie

My hubby is a mailman. Which means very long days out in the elements.
Last week when it was cold and raining I decided he needed to come home to some comfort food. Nothing better then coming home to the smell of baking in the air.
So I made this meat pie as a little bit of warm comfort for him. It's really very simple and fast to make. You can make it combining ingredients you can keep in stock in your pantry or freezer all the time.


Quick and Easy Meat Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
pie dough enough for two crust pie
jar of Alfredo sauce
half a package of goat cheese
1/4 cup of milk
package of country sausage (or whatever meat you'd like)
bag of frozen veggies (pea and carrot type mixes give the best texture)
cheddar cheese cubed
some rosemary salt and pepper to lightly season the sauce

Directions
1. You can make your own pie crust but for simplicity sake I bought pre-made Pillsbury dough that comes in a pack with two already rolled out circles of dough. Put one on the bottom of your pie dish making sure it goes up to the edge of the dish on all sides. These are very convenient and only cost a few dollars. You can keep them in your freezer as well until you need them.

2. I mix the Alfredo sauce, milk and goat cheese in a glass container and put in the microwave for a minute or two to melt the cheese. Then stir all together and poor into the prepped pie dish and crust. Sprinkle rosemary salt and pepper over the sauce. Then liberally mix in the meat and vegetables. Then for an additional touch I scattered across the top some cubed tillamook sharp cheddar.

3. Then pull out the second circle of dough. I laid mine out and using a cute little cookie cutter cut two pieces out. These will be air vents for the pie. You can just as easily poke or do a few slashes across the top. I personally like the decorative element. You just take the two pieces you cut out and lay them on the top of the crust. (can you tell it was a carrot shape cutter I turned upside down.)
Then carefully drape this crust over your pie and firmly seal the edges using a fork or your fingers to form a little scallop edge.
4. Lightly brush the top of the prepped pie with some milk (or you can do an egg wash) and put in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes. (Might be less if you have a hotter running oven)
If your edges start to burn before the pie is done simply put some foil around the edge of the pie.

TADA Meat Pie!!!
Hubby and his brother both had thirds they liked it so much. The goat cheese adds a wonderfully creamy flavor, the meat makes every man happy and the flaky crust ties it all together. This is the perfect winter or rainy day comfort dinner.