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.

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.

And yes even more bread!!! Christmas present loaves!

My previous post was of the savory herb pupmkin loaf that I made. Well for christmas I thought it would make a delicious and fun gift. I changed the recipe so that it would rise better and get along in a loaf pan for better sandwich making.

Here are the changes I made to the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree plain
1/4 cup of milk
2 1/4 tsp of yeast
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour
1/3 cup slightly roasted pumpkin seeds
1 generous tablespoon of rosemary
1 tablespoon of butter melted

1. mix flour yeast salt, pumpkin seeds and herbs in a bowl
2. heat milk and butter in a separate dish (i use my pyrex measuring cup in the microwave)
3. mix the liquid ingredients into the dry until fully incorporated. Then dump out on a well floured surface and knead as with normal bread. It will be a bit stickier then normal but i just add a little more flour as i go to help with it.
4. put in a lightly oiled bowl flip so both sides have oil on them cover and let rise for 3-4 hours until double in size.
5. punch down knead again and cut in half. Form each half into a loaf shape either by forming with your hands or rolling out and rollling into a log. Place in well oiled loaf pans and leave to rise another hour.
6. when loaves have risen to the size you want 425 degrees bake for 45 minutes. I like to put a pan of water in the bottom wrack of the oven.

These are what you get. They had a nice color and definitely were more slice-able for sandwiches.

I like to rub a little bit of butter over the tops when they first come out of the oven and are on the cooling wracks. This just adds a nice golden color to them, and makes them more savory.

3 of these were gifts to family and the fourth we kept for ourselves.
I sewed up some cute little drawstring bags for the loaves to be delivered in.

What kind of baked goods do you like to give as gifts?

More Bread- savory pumpkin herb loaves

This isn't the sweet dessert bread that you are used to. No this savory moist crusty loaf is pumpkin bread to a new tune, and it will make you want to get up and dance!

So this beauty was made from a recipe I found on (never home)maker
You can also find the link for the recipe HERE
The recipe itself was a little hard to follow. It doesn't tell you when to put the herbs and roasted pumpkin seeds in. It's best to mix them in with the flour yeast and salt mixture so that its evenly spread throughout the bread. Other then that the recipe is fabulous!
I also used fresh pumpkin puree from a pumpkin I got from a local farmer and saved the seeds and toasted them myself.
The bread turned out beautiful, fragrant and even more delicious. It has a great texture to it with the seeds. It was gone in one night and made some fantastic sandwhiches!

We put ours with a little mayo mustard, sharp cheddar and some hand shredded turkey.

T0pped that off with a icy cold glass of cocoa cola, and Magnafique!

Later i changed the recipe to make it more traditional timing and better for loaf pans....so keep posted.

Bread

Traditional home baked white bread loaves

Sometimes when you are short on money it's the little things you can do yourself that make a difference. To help with our grocery bills i started baking my own bread again. As you can see they turn out a beautiful golden color and I like to use large loaf pans so that the slices are good size for my hubbies sandwiches.
The recipe I use the most is rather basic. You can get it online at Better homes and gardens Here
I have one of there cookbooks and it has some great basic recipes in it.
I'm sure it can be adapted for a bread machine. I still hand knead my bread the way my grandma and mother showed me. Something very stress relieving about punching and roughing up some dough.

Although you may want to quadruple the recipe. I did a double batch and the loaves were gone within two days.

Soft and fluffy slices, doesn't' that just make you hungry?

Learning to make Biscuits

So during this summers fun me and my cousin bubbles decided to surprise my husband with a home made squash soup and biscuits. If you noticed a recurring theme on this blog it's squash. My husband absolutely adores squash and pumpkins in just about any form of food.

When I was a child I loved cooking and baking with my mother and also my grandmothers. It is what sowed the seeds of my love of being in the kitchen.
It was so cool to instead of be standing beside my mother learning from her to find myself teaching my sister and cousin this summer. In some ways surreal to see myself saying or doing the same things that were said to me when I was little.

It really was enjoyable. I highly suggest if you've been nervous about teaching baking or cooking to your children to try it. To see the joy they have at seeing what they can make with their own hands and the joy of seeing others enjoying the treats they made is priceless!

Plus doesn't she look just darling wearing my Apron!!!

The funnest part for her was getting to handle the dough and roll it out. We used just a basic biscuit recipe that is in my great grandmother's recipe book.

Tenn. Home Biscuits Recipe
by, Deborah Lund

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. butter or margarine or oil or shortening (lol basically whatever you have on hand. we used oil)
2/3 cups of milk or water (we used milk)

Mix dry ingredients first. Then add butter or which one you use, and use a fork to mash it and mix it in. Then add milk or water all at once and stir quickly by hand. Form into ball and knead only a couple of times. Then form into biscuits. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes.

It's a pretty simple recipe and yet dipped in the soup, or covered with honey butter or my personal favorite Nutella they are phenomenal.

Bubbles loved needing the dough and cut out all the biscuits herself.
Which turned out to be a good thing because hers turned out the perfect shape and size and mine always turn out lopsided.

See how nice and even hers looked.
While the biscuits were baking we worked on the soup.


Cream of Chicken and Squash Soup
by Angel Reid aka me

1/2 chicken or whatever meat you have on hand
1 squash (we used a butternut squash that was from an elderly gentleman's home garden)
2 potatoes
cornstarch or flour for thickening if you want i t
rosemary, parsley, and Bay leaves
1 cup of milk or cream
chicken or meat broth
half stick of butter


The day before on low I cooked the chicken in some water to make home made chicken stock. You could do this easily in a crock pot. Every so often I'd check to see how far down it boiled and add a little more water to it. After the chicken is well cooked i took it out and put it in the fridge to cool and use the next day.

The next day I halved the squash and scooped out the guts and seeds. Place it in a pan with a little water in the bottom and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees.

For the potatoes i just cooked them in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes until soft because i was to lazy to bake or boil them.

When the squash is done you scoop the soft parts out of the rind, and put in the pot of stock, add the milk butter herbs, potatoes, and mash with a potato masher.

While that is simmering on medium on the stove, shred up the chicken you boiled earlier and chuck into the soup. I love how boiled chicken practically falls apart it shreds so easily. I also used fresh rosemary from a plant we have in our back yard. Let it simmer till everything is nice and hot stirring occasionally. If you like your soup thicker just add some cornstarch once its hot or flour to thicken it.


Oh look and the biscuits are done just as you finish with the soup! I love when things work out so perfectly! Don't they look delicious. We sprayed the tops with a little spray butter to get them nice and soft.

Tada shredded chicken squash soup with amazing biscuits.
Bubbles really did a fantastic job, and husband was super happy and surprised to come home to this hot and cozy meal.

DInner rolls and Roast Beast!

I have this cute cousin staying with me for the summer.

She was very excited to learn some things in the kitchen. She loved getting to wear my spare apron and even did much of the measuring, and mixing herself. She requested to learn to bake some kind of bread and make a nice dinner for my husband for when he gets home from work as.


So this materialized into our wonderful plan to make home made dinner rolls from scratch. She learned how to double a recipe, and knead dough properly.
Her favorite part was kneading the dough because she loved the feel of the flour on her hands.
(definitely related to me in that aspect!)

The rolls turned out fantastic and the family gobbled them all up within minutes.
There was definitely no leftovers.
Served with tasty rolls was roast beast (called that ever since we saw the grinch)
Steamed asparagus lightly oiled and salted, and some mashed potatoes with home made gravy. Don't forget the glass bottled mexican coke with cane sugar numnumnum.
A feast fit for our king aka The Hubby!

Muffins!

Home made muffins for a tasty fancy breakfast!

So okay maybe muffins aren't the fanciest, but for us cereal eating folks it counted.
I used a basic muffin recipe and then added some fresh raspberries that I had to the mix. We then served them with some frozen grapes which were refreshing!
I also used a large muffin pan so they'd be like the ones from Mimi's cafe. If you plan to do that you'll definitely want to double the recipe or even quadruple it so you have enough to make big fluffy muffins.

What don't you drink milk in wine glasses for fancy breakfast *lol*
We had lots of fun even if we are silly!

Stuffed Peppers

Last week I decided to surprise my husband with these stuffed bell peppers.
I found a pack of six for five bucks at costco that came with two of each color but green. Now normally I can't stand bell peppers myself, but I knew my husband loved them. He had a pretty bad day at work and needed some cheering up.

The recipe like many of mine I just developed myself as I went along. The results were fantastic, although I have to say we all agreed that the orange peppers tasted best with the filling.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Ing.
6 whole bell peppers (any color you desire)
1/2 lb of ground beef.
1/2 onion
1 jalapeno pepper
1 cup of rice
two small cans of tomato sauce (or one can of marinara sauce)
lots of shredded cheddar cheese
1 clove of garlic (or you can use some garlic powder)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons oregano
1 tsp of basil
salt and pepper

Instructions
1. chop up the onion, and garlic finely. Also take the inside seeds out of the jalapeno and chop up finely. Put all these into a pan with ground beef on medium heat to brown. I also added some salt and pepper.

2. Cut off the top of the bell peppers. Use a spoon to scoop out all the insides. Place them in a glass pan. Sprinkle a good portion of cheddar cheese into the bottoms of each pepper.

3. When beef and vegi's are browned add the 1 cup of rice and 1/2 cup of water to the pan and cover with lid.

4. Pour the contents of the tomato sauce cans into a bowl. add 1 1/2 tablespoons oregano and 1 tsp of basil to the tomato sauce. Mix well and then add to the rice ground beef mixture. Make sure to stir often mixing the ingredients so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

5. Once the rice mixture is cooked and the rice is the right texture take off the heat and sprinkle lots of cheddar cheese onto the filling and then mix it in.

6. Set the oven to preheat to 350 degrees. Fill each pepper to the top with the filling. Once all the peppers are full put more cheese on top and if you like put the little tops back on. Add another cup of water into the pan with the peppers. Place in the oven and bake for 45- 50 minutes.

These are a major hit, and especially tasted good with orange bell peppers.