Quiche

I love me a good quiche. And last December I finally made my first one for my bestie's parents and then again for me and the hubby. I tweaked the recipe as I'm known to do and I do believe I have found our favorite variation. 

Quiche

1 pie crust
4 pieces of thick bacon, chopped
1/2 of a shallot, diced
3 large crimini mushrooms, chopped
4 cups of spinach
2 Tbs of sliced olives (optional)
1 cup of heavy cream*
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese**

Pre heat oven to 375.

In a skillet, crisp up the bacon. Add the shallots and mushrooms and cook until tender. Add spinach (I just remove the large stems and do a rough tear as we like the bigger pieces of it, but you can slice it thinly if you prefer) and toss until it wilts. Add olives (these I like to do a rough chop on them) and mix until combined. Drain any excess grease if needed.

Lay the pie crust into a pie deep dish. I like to spray mine with Pam so it doesn't stick. Crimp the edges and trim any excess if you need to. You can totally make your own pie crust but I'm lazy and the refrigerated version works perfectly well. You can also use a frozen deep dish pie crust as well. Just let it thaw.

In a bowl, add the heavy cream and eggs. Beat together with some salt and pepper.

In your pie dish, add a layer of the bacon mixture and then a half a cup of the shredded cheese and repeat those layers. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the top. Cover with the remaining half cup of cheese and bake for about 40-45 mins. 

Stick a butter knife in the center and if it comes out clean it is done. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle some chopped chives on top if desired and enjoy!

Notes:
* The recipe calls for half and half but I never have that on hand so I use half cup of heavy cream and a half cup of milk. It's literally the same thing.

** Cheese - the original recipe calls for mozzarella. And it works perfectly well and is quite tasty. I've done a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella as well as Gouda. Gouda is by far my favorite, it adds a nice little nuttiness to it. You can use any cheese you want, just make sure it's not a hard cheese as it will not melt as well.

Spaghetti Sauce

 I will acknowledge upfront that is probably not traditional but it's tasty. And the hubby loves it so that's good enough for me.

I use it for more than just spaghetti. I've used it for my macaroni bake and lasagna as well. 

This makes about 5 quarts of sauce. It freezes well, just to make sure let it cool to room temperature before freezing it in a sealed container. In fact the batch I made today was strictly for this purpose. Now we'll have some for when we want some.

Spaghetti Sauce

2 28 oz cans of tomato sauce 

28 oz can of diced tomatoes 

6 oz of tomato paste 

1 can of medium olives, drained

1 large onion chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

8 oz of mushrooms, chopped (preferably crimini)

A heaping tablespoon of minced garlic

About a 1.5 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

Large pinch each of basil and oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop your vegetables. We like ours chunky so I cut mine large but you can chop them as small as you prefer. Don't want whole olives? Sliced olives work just as well.

Toss everything into a crock pot and give it a good stir. I generally set mine on high for an hour and then move it to low for another 5 or 6 hours. It is one of those recipes of the longer you can let it simmer the better. I give a stir around half way through and taste it. Adjust the seasonings as you see fit. I normally add more salt and pepper at this time since I go lighter in the beginning. It's always easier to add more salt and pepper than it is to counteract it.

I give another taste near the end to make sure the flavor is good. If it is, I turn it off to cool so I can ladle it into containers or use some for whatever I'm making. The rest I let cool to room temperature in their containers before putting the lids on and stick it in the freezer.

It really is that easy.

Cheese Puffs Pastries

 

 I cannot take any sorts of credit for this recipe. A dear sweet friend up in Washington, Lisa, gave it to me. I'm posting it here mainly so I won't lose it. They're that good.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of cheese danishes and/or pastries. My honey on the other hand LOVES them so when Lisa posted a picture I asked for the recipe. And they are incredibly easy to make.

It was so hard waiting for them to cool! Starting from the back: Plain, Blackberry Peach Jam, Orange Spice Marmalade and Elderberry Jelly

 

The blackberry peach was my favorite. The orange spice was my honey's favorite though all of them are so good. You can use any type of jam or jelly on them really. We just used what I had in my fridge. Too bad we had already finished off Lisa's Marionberry Jam than she had sent us for Yule. That would have been amazing on it. And they are even better the next day. At least to me they were. The cream cheese and the jam had more time to get happy together and soak into the puff pastry. With a cup of coffee or a strong breakfast tea....HEAVEN! 

The best thing it was really easy to make.

Cheese Puff Pastries

• 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
• 1 8 oz block of softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Jam/Jelly/Marmalade optional

Mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together. It's important to make sure the cream cheese is room temperature. This helps making sure it's a smooth creamy texture. 

Take the sheet of puff pastry and cut into squares. You can use a regular muffin tin and make 12 smaller pastries. As you can see I used the jumbo muffin tins for 6. (I made a double batch). Put a heaping tablespoon (if you are using a regular muffin tin, start with a heaping teaspoon, you can always add more) of the cream cheese mixture in the middle of a square and fold it up and place into a muffin tin that has been sprayed with Pam or equivalent. Place a teaspoon of topping if desired on top.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30 mins. Note: it only took about 22 minutes in my oven as it runs hot so keep an eye on it.

Note:  I suggest if you are putting any jam on top to decrease the amount of cream cheese filling slightly, maybe just a tablespoon instead of a heaping tablespoon. As you can tell from my pictures, they did overflow a little bit, which led to some slight darker color around some of the sides. It's the jam's sugars carmelizing. You could also add the jam during the cooling process but we wanted a more integrated flavor. 

Hope you enjoy and THANK YOU LISA for sharing the recipe!

Amish Friendship Bread

 So back in early November, my hubby called and asked me if I wanted a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. I said yes as I remember it back in the day. It was a dense, sweet but not too sweet bread that I enjoyed. What I didn't enjoy was the never ending cycle of starters and baking until we were sick of it. 

But now? Now I now of ways to keep, the starters can be frozen. It doesn't have to be overwhelming and never ending any more! And it's sooooo good.

The base recipe is good. We particularly love a cranberry pecan version. I recently made a chocolate version that was to die for. 

Amish Friendship Bread

 

Notes:

·        Do NOT use any metal spoons or bowls when mixing (honestly, it’s probably fine nowadays but that’s always been a thing with Friendship Bread.)

·        Do NOT refrigerate the starter.

·        If air gets into the bag let it out.

·        It’s normal for the starter to rise, bubble and ferment.

 

Baking Schedule:

Day 1: Do nothing. This is the date that you receive the bag of starter or the day that you create your own starter. Squish and mush the bag.

Day 2: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 3: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 4: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 5: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 6: ADD to the bag – 1 cup pf Flour, 1 cup of Sugar and 1 cup of milk. Squish and mush the bag.

Day 7: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 8: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 9: Squish and mush the bag.

Day 10: Baking Day! Mix and divide the starter as follows:

               Pout entire contents of the starter bag into a non-metal bowl and add:

o   1.5 cups of flour

o   1.5 cups of sugar

o   1.5 cups of milk

Mis well and measure out 4 separate batches of the starter batter (1 cup each) and place into gallon Ziplock bags. Keep one bag of starter for yourself and give the other 3 to friends, along with copy of these instructions. The batter that remains into large bowl will be used for baking your Amish Friendship Bread.

Notes: Starters can be frozen! Make sure to let the air out. It won’t freeze solid but it’ll keep for a number of months. When you want to use it, take it out to thaw, get the yeast to wake up. The next day either bake with it or start it on day one to create more starters. I’ve been told that lactose free milk works fine but I cannot attest to it personally.

 

To Prepare the Amish Friendship Bread on Day 10:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. To the remaining batter in the bowl add:

• 3 eggs 
•  1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
•  2 cups flour 
• 1 large (5 oz) box vanilla pudding mix (just the dry mix)

Spray 2 large loaf pans with cooking spray with flower and divide batter evenly between the two pans.

In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle the top of each loaf with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and then remove from pan. If you kept a starter for yourself, you can repeat the bakinf process every 10 days.

 

To prepare a new batch of starter:

In a small bowl, combine 1.4 cup of warm water and 1 packet of dry active yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons). Set aside until bubbly, about 5 to 10 minutes.

In a large non metal bowl mix together 1 cup of ap flour and 1 cup of granulated sugar. Stir in one cup of milk and the yeast mixture. Cover loosely and leave on the countertop at room temperature until bubble.

Place starter in a large gallon Ziplock bag. Seal bag and squish and mush until well combined. Let stand at room temperature overnight. The day that you prepare the starter is DAY 1. Proceed with 10-day baking schedule outlined on previous page.

Variations:

Add a ½ cup each of dried fruit and nuts (such as cranberry and pecan)

Substitute unsweetened coco powder for cinnamon and use a chocolate pudding mix – Can even add chocolate chips

Change the flavor of pudding mix to try something new! As long as you keep the base recipe the same the pudding flavor, cinnamon can be switched around as well as adding dried fruit or other items. Just be careful of adding to much ‘wet’ type or moisture heavy items as that may affect the outcome of your bread.

Bread can be wrapped and frozen as well up to a few months. It never lasts that long here.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

 You know a recipe is really good when you forget to take a picture of the yumminess. I made this last week and it was so good. I don't do pork tenderloin very often but I think this recipe will be getting put into rotation from now on. On first taste you get the sweetness from the brown sugar but it's not overpowering and then as you finish the bite, the pepper kicks in on the back of your tongue. I loved it. It was husband approved as well so that is an added plus.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

1-1.5# pork tenderloin

2 T Olive Oil

2 T Dark Brown Sugar

1.5 t Ground Red Pepper (Cayenne)

1 t Garlic Powder

1 t Onion Powder

½ t Paprika

1 t Salt

½ t Cracked Black Pepper

⅛ t Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Trim any extra fat and silver skin from tenderloin. Mix spices and liberally coat all sides of the tenderloin.

In a hot large non-stick skillet (best if you use one that can go directly into the oven) heat olive oil. Add tenderloin (Note: if it is too large, simply curve the tenderloin to fit the pan) and sear the first three sides for 2-3 mins. If you are using an oven safe skillet, place it in the oven once turned to the final unseared side. (Note: The heat of the pan will sear it while it started to cook in the oven.) If using an non oven safe skillet, sear the remaining side and transfer to a roasting pan. Cook in the oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 135-140 degrees at the thickest part. For about 15 mins. Let rest for 5-10 mins.

Slice and enjoy!

NOTE: The new standard for pork is an internal temperature of 145. It’s not rare or even medium rare. It’s got the barest hint of pink and helps the pork to stay juicy and tender. The tenderloin can be a dry piece of meat and easy to overcook. Which is why it is so important to let it rest. Resting meat allows for the juices redistribute throughout the meat. Ever had a really good steak or pork chop that just oozes all this juice the moment you cut it? That is what happens when you don’t let the meat rest. And then the actual meat is rather dry as a result. Not good eats. I also pull my tenderloin out at least 5 degrees below the 145. As it rests, the residual heat of the meat and the pan will continue cooking the meat. This is another reason to let it rest and helps it from becoming overcooked.

Homemade Rice-a-Roni

So in my continuing effort to not prepare as much processed boxed/canned foods, I’ve had to let go of a few favorites like Rice-a-Roni. I love that stuff but ugh so much sodium and preservatives. I mourned the loss and tried to find alternatives. Then I found a few copy cat recipes on Pinterest. It took a few different attempts and quite a bit of tweaking but I do believe I finally found a great base recipe.

Homemade Rice-a-Roni

1 T olive oil

1 cup long grain rice

1 cup of orzo pasta

2 cups stock (vegetable, chicken, beef)

½ tsp garlic

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp cracked black pepper

1 T butter (optional)

Heat the oil in a medium pot on medium high heat, add rice and pasta and toast for a few minutes. (Note: if you do not have orzo pasta, you can chop up spaghetti or vermicelli for similar effect. Just make sure to cut it about ¼” or same length as rice.) Add stock and seasonings. Bring to a boil and reduce to low. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Check for doneness. You may need to add another ¼ cup of stock or water and cook for a few more minutes, depending on how al dente you want it to be. Stir in butter and add additional salt pepper if needed. The butter give the rice-a-roni a bit of richness and creaminess that I’ve always associated with it.

That’s the basic recipe. The variations are endless! I have a few below.

For basic beef or chicken rice-a-roni

Use beef or chicken stock. Add a cube of beef or chicken bullion (or equivalent). Stir it in and make sure it dissolves as you are bringing it to a boil.

For herb and butter rice-a-roni

Use a Tbl of butter instead of olive oil to toast the rice and pasta. Use a strong flavor vegetable stock. Add a 1.5 tsp of Italian seasonings (more if you want it a stronger herb flavor). Add 2 Tbl of butter at the end.

For broccoli au gratin rice-a-roni

I use chicken stock but can use vegetable if desired. Add ⅔ cup of finely chopped broccoli in the last few mins of cooking. Stir in a ½ cup of shredded colby jack cheese at the end.  

I found that I tend to always add bullion to mine but that’s because I like the more pronounced flavor. If you want it more on the milder side, then keep it out.

Note on Stocks: Now homemade is always the best but I don’t know about you...I really don’t have a whole lot of time to make it properly. This is one of the few items I normally buy out of convenience. However, I do buy low sodium organic stock. Take a look at the ingredients list.

Broccoli Apple Slaw

So on I am picky about cole slaw, especially the dressing. So I really love this salad. The dried cranberries soak up some of the dressing and become so plump. YUM!

Broccoli Apple Slaw

4 cups fresh chopped broccoli
1 cup carrots (medium diced)
1 cup dried cranberries
2 small fiji apples diced
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)

Dressing:
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 mayonaise
3 Tb honey
1 1/2 Tb apple cider vinegar
salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Whisk dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Toss all the slaw ingredients into a bowl and pour dressing over. Toss together and let chill for at least two hours.

It's best served ice cold and honestly it's even better the next day. I'm not a fan of raw onion at all but it works in this salad. It provides just a little bite and balances perfectly with the apple.

Trust me...this is soooooo good. It has been husband and best friends approved. 

The Pickle Experiment...

Well I now have another thing on my list that I won't be buying at the store any longer. And that is pickles. I have long wanted to try my hand at making pickles. I don't know why but then why not? It sounded like fun and well we love pickles.

After many years of heeing and hawing over it I finally decided to do it. It took me a visit to three different stores to find pickling cucumbers (it was December after all) and then another visit to the store the next day as I forgot to get pickling salt. So I set out to make three pints of bread and butter chips for me and three pints of dill spears for the husband. Now his were more along the line of Polish dills...with garlic, peppercorns, dill and such. One of the pints we put red pepper flakes in.

The process was amazingly easy. The Polish spears took no time at all to process. The bread and butter took longer but only because the recipe called for them to sit with salt and ice for a few hours. But while it took longer it was still really easy.

Then came the hard part...the waiting. The Polish pickles needed at least 4 weeks to pickle. The bread and butter I could have opened after a week but I figured to wait until we could open both jars. Every week, I would pick them up to give them a good swirl to distribute the spices and to check to make sure the pickling liquid wasn't getting cloudy. I also check for any signs that the pickling process was not working.

The wait was hard but worth it. I cracked open a jar of the bread and butter pickles Thursday evening. Only one day early! I fished out a pickle chip and crunch. Yay they had that crispness I love in pickles. The flavor was really balanced between the tangy and the sweet...it was just not as strong as I would like. I like the flavors to kinda smack you in the face. But for the first try not too shabby and they got better as they got colder. The Polish pickles were cracked open on Friday night and those were tasty. Again they were crispy and were full of flavor. The only thing for me was that the dill got a little lost so I know next time to add more into each jar.

Again for a first try, I'm pretty impressed with myself. There are a few tweaks I need to make to each recipe and a few things I learned in the process. One is to make sure I make enough brine for the bread and butter pickles. I barely had enough and as time passed, the pickles soak in the liquid so by the time the waiting time passed, the liquid barely covered the pickles. But yay pickles for the win!

This is just now one more processed food we can cut out of our pantry. This list is growing longer and honestly that makes me happy. Now we are not going to cut out all processed foods as I just don't have the time to make everything from scratch. But every little bit helps and it leads us to a more healthy lifestyle.

We already don't do any of the pre packaged rice or pasta dinners any more. I make rice pilaf and pastas now. Very rarely do we use canned or frozen veggies. And the frozen veggies we have been using, I've frozen myself. Same with fruits. I make all our jams, marmalade and apple butter. I make our trail mixes and granola. And I am trying to use the healthiest versions of items that are processed.

It's all about being healthier, wanting support our local farmer's and growers and honestly I really enjoy it.

Coming back to blogger

I'm in the process of shifting things around and changing things about. When I first started my recipe blog it was here. Then I got the idea to create my own domain to house this blog and a few others. But as life progressed, my postings became fewer and far between. Paying for the cost of hosting and such wasn't really worth it for me anymore. I poked around (as I didn't want to lose my recipes) and discovered that I still had this site. So here I am. Yay!

You will note that past entries the pics are tagged with "Liarae.com". Do not be confused. That was my old site. The pictures are not stolen. LOL

Luscious Lemon Bars

while ago my husband came come with a load of fresh off the tree lemons for me. I was excited but there were a lot of lemons. One of the things I did with them was to make lemon bars. We love almost anything and everything lemony in my house so this was perfect. The crust turned out so buttery and the filling was firm but not overly so. The filling melted in your mouth leaving a most pleasant tart lemon after taste. It really was a hit! The recipe makes a 9×13 pan. Other than the two pieces I got out of it…my husband ate it all in maybe a week. And I think I’m being generous with the week. LOL And yes it is already on the to make list again.


Now onto the the recipe!

Crust:
2 Cups Flour
1/2 cup Powder Sugar
1 Cup Butter (2 sticks cut into cubes)
1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest
Add flour and powder sugar into a bowl give it a quick stir with a fork. Now add in cubed butter and zest. Mix well. I used my hands as it was easier and quicker. Press into a 9×13 baking dish, making sure to keep it as even as possible and go up the sides as well. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You want the crust to be lightly golden as it will cook more with the filling. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Filling:
4 eggs
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest

Beat the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until light and slightly fluffy. Sift in the flower and baking powder. Mix lightly just to get rid of any lumps. Pour over crust and let bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. You want the filling to set but not be overly firm. Cool and dust with powder sugar.

Enjoy!