Spinach and Mushroom crustless Quiche

Sometimes I love my brain and its random thoughts. I just went grocery shopping for some basic ingredients; bread, butter, eggs, some veggies, etc. And suddenly I thought, quiche! Wait, I have no crust......eh, I'm sure it can be done with no crust. So that is what I did, a crustless quiche.



4 eggs
1 cup milk
3 cups baby spinach
4 oz fresh mushrooms, diced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp dried onions
2 tsp salt, divided
1 tsp black pepper
4 splashes of hot sauce
a pinch red pepper

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Rinse and slice and dice mushrooms. In skillet, melt butter and add garlic. Once butter is melted, saute baby spinach and mushrooms, add 1 tsp salt.

While veggies are sauteing, start egg mixture. Crack open 4 eggs into medium bowl, add milk and whisk, adding remaining salt, pepper, red pepper and hot sauce. Once veggies are cooked, placed into pie pan, I used a glass and sprayed with cooking spray. (When sauteing veggies, they will water down, so drain them). Place veggies into pie pan, add half of the 1/2 cup of cheese onto veggies and dried onions. Pour egg mixture into pie pan, and remaining shredded cheese.

Carefully place quiche into oven and bake for 45-60 mins, depending on your oven. Once thoroughly cooked, it should be slightly brown on top, let rest for a few mins, cut and serve.

Use as a main course or a side dish

And as always ENJOY!!!!

Quick Meal

This is just a quick meal. I occasionally will make these to help inspire, so more then just a sandwich or whatever.

Spinach Tuna Wrap

1 5 oz. can tuna, drained
1/2 cup chopped spinach, cooked
1 large flour tortilla
2 slices cheese, any cheese you prefer
1 tsp mayo


Open can of tuna, drained, place into bowl. Add 1/2 cup cooked chopped spinach (I use frozen spinach, and I cook it for 2 mins in the microwave, no water added.)  Add a pinch of salt to spinach, stir then add to tuna. Add a pinch of pepper and red pepper for taste. Add 1 tsp of mayo, any brand you desire, and stir. Take one large flour tortilla (or any wrap you want), place 1 slice of cheese onto tortilla, make sure the cheese slice is in half long ways, when placing cheese onto tortilla do not place in center or one side. Place cheese 1/4 the way in to center.
This leaves room for when you start to roll wrap. Add tuna mix on top of cheese, then add 2nd slice of cheese on top of tuna. Pull least portion of tortilla over tuna and cheese, fold in sides, and then roll together. You may place in fridge for about 5 mins if desired to help set up, or eat right away.

Chicken Noodle Soup......for like 10!

I've been on a diet recently. So I haven't been concocting any new recipes, like I'd really want to ( damn you pinterest! LOL) But in my diet course, 6 weeks....buh, I am allowed for soup. So I made chicken noodle soup, I've made it before and it was really good. And so when I remade it, I seem to have made such a big batch, that it could feed 8-10 people right away. Or it'll last a week. Of course if you are not interested in making a big batch, cut the recipe in half and make a smaller serving!!


2 small-medium chicken breast, butterflied
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups pasta
4 celery sticks, diced
20 baby carrots, diced
3/4 cup corn kernels



In large pot start heating water for pasta. Take your chicken and butterfly it. Holding chicken breast down with palm of hand, take knife and cut through middle of chicken horizontally as evenly as possible, be very careful!!!!! Once chickens are cut, sprinkle with spices (the 5 ~ salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder) Drizzle lightly olive oil onto chicken, then pan sear it. Once water in pot is at a boil, add pasta. Let cook until pasta is al dente. As chicken and pasta is cooking, start prepping your veggies. Wash and dice celery, dice carrots and measure out 3/4 cup corn kernels (I used can corn, you can do this, frozen corn kernels or cut kernels off an ear of corn if you wish). In a pot, place chicken broth and water and bring to heat. When chicken is done, let rest before cutting in cubes, as best as possible. Throw veggies into broth, let cook for 10 mins, letting veggies get a little tender. Add pasta and chicken to broth, and a pinch of seasoning. Let cook, on low, for 20-30 mins until veggies are completely tender. Enjoy!!

(And like I said, you can cut recipe in half for less servings)

 

 

 

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP.........ALWAYS SO GOOD!!

Hard Times bearded pork chop

So like I said......kinda struggling with my finances. But I had a pork chop that had been thawing in my fridge. I wanted to do something different, like bread it. Of course I didn't have any breading, and I didn't want to use flour, nor did I want to fry in my cast iron, shocker!!! I did have ritz crackers, but no eggs....again, but thanks to Pinterest, (don't have one get one, lots of ideas there.) found a recipe that called for butter to help adhere the crackers to the chop. Tried it and here is my version!

1 4-5oz boneless pork chop
1tbsp unsalted butter
the 5 spices (salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder)
6 butter crackers (ritz)

Preheat oven to 350, and coat aluminum onto baking sheet. Place pork chop into a ziploc bag and beat as flat as you can, I used a rolling pin to try and flatten it as much as possible. In another baggie, place crackers, and smash into small fine powder substance. In a small microwave dish, melt butter. Season one side of the pork chop, spread butter onto pork chop then sprinkle cracker on top. Lightly pat to adhere most of the crackers to the pork. Repeat process on other side. I flip mine back and forth, just a little to coat the entire pork chop, including sides. Bake 20-30 mins until nice and brown.

Egg-less Turkey Meatballs

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but struggling just to pay my bills, and feed my animals, leaves little money to buy food for me. But as I struggle I will make food and post them for your view and attempting pleasure.

Annnnnnyyyyyyywaaaaaaaays.................In my struggle I had ground turkey meat and wanted to make something with it. Lucky I had tomato sauce and parmesan cheese......spaghetti and meatballs!! Hold up! Wait a minute!! Meatballs are made with eggs.......I don't have eggs. :(

Looked up an eggless turkey meatballs, and it seemed simple......like real simple; turkey meat, oregano and parsley. But I didn't feel like this was enough for me, and I know poultry can get dry when cooking. So I added a little more and they ended up delicious!!

So whats the secret?.....I used olive oil to keep the moisture in, especially since I decided to bake the meatballs. I also tried making meatballs without olive oil, they were good but dry.....so I know!!!

Spices : Salt, Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Dried Rosemary, Dried Thyme, Dried Onions, Garlic Powder, Parsley and Oregano.

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together, including spices. Spices roughly are about 1tsp each.

Take a aluminum foil lined cookie sheet (the foil helps with clean up) and scoop and roll small handfuls of meat into balls.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Half way through, take meatballs out and turn over. Resume cooking.

Enjoy as an appetizer, or add to pasta dish with tomato sauce for a classic dinner.
ENJOY!!!!!

Swiss and Mushroom crazy!!!

So coming off the heels of the turkey swiss and mushroom grilled cheese, comes the swiss and mushroom omelet! A nice hardy breakfast with a tangy taste. Best way I can describe it....LOL

2 eggs
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 slices swiss cheese
salt
pepper
1 tbsp milk

Place skillet on stove top and place on medium heat. I add a little bit of bacon grease that I keep stored in the fridge to help keep the eggs from sticking to much to the pan. Crack 2 eggs into bowl and whisk, and then add milk. The milk makes the omelet just a little more fluffy. Once pan is nice and hot, grease melted, add egg and coat evenly onto skillet. Taking sliced mushrooms, layer onto one side of egg. Turn the skillet a little to lightly coat the mushrooms with some egg, this allows the mushrooms to "stick" to omelet. Place cheese on top of mushrooms. Season other half of eggs with salt and pepper. Gently lift empty side to cover mushroom side (make sure that you've left enough room to fold the egg over) Flip entire omelet and cook for 30 secs. Then enjoy.

*Even if you're omelet doesn't look perfect, it'll taste perfect!*

I think I used to many mushrooms, and they weren't completely on one side. Oh well :)

Quick and simple plus delicious

Need to come up with something quick? Want grilled cheese, but tried of the same old grilled cheese? Well its time to pump it up!!

Introducing the Turkey, mushroom swiss grilled cheese!!!!

2 slices of bread
2 slices of swiss cheese
4 slices of turkey lunch meat
about 2 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tbsp butter

Use half of the 1/2 tbsp of butter to sautee the mushrooms a little. Assemble the sandwich half way; a piece of bread, 2 slices of turkey and 1 slice of swiss, repeat with rest. When the mushrooms have sauteed a little, place the mushrooms on one half of the sandwich. Put together sandwich. using the other half of butter, place in pan and cook sandwich on either side for about a minute. Enjoy!!

More brownies!!!

So I'm kinda poor........like I can't afford eggs. Makes me super sad :\  So I started looking up stuff I can do without eggs. This included turkey meatballs and brownies. One I had ground turkey, so I wanted to make something, had stuff for spaghetti so.......wala! Meatballs! I will have to revamp the recipe, they turned out a little dry, but still good. So when I get that down to delicious I will blog it! And then of course since I made brownies a few weeks ago, I started craving brownies again. But no eggs.....what was I going to do!!! Look up a way to make brownies without eggs, found it!!! Tweaked the recipe a little and this what I came out with. And its nice and gooey! FYI this recipe includes coffee, its not POW coffee, but its subtle. And includes pecans, which can be optional.


1 cup all propose flour
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp instant coffee* with 1 tbsp water
4 tbsp chocolate chips
2 tbsp pecans, chopped


Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 8x8 pan. In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. (I placed all the dry ingredients together in one bowl then took 1/2 a cup at a time to the sifter into another bowl.) Then add melted butter, instant coffee mixture and buttermilk. Taking a mixer, hand or stand, a mix on low, scrapping sides to make sure all ingredients get mixed. Fold in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour batter into pan, place in oven for 45mins or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

*So I don't use instant coffee, but luck be my lady, I found a starbucks instant coffee mix in my cupboard. It was caramel flavored, but it still worked. Made my brownies delicious.*

Roasted Vegetables

So at my moms house, and started talking about roasting some zucchini. And then also mentioned she had potatoes, so I said maybe roast those too. I mentioned roasting garlic, but that didn't happen. So we just roasted the potatoes and zucchini, zucchini my mother grew!

5 small red potatoes

2 medium zucchinis 

Olive oil 

Salt

Pepper

Parsley

Rosemary

Thyme

Garlic powder

Take two cookie sheets and line with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With the two sheets, drizzle and spread a little bit off oil. After washing and rinsing potatoes and zucchini, slice. 

In a small bowl mix spices. In another small bowl, pour a little olive oil. When you are done slicing, place potatoes on one sheet and zucchini and the other. Brushing the olive oil onto the potatoes and zucchini. Then sprinkle spices on top. Place sheets into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!!

Brownies!!!!

I found a brownie recipe that my mom wrote some years back. But I don't recall her ever making them. So I decided last year around Christmas time to make them, and add a few goody surprises along the way!


1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour, sifted
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
*1/2-1 package chocolate chips
*1/2 package peppermint chips
*2 tsp peppermint extract
*2 tsp mint extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one large bowl combine all dry ingredient; sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt, then fold in sifted flour. In a microwavable bowl, place butter and melt. In another large bowl, break eggs and beat well, add butter and vanilla. With a electric mixer, on the lowest setting, mix wet ingredients. Then once all is combine, add remaining dry ingredients until smooth and creamy. In a greased 9.5x13 pan, pour batter. Place in oven for 50 mins and enjoy!!

*For peppermint brownies, when all ingredients are combined add peppermint extract and stir. Fold in chocolate chips and peppermint chips. Bake for same time.

*Mint brownies, same as above. Once you add the mint extract you can either add 1/2 package or whole package.

*Chocolaty brownies. Once all ingredients are mixed, fold in 1 package of chocolate chips. Ooh wee gooey chocolaty brownies!!!

yields 35 brownies, or the least the way I had cut them :)

Mashed Potatoes ~ Loaded!!!

I love making food from scratch. Mashed potatoes being one of them. I can take one large potato and make 3 servings of mashed potatoes, loaded mashed potatoes! Yummy!!

Garlic and Scallion Potatoes

1 large russet potato
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp chopped scallions
1 cup milk
2 tbsp bacon bits*
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese*
salt
pepper

Taking one large potato, and chop into equal pieces and cook in water until potato is tender (using fork, pick up piece and if it goes throw easily or starts to separate, its good) Drain potato and set aside. Using same pot place butter and let melt a little. Add minced garlic, cook for a minute, then add scallions, cook for another minute. Then add potato back to the pot, take masher and start mashing!!! In the middle of your mashing add milk, continue mashing. Next add salt and pepper. *Optional and to make this loaded, add bacon bits and cheese.


Regular Loaded Potatoes

1 large russet potatoes
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 bacon bits
1/2 shredded cheese (your choice)
2 tbsp scallions*
salt
pepper

Start the same as recipe above. Once potato are drained and set aside, add butter to pot and let melt for about a minute. Add potatoes, start mashing, add milk and sour cream during the mashing process. Once potato is creamy add rest of ingredients.


Lemon Pepper Potatoes

1 large russet potato
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk
2 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning

Same as RLP recipe, once potato is creamy add seasoning. Its a head turner, but its pretty good.




With all my mashed potato recipes, I rinse and scrub the potato first. Then cut into equal pieces, or as equal as I can. I do not peel my potatoes......I am very lazy, and I like the skin in my potatoes. If you don't, feel free to peel.

Bon Appetit!!! :)

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole II

CHICKEN CASSEROLE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So if you read my blog, I love to make casseroles. Honestly its really easy, throw ingredients together, pop in oven, cook and enjoy. And I tend to be on this chicken casserole kick. Fine by me!! Love chicken!! (Honestly that's all I had for dinner this week) So for this casserole, I combined the last two. And the end result......................DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!


4 chicken thighs*
1 cup uncooked wild rice blend
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika

*bone-in with skin


Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In 8x8 casserole dish layer rice to cover bottom. In saute pan on medium heat, add butter letting it melt slightly, then add garlic, cook for about a minute. Add spinach and saute for a few minutes. As spinach sautes, spice both sides of chicken thighs, set aside. Add mushrooms to pan and cook for another minute. Stir in cream, sprinkle in salt, pepper, and red pepper. Finally add tomatoes and stir, turning off heat. Take chopped zucchini and evenly place on top of rice, then pour in sauce. Make sure sauce is evenly distributed. Place chicken on top. Cover dish with aluminum foil, place in oven for 1 hour. At the half way point pull dish out and remove foil. Remove chicken and place to the side. Take 1/4 cup of cheese and stir into rice mixture. Return chicken and add remaining cheese. Cover again and return to oven to finish cooking. When cooking is done, remove foil and let sit for 5 minutes, this allows the sauce to thicken.

Enjoy!!!

Experimenting.....recording

So once again I recorded myself cooking. This time BBQ sauce!
http://youtu.be/trkL2uE_i4g

The recipe is pretty basic, but great.

1 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 tsp honey
salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika

Add ingredients to sauce pan, whisking together. Caution do not let it sit on heat without stirring for to long, it'll start exiting out air bubbles, causing bbq sauce to fly.

Applesauce!!!!! Yes Please!!

2lbs of apples (6-7 small to medium apples)
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

For this experiment I used red delicious apples. Cut the ends to even the apple out and giving my peeler knife a better grip when I went to peel. Cut and cored the apples after peeling.

So take a large pot and fill with apples. Add water and lemon juice. Turn on stove to medium heat. Stir in sugar. Cover and let cook for 25-30 mins, stirring occasionally. Once the apples are nice and soft, place small amounts into a food processor (or blender, but I'd suggest getting a food processor, even a small one, they're GREAT!) Blend until smooth or whichever texture you prefer. Chill and then enjoy, useless you like warm applesauce, then dig right in!!

The loaf!!

Turkey Loaf!

1 lb ground turkey
1 packet of onion soup mix
1 cup chopped spinach**
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup smashed crackers
2 eggs
1/3-1/2 cup water
2 tbsp ketchup
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
*1/2 tsp minced garlic
*1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
*spice mix ~ thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper, garlic powder, celery salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In small bowl mix eggs and water together. In large bowl mix all ingredients together, by hand for best mix. In a greased 9x5 pan, place mixture and then pop into oven for 35-37 mins. Once cooked spread ketchup on top and let cool for about 2-3 mins. Cut into slices and enjoy!!!

** if using frozen spinach make sure it is completely thawed, makes things a lot easier when mixing.

* optional to mix in.

The hunt to cook dinner

So I don't have a whole lot of ingredients in my fridge or pantry currently. And so it makes it a little difficult to cook anything on a regular basis, or for that matter experiment. I've also been working long shifts at work, so I get home and either cook really simple meals or not cook at all. But tonight I really wanted to cook, and since I didn't have any meat thawed, I looked around in my pantry and fridge for anything available to make anything with. I found chicken in a can, noodles, broccoli, heavy cream, and no cheese......but I did have Laughing Cow cheese spread wedges. And yes I've used all these to make a chicken-helper like meal.

About 1-2 cups spiral pasta
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 laughing cow cheese spread wedges (garlic and herb)
1 5oz can of chicken
1 cup fresh broccoli
salt, pepper, red pepper, and onion powder

Bring water in a pot to boil, add lots of salt, add pasta, cook for 8 minutes. In sauce pan add cheese and heavy cream. Contentiously stir for about a minute, add chicken and let cook for about 2 mins. Keep stirring. Add broccoli to chicken mix. Add spices. Once pasta is cooked add to the rest, stir. To help thin the sauce and to help it also spread add a little bit of the pasta water. Serve and enjoy :)


Remember to look at what you have, think and experiment. The dish might be simple, but the soul is satisfied!!

 

Just set up shop

So I just set up shop on Etsy! I paint bottles and am hoping to sell them and maybe start branching out. So here are the four bottles I currently have up on Etsy and the shop name in case anyone is interested! Thanks for reading and there will be more to come!!

www.etsy.com/shop/Dragonellasbottles