Quiche

I have people staying with us, which means lots of extra work - no matter how much you love 'em. I feel like my house has turned into a B&B/restaurant ... and oh the dishes!! Lets see, first night I made a spinach lasagna, caprese salad and my homemade italian bread ...next morning, waffles and a really nice fruit salad, then we had an outdoor bbq at our local park, then I did a quick quiche with some more fruit - last night I made my home made pizza and some homemade peach ice cream -

The quiche was easy, I had planned on a frittata but I didn't have any potatoes and at 6 am its hard to find them - so I went to my local drugstore and got some half&half -now for any quiche if you stick to 4-5 eggs to about 1.5 cups of cream/half and half it should set up nicely. I used what I had, some swiss cheese, some ham, a red pepper and a red onion that i diced and sauted in a little olive oil and thats about it - i used a frozen piecrust, mixed everything together and poured it in the pie crust - placed it on a baking sheet to avoid a mess and baked at 400 for 15 mins, then 350 for about 30 mins. Make sure to let it rest at leat 10 mins after taking it out of the oven

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Sorry not to be posting more - busy winding up the summer getting ready for back-to-school...
my husbands birthday was this past weekend, and he prefers pie over cake so I made a wonderful Strawberry Rhubarb pie, which is so easy and really good!
Ingredients: 1 lb Rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, tough strings removed (and always throw away the tops (leaves) if your stalks have them - they are poisonous!) 1/2 lb strawberry's tops removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1 cup superfine sugar 1/4 cup minute tapioca pinch of salt crust for two crust deep dish 9" pie

Preparation: Mix rhubarb and strawberries with sugar, tapioca and salt - let sit 15 mins. You can add some grated lemon or orange rind if you'd like - i don't Preheat oven to 400 F place pie crust in pie plate, place on a baking sheet to catch spillover pour filling in crust, dot with butter either put a top crust on, and vent it or make a lattice top bake for 20 mins, lower heat to 350 and bake for an additional 30-45 mins, checking to see if edges brown too fast (cover edges with foil) and when crust is nicely browned and filling is bubbling out of vents pie is done Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack - pie is best at room temp because then it is all nicely thickened - pie is also excellent warm, but more soupy serve with ice cream, whipped cream or just plain!

Hot Summer Nights - Antipasta and more

Its been so hot - sorry I haven't posted, been trying to keep cool! Last night I made a wonderful antipasto dinner, I bought some really wonderful prosciutto di parma, bread sticks, cappacola, salami - bought some marinated artichoke hearts, already had some roasted peppers, some home made pesto - made a quick three bean salad, had some marinated olives added a loaf of crusty bread - easy and delicious, oh of course I couldn;t completely resist cooking so I grilled some baby eggplants, just slice them lengthwise into 1/4" thick slices, salt them and let them sit in a strainer for an hour, rinse pat dry then brush with some herb infused olive oil, I used oregano then grill turning frequently for about 10 mins total...for desert I made a really intense basil lime sorbet - which was very refreshing!! the other night I made some grilled lamb and a nice greek inspired salad, find these on my youtube channel

Steak, chili and more ...

Its been awhile, sorry - things are crazy round here...had a wonderful dinner on Sunday, because I didn't cook it!! My husband made me one of my favorite meals Steak Frites, and he added a lovely asparagus dish he infused with our Texas Tarragon from our herb garden...then the following night I made a really refreshing jicama slaw, some lobster stuffed poblano peppers and a nice orange and garlic flounder dish...you can find these on my youtube channel

Last night I made a quick turkey chili with fixins', and some corn muffins
tonight I am planning on a watermelon sorbet for desert and leftovers for dinner...

Dinner with our kitten, Timmy

Tonight we are going to dine with Timmy, our new baby kitten - since he is waiting to be introduced to all the other pets while he adjusts to his new home this means we need a portable feast to eat with him in my daughters bedroom - not sure how yet or what but I will think of something!

Ok - let her have a TV dinner, its once in a blue moon - set up a "table" in her room, set it and put out some healthy appetizers and wa-la - dinner with a cat!

Tapas

Had a great dinner last night, which would be wonderful for a dinner party also. I made an assortment of different Spanish style dishes, bought some wonderful Spanish cheeses, some marinated mixed olives - and served it up on tiny plates - I made a pizza dough and used it to make some small tart shells which I filled with a bacon, mushroom and onion mixture thickened with a little cream and flour. I also used the dough to make a small loaf of bread - I made some open faced sandwiches with the bread, some dill mayo and a slice of potato and a piece of smoked salmon,
what else? Oh, shrimp in tons of garlic and some red pepper - sardines with tomato on little buns, cubes of boiled potato drizzled with a garlic sauce - and a fabulous veggie medley of cucumber, green pepper, tomato and onion - the Spanish dish calls for marrow - which is a type of squash that I can't get where I live so I substituted zucchini

Stuffed shells, spinach salad and chocolate ice cream

Crazy day yesterday, so much going on. For dinner I made a super fast and super good spinach salad, some stuffed shells and some decadent chocolate ice cream ... the secret to great chocolate ice cream is to use a really high quality bittersweet chocolate...all of these recipes can be found on my youtube channel