Mini Quiche

I needed to do a little therapeutic cooking. I dug through the fridge and drug out some ingredients that were getting ready to go bad and decided to see what I could do with them.

I chopped up a cup and a half of mushrooms and added one chopped shallot.

Then I sauteed them in a pan for about 3 minutes with a tablespoon of olive oil. Just enough to make them a little tender.

 Then I got out 5 eggs. Don't they look cool? The Circle of Eggs. Like the Circle of Life but with more cholesterol and less Elton John.

 I put the mushroom/shallot mixture in muffin tins. I only had enough for 7.

 Then I whisk the eggs with 1/3 whipping cream. I added about 3 pinches of parsley and a teaspoon of minced garlic. I should have added salt and pepper but I totally forgot about it.

 A little sharp cheddar and feta went on top of the mushrooms and shallots.

 Then the egg mixture went over the top of that.

 I put them in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes. During this time I read People magazine. Selena Gomez went to the hospital for malnourishment. Hey Bieber, get your girlfriend a hamburger or 10. As I was reading this I remembered the salt and pepper and sprinkled some over the top.

They really only needed to cook for about 20 minutes. 

 They were a little hard to get out of the pan. Also really could have used some salt and pepper mixed in. I enjoyed them though for a light dinner.

Steak Diane and Red Roasted Potatoes

This weekend Jon made his version of steak diane and I made red roasted potatoes. It was pretty delicious.

For the steaks you need:

2 steaks (we got top sirloin about 4.5 ounces each)
olive oil
sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 tablespoons parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons green onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 1.2 tablespoons shallots
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt to taste
pepper to taste
red wine / cognac (optional)

For the potatoes we used:

4 red potatoes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons rosemary
olive oil

 So first of all I greased the bottom of a pan with olive oil and mixed up about a tablespoon of minced garlic, teaspoon of garlic salt, and two teaspoons of rosemary. I like a lot of garlic though. Then I cut four red potatoes in half and then halved again. Rinsed them off, tossed them in the spices and put them in the pan. I set the oven to 400 degrees. I popped them in and set the timer to 35 minutes. I was suppose to check them periodically and toss them. I totally forgot to do that until about 5 minutes before they were done. They got a little too done on one side so try to remember to check them.

 Jon chopped up about a tablespoon and a half each of parsley, shallots, and the tops of green onions. We had almost a cup of mushrooms. In retrospect, add more mushrooms. The mushrooms turned out awesome. Go crazy with the mushrooms.

 He took two steaks and seasoned them lightly with salt and pepper.

 We added a tablespoon of butter to the pan. When it was melted he added the steaks and cooked them for 2 minutes on each side. He says "Don't move the steaks while they are cooking!"

 Then he stuck them in the fridge.

 While they were in the fridge (so they didn't overcook) he added another tablespoon of butter to the pan and then threw in the green onions, shallots, and mushrooms.

 He cooked them for around a minute and then added 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and a teaspoon of dijon mustard.

 He tried to get all fancy and flip the mushrooms in the pan. It went mostly well.

 Then he added a few more mushrooms to make up for the lost ones.  Then added the steaks back into the pan and cooked to desired doneness. Our steaks got a little too done.

 Then he added a tablespoon of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of cream. Then he put in a tablespoon of wine and really wanted it to catch on fire. It would not. Oh well. Maybe next time. He had intended to use cognac and make flames for the coolness factor but it's Sunday and the liquor store was closed.

 So I finally remembered I had potatoes in the oven and turned them and added a little more olive oil and cooked them for the last 5 minutes. Then we pulled everything off, topped it with the parsley, ate it and it was delicious.

Pizza on the Grill

Since it's summer I'm trying not to use the oven when I don't have to. We love pizza. We have really missed Domino's since we stopped eating out. Here is my substitute:

Part 1: The Sauce

Whisk together 1 8 oz can tomato sauce and 1 6 oz can of tomato paste. Then I whisk in 1 tsp sugar, 2.5 tsp minced garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 tsp oregano, and a dash of salt and pepper. You can really play with the spices here to your own taste. I actually start with that amount of garlic and then just add more garlic salt and minced garlic until I decide it has reached it's appropriate level of garlicness.. If it tastes too bitter add a little extra sugar.

Part 2: The pizza

I just use canned crust. Maybe one day I will make my own but don't hold your breath. I cut it in half to make two medium pizzas. You could do 4 small pizzas.

Brush your grill with olive oil and turn it on medium heat. We grill the pizza about 2-4 minutes on each side. You just want them to be lightly done.

While Jon does this I get out our toppings. You don't want to go crazy with the sauce and toppings. He did spinach, black olives, and feta. I did half spinach and feta, half mushroom and banana pepper.

Then put them back on the grill. We put them on medium heat. Don't do that. They got too dark on the bottom. Next time we are going to try finishing them on low heat. They just have to grill until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

I didn't get the best picture because I was in a hurry to eat them. They were really, really good. If I could get the crust right they would be awesome.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

This is like the easiest dinner ever. I don't even know if I can call it a recipe. It is a huge hit around my house though and we make it almost every weekend.

Get some chicken (I like the thin sliced breasts) and some sauce. I use BBQ or honey mustard. For honey mustard I like Annie's. For BBQ my favorite is Bullseye. Bullseye is one of the few I have found without HFCS in it. Today we had Annie's Smoky Maple BBQ sauce.

Marinate the chicken in the sauce and stick it in the fridge. Go see a movie or do some laundry or take a nap or dance to Lady Gaga in your living room while using the broom as a mike. Whatever floats your boat.

Next step: Grill the chicken or bake it. OR you can use my preferred method which is to sip a cold drink, read trashy gossip magazines, and watch my husband grill it.

After it's done let it cool and then shred it. Then put it back in a pot and add some more sauce. This makes it extra awesome. Heat this up.

Then put it on a bun. I like to add pickles. The pickles really take it up a notch. One pack of chicken breasts makes about 4 sandwiches.

Eat. Think about how easy that was and how you now have more time for Gaga and US Weekly.

Peekaboo Jam Muffins

I do cook things that aren't muffins (this weekend I'm going to make pizza on the grill). My husband took all of the other muffins to work so I had to make myself some more for breakfast. I got this recipe from www.cookingwithmykid.com.

Mix 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. I always measure my flour out over a paper towel so I can then pour the excess back into the flour bag. Maybe everyone does this. My mom totally taught me that though.

Then I mixed half a cup of fat free yogurt, 2 eggs, and a 1/2 cup vegetable oil in a measuring cup. I bought the yogurt for the express purpose of making these muffins but ended up using it for 2 other recipes. This was pretty much the last of it.

Then I combined the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.

These are the two jams I bought for this. One is apricot and the other is berry. Despite my best efforts I could not get the apricot open. Even my handy dandy jar opener didn't work.

Now is the fun part. I put a layer of muffin mix, made a thumbprint and added jam. Then I covered the jam with another layer of muffin batter. Tada!

They baked at 400 degrees for 13 minutes. They were yummy! The warm jam was really nice inside but the muffin part was a pretty dense.

They had 255 calories according to my iPhone app and got a 7 out of 10 from me just because they were so easy to make and fairly yummy. If they had been harder to make I probably wouldn't have been as pleased.

Edited: I tried another one after they cooled and was just not impressed. Once the jam cooled down it wasn't as good. The muffin part got a little dry.

Cream Cheese Raspberry Muffins

So today me and my feeble kitchen skills decided to try making some raspberry muffins. I love raspberries. I love muffins. Sounded like a winner.

Recipes generally tell you to cream ingredients first and then add the dry ingredients. I always mix my dry ingredients first since it bores me. I mixed 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. I don't have an 1/8 of a teaspoon measuring spoon so I had to eyeball those.

Next up I creamed 1 package cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1/2 cup of sugar. I have been dying to try the Homestead Creamery butter so I bought some for this. It's made locally in Virginia and I can only find it at Kroger.

Then my recipe told me to add an egg and an egg white and beat that in as well. I had to google "how to get an egg white." Google informed me to crack the egg in half and pass the yolk back and forth between the sides while letting the white drip into a bowl. It totally worked. Thank you, Google!

Next up was 3 tablespoons of buttermilk and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. I also got the Homestead Creamery buttermilk. I haven't had buttermilk in years. I decided to try it, thinking it would taste awful. It totally tasted awful. Gross.

After beating in the vanilla and buttermilk I added the dry ingredients just until moistened. Then I folded in a cup of raspberries. They got a little squished. I was suppose to bake for 25-28 minutes at 350 but my oven bakes hot. I baked for 23 minutes and that was enough.

I don't have a cooling rack so I had to make one up with the microwave rack and Jon's Crunch Berry boxes. We haven't bought Crunch Berries in a long time so I do not know why I still have two empty boxes on top of the fridge. Came in handy though.

I ate one and they were okay. The raspberries turned out a little slimy for my taste. The actual muffin part was really good though. I give them a 5 out of 10.