SPINACH QUICHE

I know, I know... it has been a long while since my last post, so many things happened, like,  I went to visit my Mom and stayed for 7 weeks, and I took bunch of my homemade foods, intended to post the recipes but never made it.. blame on laziness *grins*

Today I want to talk about Full breakfast in this part of world, and I better write it and post it before my laziness takes over *grins* again

Full breakfast in my Hubby's family consists of toasts/pancake/waffle/hash brown/biscuit, eggs, bacon/sausage/ham, those were what we ate whenever we stayed at his parents' house, I did not mind at all, I'd help with the eggs or sausage, they usually let me do how I wanted to make/eat with them ( omelet, scramble, sausage crumbs or sausage patties )

In my house, we seldom have full breakfast, not once a week, even not once a month, for me, 1 or 2 crackers with half cup of latte is enough for me, for him, sometime is easy too, couple of oranges/apples and 1 or 2 cups of coffee, or some cheesy grits, cereal or buttered toast.

Today I made "full breakfast" with some twists *grins* : eggs, bacon and toasts, as what we call QUICHE, for our brunch

It's similar with Salmon quiche I made on my older post, omit bacon if you are vegetarian, basically we can add anything we want

http://beyondfoods.blogspot.com/2013/04/salmon-quiche.html

SPINACH QUICHE

Ingredients:
- 4 to 5 eggs
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/2 cup of mayo or plain yogurt or sour cream
- half medium onion, chopped
- half large red bellpepper, chopped
- 1 jalapeno/serrano pepper, finely chopped
- 1 cup of cheese
- 1/2 cup of bacon bits
- chopped green onions and parsley
-  bunch of fresh spinach, soak in boiled water for 2 minutes, squeeze dry
- store bought pie crust/tortilla/ sliced of bread ( optional, omit it if you make crustless quiche )

What to do:
- spray cooking oil on a 9" pan, I used Pyrex
- lay pie crust, tortilla/ breads on, this time I used, 3 slices of sourdough bread, if using pie crust/tortilla bake it for 5 to 10 minutes, let it cool

 for the filling:
- in a medium bowl, mix milk and mayo
- in another bowl, beat the eggs, then pour into the milk mixture, mix well, add some salt and black pepper
- arrange the veggies, herbs and cheese on top of the crust
- pour in the egg mixture
- sprinkle bacon bits on top of it
- cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes in  a preheated oven, 350'
- take off the foil. bake for another 15 minutes until the middle is set
- let it cool, slice and serve warm

CHEESY GRITS

One of the easy way to cook GRITS that my DH loves, is to cook it in the microwave, all we need are, 8 tsp of grits, 1 cup of milk,more or less depend on the thickness we like, 1 tbsp of butter, salt, black pepper, egg,  grated cheese and some herb for garnish.

- put grits in a microwave proof cup, add in milk and salt, cook for 4 to 5 minutes, better watch it, stir once or twice, before it set, add in butter, stir again, crack the egg in, cook for another 2 or 3 minutes until the is egg done, add in cheese and freshly ground black pepper, garnish with herbs, I used our homegrown onion chive.. voila.. a delish breakfast/brunch is done

SPAGHETTI SQUASH

One of my DH's favorite squashes.. I'm not a big fan though, my DH loves most of the squashes but I rarely cooked them.. the other day I bought one and cooked it the way he likes.. with Ragu sauce and meat sausage.. he likes it.. very much..

- 1 spaghetti squash
- 1/2 lbs of breakfast sausage
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 1 cup of favorite Ragu sauce, I used 4 cheeses
- herb, I used Rosemary, chopped

How:
- halve the squash, clean out the seeds
- cook in the microwave for 5 to 10 minutes, covered with damp paper towel
- when they are soft, take them out and let them cool to touch
- fluff them with a fork to become fine strings, set aside
- for the topping, brown sausage with onion, add in the sauce and Rosemary, cook and stir
- pour the meat sauce on the top of the squash, add some Parmesan cheese

Another way to cook Spaghetti Squash that I like.. add some grated carrots to the squash, squeeze them dry, add 1 egg, 1/2 cup of breadcrumb, crunch some fried onion, some garlic powder, some chopped green onion, salt and black pepper, form patties and fry them in a nonstick pan

BAKED GRITS WITH CHEESE AND BACON BITS

Here is another quick and easy recipe for breakfast/lunch, we are not a morning persons, so we ate it for brunch

I don't like eating corn products, my DH loves them, esp grits, polenta, corn meal, I like corns though, simply steamed or grilled.. we always have grits in our pantry, sometimes I cooked some easy grits for him, cooked in microwave, added in cheese and eggs, today I tried a new way in cooking it, and he loves it, I did too.. surprise, surprise :)

- 1 cup of grits
- 2 cups of water and 2 cups of milk
- 1 cup of bacon bits
- some chopped green onion
- 3 tbsp of butter
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1  cup of grated cheese
- salt and dash of tabasco

Method:
- boil water and milk, turn down the heat
- add in grits, stir and cook till thickened, about 5 minutes, turn off the heat
- add in butter, stir until smooth
- add in bacon bits, cheese, green onions, salt, tabasco and eggs
- mix well, pour in the prepared muffin tins ( paper and spray with cooking oil), about 2 dozens
- bake them in a preheated oven, 375'F for 20 minutes, sprinkle more cheese and bake again for another 5 minutes
- or simply pour the mixture in a greased casserole pan, spread evenly, bake for 30 minutes, sprinkle more cheese, bake again for 5 minutes, then set the oven to broil, broil for 3 minutes
- let cool down a bit before cut and serve

EASY PEASY BANANA PANCAKES

my 1st post on November, a very short and easy one, but delicious

We need 3 ripe bananas, mash with spoon or if you want it very smooth, blend with blender, add in 1 egg and 3 to 4 tbsp of flour, mix well till the batter is smooth, then heat a bit of butter in a nonstick pan, pour in a small ladle full of batter, cook for 3 minutes, flip carefully and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes

BRAIDED STROMBOLI

I fall in love with it.. I love making it more than eating it.. my DH loves it, so it's worth it.. I made it several times and yesterday I made the most beautiful one and I want to share it here

BRAIDED STROMBOLI

We need pizza dough, any kind of pizza dough, store bought is fine too...

My favorite pizza dough is:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 and 1/2 tsp of yeast
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 3 cups of flour

for brushing: egg white, beat with a bit of salt

as for filling, whatever you desire, I like hard salami or pepperoni, cheese and a bit of green veggies

- 16 slices hard salami
- 1 cup of mozzarella / Italian blend cheese
- 1 cup of chopped broccoli, I used frozen, thaw and squeeze dry
- jalapeno pepper, chopped
- chopped hard boiled egg

for pizza dough:


- dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water, stir until foaming, let it sit while preparing the others ingredients

- mix salt and flour, add olive oil, then add in the yeast mixture, mix and blend well

- place the wet dough on a floured surface, knead with hands until smooth and elastic, about 5 to 6 minutes, add flour if needed, little by little

- after we have a smooth dough, place it in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, let it rise for 1 hour

- deflate, then roll it on a floured surface, roll to form a thin rectangle, about 18" and 12"

- lay salami on the center of the dough, about 4" wide

- to form the braid, starting at the edge of the filling, cut horizontal toward the end of the dough, about 1"

- then start braid them, lay 1 strip from the right dough to the center, cover the filling, then overlap it with the strip from the left side, do it till the last strip

- gently pick the braid up and transfer it to a floured pan

- cover and let rise for 30 minutes

- brush the top of with beaten egg white mixture

- bake in a preheated oven, 350'F for 30 minutes until golden brown, take out from the oven, immediately brush the top with butter, lightly

STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

It's cooler here in AZ, much nicer and comfortable, we don't need to turn on the cooler all day now., and outdoor activities are much more fun.. we hiked some times, I don't get my routine morning walk though, my neighbor hurt her foot and can't walk too much, and that's my excuse for not going out for my walk as well :)

Today I cleaned my kitchen, scrubbed and scrubbed, by the time I finished, I was exhausted and did not want to do much.. so I rummaged my fridge, found some cooked sausage, some cooked orzo pasta.. I had cheese and I had some frozen chopped broccoli, on my counter I had a butternut squash I bought last weekend.. an idea got in my head, STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH..

My DH loves squash most of them, I don't, I bought this squash for him only, and fortunately he liked the way I cooked it today, it's so easy as most of the ingredients have already been cooked..

We need:
- 1 butternut squash, wash, cut in half, clean out the seeds
- 1 cup of cooked sausage
- 1 cup of cooked orzo pasta, we can use cooked rice too
- 1 cup of chopped broccoli
- red jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
- garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
- chopped green onion or other favorite herbs
- cheese

Method:
- bake squash for 10 to 15 minutes  in a preheated oven, 350'F
- mix the rest of ingredients
- stuff in the squash, spray with cooking spray
- bake for another 15 - 20 minutes
- sprinkle more Parmesan cheese