Mediterranean Quiche – on the cheap $$

Knowing how to cook a good quiche is like owning a good little black dress. You can whip up a good outfit in less than an hour and look impressive and stylish doing it, and no one will know it only took a short time to look so good.

There are also negatives associated with the quiche as well as the little black dress – cost. When most people hear quiche it sounds expensive and time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Yes, good ingredients could cost you well over $20, but like that little black dress that fits perfectly that we’ve all found on the clearance rack, a quiche can be a bargain and impressive addition to your repertoire. I cook mine for work breakfasts and when people are coming over.

The original recipe I found for this recipe and have cooked for this recipe requires sun-dried tomatoes easily $5, feta cheese another $5, fresh basil $3, eggs and pie crust, the basics are cheap, but the filling is a wallet buster for a teacher/grad student. So, with a few modifications I waited for the good sale and found a way to make a cheaper alternative work.

The major savings are here: sub out the sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil for sun-dried tomato and basil pesto, you’ve gone from $10 to $1.09.

Originally, I did plan on buying fresh basil, I killed my little basil plant over the summer, but the basil selection was looking funky, and I’m not paying $3-$5 for a small amount of basil that is black and moldy for the few leaves that are still usable. So, I found the pesto and decided on spinach to add the green and vegetable component to the dish.

So, in total the grocery bill goes from around $20 to about $10, and you won’t use the whole package of eggs, or both of the pie crusts, so those are an investment in your groceries in general.
The best part about this recipe is the leftovers, and the leftover ingredients that you’ll have when you’re done. I used a package for frozen spinach and had about ¼ of the package left; I also had about ¾ of the jar of the pesto left, and about ½ of the feta. So, I’m going to add it to some noodles tomorrow for some lunch.

Here’s the recipe:

Mediterranean (Cheap) Quiche – just keep the cheap part only for your good girlfriends, the only one’s you’d tell that the cute dress everyone is swooning over was a clearance bargain.

1 frozen pie crust (not graham cracker – speaking from experience it makes for a weird quiche - whoops!)
5 eggs
1 package frozen spinach – thawed according to package (or a bunch of spinach rinsed and leaves rough chopped - no stems please!)
1 small jar sun-dried tomato and basil pesto (about 4 teaspoons from the jar)
1 package feta cheese (about ½ of the package)
2 cloves garlic
Paprika
Salt
Pepper


Pre-heat oven to 350

Pre-bake pie crust according to package; this usually involves poking the crust with a fork and baking for around 10 minutes or putting dried beans in the pie crust and baking. I go for the fork pokes, as I don’t want to waste perfectly good beans – those are for the crock pot.

In small sauce pan combine vegetable oil, spinach, garlic and spices, as much as you’d like for your taste. I actually don’t do the salt, the husband has high cholesterol, and he hasn’t noticed the fact that he hasn’t eaten anything with salt for over a month, so don’t tell. Also, feta is pretty salty itself, so go easy on it. Cook the mixture for a few minutes, this is just to combine the flavors, wilt the spinach and cook the garlic a bit.

Beat 6 eggs, once beaten add about 1/4 the jar of pesto (about 4 teaspoons) and combine. You may want to use a hand mixer for this to make sure the ingredients come together.

In the pre-baked pie crust add the spinach mixture and the feta in a nice thick layer, spreading everything evenly. You probably won’t use the whole feta package – make it as cheesy as you’d like.

It should look like this:

Pour the egg / pesto mixture into the crust covering all of the ingredients.

Bake for 25-35 minutes in oven. To check for doneness do the same as with baked goods. Stick a knife in it and open it up a little if it looks firm with no watery goo it is done. You can also shake it, if it looks firm throughout it is done.

Take it out and let cool for around 5 minutes.

Impress your friends! And savor in the wonderful flavors, bargain shopping experience and the fact that everyone is impressed that you made “French food”!

Winter Veggie Soup

Winter Veggie Soup

So, yesterday I went to Target with no intention of making this soup, but as I wandered the veggie area, I discovered that either the fruit and veggie truck didn’t come that day or the employees were holding out on me. As I was perusing tomatoes, a hapless, aging Target employee asked me if I was finding everything. Which I know is not a question that I am not supposed to answer, rather one of those that you are supposed to nod, smile and walk away from. But, this poor veggie man did not realize who he was talking to. I said “Actually, I am quite disappointed by the selection of fruits and vegetables today. The spinach is rotting, and there are no zucchini.” At first he looked shocked, but recovered his composure, and gave me what seemed to be a prepared statement of “Well, it is winter and the fruits and vegetables have to travel a long distance to get to our shelves. Sometimes they don’t make it.” I stared at him for a moment considering reminding him that we didn’t live in Siberia, but quickly decided that would not make my mother proud, and I was wearing a sweat shirt with my employers name printed across it, so I took the high road said “okay”, and walked away before anything mean could slip through my lips.

I walked around the corner and found some interesting looking Idaho Klondike mini-potatoes and thought okay winter veggie soup. The potatoes are really cute. (Can vegetables be cute? I’m from Idaho, so I guess yes, potatoes are cute.) And there were purple ones in the mix. When I cut into the potatoes they are actually purple inside!! I was shocked and Joe suggested we google them to make sure they’re edible. They are and actually are full of more nutrients than regular potatoes. See http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/oct01/potato1001.htm

I grabbed some leeks, dried beans, carrots, and celery and decided that when life gives you lemons make lemonade, or more aptly when life gives you root vegetables make veggie soup.

And just one more gripe about Target, the checker girl asked me the name of every vegetable in my basket. Okay – I’ll give her the leeks, I recently figured out what those are, but broccoli and yellow squash, really? Am I on candid camera? Or is it true that Americans eat so little vegetables from scratch, that a checker at a grocery store cannot readily identify broccoli? What is this world coming to? At least, I know I’m doing my part, my students just did a lesson on fruits and vegetables in Spanish, so at least they’ll be able to identify them en español…

Enough complaining and on to the recipe ;-)

Winter Veggie Crock Pot Soup

½ bag dried bean soup mix (the bag with all sorts of different beans, but throw the “ham” flavor packet away. How could a white powder taste like ham? If you want ham flavor, buy a hock and put it in the soup, just take it out before you serve it ;-)

3 leeks
6 carrots
1 bunch celery
2 cloves garlic
5 mini-potatoes or 2 regular potatoes (preferably the purple kind, just because it’s fun)
1 vegetable bullion cube
Water

Soak the beans according to the package.

Pre-heat crock pot at hot (you’ll turn it down later)
Boil some water (about 4 cups) in a pot with bullion cube and chopped garlic.

Chop up the veggies in bite sized cubes.

Once water boils, add beans and boiling water to crock pot. Add the veggies. Stir. Boil more water and add it, if you need to. By need to, I mean if there is not enough in the pot, you want it to be about ¾ full.

Turn the crock pot down to low. Clean the house, vacuum, plan some lessons, do laundry, go to yoga class. Try not to open the crock pot…I didn't the whole time it cooked!! I’m proud of myself! This should take about 6-8 hours until everything is ready to go.

Eat and enjoy!!

I was going to put some tomatoes in this to make it more minestrone like, but forgot to add them, and then used one for my breakfast, so it didn’t get tomatoes. But, you could add them, and leave a comment saying how that all was.

I asked Joe if he wanted either noodles in the soup or bread. But, he questioned why he had to pick just one. So, I cooked up some rigatoni noodles to add along with some toasted bread. YUM!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

If you are lucky enough to be on my Christmas mailing list you have already eaten these delicious little treats, if not maybe next year...





This bread is DELICIOUS and can be made into bread or muffins. I have added cranberries, and walnuts. But, I also think dark chocolate chips and walnuts would also be good. Maybe next time. The best part of this recipe is that it makes at least 2 breads, or 3 dozen muffins. I freeze the muffins and use pack them in lunches and eat for breakfast. They are truely delicious.

Pumpkin Bread

Pre-heat oven at 350

Mix dry ingredients –

3 c. sugar
3 ½ c. flour (I use whole wheat)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. all spice

Add wet ingredients –

1 – 15 oz. can pumpkin
4 eggs, beaten
¾ c. EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (it has to be the good stuff - see note below)
¼ c. vegetable oil

Mix WELL

In 2/3 c. water (add 2 tsp. orange extract, if you want it, see note below) stir and add to mixture

1 c. craisins (more or less to preference, I usually use almost a bag)

1 c. chopped walnuts (if you want)

Pour into prepared bread pans, usually makes 2 large loafs or 3 small or use the same recipe for muffins makes ~36

Bake BREAD for about 1 hour, check after 45/50 minutes.

Bake MUFFINS for about 15 minutes. I don't set timers, so just wait until you can smell them and then check them with a toothpick. They are done when the toothpick comes out clean.

*A note on orange extract - it doesn't make the bread orangy, but brings out the citrus notes of the cranberry. If you don't have any orange extract or don't want to add it you don't really have to.

*A note on olive oil. I know it sounds weird and you may think it would change the flavor of the bread, but it doesn't. It makes the bread BETTER! I did this once because it was like 9 p.m. Friday night and I only had about 1/4 c. of vegetable oil, so I just used olive oil and it was really good. I tried the recipe later with all vegetable oil and it wasn't as rich, so now I always use the olive oil. And it does have to be decent olive oil, not the cheap stuff that doesn't even taste like olives, but why would you buy that anyways?

This bread is sooooo good, and actually pretty full of vitamins from the pumpkin, cranberries, walnuts, eggs, whole wheat and olive oil. Maybe a little fatty, but I feel like the vitamins from all of those outweigh the fat.

ENJOY!!

Ringing in the New Year with the Crock Pot - Jose Saltando

For the slide into the year of 2011 I decided I would cook the traditional Southern Hoppin' John's stew that is eaten here to give good luck.
I looked and looked for recipes, and found a great one called "Tijuana Hoppin' John's" a mixture of Southern style Black Eyed Peas and Mexican spicyness. YUM.
I got everything ready before the celebrating began and dumped it all into the Crock Pot at 2 a.m. so it could cook overnight and be ready in the morning - thus making the slide into 2011 even easier!!
Here's the recipe it's a combo of the "Tijuana Hoppin' John's" recipe I found online and my own additions.
*A disclaimer - I don't measure when I cook, unless I'm baking, so if you are one of those people who has to measure - you should probably move on...

"Jose saltando" or "Jumping Joe's" (not that Joe was doing much jumping on New Year's Day ;-)

1 bag dried Black Eyed Peas
1 can Ro Tel (canned tomatoes with spices and greeen chili peppers)
1 small can green chili peppers
1 bunch kale
4-5 carrots
1 white onion
~1 TBS chipolte powder
~1 TBS cumin
3 cloves garlic
Water - enough so that the food is coved.
*add whatever veggies you want/have in your fridge - I've heard the Kale means money in Southern cooking / New Years lore, I decided that the carrots when cut in circles also equal money...and added both. Corn might be good, too.

Prepare Black Eyed Peas according to bag - either soaking overnight, or quick soaking - boiling in a pot of water for 2 minutes, removing from heat and sitting for 1 hour.

Pre-heat crock pot on high while cutting veggies.

Cut all the veggies up.

Add Black Eyed Peas, Ro-Tel, Chilis, veggies to the crock pot.

In a measuring cup add water, stir in cumin and chipotle, pour over contents. Repeat until all the stuff is covered. The kale probably will float, but it'll reduce spreading all the good vitamins and nutrients into the stew, and be much smaller once it has cooked.

Turn the crock pot down to low.

Go to bed. The smells will scare away all of the bad spirits from the previous year.

Wake up to the smell of delicious, spicy, hangover curing Black Eyed Peas.

Make some corn bread, drink some coffee and Gatorade while the corn bread is cooking.

Dish it up and enjoy!

I froze part of the left-overs and ate them throughout the week.

I don't have any pictures to post, we ate it all.