Quiche

I've made Cooking Light's Spinach, Caramelized Onion, and Feta Quiche many times; but not recently. Cause I got tired of it. But, since I'm no longer working and have time to make meals, and because my kid has developed her father's picky food trait, and because pinterest is awesome, I've been cooking a lot.

I adapted the quiche recipe a bit, and I guess it's no longer "light," but it's very delicious and Abby loved it. "Mom, this Keith is delicious!" Score!

I made this whole wheat crust, subbing sucanat instead of sugar (much better than the pizza dough crust recommended in the recipe.)The one review states to double the oil and milk. I didn't find that to be necessary. I especially liked how the crust was assembled in the actual pie plate.

I used half a bag of hash browns and diced the onions. There were a lot left over (wouldn't fit into the crust) so I served them along side of the quiche. I used the same amount of eggs and egg whites as the recipe states. My changes: about 4 oz. of farmer's cheese and 2 oz. of smoked gouda (the smokiness really adds a lot of flavor!)

So basically, I followed the recipe swapping out the crust and adding smoke gouda and farmer's cheese to the egg & feta mixture.

Like I said, I served with the leftover potatoes and onions, and a side salad. And of course, I topped mine with sriracha because it is awesome.

Pretend the photo is in focus.

A Delicious Sandwich.

I've had this recipe bookmarked for awhile. It's very good. I served it for dinner, but Cooking Light recommends it for breakfast/brunch.
I served it with sweet potato fries.

The sandwich is grilled goat cheese sandwich served on cinnamon raisin bread. The goat cheese mixture includes honey, lemon zest, and basil. The recipe calls for fig preserves. I couldn't find that, so I used Dickinson's apple butter instead. Very delicious!

Sorry for the crappy picture.

Soup!

I'm really making an effort to lose weight. Seriously. It's difficult to not get discouraged, especially since I strictly followed Weight Watchers for a week and lost NOTHING. Because of that, I said "eff it" and at kind of crappily yesterday. Now to pick up and start over. One day of mourning allowed.

So, since I need to go grocery shopping and there's nothing really low-points to eat in the house (or any points, for that matter!) I found a recipe that would work.

I found this recipe last week. I made it this morning and at it for lunch. Me & Abby took a walk to get some good Italian bread to complete the meal.

Since I didn't have fresh rosemary, I just used dried. I also skipped the fresh herb mix-in and sour cream at the end. It didn't really matter because the soup is so good! My daughter ate a lot of it! This is good news. She asked for more for dinner!

Unlikely Trio.

Inspired by a recipe in the new Cooking Light, I decided to make a Lemon-Lavender Olive Oil cake. The original recipe is Lemon-Rosemary Olive Oil cake. I didn't have any fresh rosemary, but still have a lot of lavender left over from last year. I was intrigued by the use of olive oil in a cake instead of vegetable oil or butter.

Despite the unique ingredients, this cake is quite mediocre. There's a small amount of lavender flavor, but not enough to make it outstanding. The lemon flavor is barely there and the olive oil flavor is non-existent. I guess you have to have olive oil in the title of the recipe since it's such an unusual cake ingredient, but it really shouldn't be there because if you didn't tell me olive oil was in the cake, I never would have guessed.

Needless to say, it was a disappointment. I may try it again, this time using rosemary and a lot more lemon.

Strawberry Cake.

My husband turned 39 last week. He either requests no cake or an ice cream cake. This year, it seemed he was leaning towards "no cake" and I find that unacceptable for a birthday. So, I found this cake in my recent Cooking Light and decided to give it a go. I knew he'd be OK with a CL recipe. He's very calorie conscious.

The reviews on the Cooking Light website are very mixed. Some people say the cake simply tastes like flour, others rave. In our house, we all enjoyed it. Honestly, I do think it could use more strawberry flavor in the actual cake, but I'd be concerned that adding more strawberry puree would make the cake too dense. I will make this cake again and play around a bit. Perhaps I will add some vanilla extract; I thought it was odd that there wasn't any in the recipe. Or, maybe some strawberry extract for more strawberry flavor. But I don't know... I've never used that before and don't really know what it tastes like. Is it too artificial tasting? Another thing I've decided to do... add strawberry preserves in between the layers.
The frosting was pretty good, but I really didn't see the point of the orange juice (used that instead of the Grand Marnier). There was no orange flavor, maybe add some zest? But I don't know, I think I'll just skip the orange all together next time. It didn't do a thing.
Overall, good cake, just needs a few alterations to make it great.

Lots of Food, One Picture.

Yesterday was Easter. While I'm not religious, we do celebrate the Easter bunny's arrival with brunch.
I made a french toast casserole, hash brown casserole, broccoli rabe and red pepper frittata, and basil-lime fruit salad.

First, the french toast casserole. I didn't have a piece of my own, but I sampled my husband's. The topping was delicious, how could it not be? It was butter, walnuts (instead of pecans), brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and corn syrup! The inside of it was too soggy for my liking.

The hash brown casserole was rich and tasty. It is similar to Cracker Barrel's. In my opinion, the french fried onions on top were unnecessary. The broccoli rabe & red pepper frittata was my favorite dish despite the excessive amount of cheese. It did not need the amount of cheese that was called for. I had leftovers for breakfast this morning and took off all the cheese.

The basil-lime fruit salad was yummy! Such an unusual combination, but worked perfectly in this fruit salad.

Dinner & Dessert.

Lately I haven't been in a mood to cook. Just quick, simple things. The same quick and simple things over and over. And over. So boring.
I don't know why, but when I woke up yesterday, I was overcome with the desire to cook! Me & Abby headed to the store and got our supplies (minus the parsley.) So annoying! How is the grocery store totally out of parsley!? Anyhow...

We decided on this hearty lasagna recipe, but subsituted the ground meat with Light Life "ground beef." I also skipped out the parsley, not by my choice, though! I didn't follow the sauce recipe exactly, I used my own herbs and seasonings. Oh, and I used the no-boil type of lasagna noodles...so much easier!

For all the work, which technically isn't a lot until you add a preschooler into the mix, it was pretty good. The child just picked at it; she preferred the salad's "crunchy things" (romaine ribs), cucumbers, and tomatoes. Husband said it was good, but didn't seem too impressed. *sigh*

For dessert, ice cream. Delicious, creamy, flavorful blueberry cheesecake ice cream. I saw this recipe on Cooking Light awhile ago and have been wanting to try it. I finally decided to do it. Another multi-step recipe whose steps are just prolonged with the preschooler helper. Honestly, I also added more steps because I thought it would be better. Firstly, I tempered the hot milk/half and half into the egg/sugar/cream cheese mixture. And then strained it. Glad I did both because when I strained, despite the tempering, there was a tiny bit of scrambled egg. Ew. Who wants that in ice cream!? This ice cream is very good, but not really *that* "light." I mean sure, compared to Haagan-Dazs, it is, but compared to the light ice cream I usually eat, it's not. Oh well. It was delicous. Husband liked it, but didn't rave (he wasn't in a good mood yesterday.) Daughter didn't like it...maybe because she's not a blueberry fan? Don't know. I used frozen berries instead of fresh because they're not in season.
This will be made again. Possibly with a different fruit. Strawberries, raspberries, peaches... so many possibilities!

Mousse!

For New Year's Day dessert, I made Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse à l'Orange from Cooking Light. It was pretty good, but for my sweet-tooth, could have been a tad sweeter.
I did, of course, make some alterations. I used the juice of one orange instead of the Grand Marnier since my three-year-old would be eating it. I also used all the zest from the orange instead of just the recommended 1 teaspoon.
I was very pleased with the result, I've made chocolate mousse from silken tofu before and have yet to be disappointed. My father, the genetic contribution for my sweet-tooth, and hard-core meat eater really enjoyed it. Not until I was certain that he was genuinely enjoying the dessert, did I let on that it was made with tofu. He seemed a bit disturbed, but oh well.

Apple Overload.

We went to Linvilla Orchards on Friday. We all had a lot of fun. We saw animals, rode a train, picked out pumpkins and went apple picking.
I spent about $25 on apples. There were hardly any apples left, but we found two or three trees that had a decent amount of fruit. The only apples available to pick were red delicious. I think they are my least favorite apples, but what can ya do? (FYI... honeycrisp apples are my new favorite. They are tart and sweet and crisp and wonderful.)
When we came home, I adapted a recipe and made a sort of apple cobbler. Eh. Not impressive and therefore, not picture worthy.
This morning I made German Apple Pancakes. It was Cooking Light's August 2008 cover recipe.
This was easy, but not quick. It was good, but not a "go out and get the ingredients" recipe. Although really, it's one of those recipes that has basic pantry ingredients anyhow. That's always a bonus.
OK, wait, I'm lying. I didn't have egg substitute, so I substituted the substitute by using *gasp* three real eggs mixed with water.
It was good, but not great. It tasted too egg-y for me. Maybe that's due to the amount of eggs. Maybe it's just that way. I don't know. Either way, it wasn't really a good use of the excess of apples I have since it only used about one and a half apples. I think I'm going to make applesauce today.

Mac & Cheese.

Today was such a perfect autumn day. Chilly, windy, and sunny. The trees were shedding their leaves in droves. I so enjoy driving through the park in the downpour of autumn leaves.
The weather completely inspired my dinner menu; plus I knew that my husband would be craving something warm and comforting since he has a cold (and no blood.)
I found this recipe from Cooking Light. I decided to alter it. A lot. I replaced the gorgonzola with goat cheese. I replaced the mozzarella with 1% sharp cheddar. Skipped the bay leaf and added paprika. Served with stewed tomatoes, of course! It was very delicious. A perfect meal autumnal meal. I also made some vegetarian minestrone (a photo from last year here.) inspired by this soup. I used vegetable broth instead of water, and used about 8 cups of it since I more than doubled the recipe's vegetables. I added celery and cabbage too. Very tasty. Cannot wait for tomorrow' lunch (soup) and tomorrow's after work dinner (mac & cheese and more soup).

Grape Tart.

Baking with grapes. Who knew? Apparently, Cooking Light did. I happened upon this recipe and was instantly intrigued. I purchased the grapes with plans of making the tart Sunday morning. The tarts calls for both red and black grapes. Besides never baking with grapes, I've never eaten black grapes. They are delicious! They taste like grape juice. (duh!)
Anyhow, I realized that I didn't have butter or oranges like the cooking light crust calls for. I whipped out the Veganomicon book and found an apple galette recipe and just used the pastry recipe from that (plus an additional tablespoon of sugar...I like sweet pastry dough.)
The tart was really good. I was surprised that the grapes didn't wilt or shrivel from the 400 degree oven heat. Also, it would have been vegan except that I brushed the crust with egg yolk, I realize that is easily remedied. (I would have used soy milk to make it 100% vegan, but I assembled the tart at my parents' house.)
So, here's the recipe:

CRUST
2 c flour (I used 1c unbleached, 1/2c whole wheat, 1/2c whole wheat pastry flour)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 c non hydrogenated vegan shortening
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2c - 3/4c ice water

FILLING
2 1/4 c black grapes
2 1/4c red grapes
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
(Crust)
Combine flour, sugar and salt. Add shortening in small amounts. Cut into flour mixture until dough is crumbly. Combine vinegar & ice water. Add that combination to the flour mixture in three batches. Form into ball, flatten, refrigerate 30 minutes.
Roll out dough into 11" circle.

(Filling)
Combine all ingredients and gently stir. Put fill in center of crust. Leave 2" to fold crust up on the filling.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

(Oops! Forgot to mention, brush crust with egg yolk and sprinkle entire crust and topping with raw sugar.)

Dinner & Dessert.

For dinner we had Black Bean Quesadillas with Goat Cheese. I made this a couple of weeks ago and it was a hit with everyone involved. Plus, it's quick, so you can't really beat it. I would like to try this with homemade tortillas, but that kinda defeats the "quick" part.

My only alterations to the recipe are:
1. I use a lot more cilantro and cumin than recommended and
2. I use peach/mango salsa; it adds a nice sweet complement to the tangy goat cheese.

For dessert. Ah, sweet, sweet dessert. I made the ice cream. Since I messed up somewhere in the cheese making process and only had half of the amount of fresh ricotta I needed for a full recipe of the ice cream, I halved the ice cream recipe. To my chagrin, I only have half a recipe of the lucious, creamy, smooth, aromatic, savory, deliciousness that is the Honey-Lavender Ice Cream. Oh. My. God. This stuff is divine. It is reminiscent of Capogiro's rosemary honey goat's milk gelato, but the base is sweeter and the flavor is more condensed. The only potential adaptation would be the elimination of the honey because the flavor is masked by the lavender, and it really only adds more sweetness; I have an intense sweet tooth, so I love it, but I know others will find it to be too sweet.

Also, this is the first homemade ice cream that I've made that isn't overly icy or hard. I always make the ice cream low-fat or even vegan. Sometimes both. Those two things do not contribute to a creamy ice cream. They really only satisfy my need for an evening sweet. This ice cream, this ice cream is pure bliss...don't let the bland photo trick you!

Say Cheeeese!

I made fresh ricotta cheese. My mom let me use her candy thermometer, so I didn't have to buy one.

When I asked the grocery store clerk the location of cheese cloth, you would've thought I asked where they keep their crack. So, I found a cotton meshy cloth and used that. It worked quite well, but I did have sew the two cloths together to make one big cloth.

Overall, I enjoyed the cheese-making experience, but I can't say I'll do it again soon. I honestly didn't see the benefit of the thermometer, because you could see when the curds were forming, so the temperature on the thermometer was irrelevant.

I don't know what I did or didn't do, or if I did everything just right, but there was a lot of extra whey. A lot. The curds to whey ratio was kinda off, and I figured that would be the case, just not as extreme as it was.*

Later today, I'll probably be making ice cream.

*I was definitely off! The recipe should have made 3 cups. I only got 1 1/2 cups. Not sure what I did wrong...