Friday, September 14, 2012

Seasonal Quiche



I love eggs! There's a long standing joke in my household that the reason I started dating my husband was because he had chickens. There is nothing better to an egg lover than never having to pay for good eggs again. What are good eggs you ask? Good eggs come from a small farm, from truly free range Hens that get plenty of sunshine, and live real chicken lives. Our own Hens enjoy scratching and bathing in the dirt, eating bugs and grass, roaming about all day, and roosting in the trees at night. Once you get spoiled on good eggs you won't believe how you ever swallowed the caged, artificially lighted, grain fed, antibiotic pumped and supplemented, factory house eggs. My stomach turns not only at the taste, but at the sad existence of those birds.

Good eggs are not only better tasting, but are healthier for you. They contain lots of B vitamins, natural omega fatty acids, and lean protein. For heart health fanatics a must know tip is that the cholesterol you eat is not the same as the cholesterol in your blood. So eat those vitamin rich yolks all you want.

Quiche is a great way to use eggs. It's a good meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Some claim the history behind pies are that the Amish carried this tradition in order to have something quick to grab and eat while heading out into the fields to work. My only regret is that for what you get it uses relatively few eggs. But like pizza in the summer, Quiche is a great way to use what you have on hand seasonally.

Start by making the crust, see "Easy as Pie-Crust" recipe. For Quiche you will be using one crust, the recipe makes two. Either save the other crust, make two Quiche or use the second crust to make something else (see future post Mixed Berry Pie).  Or go crust-less if you are gluten free.

Filling:
4 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
or
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk, if you have a small pie plate
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

Add to this any combination of 2 cups (cooled) sauteed vegetables and 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, see below for a few ideas.

Mustard Greens and Cheddar (my favorite)
Caramelized onions and White Cheddar
Leek and Goat Cheese
Spinach, garlic and Feta
Kale, Red onion and Swiss

Make sure the vegetables have cooled from cooking, and you have pulsed till nearly pureed in your food processor before adding the eggs and milk, and stirring in cheese. Pour into pie shell and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, till top is gold and bubbly. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Serves 6.

Easy as Pie-Crust

I have never been good at making pie crust. I just don't have the patience to cut in butter to flour for a really flaky crust. And I just can't use hydrogenated oil, no Crisco for me. Nor do I wish to use lard, unless it were from my own pigs.

But in one of the last issues of Cook's Country I came across a pie crust recipe that makes a delicious crust good for savory and sweet pies.

1/2 cup sour cream, chilled
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
12 T. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

Combine sour cream and egg in bowl. Process flour and salt in food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until only pea size pieces remain, 6-10 pulses. Add half of sour cream mixture and pulse until combined, 6 pulses. Add remaining sour cream mixture and pulse until dough begins to form, 6-10 pulses.
Transfer mixture to a lightly floured counter and knead briefly until dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each half into 4-inch disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Remove 1 dough disk from refrigerator and let sit for 10 minutes. Working on lightly floured surface, roll into 12 inch round and transfer to 9 inch pie plate leaving 1/2 inch overhang all around. Repeat with second dough disk and transfer to parchment lined rimmed baking sheet, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

At this point it's ready to fill any way you like. I end up baking most pies at 375 degrees F. for about 45 minutes.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Getting Rid of Fruit Flies

Fruit Flies like a Banana.  That is Tom's favorite joke.  He loves word play.

But seriously folks, it only takes a couple of fruit flies to soon have a major infestation on your hands that seems impossible to get rid of.  Since we often have fruit just hanging out in the kitchen waiting to be eaten, and we compost, and the bathroom often has baby wipes in the garbage, it is easy for this to get out of hand.

So after some minimal research I decided to try two methods.

1.  Pour 1 inch of apple cider vinegar into a jar or glass.  Cut the very tip of a plastic baggie off.  Push the tip down into the jar creating a funnel.  Rubber band the baggie around the jar.  Fruit Flies go in, but they don't come out.

2.  Pour 1 cup of apple cider vinegar into a jar, add a couple of drops of dish soap.  The soap breaks the surface of the vinegar and keeps the flies from being able to get out.  No baggies needed.

Both methods worked fine, but the funnel seemed to work better and requires less vinegar.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Savory Zucchini Muffins

In an effort to try something new, and use up the Zucchini, I made these muffins.  These couldn't be any easier to make.  The Hubs loved them and when we have more Zucchini, I'll make more.

1 cup shredded Zucchini
1 egg
1/3 cup of cooking oil
6 Tablespoons (slightly more than 1/3 cup) Buttermilk
1 Tablespoon finely chopped Basil or 1 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix all liquid ingredients together.  Blend dry ingredients and mix into wet, as little as possible.  Oil a muffin tin-fills 8 muffin cups.  Top each muffin with about 1 teaspoon of the Parmesan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack or serve piping hot.

1 Muffin has 210 calories.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Zucchini Egg Fritters

Earlier today I declared I wanted something delicious for dinner.  But I had no idea what to do.  Deciding to use the Zucchini I had in the fridge I googled 'great zucchini recipes.' and I found this one on a website called Big Girls, Small Kitchen.  It was terrific.  I immediately mixed up another batch to fry after trying the first cake.  Nearly two years later, I altered the recipe, see below.
 
1 cup grated Zucchini (1 small)
1/4 cup minced Onion
1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup flour (gluten free or all purpose)

For Frying:
1 Tablespoon cooking oil
1 Tablespoon Butter


I don't fool around with a hand grater for vegetables, I use the shredding blade on my food processor.  Mix first 7 ingredients.  Heat the oil and butter in a Cast Iron skillet (if you have it, otherwise use your egg pan) to medium high heat.  Drop by the heaping Tablespoon full without crowding the pan.  Cook for about 1 minute each side, just long enough to puff and brown.  Makes about eight 3 inch cakes.  Serves 1-2.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

"Sick-Girl" Brownies or The Best Brownies Ever

The only time I allow myself to make brownies is when I am sick.  This happens very rarely, once a year maybe.  For some reason, nothing makes me feel better than eating a pan of brownies, watching Clash of the Titans, and wallowing in my lethargy.  Since I don't typically devour the pan in one sitting, but rather over the course of a few days, it's not as bad as it sounds.

The sad bit is that I don't have a tried and true Brownie recipe.  I like them chocolaty, sweet, crispy on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle.  Using what I had in my kitchen, I miraculously made a delicious batch once.  Luckily, I managed to write the hodge-podge recipe down.  Below is a variation on that recipe.  And, because brownies have such little flour, a gluten free version is easy to make.

3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
3 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add any or all of the following to enhance flavor:  1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon instant or powdered coffee.  There is something about coffee that brings out the chocolate.

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease an 8x8 glass baking dish.  Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a mixing bowl, add oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Beat in eggs.  Stir together dry ingredients and mix into wet.  Scrape into baking dish.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack.  They are always better the next day.

If you have no chips, just increase cocoa powder to 1/2 cup.  If no powder, increase chips to 2/3 cup.  You can use all white sugar and no brown.  If using just brown, lower amount to 1 cup packed.

Next time I plan on trying to use just cocoa powder and no flour.  And if you want to make them absolutely decadent, frost them with chocolate butter-cream frosting.