My Adjusted Quiche Recipe Undertaking

We spent the evening after work commitments celebrating the 6-month, “half” birthday of Miles with Steve and Kelly. We met up for dinner at U-Village and grabbed a cupcake to mark the special occasion from Trophy Cupcake and Party. Miles was content wrinkling up a piece of paper, flirting with everyone one that walked by his stroller and inhaling milk on his terms only. He's a good kid and does not fuss much, or at least not around us.

I wanted to bake so I made a quiche Holly and I could enjoy and get six servings out of it and have it for lunch the next three days. I had some ingredients in the fridge that I wanted to use before they went bad. I loosely followed a Better Homes and Gardens quiche recipe from the 1970’s that I've used for years. I always adjust it slightly and make something different. This time I wanted come caramelized veggies and goat cheese in it.



Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Quiche

1 recipe for 8”- 9” pie crust
1 C chopped sweet onion
1 C chopped broccoli
4 Eggs
2 C Half & Half
½ C parmesan cheese, grated
1 C cheese of choice, Swiss, Dubliner, whatever you have
4 oz goat cheese
2 T Flour
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Make a pie crust according to your recipe of choice or just purchase one. I typically purchase a pie crust to save me time. Line a pie plate with the crust and cover with foil, pressing foil down onto dough to help “set” dough in place. Bake for 8 minutes in 450 degree oven. Remove foil and bake for 5 minutes more. Remove partially cooked crust from oven and reduce temperature to 325 degrees.

With some butter and olive oil, sauté the chopped onions until golden and caramelized. Add the chopped broccoli and wilt down. Allow to cool. In a mixing bowl thoroughly whisk the eggs, add the half & half, salt, pepper, nutmeg and flour. Stir in grated cheese of choice and Parmesan. Pour mixture into the crust. Break apart the goat cheese and sprinkle it liberally over the top of the egg vegetable mixture. Gently press the goat cheese into the mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. If the edge of the crust gets overly brown, place some foil over the edge to prevent over browning.



This will be nice and tasty with a mixed green salad, along side some fresh organic cherry tomatoes for lunch.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately about the importance of really watching the types of food we consume in our bodies. Avoiding dreadful processed foods that are full of way too many empty calories, chemicals and other things your body does not need and will just make you gain weight. Holly and I have really been making a conscious effort to watch what we consume.

I’m just finishing up a book by Barbara Kingsolver entitled “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.” In this book, she and her family decided to test one year of living off the land at their family farm. While many of us do not have family farms to grow copious amounts of organic food on, we can make healthier choices in our lives with our direct food sources. As demands for better food increase, we’ll stop seeing crap products in grocery stores. Eating locally and in season is all for best health anyways.

The best food change we’ve made over the past year has been the switch to organic dairy products as well as organic meat products. The more I learn about industrial raised commercial meat products for this country, the more I’m thoroughly disgusted about what the FDA will allow as safe for human consumption. I don’t need to eat red meat from a cow that has been cooped up in a pen, never able to see the light of day; given massive amounts of chemically enriched soy and corn products to eat [cows should graze on grass]. These cows also standing up udder high in their own fecal matter just so these commercialized meat houses can turn a profit and fatten up cows quicker to get them to slaughter quicker and into our national grocery store chains. If I over think what I’m consuming, I get really disgusted.

Another aspect to this book that I REALLY liked was getting back to the root of family togetherness. All family units should make an effort to cook together, enjoy good products made in the home, and have fun in the kitchen doing so, and sitting down at a table to enjoy the fruits of your labors. Not just food products, but really making things to enjoy a more provident living lifestyle. We all live in a hectic world with hectic schedules. The convenience food products are making this country fatter, increasing heart disease instances and causing more and more diabetes. We all should be doing our best to keep local farmers in business and we all can make this choice. A few extra dollars on better quality food just means one less movie outing or concert each month, or one less shirt purchase.

In her book, Barbara quotes:

“Cooking together is good citizenship. It’s the only way to get serious about putting locally raised foods into your diet, which keeps farmlands healthy and grocery money in your own neighborhood’s economy. Cooking and eating with children teaches them civility and practical skills they can use later on to save money and stay healthy, whatever may happen in their lifetimes to the gas-fueled food industry. Family time is a premium for most of us, and legitimate competing interests can easily crowd out home cooking. But if grabbing fast food is the only way to get the kids to their healthy fresh-air soccer practice on time, that’s an interesting call. Arterial-plaque specials that save minutes and cost just a few bucks now, can cost you years, later on in life.”

More Family Vacation Photos

So I posted a few days ago about our ranch extravaganza with Dan's family, but we did manage to get together with my family too over the whirlwind trip. We had a great time going to Thaifoon (odd spelling, good food) for dinner the first night we arrived. All kids were with babysitters, so it was nice to have adult conversation. Plus it was Alicia's birthday so it was a fun night out as a group. When we got back from the ranch we were able to see all of Kyle and Alicia's kids and get some great shots with their cousins.



Kyle and Alicia's youngest is getting so big!!




Such cute girls.



Lydia explaining to me that we are in the water and need to get out so we won't be eaten by sharks.



They all get along so well. I love seeing all the cousins together.





I took these images becuase I love going into my mom's room and seeing her mass of photos on her dresser. There are so many she doesn't have room to put anything else on it. Don't we all look so young? And I love this picture of my grandparents.



Before we left we went out to lunch with Dan's dad. He loves having his picture taken. Can you tell?

I love family, and am so blessed to have such a wonderful group to call my own.

Road Trip!

We began our Portland road trip just after 10am, we had big plans to grab a pastry at Café Besalu, get on the road and be there by 2:00pm. I'm sure you guessed by the way I started this post that things did not go as planned. We got to Café Besalu only to find a huge line out the door. We waited for about 1/2 hour, moved 2 feet and decided it wasn't worth it. We had places to be! So we got back in the car without breakfast and drove, drove, drove. Things were going great (except my stomach was a little hungry), no traffic even as we entered Tacoma and minimal through Olympia. Just out of Olympia there was major traffic, road construction everywhere and bumper to bumper stop and go. It was AWFUL! Dan road raged, and I was starving. To solve both our problems, we stopped off in Centrailia to eat and deciding we didn't want to eat in chain-fast-food-hell, we chose to eat at Country Cousins. The place was packed so they accommodated us in the lounge. We sat down at a table, Dan up against the wall, me in the chair, I look up and I see this just above Dan's left shoulder.



Basically my jaw hit the table, as soon as I recovered I pointed it out to Dan and we had a pretty good laugh. The food was marginal at best and the decor...



Well, you get the idea.

So, finally back in the car, more traffic, more road raging. We finally got to our Hotel. We checked in at the Heathman dumped our bags off, got directions and headed out to see Linda and her band (Mollybolt) perform. We got there just in time I could hear Linda's voice carrying across the street as we approached. It was great! She did such an awesome job and has a great voice. Check her out.




We spent the rest of our visit shopping and eating. Oh did we eat! We at at a great place called Clyde Common in the Ace Hotel. Thanks to Noelle who gave glowing reports based on our friend Steve's recommendation. Here is our meal.



Yummy focaccia bread with olive oil, salt and pepper.



Dan enjoying lavender lemonade.




Starters. I enjoyed the arugula salad with crushed olives, cheese and croutons. Dan had a roasted beet salad with potatoes, carrots, beans and other yummy stuff.




Main course. I enjoyed lamb shoulder (my first) with a corona bean puré. Dan had lamb tagliatelle. Both dishes were really good. My only gripe was there was too much fat on my lamb. Not being a lamb connoisseur I'm not sure if that was typical or not.



Waiting for dessert...




Dan had a crazy roasted tomato caramel tart with pine nuts. It sounded so gross to me, but I did try it and it wasn't half bad. Dan loved it. I had a blueberry lemon white chocolate trifle with lemon buttermilk sorbet and a shortbread cookie. I didn't even miss that there wasn't any real chocolate in it!

We loved the place, all farm fresh and local produce.



They even can their own food. It was great.

Sunday we had an excellent brunch with Linda at Meriwether's Restaurant. The food was really good, service however was super slow. But it gave us a lot of good time to catch up with Linda. When we were done Dan and I went to Powell's books and Jone's cupcake. The books were way better than the cupcakes, Dan of course picked up some good culinary references. I look forward to whatever it is he cooks out of them!

Do Fish Really Think?

Better Late Than Never Ranch

Ah the ranch. So many stories have been told over the past 10 years of marriage, a few photos have been shared and now I've finally seen it for my own eyes. To get there you drive through parley's canyon and continue east for quite a while. And by that I mean forever. Those that know me know I don't enjoy "rides" very much (I blame my mom and our 4 hour "sunday drives"). But honestly, this drive wasn't bad, the scenery was nice for quite a ways until we hit Wyoming. Then it was kind of flat, mostly dry, with a lot of brush and tumble weeds. It was at this point that Dan tells me "this is what the ranch looks like". I was not impressed. I'm not sure what I thought, but I definitely didn't think it would be a desert wasteland. I guess I was imagining cattle, and grass and prairie. So I spent the rest of the drive staring out the window hoping the scenery would change, and was pleasantly surprised to see these:




I was captivated. I'd never seen these in person before. I took picture after picture from the moving car. I even made Dan pull over so I could get a few non-blurry ones. So Dan told me that he Uncle Mike helped build them just before he passed away. I thought it was so great.

We got to the ranch (thankfully there were trees) and waited for the herd of people to show up. Dan spent some time on facebook. This was Dan's typical look for the entire trip.



Finally the group arrived and we started setting up our tents in the tall grass under the aspen trees. It was a beautiful setting. The weather was nice. I even rode on a tractor to get wood for a bonfire. I was living the dream of the ranch.



Until it rained.



Oh well, it made the trip that much more memorable! Here are more pics.



Hot dog roast in the rain.



Dining under the tractor.



Beach umbrellas to keep us dry.



And boots to keep little feet dry.








There were a few extra highlights.



The super cute bug net that Gretchen made to keep the mosquito off Emma.



Food cooked outdoor always tastes better than you'd expect.



Sun hats used to keep out the rain.



Picturesque outhouses that thankfully I never had to use.



And beautiful sunsets.

We also had a great time lighting off fireworks in the street, listening to Shawn's homemade ammo explode in the distance, 4-wheeler rides, and of course floating down the canal. Sadly I don't have pictures of any of these things but I hear through the grapevine the canal float has been documented and will soon be used as blackmail.

My New Favorite Ice Cream Recipe

Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Gourmet Magazine

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt such as Maldon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs

EQUIPMENT: an ice cream maker

Heat 1 cup sugar in a dry 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber.

Add 1 1/4 cups cream (mixture will spatter) and cook, stirring, until all of caramel has dissolved. Transfer to a bowl and stir in sea salt and vanilla. Cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, bring milk, remaining cup cream, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar just to boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally.

Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then add half of hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in cooled caramel.

Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker (it will still be quite soft), then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.

Adoption Update

Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Paying! Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Waiting...! Paying! Slow progress, that's for sure.

Chicken and Caramelized Onion Meatballs

Last night after work, gym and errand running I was in the mood to make some homemade meatballs. This past issue of Gourmet has had a lot of recipes that I’ve wanted to try. The recipe in the book called for all ground chicken, but I ultimately did half ground beef and half ground chicken.

I ended up sautéing a large sweet onion, with six gloves of garlic, roasted red peppers, and fresh basil. After that cooled I mixed the caramelized vegetables into the meat, and added more seasonings, fresh herbs, eggs, milk and bread crumbs. These ended up being very tasty.

After a quick boil of some fettuccine and cooking off the meatballs in the oven, I through together a quick tomato based pasta sauce with more herbs, capers, olive oil and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese! Dinner ended up being later than planned, but was well worth the wait for a "from scratch" meal.

One Stop Shop

I just discovered today that my favorite place for drooling over fabric now has letter pressed cards, beautiful ribbons and wrapping paper. I need to go back to NY and actually go to this store.

Check 'em out http://www.purlbee.com/

Salted Caramel Goodness!

There are many recipes that I want to try in the latest issue of Gourmet Magazine. For the first I gathered the ingredients and made their Salted Caramel Ice Cream. I love it! It has just the right bite of sea salt in it to counterbalance the sweetness. You basically start by melting a cup of sugar in a frying pan until it starts to melt and caramelizes. Stir in some heavy whipping cream and thoroughly mix. Once cooled, I added Maldron flaked sea salt and some pure vanilla extract. Once this caramel mixture is completely cool, you mix that with a heated mixture of whole milk, cream, eggs and sugar. These two mixes form the ice cream base. I made this Saturday evening, while I was making some fresh blueberry and cream cheese turnovers and baked beans for Sunday’s picnic in the park with Steve, Kelly and Miles. I froze the salted ice cream Sunday afternoon in our ice cream maker. Holly and I enjoyed a taste of it last night with a little more flaked sea salt on top. This will definitely be a recipe I put in my files.

Our Icebox Bedroom

This past weekend, Holly and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We finally broke down Friday night and decided that it was time for a portable air conditioning unit for our bedroom. I don’t think either of us has slept restful for days due to all the heat that the region has been experiencing, as well as the heat we experienced on vacation a week back. This new unit is great for our bedroom. We basically create an ice box and sleep in chilled air. It’s nice to have the blanket and sheet back. Totally worth the expense.