Experimental QUICHE!

Ok... so quiche is a new thing of mine, I LOVE quiche but have never made it.

My quiche:

12 eggs, beaten until light yellow
1 can evaporated milk
2c shredded herb & garlic cheddar cheese
1/2 finely diced bell pepper
1 pkg thawed and drained (or 2 bundles washed and chopped fresh) spinach
1 can mushrooms (I used mushroom medley)
1/2-1c diced ham
3 tbsp flaked dried onion
1-2 tsp garlic powder
Seasoning Salt to taste
salt and pepper (I used fresh ground) to taste

I wanted to add fresh oregano but totally forgot hah. And forgot the green onion I had haha. Whoops!

I placed into 6 ginormous muffin tins and a square glass baking dish well buttered.
Bake at 300*C for 50-60mins (hopefully)

They tell me to stick a knife in it to check if it's done. hmmm...

I hope it's seasoned well enough! 

SMELLS GOOD!

Spiceradish Eggs!

Can't think of a better name for em, really.

Trying to find some high protein variety snacks and I came up with the idea of deviled eggs. MMM LOVE THEM, of course using non-fat/half fat mayo or traditionally (in my house!) Miracle Whip (omg so delish).  But then I found a recipe and over the past week I've tweaked it.  And in my good fashion, all measurements are by "dash" so very very approximate haha.


Hard boiled eggs as many as you want
(don't know how? Here's a simple way!  Poke holes in egg bottoms with a pin, put in large pot and cover +1inch with cold water.  Set to boil.  Once rolling boil remove from heat and let sit for 11 mins, dump the water and sit under running cold water tap to cool and stop cooking process.)

Half the eggs, put egg yolks in a bowl or in a small food processor
Add 1/4-1/3cup light/fat free mayo
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne*  (start with less, 1/4tsp then increase as you taste test)
1/2 tsp pepper
2tbsp (or more!) prepared horseradish (or homemade if you can!!!!)

Blend or crush with your forky-fork until smooth. I dislike using a fork now because the yolks still are chunky.  Electricity is a beauty, why let it escape our control?! Unless you're a hippie...

ENJOY!

Coconut Curry Chicken

In a large glass mixing bowl place:

1 can of Coconut Milk (or if you can find Cream go for that!)  Don't use Light Coconut Milk, check the coconut content, cheaper cans will have more water. It will seem thick but with heat it thins.
2 crushed garlic cloves
5 slices ginger root
3 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp (give or take) cayenne powder
1/2 tsp Bay Leaves
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Coriander
2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp sugar

Whisk together until well blended..

Chopped bell pepper (color of your choice)
1/4 cup diced onion
1 grilled Portobello mushroom, sliced (stem removed, wipe down with a damp paper towel, rub with a small amt olive oil, bake in an oven at 450 for 12-15mins)
1/2 Zucchini sliced in 1/4-1/2 inch slices

And in a large glass baking dish:

Place Chicken (I used chicken thighs, but since the skin was providing too much oil I would recommend a boneless, skinless chicken item) 

Place veggies

Pour coconut curry sauce on top and attempt to cover it all.  

Bake at 425 for 55mins total - 30mins with tinfoil to keep the chicken moist, basting the chicken frequently
(if this were a skillet dinner which I make with diced Firm Tofu I'd add cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli and eggplant and sliced carrots)


I personally prefer a sweeter curry than a salty one, and I enjoy the heat of chili flakes or cayenne. But add this as you go - taste the sauce before placing with the chicken if you will.

Chicken Cabbage Soup Experiment Extraordinaire!

1 crockpot
1 chicken breast - Flame grilled then shredded
some chopped cauliflower
some chopped broccoli
peeled and chopped carrot
shredded/chopped cabbage
chopped onion
1/2 can canned diced tomatoes w/ juice
2 cans chicken stock with equal water
2 cloves garlic

1tbsp garlic powder
1tsp bay leaves
1tsp fresh rosemary
1tsp marjoram
1 tsp paprika
1tbsp pepper
1tsp salt
1tsp chili flakes

Toss in slow cooker, HOPE IT ALL FITS (unlike mine... ohhh well, who cares about that GIANT mess all over the kitchen counters and floor at 7am lmao) and then cook for the night or day.


I have NO IDEA if this is good yet, just started it... we shall see...

Turkey Apple Butternuts

Hahah, I wrote nuts.

So this is a take on a stuffed/rolled flank steak recipe I have that I did with a Rouladen steak (and abysmally forgot string and overcooked the meat... typical blonde), but has some twists...

1-2 butternut squashes (or acorn)
500g (or a package) of ground turkey (or use ground beef, or use flank steak)
1 granny smith apple(1/4 to 1/2 per squash half)

Slice the apple into thin slices, keep in shape to stuff the squash cavity.
Marinade the meat with worchestershire, thyme, rosemary, garlic, chopped onion and S+P. Turkey does not need to be marinated.

Marinade/cooking sauce:
2 tbsp honey
1/2cup apple juice or pineapple juice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted margerine or butter

Stuffing:
1/2cup finely chopped onion
1/3cup crushed/chopped pecans
1/4cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/8cup green onion
1tsp rosemary
1tsp thyme
1/2cup shredded cheddar
2 cloves crushed garlic
S+P
(in the future I may add chopped granny smith..)

Place the squash cavity side up in a glass baking dish with apple/pineapple juice in the pan. 
Place some cooking sauce in the cavity of the squashes, and then place the quarter or half sliced apple, then press some ground meat into a very thin patty and place on top of the cavity and press to seal. Add some stuffing and cover with another thin piece of ground meat, try to seal as best you can.  Pour remaining sauce all over meat and squash. Once both halves are done seal with tinfoil above the pan.

OR pound the flank steak flat and spread the stuffing on top, roll and tie with string.
Bake at 375-400 until cooked.

Dukan Pizza

I made a pizza! 

Now bear with me while I make a Pizza dough. To MY standards it was good. It was my first ever crust by hand so yeaaaaaah...

1/4 ground oatbran
some Surghum flour
1/4 cup WARM water
1/2tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
Package of Instant/quick rise yeast

Mix the yeast with the WARM water I guess, I stirred it, make sure you don't do this in the measuring cup - use a larger holding device hahaha.
I guess let it activate a bit (10mins?) then add it to the flour, oil and salt.  Mix over simmering water (double boiler, or something. I put my mixing bowl on top of a small pot of simmering water... hahah ghettooooo) until it forms a ball. Cover with a towel somewhere warm and let rise (?).  Then put some flour down on a smooth cutting board and flatten it out with a rolling pin I guess. I put the flour flour not the oat bran, both sides, and on the pin and then rolled

Side note - OMG MARBLE PINS ARE THE BEST! HAH.

Then put on a baking sheet and bake it at 400 for 10 mins or 375 for longer.  What i did was instead of time it (typical me...) checked it until it didn't push in/depress and was browning the edges.

Sauce:
0% MF greek yogurt
oregano & garlic powder to taste. Spread on the crust.

Pizza:
Grate fresh parmesan cheese on top of the sauce. 
Fresh chopped basil and oregano
Chopped yellow peppers
Cooked mini shrimp
Sliced cherry tomatoes
Mozza & Parm on top
Bake til goldening.

REALLY good amazingly enough!

Homemade NF Tzatziki

So... I really like Garlic, so be aware!  AND I really like Tzatziki!

Get some fresh lemon zest into a bowl
Salt and pepper (lighter on the salt personally)
Grate (fine grating) some cucumber - you want a good portion. **
about 1tsp powdered garlic
1 clove garlic crushed
small bit of lemon juice
Non-Fat Plain Greek Yogurt

Mix all up, adding in more seasoning if you wish.  Now the Greek yogurt I use is fairly thick, and depending on how much cucumber you grate you can have a thick Tzatziki or a runny one.  If you DISLIKE runny, put the grated cuke in a strainer and press and press and press the water out - cheesecloth also works well. 

Like I said, I enjoy garlic so I may have used more for the portion size I made as mine was garlic spicy. 
Enjoy :)  

Spicy Cottage Scramble

Two eggs
Ham steak cubed into small pieces
3 heaping spoons of Cottage cheese
1 tsp (or more) chili flakes
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Parsley
Pepper
Seasoning salt

Begin Heating up a pan on High and spray with Pam.
Add cottage cheese, ham and spices. Let sit for a minute or two
Crack two eggs and begin stirring (reduces prep dishes!) as the pan heats.
Scramble the eggs until Cottage Cheese is mostly melted and eggs are done. Will seem runnier than normal scrambled eggs.

I used 1% Cottage Cheese and more than 1tsp of chili flakes.  But it's a YUMMY recipe!

Breakfast Heart Throb

A very special breakfast, for those once in a blue moon occasions!

In a pot heat up some chunked bananas, brown sugar and Frangelico and cinnamon
Once coated and all sugar is dissolved add in to creamcheese - ensure all folded and mixed well. More CC than bananas.
Heat up some blueberries and blackberries.  Add brown sugar, rum, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, nutmeg and vanilla extract. Heat until bubbling and add some cornstarch to thicken.
 Add some strawberries to heat them through

 Take some Fresh baked bread, thick sliced.
Cut into triangle, place some CC Banana mix on there, top with the other slice.
Dip into a french toast mix (eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla)
Grill with some margerine or canola spray until browned on all sides.
Place on plate and top with fruit mix and Maple Syrup!  Dollop of whipped cream!

ENJOY!

Baked Cod Fillet - Dukan ok? Tasty? Experiment!

A cod fillet (I have fairly thin ones from Superstore), washed
1/4" slice (round) of lemon, cut in halves
spray pan with PAM
Sprinkle some Dill, lemon juice
Sprinkle Tumeric, Coriander, Dill, Parsley on the Cod
Place Cod on the lemon slices on the pan
Wet Cod with Lemon juice (bottled or fresh)
Sprinkle Tumeric, Coriander, Dill, Parsley, French onion soup mix (sm amt), S+P or S+P+Spmix (ex: Montreal Steak Spice mix and Lemon Pepper spice mix, like I did)
Add two pickled hot peppers underneath and add one split across the top. 
Cover in tinfoil

Cook in oven/toaster oven on 400 for 12-15mins until flakes apart easily but doesn't seem too firm/tough.

Not sure how this will turn out... lol



EDIT:  VERY tasty!  Almost quite Malaysian!  Would be great with some malaysian curry dish. Spicy too which is nice.

Green-Orange-and-White Tinfoil Fireside Dinner

So, I loooove tinfoil dinners. I'm rarely at a fire when I have these, so I make them at home in the oven. 

This one I decided to include some new veggies and a new way to do the meat.  My normal Tinfoil dinner is Spicy ground pork Sausage, carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic, S+P. This one I wanted to make somewhat epic veggie wise.  Well... epic until I got home with my groceries and did a Google search and now see people truly have epic down pat... so here is my MUNDANE but delicious new Tinfoil Dinner:
(ok we'll see if it will be delicious)

The MEAT!
1 package Ground Pork
1/4c finely diced onion
1tsp Oregano
1tsp Basil
1/2Tbsp Chili flakes
1Tbsp Wild Turkey Bourbon hot sauce
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 Tbsp pepper
Salt 
garlic powder
egg
Whiskey
2tbsp flour *if needed to bind
                    Roll into balls and toss in a frying pan with hot olive oil to brown two sides if the mixture seems a bit too moist and goopy.  Yes, goopy! Don't make the mistake I did adding 2 eggs, had to compensate for that with lots of flour.

The Veggies (in bite size pieces):
2 carrots
1 parsnip
1 Portobello mushroom
a bunch of New potatoes
broccoli
cauliflower
1/2-3/4 an onion
S+P and garlic powder
3 cloves of garlic
Lemon juice
Chili flakes

Dash of beer!! A good sized pour, beer and other alcohols are absolute necessities while cooking!  I believe almost every recipe I make involves booze in some fashion. No, not an alcoholic... I just believe in it's health benefits ;-)

Cook in tinfoil for a while (50 mins at 400*)

Kale, a Green leafy FAILURE.

I've seen numerous people posting online about this wonderful powerfood! KALE! A dark green, leafy vegetable plant that somewhat resembles an haywire breeding between lettuce and parsley.  It looks as fancy as those floral decorated bridesmaids gowns, in a gorgeous dark green with a blue tone.

Here I am, thinking this will be easy, delicious, simple to make healthy CHIPS!  Some research is done, I concoct an olive oil and spice mixture to toss it in for baking.  Thinking I am genius I aptly await my hopefully new favorite snack.

Out of the oven I pull it, after about 15 minutes at 375*.  It seems light. I eagerly shove one in my mouth....



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..



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What am I eating?!  The texture! It's like melt in my mouth POWDER.  What. The. Hell. This was not described to me!  Where were the warnings?!  However, what is more overpowering is the saltiness. I don't much like drowning in the Ocean, I've made it a point to swim and survive. But a flashback of childhood where you weren't so keen on keeping your mouth closed and you get lucky enough to have a wave splash in your gaping trap and you taste the disgusting salty water.  Kale is salty.  And I boldly added seasoning salt to it.

All in all a failure. Not often do I traipse upon disgusting foods, however I did it to myself. My tastebuds cried out in revulsion!  Never again!


And thus ends my encounter with a supposedly healthy vegetable.