Crab Quiche and Oil Pie Crust

Pie Crust: 

• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup oil (it called for vegetable, I used EVOO)
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions: Mix flour and salt together. In another bowl and oil and milk together- do not stir, and add all at once to flour mixture. Stir until mixed  and shape into two flat balls. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or more.

Roll out on floured surface and place in pie dish.

Crab Quiche

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup mayo 
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
• 1/2 lb imitation crab meat
• black pepper - to taste
• sauteed onions, bell peppers and corn
• other spices - to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine first 4 ingredients. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pie crust. Cook for 35-40 minutes.

Thoughts: We all loved this! I used the pie crust recipe as written above and doubled the crab quiche recipe - there was too much of the filling, but had I doubled the pie crust recipe there would have been too much crust!

There were enough scraps of pie crust dough left over that I put some in a mini muffin tin, made a thumb print "hole" in the middle and filled it with the quiche filling for the boys - they loved the kid size quiche :)

We ate one quiche and I put the other one (precooked) in the freezer, when we eat it I'll let you know how it did being frozen.

Banana Bread

I tripled this Banana Bread recipe but ran out of some of the ingredients that were needed and added some of my own extras and ended up LOVING the end result so thought I would post it here. Note: This will make a triple batch of bread/muffins. (I made both!)

Ingredients:

6 cups flour
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup of butter + 1/2 cup apple sauce*
1 3/4 cups of brown sugar**
6 eggs
15 bananas (or 7 cups)

*The original recipe tripled would have been 1.5 cups of butter, but I only had 1 cup, so I added applesauce in place of the missing half cup.

** The original recipe tripled would have been 2 1/4 cup brown sugar - ew! I cut out half a cup figuring that the apple sauce would act as sweetener too.
Both of those changes worked really well - I *love* this recipe!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare your bread and/or muffin tins.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.
In a seperate bowl cream together butter, apple sauce and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.

Stir flour mixture in with banana mixture, stir until moistened. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Loaves will bake for about 60 minutes and muffins will vary depending on their size. I think my mini muffins took about 20 minutes.

With this recipe I made 1 loaf, 7 jumbo muffins and 48 mini muffins - our freezer is now full of banana muffins, perfect for a quick snack or when friends drop by!

Review: I love this recipe!
There are so many things that can be done to spruce up the muffins/bread.
My favorite thing to add to them is raspberry chocolate chips - I bought an enormous amount of 'gourmet' chocolate chips after the holidays last year when I found them marked at a huge discount and the raspberry ones are SO good in the muffins!

To others I added walnuts, a spice crumble and dried strawberries. They're all yummy, but the chocolate is my favorite!

Summer Salad

Ingredients:
Spinach leaves
Grilled Chicken (cooled)
Strawberries
Pepper Jack Cheese

Directions:
1. Tear the spinach into bite size pieces, cut the chicken and the strawberries into small pieces and cube the cheese.
2. Put it all in a bowl and eat as a salad or put into homemade tortillas.

Review: Next time I make this I'll be sure to have poppyseed dressing on hand, as I think that would go together really well. But the strawberries were juicy enough that we really didn't notice the lack of dressing. The zip in the cheese went so well with the sweetness from the strawberries, and the chicken and spinach complimented it all really well!

Homemade Tortillas

Ingredients:
3 cups wheat flour
1 cup warm water
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup oil

Directions:

1.Measure liquid ingredients into a mixing bowl.

2. Add baking powder and salt. Add the flour until the dough is workable. Leave for 10 minutes.

3. Shape into 8 balls and let dough stand for 10 more minutes. Roll to form a 10 inch circle.

4. We cooked ours on a George Foreman Grill, but you could also cook it on a greased griddle. We kept ours on for just over a minute each.

REVIEW: D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S. I don't think I'll ever be buying store bought tortillas again! I will try playing around with adding different seasonings to it, but they were yummy as is!

Homemade Lemonade

Ingredients:

3 unwaxed lemons, quartered
3/4 cup sugar
6 1/4 cups water
lemon slices and ice, to serve

Directions:

1. Place the quartered lemons, the sugar and part of the water in a blender or food processor. Blend for a few seconds until the lemons are finely chopped.

2. Pour the mixture through a strainer into your serving jug. Add the remaining water and stir well. Add ice cubes and lemon slices for serving.


Review: This is easy to make and delicious!

Breakfast Burrito

Recipe from Taste of Home Best of the Holidays magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bulk pork sausage
• 1-1/2 cups Southern style hash brown potatoes
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup diced red or green peppers
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 12 flour tortillas (8 inches),
  
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1. In a large skillet cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink, drain. Add the potatoes, onion and pepper, cook and stir for 6-8 minutes or until tender.
2. Add eggs; cook and stir until set.
3. Spoon filling into center of each tortilla, sprinkle with cheese. Fold sides and ends over filling and roll up.

To Freeze and Reheat:

1. Wrap each burrito in wax paper and foil. Freeze for up to 1 month.
2. To reheat, remove foil and wax paper. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Review: This recipe is so easily adaptable to your tastes! We love it done following this recipe, but we've also adapted it a little bit at times; adding seasoning, bacon and other vegetables. It is so handy having these in our freezer! We triple the recipe and stock our freezer.
We have made these with the larger tortillas and put a bit more filling in them. With the 8 inch we need to eat two each to be full. With the larger size we only need one each.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Recipe from here - I loosely followed it.

Ingredients:

• 11/2 lbs Sweet Potato
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

• Peel and cut potatoes into fries.
• Preheat oven to 425 F (if you do it before peeling the oven will be heating for a very long time!!) Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  
• Put fries, oil and seasonings into a bowl or zip lock bag. Stir or shake to coat fries.
• Spread onto baking sheet in a single layer.
• Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes.

Review: I added way more salt and paprika to mine, and a little bit more cinnamon. I love the flavor! The ones I made for the freezer I did not season at all. Just cut the Sweet Potato and stuck it in the freezer. I cut my fries pretty thin and they were done after 20-25 minutes, so make sure to watch your fries during the last ten minutes of cooking!

Eggless Eggnog

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon cold milk, divided
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) Instant French Vanilla Pudding
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract*
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg*

*I added more of these because I like them :)

Directions:

1. In a bowl whisk 3/4 cup milk and pudding until smooth.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Refrigerate until serving.

Review: A delicious, non eggy alternative to eggnog! This tastes so festive!! I made it up two hours before serving, and it tasted MUCH better after having been in the fridge, so I'd suggest making it ahead of time so it has time to sit in the fridge.

Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

1/3 cup + a tiny bit more sugar
1/3 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's dark)
Pinch of salt

1/3 cup boiling water

3 1/2 cups milk

1 cap full vanilla
sprinkle of cinnamon

Directions

1. In a saucepan add first three ingredients to boiling water. Stir consistently for a minute or two.
2. Add milk and stir until hot. Make sure to keep stirring so as not to burn!
   
3. Just before serving add vanilla and cinnamon.
4. Serve hot!

Review: Delicious rich, hot chocolate! Makes two very generous servings :)

Mixed Berry Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 bag frozen mixed berries
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. If you use fresh berries raise the temperature of the oven to 400 F.
   
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Review: These muffins are incredible. Moist, sweet, delicious! Paul doubled the recipe and made six jumbo muffins. Jumbo Giant muffins! He did not double the crumb topping, as the amount called for makes plenty. We got the recipe from www.allrecipes.com and slightly tweaked it to work with our frozen mixed berries we had on hand.

Jessica's Made-Up Thai Dish

You'll have to forgive the lack of preciseness in this recipe =) I made it up with all the things that looked or smelled yummy to me! And it turned out great!

You will need:
Chicken (I used 1 boneless skinless chicken breast)
Rice Noodles (I used an entire package)
Bamboo Shoots (I used one 1 can - I suggest using half a can.)
Chow Mein Noodles (I used about 1/3 of a tin)
Water Chestnut (I used 1 can - I suggest using half a can.)
Other vegetables (I used peppers)
Soy (about 1/4 cup)
Sesame Oil (1 TBSP maybe)
Garlic (no idea - do it to preference!)
Basil (no idea - do it to preference!)
Chili Pepper (no idea - do it to preference!)
Salt


This is what I did:

1. Cook the chicken with salt. Cube.
2. Prepare Rice Noodles as directed on package.
3. Add everything except Chow Mein noodles. Let everything heat up.
   
4. Add Chow Mein Noodles and serve immediately.
   

I prepared everything (except the chicken) in a Wok. I don't know if I did it right, but I had fun, and it came out tasting yummy!!

Rice Pudding

Ingredients

3/4 cup uncooked white rice (I used Jasmine)
2 cups of milk, divided
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter (I used coconut oil)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions

1. In a medium sauce pan bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Stir in rice and reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In another saucepan combine the cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups of milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until it is thick and creamy, about 15-20 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently.
3. Add in remaining 1/2 cup of milk, beaten egg, cinnamon and brown sugar. Cook 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.
   
4. Remove from heat and stir in butter (or coconut oil!) and vanilla.

Review: I adore the store bought rice puddings in those little containers, and can never get enough of it - this stuff is SO MUCH better than that!! I doubled this recipe and it made a ton!
It is great warm or cold!

Onion Rings

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large onion, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon seasoning of choice such as Tony Chacheres Creole seasoning (optional)
  
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk, or as needed
• 3/4 cup dry bread crumbs or cracker crumbs
  
• seasoned salt to taste
• 1 quart oil for frying, or as needed

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a deep-fryer to 365 F
2. Seperate the onion slices into rings and set aside. In a small bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are all coated; set aside. Whisk the egg and milk into the flour mixture using a fork. Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then place on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping. The wire rack should be placed over a sheet of aluminum foil for easier clean up.
4. Spread the bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow dish. Place rings one at a time into the crumbs and scoop the crumbs up over the ring to coat. Give it a hard tap as you remove it from the crumbs. The coating should cling to the onion ring. Repeat with remaining rings.
5. Deep fry the rings a few at a time for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to paper towels to drain.. Season with seasoning salt and serve.
   

Review: Simply put - the best! Paul made these, so I'm not sure how much work they are - they didn't take him too long to make though, so it can't be that bad :)
These taste incredible! If you make extra then you can freeze them and reheat for another time.

Chai Tea Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup honey
• 4 bags chai tea bags*
  
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon strong chai tea (brewed and cooled)
  
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

* I used Sweet Coconut Thai Chai tea bags.

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and honey until smooth. Empty the contents of the tea bags into the mixture and discard the bags. Mix until well blended.

2. Stir in the egg yolk and brewed chai tea. Blend in the flour and baking powder.

3. Divide into 3 sections, roll into 'snakes', wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Slice the cookies and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are dry, and the edges begin to brown lightly. Transfer to wire racks to cool.


Ice the cookies using icing sugar and strong, brewed chai tea. I couldn't tell you the ratio to make the icing, but play around with it :) If you make too much you can eat it! Mmm!

Review: I made up these cookies when I couldn't find a recipe for chai cookies that used up the ingredients I had on hand. These cookies are a bit different as they have the contents of tea bags in them. I would suggest blending the tea bags in a coffee grinder to help make it finer. The flavor of chai is strong, and for a Chai addict - I'm in love :)

Falafel

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
• 1 cup vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix the garbanzo beans in a food processor. Add in the onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley cumin, turmeric, baking powder, bread crumbs, salt and pepper.

2. Shape the mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls; you should get 18 to 24. If the mixture does not hold together, add a little water.

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Carefully drop the balls into the hot oil, and fry until brown. Be sure to turn frequently so they brown evenly.
Alternately, I have put these in a shallow dish with oil and placed in the oven under broil, turning on occasion.

Enjoy with hummus and homemade pitas!

Lemon Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup colored nonpareils

Lemon Icing
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon peel. Combine flour and cornstarch, gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for one hour or until easy to handle.
2. Shape into a 1 3/4 inch diameter roll, roll in nonpareils. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm.
3. Unwrap and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes or until set and edges are slightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
4. In a small bowl combine icing ingredients. Spread over cookies.

Review: These cookies are so refreshing and delicious! I think they look so pretty with the lavender sugar I used to roll them in - they make me want to host a tea party and serve them at it :) You can use any color of sugar that you want.
When I told Paul I'd made these cookies he asked if they were healthy cookies. My response? "Why yes, they are. They have fruit in them."

Tip: You will need to buy one large lemon - that will give you enough lemon peel and enough juice for these cookies.

Big Mo's Bread

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Yeast
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 and 7/8 cup Warm Water*
4 Cups Flour
2 Tbsp Oil

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Mix yeast sugar and water and let stand to the side to rise and bubble.

Mix flour, salt and oil then add yeast mixture.

Knead dough until well mixed, it will be sticky -oil your hands to handle dough cleanly.

Place dough in oiled bowl, cover and let sit until doubled in size.

Punch dough into two separate loaves and place on well oiled tray to resume rising.

Brush top with egg white and sprinkle with desired seasoning.

Let bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees, until crust is a rich golden brown.

*2 cups water can be exchanged for:
1 cup water and 1 cup milk and 1 extra tbsp oil. Cheese can also be added for addition flavor.

Review: The fact that we finished off one loaf of bread in five minutes should tell it all :)

Curried Carrot Spread

Curried Carrot Spread

Ingredients

3 cups sliced carrots (I used whole baby carrots, worked fine, less work!)
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 15 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained*
3/4 tsp. salt


*Without googling it does anyone know what cannellini beans are? I didn't. And neither did three different people at the grocery store. A quick google search revealed that they are just white kidney beans, but since I didn't have those I used Purple Hull Peas since I had them in my pantry. I don't know what difference cannellini beans would make, but the Purple Hull Peas taste good :)

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan cook carrots until tender. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet cook onion and garlic until tender. Stir in curry powder and Cumin.
3. Transfer carrots and onion mix to food processor, add beans and salt. Process until smooth.
4. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 3 days.

Serve with crackers or vegetables.

Finnish Pasties

Pastry
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut oil (called for lard)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vinegar
5 tablespoons cold water

- just before rolling it out I had to add a little bit of milk to it to make it roll-able!

Filling
3/4 lb ground beef
2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 celery stalk, diced
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 teaspoon cumin*
1/2 teaspoon chili powder*
1/2 teaspoon salt*
dash of pepper*
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce**

* I added way more than it called for, and I think it could've had way more added to it!
** The barbecue sauce didn't do a whole lot for it - it worked well in a meatloaf I made last week, but in this it didn't blend well, so I wouldn't add it again. I'm not sure what should replace it tho!

Directions:
1. Combine pastry ingredients. Chill dough.
2. Combine filling ingredients in another bowl.
3. Roll out dough into circles - I used a bowl to get my shape. Make sure it's rolled flat!
4. Put a bit of filling on one side of each circle - you don't want to over stuff them.
5. Fold over the other side of the dough circle over the filling.
6. Dip a fork in water and seal the edges by pushing the fork down. Cut away any extra dough.
7. Prick the top with the fork to let steam escape.
8. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 F for about 40 minutes.

REVIEW:
Paul and I both loved this! I was impressed with the pastry dough - I wasn't sure how it would work using coconut oil instead of lard, but they turned out just fine.
As I noted above the BBQ sauce really didn't work, although it wasn't bad either. When I make it again I am going to be looking for something else to add.
I used about half the dough and made 5 pasties. Then I got lazy and decided not to finish making any more :) But I think there is more filling than there is dough, so you may want to cut down on the dough, or plan something else to do with the filling. I am trying to think of a way to make it into supper tonight :)

Tomato & Mozzarella Pasta

Tomato & Mozzarella Pasta

Ingredients:
Pasta
Butter
Grape Tomatoes
Mozzarella Cheese
Salt
Pepper
Oregano

1. Boil pasta. When cooked drain and place in a dish.

2. Add butter, salt and pepper to pasta.

3. Add cubed mozzarella and halved tomatoes to the top.

4. Sprinkle with oregano.