Welcome Spring with Ham & Asparagus Quiche

Real men do eat quiche.

I know this for a fact.

And real men eat omelets. Regardless of spelling. Omelette or Omelet.

But they don't have to eat either one, and I'm okay with that. It's not like a requirement, you know?

Hi, I'm Ruthy and I eat quiche. I first had quiche at a tearoom luncheon years ago in a quaint place called the Yellow Rose Cafe and it was a seafood quiche... and it was delicious.

I don't eat unmixed eggs. Ever. Not hard-boiled or fried or "dippy" or "dunky" eggs... or over hard, easy or any other way you have a yolk involved. But once you whip them up, I'm there! Except once at a writers' conference where the scrambled eggs were so uncooked I didn't even recognize them. There were little squares (clearly knifed with a back-and-forth pattern in the part of the pan that was cooked) and they were swimming.... literally.... in uncooked egg.

I eat raw cookie dough.
I eat Caesar salad.
I can make and eat French l'creme pastries and know that silkiness is raw egg, but it's mixed with other things and that makes me happy. Squares of slightly cooked scrambled egg floating in uncooked egg is gross.

But that's me.

And that brings us to quiche.

I love custard pies. Plain... buttermilk ... Coconut.... and flan! I love flan!

So omelets and quiche are two go-to faves only I rarely make them for just myself and Dave isn't a big fan. This week was different because after this very long, drawn-out winter, we're finally cutting the FIRST ASPARAGUS.

It's May 20th as I write, and we are often cutting ten days before this, but not this year. Way too much water, and far too cold. So this is exciting!
It's happy dancing time!

We had some leftover ham from the other day, some gorgeous Swiss Cheese with the tiny holes, that little bit softer than the norm.... and lightly steamed asparagus that I made last night... I cooked double so I'd have some for the quiche...

Right then I knew...

QUICHE!!!!

The recipe is simple... I'm using a crust but you can do a low-carb friendly quiche and just bake it in a lightly sprayed pie pan or tart pan and have crustless quiche, but I wanted traditional and I had a pie crust in the freezer... and I only keep them in the freezer for two or three months because I want them to taste good.... so I thawed and rolled out the pie crust, put it into a pan, crimped the edges... stuck a fork into it for holes... and then froze it for fifteen minutes while the oven heated up.

And then I pre-baked it for 7 minutes at 425 degrees.

 For the filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
4 large eggs
1/2 pound ham, cubed or chopped
1/2 pound lightly steamed asparagus
1/4 pound cheese (I used the Swiss with a gazillion little holes in it)
Pepper

Whisk eggs in medium bowl. Add milk and cream and whisk until thoroughly blended.

Put ham into cooked crust. Top with cheese.

Pour in milk and egg mixture:

 Place on baking sheet for even baking and so if it puffs and/or drips, it's not all over your oven. This wasn't a problem in the pie pan, but tart pans are shallow...

ADJUSTED THIS FOR REALITY!!!! Bake at 375 for about thirty to thirty-five minutes or so... Sides and middle should be firm and lightly golden top. My first attempt followed the web directions for leaving the middle slightly loose.... Nope. Don't do that. Cook it thoroughly, top should be pale tan in color.

Cool for a few minutes before serving or cool completely and warm up to serve. Great plan-ahead dish!

And this can be frozen.... when ready to bake, bake without thawing.

Much better results that way!

So last weekend four little Jamisons came to stay at my house because Mom and Dad had a wedding to go to in Maine... and we had so much fun!  This is Lena making waffle mix and it is not easy to whisk/stir this batter...

She refused to give up. Such a funny kid!

And another grand-girlie, MacKenzie scored wonderfully at the New York State USA gymnastics championships on Saturday night... Such a hard-working girl and an amazing talent... And so much fun to watch.

And the boys?

THEY GOT MUDDY. It hasn't stopped raining here, and mud prevails and it was finally warm enough to play in the mud. And they did!!!

We have wind and sun today, hopefully we'll start drying out. That's the goal... I've begun planting pumpkins in trays... and we'll get ground worked up as soon as it dries out enough to be worked one last time... and it begins.

There's nothing like farm season... it always makes me think of Ecclesiastes 3:1 "To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under the heaven..."

Words to live by!

Multi-published, award-winning author Ruth Logan Herne loves God, her family, her country and she's really, really fond of chocolate, coffee and food and her dogs and her mini-donkeys and all things bright and beautiful... but she really loves little kids, medium kids and big kids.

You can find her website at ruthloganherne.com, e-mail her at loganherne@gmail.com or friend her on facebook where she posts far too often... but with such pizzazz and fun that no one really minds.

Or so she tells herself!

Quick Hostessing with Quiche (Revisited)

Missy Tippens

Re-sharing a post from 2013...

Quick Fall Hostessing--Quick Quiche


Missy, here. Early this month for our United Methodist Women circle meeting, it was my turn to be one of the hostesses. We actually meet at the church because our group has gotten so large. But we take turns bringing snacky, breakfast type foods (we meet at 10 a.m.).

The other hostess and I coordinated. She would bring muffins and fruit and decorate (thank goodness! I don't decorate.). I said I'd bring something savory, maybe one more baked item, and drinks.

I had BIG plans. I truly did. I envisioned small tarts with egg and meat inside. Pumpkin bread for fall. And homemade cheese straws.

That was the plan anyway. Instead, I was focused on finishing the first draft of my current manuscript and realized I didn't have time to accomplish that the day before our meeting.

What I did turned out successful (if not homemade), so I thought I'd share.

Pillsbury refrigerated rolled crusts. My favorite pie crust that's not homemade. It tastes good enough to be! You just roll it into the pie plate.

No time to make my own quiche. Found this in the freezer section. Thawed it out and poured into my pie crust.

Baked per directions. Then I was in such a rush to get out the door, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product!

Be warned that it takes a while to cool before cutting. My slices, which were narrow, were falling apart! The the quiche sure tasted good. I got lots of compliments on it.

Here's our table.

Here's what's left of the quiche. So I sort of got a photo!

Here's my substitute for homemade cheese straws. Found them in the deli. :) Perfect!

I also bought a loaf of apple bread in the deli that was iced and YUMMY! With the fruit and homemade muffins from my friend, we had a nice spread for everyone.

An easy and quick way to entertain!

You know, instead of the Belle, I think I need to be called The Quick and Simple Cook. :)

Dana R. Lynn, Visiting Chef, Serves up Quiche

Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

            I am so happy to be here at the Yankee Belle Café again. Thanks Cate for inviting me.

            I am especially excited right now as my fourth Love Inspired Suspense just released yesterday. Plain Retribution is out in digital format now, and will be released in print on August 8th.  I had so much fun writing this book. It’s the second book in my Amish Country Justice series, and it delves into the relationship of Rebecca Miller, a young woman who grew up Amish, and Miles Olsen, the cop she falls in love with. Rebecca is a very special heroine. She’s smart, strong, and a talented artist. She’s also completely deaf and relies entirely on ASL, or American Sign Language. Miles is the one officer able to fluently communicate with her. It was fun getting into her head and trying to see the world as Rebecca might have.

            As I mentioned, the print edition of Plain Retribution releases on August 8^th, which is a date very close to my heart. It’s the date I became a mother, an event which changed and enriched my life. And as we added two more children, sometimes contributed to a few gray hairs on my head. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.

            Now, raising a family has presented many challenges for my husband and myself. We are busy with our jobs, sports, scouts, horse shows, and church activities. In the past year and a half, another challenge was added to our lives.

            My daughter became a vegetarian. This might not sound like a difficult thing, but it can be tricky. We bought a small crockpot. So now when I fix chili, I also fix a smaller meatless version. Same thing with lasagna. Or burgers. Or, well, you get the drift. Even going to restaurants takes a bit more thought than before. The important thing is to make sure she is still getting enough protein.

            One thing I did was start a board on Pinterest for vegetarian recipes. One recipe we found that my daughter loves is for a Broccoli and Cheese Quiche. Here’s the recipe:

Preheat the heat the oven to 375 degrees. Have a cookie sheet in there while it’s preheating. When it’s done, bake a nine-inch pie crust for nine to eleven minutes until it’s lightly browned. While it’s cooking, cut two cups of broccoli florets into small pieces and sauté a medium onion until it’s translucent. Place the onion, broccoli and 6 ounces of white cheddar cheese in the bottom of the crust. (I can’t always find white cheddar, so I use what’s on hand.)

            In a separate bowl, whisk together three large eggs and two egg white, one cup of half and half and ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Pour the mixture over the broccoli and cheese. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Wait fifteen minutes before eating.

That’s it! Easy Peasy. My daughter divides the pie into four and eats it over the course of two days. 

Dana grew up in Illinois, but now resides in rural Pennsylvania with her husband, three children, and enough animals to start her own petting zoo. She is a teacher for the Deaf and hard of hearing during the day, and an author of romantic suspense by night. She has been on the Publisher's Weekly Bestseller list for religious fiction, and was a finalist in the 2017 New England Readers’ Choice contest. Her friends know to beware...anything they say may someday show up in a story.

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Thanks, Dana, for joining us today. Congratulations on your new release!

 

The Fresh Pioneer Takes Over Your Weekend. (Do not fear...)

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I'm PRETTY sure I'm supposed to be here today. If not... Enjoy the double post, hahaha!

  Seriously, I'm taking over the weekends so now you'll get two full days of The Fresh Pioneer! (No gifts, thank you. If you feel moved, make a donation to your local charity. You're welcome.)

This means there will be more of this.

And blackberry cobbler like this!

And tarte tatin  like this!

And fresh mulberry sorbet like this! 

(This post was July 2012. I can't believe I've been at the cafe almost two years!)

And Italian secret recipe biscotti like this!

But there will also be more of: 

Farm fresh blueberries, and all the ways to eat them.

Crazy food like cactus

Picked from the side of the road blackberries and all the best recipes.

Fresh picked raspberries and simple recipes to highlight them.

Ok, there may not be a lot of salsa recipes

But I may do another round of ratatouille

Or another hash brown and ham quiche.

Or another cast iron cast iron roasted chicken with fresh mushrooms

Chicken enchilada soup.

And there will certainly be more...

Banana phone!

"waddya lookin' at" teens!

Waiting for the cinnamon rolls boys!

And crazy writer on a deadline posts.

So, as we go forward, I'm stocking up on posts. I have ready (tried and tested and maybe approved) for the next few weeks:

LILAC JELLY (Here's Edna, posing with our bounty, before we cooked it.)

(stockimages.com free use)

HOMEMADE PESTO (it wasn't that hard!)

(Doesn't this look delish?  Photo credit and recipe is from one of my favorite blogs: Yes They Are All Ours)

And fool-proof (oh yeah) sweet tea syrup that will fool all your friends and neighbors into thinking you are Southern! It's a secret recipe and I had to pry it out of my friend, so you KNOW it has to be good. (Secret recipes always are!)

So, stay tuned my friends! We're going to have a wonderful time together during the weekends!

Ham and the end of the world

Hellloooooo, everybody!!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have nothing really fresh to tempt you. Nor any sugar. Nor any handsome men.

No, wait, that last one I can probably remedy.

 

hahahaha! Isn't that great! Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy in the 2005 'Pride and Prejudice'.... but he's texting! *smirkle*

 

 I'm not a huge fan of that movie, but I did just give away a copy on my blog to celebrate my 3,000th sale of 'Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits'. Yay!

And then Vince Mooney gave it a hilarious write-up on 'The Philosophy of Romance' here. I just love that guy. My favorite line? "To begin with, I think this title is a great example why editors don’t let writers choose their own titles."

(Let me just say, I have no idea why the fonts have just gone wonky. I blame Vince. That makes much more sense than considering the possibility that I can't even handle blog fonts. *sigh*)

ANYHOO, Yes, it's been a fun week, and Spring is here and life is wonderful, despite having the head cold from Hades.
Honestly, I forgot what it's like to be sick. I'm never sick. You know, that sort of never that's really ALMOST NEVER. *sigh*
But I did manage to cook a little. Well, I always cook because I like to eat. And my husband likes to eat and all those kids... yes... like to eat.

 

Irma S. Rombauer wrote in the Joy of Cooking that "one definition of eternity is a ham and two people."
We have more than two people in this house, but there is something about left-over ham that makes me wonder what we can possibly do, besides eat cold ham sandwiches for the entire week.
I remembered a  friend of mine made a delicious quiche with a grated potato crust and I wondered if that might be one possible reincarnation of Easter ham. So, we set to work...

My kids had a great time grating potatos, with the skins. Here's approximately seven potatoes, or 6 cups. I think the original recipe was 3 cups of hasbrowns per pie plate. You can use prepared hashbrowns. Add 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper and 4 TBS of melted butter. I was wary of adding salt because I knew the ham would be salty.

(Oh, excuse me. We have a call. A very important call on the banana phone. See his brother giving him the 'whaddya doing' look. Big brothers have no appreciation for the importance of produce communication. One must answer, speak politely, and pass it to the mother... who then must answer, listen intently, and take instructions for a play date at the park. That is the way of the banana phone.)

After pressing the grated potatoes into your pie pan (it covered several pie pans and one small casserole dish), put in an oven that has warmed to 450F, for about 20 minutes. I was afraid it would burn so I took it out as soon as the crust was cooked, but the edges were only slightly crispy at 15 minutes. Next time I might leave it longer. I nibbled just a bit at it and YUMMY. Anyway, we're tryin to use up the ham...

Lay cooked ham in the bottom of the potato crust.

About 3 cups of cheddar cheese. The original recipe was 1 1/2 cups of cheese, but I was making a big batch. Add 8 eggs and 1 cup milk (or 4 eggs and 1/2 cup milk). Mix well. Add 1/2 tsp salt a dash of tabasco sauce, and sprinkle of pepper.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes until puffy. I was afraid this would spill over, so I set it on a cookie sheet. But everything was fine. I think, all in all, I prefer this potato crust over the usual quiche crust, but I might make a more traditional Quiche Lorraine (with Swiss cheese). It seemed very cheesey with the cheddar. The kids devoured it, and husband ate it (that's all we can ask for, he's not a fan of cheese), but I'm imagining broccoli-Swiss-mushroom version in my future.

  One more picture to lighten your day...

 

Awwww. Such nice eyes. :)

 

 

And now I must be off. Someone is calling on my banana phone. I wonder who it is? And after we're done, I'll be singing this song by Raffi. Click it. You won't be sorry. Unless it gets stuck in your head...

 Until next time! And Edna waves hello! She's made a wonderful friend and they will be taking over the blog next week to show off their skillz in the kitchen. It's a combined effort... No, I'm not telling, so stop asking.

Pizza without the crust

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and we're having pizza today.

 

 
Ok, I lie. Doesn't that look A-MA-ZING???? Oh my gosh, I need some RIGHT NOW

*deep breath*

Since we can't eat like that without giving ourselves a heart attack, let's see what's in the cupboard. I mean fridge...





I know some of you hate mushrooms, but I swear you should try these. I sauteed them with lime, garlic, thyme and oregeno. It smelled like pizza!

Mmmmm.... Steaming. My kids wanted to eat them all straight but that would be no fun. Plus, it would take a lot of mushrooms to make everyone happy, and that would get spendy.

Edna was chatting with the vintage pie plate. They had quite a discussion over post wartime rationing. They both LOVED 'The New Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'.

We all agreed we're forever in love with Dawsey. Wounded hero, protector, deep thinker, single dad to the orphan girl and a lover of books. *sigh*

(APPARENTLY, Kenneth Branagh is directing the movie version. Hm. I'm scared of movies of my favorite books. That hardly ever works out. )

Anyway, back to our little project.

Mix
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 pepper
1 cup NO FAT milk
1 cup shredded LOW FAT mozzarella cheese
And 3 eggs whites and one egg yolk.

(Yes, I know they come with one yolk and one white per shell. But in the interest of lowering the fat, take the other two and... feed them to the cat, I suppose.)

 

(Yes, Missy, it's basically a fancy omelette!! ) Into the oven at 350F for 20 minutes.

 I sprinkled more mozzarella on the top and gave it another ten after it started puffing up. It could have been more like pizza with some tomatoes, I suppose.

YUM. Let it sit for about ten minutes so it won't fall apart when you cut a piece. Unless you're eating it straight from the pie pan. Which is an option, believe me.

This was my hubby's plate. (He didn't eat it sideways. Wazzup with the pics??)

He just didn't think it was right not to have some toasted bread with it. I should be glad he didn't wrap it in a tortilla. Which makes me think of tacos, which makes me think of taco pizza. I still want pizza. But I'll settle for knowing this won't clog my arteries quite so much with my super low fat cheese and no fat milk. It's not raw food, but it's getting closer to healthy.

 

 Yay, us! So,  stay healthy and eat right because next time we're going to have something sweet and lovely. Party food alert! MMMMM!