Bonus Blog!

Pancakes. Pancakes! PANCAKES!

First off a side note:  The quiche warmed up quite well for dinner last night.  I tried one in the microwave and one in the oven.  The microwaved one was warm, but a little soggy while the oven one wasn't completely warm in the center, but the crust was crispier.  If you had the time, I'd recommend putting them in the microwave for a little but to get them started, then a few minutes in the oven.  But if you had to, you could pop them in the microwave in the morning and have a quick breakfast :)

Now, back to pancakes.  A few weeks ago I was at my friends house.  She was making dinner for her husband and son before we headed out to dinner.  She was making pancakes from scratch, which blew my mind.  I'd never had homemade pancakes before.  My mom always used Bisquick mix or bought frozen boxed pancakes, and so all I knew as an adult were pancake mixes.  She let me try one, and it was awesome.  They're made with applesauce and cinnamon, so they're even more epic. 

She was then nice enough to give me the recipe, which I'm not going to share just in case it's some secret family recipe, but I'm sure if you google "applesauce pancakes" you can find a pretty close match.  So, for the first time ever I made homemade pancakes, and for the second time ever, ate homemade pancakes.

The ingredients

Pancakes are pretty simple, combine everything in a bowl, cook in a preheated pan, flip when bubbly, and enjoy!  Mmm...  Look at that pile of deliciousness!

Top off my coffee, now I'm going to go sit in my cow PJ's & cow slippers and look for some Saturday morning cartoons while I enjoy!  :D

Oh, and if you didn't get the reference at the beginning of the blog:

Experimental Quiche

For today's dinner, I had some leftover mini portobello mushrooms and feta I bought on sale last week.  My first thought was spinach, mushroom and feta omelette, but that seemed too simple and safe.  Next thought was quiche, which I've attempted only once before.  I complicated it by experimenting with cupcake sized quiches, and using the puff pastry I already had in my freezer rather than pie crust.

I cooked the spinach, sauteed the mushrooms with garlic and green onion, and lined my cupcake pan with pastry.

 

Some recipes called for pre-cooking the crust for 5 minutes, so while that was going I made the rest of the filling. For the filling I whisked together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, the feta, and some 4 cheese blend I had in my fridge.

Here's my pre-cooked crust.  It looked a little scary, and fell down on the sides, which made me really nervous.  Then the crust with spinach/mushroom filling, then the egg mixture poured over it.  I had left over pastry, too much spinach/mushroom, and waaaaay too much egg mixture.  Planning ahead of time I could have probably made 8 of these rather than 6.

Baked them at 375 until a toothpick inserted came out clean, about 20 minutes.  They look yummy!

Oh yeah, did I mention I've been cooking in a corset this whole time?  TA DA!

Now, how the heck do I get these out?

A little salad on the side and we're good to go!

Mmm...  look at that crust!  That's the only thing I would possibly change though.  I'd coat the pan with butter rather than cooking spray like I did, and I'd bake them a tad bit longer before filling.  I'm curious how they will store and reheat.  They'd be easy to make a head then rewarm for a quick breakfast.

Next week, I may finally try squash *yuck!*  Now, to take off this corset so I can fit tons of this deliciousness in my tummy!

Stuffed Red Bell Pepper

Tonight's dinner was a bit of an experiment.  These are the ingredients I had sitting around my kitchen that I needed to use up:

Originally I was going to go with black beans, but the best by date was 2008.  Even though the internet informed me that as long as the can isn't bloated they should still be ok to eat, I didn't feel like chancing it.  So I went with the can of kidney beans I had.  Also, this was my first time cooking with tempeh, it was a little scary.  But, I pressed on, and Stuffed Pepper it was!  Here's the pepper boiling, couscous cooked, and some onion and garlic sauteing in a pan.

I added the tempeh, beans and couscous to the onion and garlic, and cooked them with a little cheyenne pepper and chili powder.  Lots of leftover stuffing = need someone else to cook for :(

Now, while that's in the oven, time to do these dishes...

A little hot sauce, some cheese, and we're all set!

YUM!!!!

Next, I need to use up the portobello mushrooms and feta cheese I have in my fridge.  I'm going to see what recipes I can find, but I might end up playing it safe and just buying some spinach to make an omelet.  Next week, I may finally try squash.  *ick*

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!  I'm hoping to try to cook at least one meal a week, schedule permitting, and include pictures.

The first meal worth mentioning was dinner Wednesday: Sliced Mini Portabella Mushrooms sauteed in sun-dried tomato and basil pestos over whole grain spaghetti, with salad and a toasted sourdough English muffin.  Nothing outrageous, but it was delicious.  No pictures, unfortunately.

Now, what to do with the tempeh, red bell pepper and black beans I have in my kitchen...?