Cheesy Spinach Quiche

Let me tell you, I'm not a fan of quiche. Not even scrambled eggs or huevos rancheros. All too squishy for me. Ick. So I can make quiche, but don't make me eat it. However, this quiche actually is delicious. Yes, I said it, I ate it. Delicious. The dd made me try it. For low carbers like me, you can just leave off the crust. I made this for the vegetarian. She needs more healthy things in her eating besides carb, carb, carb. I told her she's not really a vegetarian. She's a carbetarian. lol

(in the midst of baking, edges covered so they don't burn.)

We modified this recipe from a few we found online and in a vegetarian book. When I make it again without the crust (for me), I'm going to double the spinach and throw in a can of mushroom pieces and basil leaves. Maybe sprinkle cheese on top at the end.

Cheesy Spinach Quiche

Ingredients:
4 eggs
8 oz. of Ricotta cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. Goat cheese
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 box frozen spinach, drain well (or 1/2 cup canned, or 3 large handfuls fresh, blanch and chop)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toast pie crust until lightly brown (5-10 mins.)

Beat eggs with Ricotta cheese. Add Parmesan & Goat cheeses, milk and heavy cream. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spread spinach on bottom of pie crust. Pour egg/cheese mixture on top being careful not to displace the spinach.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. I suggest covering the edges with foil until the last 5 minutes, so they do not brown too much. When knife inserted in center comes out clean, it's done.

Brush with butter and serve!

New England Clam Chowder - Low Carb

Fall is upon us. This means soup! With doing low carb (as I'm doing right now) soups usually consist of broths with a few veggies. I'm tired of those. So I went in search of a low carb clam chowder soup. I had to cobble together a recipe that worked for my palette as well as my waist line. I hope you enjoy it!

Low Carb Clam Chowder

3 small to medium turnips, peeled and diced
5-7 bacon strips, cooked and chopped
2 cans 6 oz clams (juice included)
2 cups water
2 celery stalks, diced
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (could substitute up to 1/2 cup of water)
1/2 cup clam juice (optional, as you get juice from the cans)

Instructions:
1 - I popped the bacon in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.
2 - While the bacon is cooking, boil the turnips in water.
3 - Throw all the ingredients in a pot, except the heavy cream, and slow simmer for about 15-20 mins.
4 - Add cream, cook an additional 5 minutes.
5 - Serve and enjoy!

6-8 servings

Picture borrowed from: Family Food blog

Lemon Mushroom Fish

"Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all." - Harriet van Horne

The last few months I've been slowly embracing the low carb way of life again. This time has been different. I'm experimenting, looking up recipes, avoiding extras like too many snacks or additives.

One problem with low carbing is that fish is a good food for you. I hate fish. Unless you bread it and deep fry it and dip it in vinegar. Then I'm your best friend! Can't do that kind of breading though on low carb. It's the reason I'm pleasingly plumb (to say the least) in the first place! lol However, I have finally come up with 2 recipes for fish I love. Did you actually hear that out of my mouth? Yes, LOVE! I'll share one of them with you here.

Lemon Mushroom Fish

4 (4 oz) fish fillets (I like tilapia)
olive oil
1/2 a lemon
2-3 Tbsp of butter
3-5 mushrooms, chopped up
thyme to taste

If your fillets are frozen like mine, thaw them out and then place in an oiled pan. Drizzle the fish with olive oil on top as well as a bit of salt to taste.

In a sauce pan, heat the butter, throw in the mushrooms and thyme until mushrooms are slightly limp.

Pour the whole mixture over the fish. Squeeze a 1/2 a lemon over the whole dish.

Cover the pan with foil and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes or until fish flakes.

Enjoy! I sometimes have a side dish of fresh snap green beans fried in butter and the other 1/2 of the lemon. Today I chose just a simple spinach and dressing side. So yum.

I'll share my other fish recipe soon. You won't believe what the main ingredient is (besides the fish)...

Mom's Scrumptious Apple Pie

Ohhh, I love a good apple pie! Last night I was walking around the house lamenting the fact that there was no dessert. (Fanciful Twist was talking all about pie and my mouth was watering.) I only had 3 apples so I figured I couldn't make a pie. Hhowever, I thought I'd cut up apples for a small crisp or something. The apples turned out to be bigger than I thought and by the time I had peeled them, I thought, 'these will work!'

My mother and I are both hypoglycemic so we 'try' to avoid sugar as best we can. Kind of hard when I love all things carbs but she makes her apple pies with apple juice concentrate instead of lots of sugar. I've always preferred it this way. I've played with her simple recipe a bit and think I've improved it. I think the lemon addition is my favorite part. As a bite is leaving your mouth, you're left with this fresh lemon tart taste. So refreshing.

Mom's Scrumptious Apple Pie (tweeked)

3-6 apples (I use either the yellow/red apples like Gala or Fuji, or a mix of Delicious & Granny Smith)
1/2 can Apple juice concentrate, frozen
1 whole lemon
2-4 tsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaping tsp sugar substitute (or use real sugar) * optional *
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 pie crusts (I used frozen deep dish)
2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place rack on the lowest notch in oven and put a baking tray covered in foil on rack.
Set the 2 frozen crusts out to thaw.
Peel, core & slice all apples, placing them in a bowl of cold water and 1/2 of a lemon's juice.
Soak apples for 10 minutes while you gather other ingredients.
Drain the liquid from the bowl.
Add flour, spices/salt, sugar substitute and frozen apple juice.

* For an easy way to get lemon juice... Put 1/2 a lemon in a plastic bag. Squeeze lemon until all juice is collecting in bottom. Snip a small corner of the bag and add all juice to the bowl. Should be about 2 Tbsp. *

After a good stir, pour all the juices out of the apples into a microwave safe bowl. Add 2-3 Tbsp of butter. Heat in the microwave until the juices have reduced a bit, about 5 minutes.
Pour this boiling liquid over the apples in the bowl.
Cut the top edge off of one of the pie crusts.
Pour the apple mixture into this pie crust.
Top the apple mixture with remaining stick of butter in pats.
Top this pie with the other pie crust, squishing the edges down onto the bottom pie crust to join them.
With the edges that you cut off, form the dough into a ball, pat out a thin-ish pancake and cut out flowers or leaves for decoration.
Add pieces to the top of the pie. Cut several slits in the pie for steam to escape.
Brush top with melted butter.
Make edge covers out of foil to keep the edges from burning. (don't add to the pie until about 25 mins into baking.)
Bake 45-55 minutes until an apple pulled out of a slit is lightly crisp, not mushy.
Let cool for an hour so the juices can flow back into the apples.
Enjoy!

Make-Do Flaky Biscuits

It's one of those in-between payday type days where I have to make do with what we have on hand until next shopping day. We're out of rice, potatoes and the bread is stale. I've been craving carbs! So I decided to make biscuits. I only have bread flour, whole wheat and soy flours. Figures. Not a very likely combination. Most recipes I find that don't taste like cardboard call for white flour. But I decided to try substituting because I'm carb-desperate! ha

I found a wonderful Flaky Biscuits recipe online that I modified just a bit. It's so good served warm with butter and apricot jelly. My kids have dubbed them 'homemade Pillsbury'. I think that's a great compliment!

Make-Do Flaky Biscuits

• 1-2/3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup bread flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. salted butter, chilled stick
  
• 2 Tbsp. margarine
• 3/4 cup cold milk
• 2-3 Tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Add the flours, baking powder and salt to the bowl, and run a fork through them to aerate.
Cut in stick butter & margarine until it's the consistency of cornmeal.
Pour in the milk, mixing only until everything is wet.
Lightly flour the table and turn out dough to surface (Dough will be sticky. Lightly flour.)
Roll out dough til about 1/2" thick and fold over on itself. Repeat this 4-6 times.
Roll out dough 1/2" thick. Use a glass about 2 1/2" wide mouth to cut round biscuits.
Place on lightly buttered oven pan. Brush the melted butter across the tops.
Cook 8-14 mins, watch for lightly browned tops, and firm biscuits.
Should make 9-15 biscuits depending on how thick you make them.

Since I used up things we had on hand, this post works well for Amanda's Thrifty Thursday challenge! Go visit. Wonderful recipes links to be had.

'I'm Craving Barbeque' Sandwich

I just had to share my favorite sandwich stacker recipe. I'm not a big fan of cold cuts. Ever since having my last child, my nose automatically turns up at the thought of sliced meat. I couldn't stand ANY meat while pregnant and I guess this is a residual effect. I'll eat it if I have to or if someone else makes it but touching it? Ick. But I will make an exception for this sandwich.

A little background on where the thought for this sandwich came. I stopped by the local barbeque place last year, Gates BBQ. Quite a famous place here in Kansas City. They have this sandwich which is literally 5" tall, stuffed with all manner of barbequed pork, with pickles on the side. I fell in love. It was so big I had to share it with DH! I have one of those addictive personalities so for the next 2 weeks I wanted that sandwich all the time. So I invented something similar with what I had on hand. Mine is a bit lighter fare with turkey but you could use any meat you choose! Bon Appetit!


'I'm Craving Barbeque' Sandwich

3-6 slices roasted turkey cold cut slices (great to use with leftover thanksgiving turkey)
1 slice white american cheese
2 pieces of your favorite bread (I only had whole wheat white for the picture but my fav to use is a nutty whole grain bread. Try different kinds to find the perfect one for you.)
6 small dill pickles
a handful of fresh spinach leaves, washed/dried
1-2 Tbsp favorite barbeque sauce (I used Gates of course)

Make it like you would any other sandwich. I pour the barbeque sauce on one side of bread and press it to the other piece so they both have even amounts. Add sliced pickles, turkey, white cheese and spinach. Enjoy! You might even add a bit of barbeque sauce to your plate for dipping.

Cracker Spread Appetizers

Tonight I am the hostess for our Stampin Up club meeting. I thought about preparing green things since its the month of St. Patrick's Day but I draw the line at green food coloring. I decided to bring my famous Pear Upside Down Cake that I mentioned before (pears are green!) Unfortunately the grocery store was on the ball and had not left me any over ripe pears so I went with canned. It just came out of the oven all bubbly in its gooeyness. You can't go wrong with pear cake.

Anyway, I'm also bringing some of my favorite cracker toppers (they have green items in them.) There is nothing better that Ritz or Club crackers filled to the brim with these creations. Try them and tell me if I'm lying!

Fruity Cheeseball Spread

16 oz. cream cheese, softened (2 blocks)
20 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 c. chopped green pepper
4 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp. Seasonal Salt type seasoning blend

Just throw it all in the bowl and squish squish squish. Make sure the cream cheese is well blended in.Put in the fridge until you're ready to serve. You can't stop at just one cracker with this, I'm telling you. It makes 2-3 cups.

Chicken Salad Spread

2 (12.5 oz) cans of chicken in water (cubed/cooked kind), drained
1 1/2 c. chopped celery
1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp Ranch seasoning packet
1/2 c. mayonnaise (NO dressing)
4 Tbsp. diced onion
Opt. 1/2 c. chopped green pepper

Mix together. If it seems a bit dry, add mayonnaise by the Tbsps. until its the consistency you desire. I use this chilled on crackers or on toasted bread with lettuce. So good.

Enjoy!