Thursday, April 23, 2009

Quiche

I like Quiche. I've made a healthy version for a few years now. But, this week, I had to make one for the teachers at the kids school. About the same time I was asked to do this, I saw a recipe on Pioneer Woman's site. So, what goes in looking like this:Comes out looking like this:
Along the way, I fried the peppered bacon:
Sliced the onion very thinly:
Quartered the artichoke hearts:
After the bacon was removed from the pan, the grease poured off, but the good stuff left in there, I added a stick of butter...
I added the onions and cooked them for a few minutes, don't they look yummy?
Then, I added the mushrooms. I didn't get good shots of that, as I was too busy looking at this:
A few pieces may have become missing... But, that's ok. Where were we... Oh yes, then I added the artichoke hearts:
Back to the bacon...
Here's where things changed a bit from the original recipe. Since I was making this for a large group of people, I wanted them to all be able to easily get a piece. Baking in a pie dish, the pieces just would have been difficult. I figured, we could get more pieces from a 13 x 9 pan. So, I bought the {gasp} Pillsbury pie crusts and arranged them in the greased 13 x 9 pan.
I stored all of the pre-made parts (crumbled bacon, cooked onions, mushroom, artichoke hearts, shredded swiss cheese, lined 13 x 9 pan) in the refrigerator overnight. This morning, I mixed the eggs and heavy cream, added the swiss cheese and then other ingredients. In the oven it went, and came out looking absolutely lovely!
But, was it as good as it looked you might ask??? The answer is YES! I cut it and removed a small piece to bring to work and try. So, I took it to the school missing one piece. They didn't mind though, and I hope they liked it!

Here's a link to the recipe. I only modified the crust and type of pan used. I baked mine for 40 minutes, lightly covered with foil and then another 15 uncovered. DQ smelled it and came down saying something smelled good and she was S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G! Now you know whey we call her Drama Queen!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Key Lime Bars


My bosses birthday is today and one of his favorite things is Key Lime. So, last night, I whipped these up. I had found a recipe to use here, and decided to tweak it a little bit...

Crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 TBSP salted butter
1/4 cup sugar
zest of 1 1/2 limes

Filling
2 egg yolks
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice
  1. Heat oven to 350F
  2. Grease 8" square glass baking dish with Pam, line it with parchment paper that hangs over the edge of the pan by a little bit
  3. Melt butter in glass bowl
  4. Add sugar to butter, mix
  5. Add lime zest to sugar/butter mixture and stir well
  6. Add graham cracker crumbs and mix thoroughly (a fork works best at this stage)
  7. Press into the prepared pan, pressing a little bit up the sides. About an inch or so
  8. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool until you can no longer feel the heat coming off the crust
  9. In another glass bowl, using an electric mixer, combine egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk until well mixed
  10. Add lime juice and only use electric mixer briefly, finish stirring by hand, as you don't want air bubbles in the mixture. It will begin to thicken slightly
  11. Pour filling into the crust and make sure the filling reaches the edges
  12. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until set
  13. Cool to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate overnight
  14. Remove the bars from the pan using the parchment paper and cut into 16 squares. Use a very sharp, large knife for smoothest and quickest cutting. Also, wipe the knife between cuts.