Quiche Delight

I know it's Valentine's day next week, so technically I shod be planning cards, gifts and romantic surprises for my hubby. But I honestly don't really care for Valentine's day. I'm just not the romantic type, nor did I marry Mr. Romantic... Thank God! So rather than planning some ridiculously over-the-top evening of luuuurve for me and the man, I decided to just cook something nice and have a night in. Which, come to think of it, is what we do most Saturdays. Fine with me!

I decided to make a quiche tonight. I had a leftover whole wheat pie crust in the freezer from when I made pumpkin pie over Christmas, so it was begging to be used up. The hubby is a huge quiche fan so he was just fine with this plan. He suggested using cheese and tomatoes as a filling. I had grape tomatoes on-hand, and we took a trip to Trader Joe's to purchase some good cheese. We ended up buying gruyere, a personal favorite of mine. This means we can have French onion soup with the leftover gruyere, yum!

What could taste bad with these ingredients? :)

I didn't really follow a recipe for the quiche, except to figure out how much liquid to use. The recipe I looked at used heavy cream and ricotta, but I had neither so I made some slightly healthier replacements with what I had on-hand -- plain Greek yogurt and skim milk.

Before baking

We had a salad on the side, which was yummy but had some slightly odd ingredients. Ben requested grated carrots and olives, and I wanted mushrooms. With the addition of some Greek dressing, we had ourselves a weirdly wonderful side salad.

After baking -- deliciously golden

All in all, a successful meal, no doubt finished off by something Ben sneakily picked up at Trader Joe's... not that I put much effort into stopping him!

Trader Joe's, you've done it again!

Tomato and Gruyere Quiche

Pie crust, either homemade of store-bought
1 shallot, sliced
4 eggs
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup gruyere or other cheese, grated, plus some for the top
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Approx. 15 cherry or grape tomatoes, halves and the seeds squeezed out

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Sprinkle the sliced shallots into the bottom of the pie crust. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a medium bowl, then add the milk and yogurt. Beat until well-mixed. Add the salt, pepper, cheese, basil and oregano and mix to combine.

Pour the mixture over the shallots, then place the tomatoes, one by one, cut-side down, into the mixture, pressing down slightly on each one to ensure it's nicely emerged in yumminess. Sprinkle with the rest of the grated cheese and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the quiche is golden and set. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 mins before cutting.

Superbowl? What Superbowl?

I am a self-confessed football hater (American football of course). I hate that there are commercials every two seconds and that a one hour game takes about six hours to complete. I hate that it's called "football" when it has very little to do with feet, meaning that football as I know it has to go by the name "soccer." I hate the commentators (although that is true of every sport). I hate the drawings they do on the TV to show you exactly what they're talking about. I especially hate the fact that it's on every Sunday for months on end, resulting in my DVR recording the wrong shows. So today is a celebration for me -- the end of football season for at least a few months!

Another reason I like Superbowl Sunday is that we always eat chili, which is one of my favorite things to do. Usually we make a chicken taco chili in the crockpot which is to die for, but that was out since I don't eat meat anymore. So Ben found a recipe for veggie chili that sounded delicious. The addition of chocolate and beer to chili? Score! We followed the recipe to a T, and I made some cornbread and guacamole to go on the side. And you know what? It was good! The tempeh gave it a meaty texture, although we couldn't really taste the mushrooms. Next time I'd either omit the mushrooms or use more, and I'd add corn to the chili, which is a personal favorite of mine.

We got the recipe from Slate so I won't reprint here, but click on the link if you want to check it out... which you should.

Apart from "football," today was about making beer (for Ben) and making hummus (for me).

Tomato Herb Hummus

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon tahini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon powdered chile
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Handful sundried tomatoes
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, or a mixture of basil, oregano or whatever your tastebuds tell you
1/2 cup water

Dump all ingredients into a food processor and blend. Add water a bit at a time until you get the desired creamy consistency. Eat!

Birthday Eats

Today is the hubby's birthday. On any given year, you can find us celebrating quietly, at home, perhaps with a nice bottle of wine and a home-cooked meal. This is in direct contrast to my birthday, which I start to look forward to at least two months in advance. Ben thinks birthdays are stupid, and wants them to be over as quickly as possible. So I decided we needed to do something fun to celebrate this year for a change.

Since Ben travels so much for work that he has about a squillion hotel points. We took advantage of this by booking a room at the Hilton Netherland Plaza in downtown Cincinnati for a night on the town. Ok, I know it's only Cincinnati and not somewhere exciting like New York, but it's infinitely more interesting than Dayton. Our room was free because of the points (yay!) so we splurged on an awesome meal and way too many cocktails.

We went to a really nice restaurant called Local 127. To start, Ben had French onion soup and I had potato and celeriac soup. Unfortunately, the soup was eaten before I even thought to take a photo. Moving on, Ben had a pork-intensive dish which he claims was delicious, with sausage, bacon and cheesy foam!

There weren't any vegetarian options on the menu, so I went with the scallops. I've never been a fan before but these babies changed my mind. They were huge, not tough at all, and they came on a bed of lentils with crispy rice on top! 

I insisted we have dessert, of course, and this is why.

Deconstructed sour cream cheesecake! It was orgasmic. The crust was buttery, the filling was creamy yet light, and caramel sauce was out of this world. And it came with a maraschino cherry made by the original makers of the maraschino cherry (according to our server, who was most excited about this fact). When it was over, I cried. Well, not really, but I definitely was sad that it was over so soon. 

Today we decided to go by Cincinnati's Findlay Market on the way home for some breakfast. We got Belgian waffles with chocolate syrup and blueberries which made my morning.

Post-breakfast, we wandered around for a couple of hours and got some chews for the pups, some handmade beeswax soap and some honeycomb. After experiencing my first vanilla chai tea, which might be my new favourite drink, we decided to grab a light lunch at a Vietnamese cafe. Light lunch my butt! I had the vegan pho with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, and it had so many rice noodles that I was stuffed afterwards. It was delicious though!

After lunch, we stopped back into the market to grab some whole grain bread, paprika salami for Ben, and double Gloucester with onions and chives for me. This is, without a doubt, the best cheese in the entire world. That might be a bold statement, but it's true, and it's also true that I never buy it because I literally cannot keep out of it. But for the occasional treat, I'll buy a small chunk to tide me over.

Cheese heaven!

We headed home late afternoon and presented the pups with their chews, which consisted of a kneecap and a knuckle, ick! They spent most of the rest of the night chewing obsessively.

For dinner I used our newly bought bread, cheese, salami, plus some hummus and veggies I had on hand to make a Ploughman's of sorts. It was delicious, especially with the addition of some Branston's pickle, the best invention ever.

Mission: Enjoy Ben's birthday was complete. We both had an awesome weekend and I'm sure I won't have trouble convincing Ben that we need to celebrate his birthday properly each year from here on out!

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

It's been another week of mostly cooking for one on account of Ben traveling for work. Last night I did make a delicious veggie and miso stir fry, but it was a quick meal and I was too tired to note what went into it and to take photos... I was hungry and the meal was gone before I even thought of getting my camera!

But this weekend is the start of hubby's birthday celebrations. His actual birthday is Sunday. He hates his birthday and the most we ever do is invite his parents over and cook, but they had the nerve to disappear to Hawaii this year so we had to get out of our rut (I'm totally not jealous that they're in Hawaii... I just love cold weather and rain!)

Tomorrow night we're off out for a meal, but tonight is a night in. I decided to make shepherd's pie with lentils and mushrooms since I'd seen the recipe somewhere, but when I found said recipe it seemed like too much. I just bought some large ramekins and wanted to make two individual pies for fun, so I made this up and hoped it would work... And it did!

Perfect night in!

Deliciousness was mine (and Ben's) and it was pretty easy. The pies turned out very big so I didn't have to make any veggies to go along with them. You could also double the recipe to make a regular-sized pie if that's what floats your boat.

Underneath the taters....

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup brown mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup French (green) lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

Sauté onion and garlic in some olive oil for about 2 minutes. Add celery and mushrooms and cook until the onions are translucent.

Add peas and lentils to pan, then pour broth over the top. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.

Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and have absorbed most of the water. Meanwhile, boil the sweet potatoes until tender, then mash and add the butter and cheese, stirring well to combine.

Divide the lentil mixture between two large ramekins and top with the sweet potato mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes start to brown. Eat, and enjoy!

Pesto Perfection

It's been a looooong time since I've posted here, due to a mixture of pure laziness and travelling. We went back to the UK for 3 weeks over Christmas to visit my family and best friend, and had the most awesome time. It was depressing to come back to the US but it was surprising how quickly I got back into my routine of food, exercise and watching other peoples' dogs hump each other frantically.

This weekend we did a lot of exercise and celebrated with the world's yummiest pizza. We make our own dough and had some in the freezer which was awesome because it meant much less work. While I'm a fan of the regular tomato-based pizza, I have to say my favorite pizza sauce topping is pesto. It's so delicious, especially when it's fresh and homemade.

I baked the pizza crust for 10 minutes at 425 Fahrenheit, then I spread a generous amount of fresh pesto on top, followed by sliced onions, diced tomatoes, black beans, sauteed mushrooms and crumbled feta. I let it bake for about another 15 mins, then we chowed down. I had plenty of leftover pesto which made me very happy. My mum likes to make sandwiches with hummus spread on one slice and pesto on the other, so I did that this week and filled the sandwich with cucumber slices and lettuce leaves. Yum!

This photo just makes me hungry

Pesto

2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, minces
1/4 cup olive oil, or to taste

Put pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan in a food processor and grind well. Add the basil leaves a little at a time, processing as you go. Add the olive oil slowly until the pesto reaches the desired consistency. (I used about a half of the 1/4 cup I measured out because I didn't want it super oily)

Pesto should keep in the fridge for a week or so.

Quick (ish) Friday Dinner

After a long week, I came home with plans to make a curry. These plans were quickly abandoned when I realized I didn't have any canned tomatoes, and the curry I was planning would be impossible without it. So I dug out my trusty cookbooks and found a recipe that looked promising.

The recipe I used is The New Vegan Cookbook, found in the bargain books section of my local bookstore. This was the first recipe I made from the cookbook, although didn't follow the recipe step-for-step. The premise was the same: Kabocha squash stew with Moroccan spices. The original recipe called for spinach, chickpeas and dried apricots, but I had none of these ingredients on-hand, so I used red lentils and dried figs instead. And it turned out deliciously!

Kabocha Squash Stew


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 1/2 tablespoons peeled, minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne (depending upon desired heat)
3 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt
5 dried figs, sliced
1 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained
1 kabocha squash, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (can also substitute another type of winter squash)

Heat olive oil in a skillet and fry onions until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add spices and mix to combine. Cook for about 30 seconds.

Transfer onions and spices into a larger pot if necessary, and add the broth and salt. Bring to a boil, then add the lentils, figs and squash and cook for about 30 minutes, or until squash is tender and lentils are cooked through.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Slow Cooked to Perfection

What to have for dinner on a cold day when you feel like poop? Something made in the slow cooker, obviously. This week an old health issue reared its ugly head. I've had trouble with swollen glands on occasion ever since I had mono in my early 20s, and this week the gland monster showed up to ruin my week. It's just one gland, but it is painful, tender and makes it really difficult to move my head. Luckily, I recently bought the most awesome of slow cookers, with a fancy timer to prevent overlooking.

I had some leftover sweet potatoes, squash and onions lying around, so I chopped them up and threw them in the crockpot for a few hours with some tomatoes and spices. I was fresh out of beans, or I would have thrown some of those in as well. This chili was yummy, comforting, and had a slightly smoky spice thanks to the chipotle chilis I added at the last minute.

I've had this for dinner two nights in a row now, and plan on eating it for lunch tomorrow too. I actually got way too excited about eating it tonight and almost forgot to take a photo, hence the half-eaten bowl and PB sandwich!

Veggie Chili

1 onion, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 winter squash (I used buttercup), peeled, seeded and chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes
4 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 package taco seasoning
2 chipotle chilies in adobo, chopped

Combine ingredients in a slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with wheat berries, brown rice or a plain old PB sammich!