Quiche Me Baby!!

I have a love-hate affair with breakfast.

In my mind, breakfast is always best when someone else cooks it.

Having a diabetic teenager in the house means breakfast is not an option - it is a requirement.

I stumbled across a lovely spinach-quiche recipe a couple of weeks ago and after tweaking it a little here and there...I've found a breakfast recipe that even I don't mind to cook.

*Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F.

*Next assemble the ingredients:

1/2 cup butter margarine
1 small can, drained, sliced mushrooms stems & pieces
1/2-1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup diced frozen onion & pepper seasoning blend
6-8 oz baby spinach

4 eggs
1 cup skim milk

3 oz feta cheese
3-4 oz shredded cheese (colby jack for us...)
1 deep dish pie crust

- Begin by melting the butter or margarine in a deep skillet on the stove top.

- Once melted turn the heat down to medium and add mushrooms, onion & pepper blend, and garlic. Saute until well combined and onions are slightly translucent.



- Turn heat down slightly more, and add spinach allowing it to sit on top of the butter mixture briefly before stirring. This allows the spinach time to begin wilting.




- As the spinach begins to wilt, mix eggs and milk together gently in a separate some bowl or in the blender. If you use the blender - do not over blend.

- Stir spinach into butter mixture, and continue stirring slowly until spinach has completely cooked down and mixture begins to thicken slightly.

- Remove skillet from heat.




- Add feta cheese, shredded cheese, and milk-egg blend. Combine carefully.

- Pour contents into the deep dish pie crust and bake for 40 minutes.

- After the first 40 minutes baking, sprinkle additional shredded cheese lightly over the top and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes. HINT: Go lightly on the cheese topping...a little goes a long way.




- Full cooking time should be 55-60 minutes total. Check quiche for doneness by using a fork into the center to see if quiche is fully set or still runny. Cooking longer will set the eggs more.

- Do not under cook.

* Our breakfast was served with a glass of orange juice...without pulp of course! Great way to start the weekend!!

Tuna & Shells

Tuna & Shells:

8 oz uncooked medium pasta shells, prepared as directed on box
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can FF cream of chicken soup
... 1 soup can skim milk
3 cans tuna in water, drained
1 small can, chopped green chilies
1 cup shredded taco mix cheese
1 small bag of frozen green peas
1/2 - 1 cup - bread crumbs

* prepare pasta as directed, drain well
* return to pot and add milk, soups, green chilies, tuna and shredded cheese
* mix well
* add peas to mix, combine thoroughly
* pour into a prepared casserole dish
*top with bread crumbs - more or less as desired

**Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes

Sourdough Starter Maintenance

Two Methods for Feeding and Maintaining an Established Starter:

At room temperature...

Unless your kitchen has huge temperature swings that make you feel like you're experiencing all of the seasons on any given day, room temperature counters provide a nice cozy spot for sourdough bacteria to grow.

However, choosing this method also requires that your sourdough starter be fed everyday. (Don't worry, if for some reason you miss a feeding, just pick up where you left off. Miss more than one day? I would start over, but that's me.)

When you are on a daily feeding schedule you need to stir the starter well and discard all but about 1/2 cup (4 oz weighed). To the remaining 1/2 cup (4 oz) add 1/2 cup warm water (8 oz of 80 degree F water) and 1 cup (8 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour.

When preparing to bake with the starter, the day before bake day feed the starter twice - at least 6 hours between feedings.

Then on bake day, feed the starter once at least 6 hours prior to baking.

Feed the remaining starter to continue your sourdough starter on the desired maintenance schedule.

In the fridge...

Plan on feeding the starter at least once a week.

Prior to feeding, pull the starter out of the fridge at least two hours prior to ensure the starter has time to come to room temperature.

If you are only feeding the starter - and not planning on baking yet - discard all but 1/2 cup (4 oz) and add 1 cup (8 oz) water and 2 cups (16 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour. Mix until smooth and cover, allowing the mix to remain at room temperature at least two hours before returning it to the fridge.

Wanna bake some bread??

3 days before you want to bake, take the starter out of the fridge to reactivate. Allow the starter to come to room temperature and plan on:

* day 1 - feed once, 1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water & 1 cup (8 oz) AP flour
* day 2 - feed twice - at least 6 hours apart, 1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water & 1 cup (8 oz) AP flour both times
* day 3 - feed once - 6 hours prior to baking, 1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water & 1 cup (8 oz) AP flour

Create Your Own Sourdough Starter:




Baking Sourdough Bread:

Baking the Sourdough Bread

For the past week my sourdough starter has been in the maintenance phase. I elected to try the refrigerator method, mostly because it meant less feeding and less flour used.

Knowing me, I would get busy and forget to feed it and then I would have to start all over. Sure, you can skip a day...but beyond that...it's really not recommended.

So Thursday, I pulled the starter out of the fridge to reactivate the growth process.

Using this method, day 3 would now be the bread baking day.

Today - was baking day at my house.

Early this morning (around 7 a.m.) I fed the starter, by discarding half and mixing 1/2 cup 80 degree F water and 1 cup all-purpose flour to the remaining starter. According to my book, it should be ready in about 6 hours.

Time to get ready for church.

After breakfast, church, shopping, and lunch - it was time to start the baking process.

**Using a scale, measure out 16 oz of the ready starter to bake bread. Feed the remaining starter 1 cup 80 degree F water and 2 cups of all-purpose flour and let sit covered on the counter for 2 hours (if using the refrigerator maintenance method) before returning it to the fridge.



Ingredients:

5 cups (1 lb 5 oz) all-purpose bread flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cup (14 oz) water
2 1/2 cups (16 oz) ripe starter
2 1/2 tsp salt

* Begin by mixing the ripe starter with the warm water. Hand mixing is recommended, but I use my stand mixer. I like the way it mixes better.

* Add the all-purpose and wheat flours a cup at a time until a well mixed soft ball is formed.

* Cover dough and let rest for 20 minutes.

* Next, add salt to dough ball and mix until dough is soft, well-formed and slightly sticky to the touch.

* Cover dough, and let rest for one hour.

* Uncover dough, flour lightly the dough ball in the bowl before turning it out onto a lightly floured surface for folding. Be careful not to add too much flour, as it will be incorporated into the dough ball.

* Time to fold the dough. Pat the dough ball into a square and then begin folding the square, bringing the top to the middle and then the bottom over the top. Turn the folded dough 90 degrees and repeat this process, gently pressing out the air pockets.

* As dough begins to tighten up, it is time to place the dough back into the bowl, seam side down to rest - covered - for another hour.

* Next, divide the dough. The original recipe I was working with called for the dough to be separated into two large balls. I separate my dough into 2 balls first, one for a regular size loaf pan...and then the 2nd ball into four smaller balls to form mini-loaves.

* In shaping the dough balls, bring the edges together so that all the corners meet in the middle. I use both hands to work the dough in a continuous motion until the dough begins to feel slightly tight. At that point, I put the shaped balls into my prepared (cooking spray) loaf stones to rest for another hour, covered.

* To bake the bread, the oven needs to be preheated to 450 degrees F. It is helpful to use a spray bottle to spritz the loaves with water while they are baking. This will improve the look and texture of the crust.

* Now to bake. If desired, score the top of the dough with a knife or razor before putting in the oven.

* I set the timer for 10 minutes, to spritz the crust with water and monitor the internal bread temperature. When the core temperature reaches 200 degrees F, it is finished baking. The baking process for the loaf size I bake ranges from 30-45 minutes.

* Once out of the oven, it is important to let the bread rest and cool. Because I use cooking stones, it is important to remove the bread from the stones to prevent the residual heat of the stones from further cooking the crust. The longer the bread sits in the stones, the harder it will become.

* Now we have fresh sourdough bread for our family to enjoy. The trick is of course...not eating it as fast as it is baked. Hot, freshly baked bread is incredibly delicious.

Especially with butter!!

Kitty Feed

At our house - we are snackers...the grab and go kind are best. Breaking away from the tried and true cereal mix, this recipe is fun for the younger crowd and mom as well. Have fun making Kitty Feed for all your little kittens!

Kitty Feed:

2 cups Alpha Bits cereal
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups Mix-UP Goldfish crackers
1 cup candy corn




This is a snack your kids can make...or you can make with the help of your little ones.



I got a big bowl with a lid, and added the ingredients separately to show my kids how much of each ingredient we were putting in actually looked like in comparison to the others.
Time to mix and eat.



A great job for little hands!!