gruyere and swiss spinach quiche and parm crusted cauliflower

For the last few weeks, I've had the itch to cook again. I can't explain my inspiration, but those around me, namely the Mister and the Super-Beast (oh yes, she has graduated to SUPER BEAST) don't need one.

I stumbled across a recipe for Gruyere Spinach Quiche. I wanted something with spinach because somehow we've ended up with three bags of

frozen spinach and no ambition to use it. Quiche is cool because it's relatively easy and just sounds like something incredibly fancy which took hours to make. (And that's how I roll.)

I love roasting vegetables (refer to chili broccoli and kale). I

think it's quick and healthy. In the spirit of adding something healthy, I also found a great recipe for cauliflower on Once Upon a Chef. I like throwing something in the oven. Setting the timer. And walking away. Somehow, I feel like I'm taking a short cut and getting off easy.

Gruyere and Swiss Spinach Quiche (inspired by Once Upon a Chef)

Ingredients

1, 9-inch deep dish frozen pie crust

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup thinly sliced shallots

4 large eggs

1¼ cups half and half

pinch ground nutmeg

¾ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon chili powder

1 cup grated Gruyere (I used the shredded Gruyere and Swiss mix from Trader Joe's)

1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach (make sure to take all the water out.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the pie crust from freezer and leave it out for about 10-minutes. Prick holes throughout the pie crust so that the air has a place to escape and it doesn't explode. Bake on center rack for about 10-minutes. Take it out, and turn the oven down to 325 degrees. Saute the shallots in butter until they are clear. Once they are cool, spread them as the first layer on the pie crust. Mix together eggs, half and half, nutmeg, salt and chili powder. Sprinkle the Gruyere on top of the shallots, spread spinach evenly on top. Finally pour the egg mixture over the top. Cook for 55-60 minutes at 325.

It did take a bit longer. I increased the heat to 375 and cooked it for another 10-minutes. Perfect.

Parm Crusted Cauliflower (inspired by Once Upon a Chef)

Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper.

Heat oven to 375, cook for 40-50-minutes. Remove, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.

For the cauliflower, I was running tight on time so I just stuck it in the oven on 325 degrees for the 50 min. That did it. I would increase the heat in the future to 375 degrees. You just have to keep checking on it to see if it's browned or not. If it is, then take it out, add the parm and stick it back in for another five minutes.

This was my reaction from the Mister when he started eating the quiche:

"Mmm. This is good." Mmmm. This is good too." "This isn't very healthy, is it?"

No Sir, it is not. Which is why this meal is going to be a very sporadic addition to our meal rotations.

blueberry coffeecake with flax seed

On the box of the Trader Joe's Multigrain Baking and Pancake Mix I found a relatively simple recipe for blueberry coffeecake. We were actually on our way to a friend's house for a weekend and there would be several little rugrats roaming the halls. (And by roaming, I mean running.) I figured that a blueberry coffeecake could supplement pretty much any breakfast. I had everything necessary to make the cake in my fridge and pantry, minus the buttermilk.

Blueberry Coffee Cake with Flax Seed

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons oil

2 1/2 cups TJ's multigrain baking mix (but any baking mix will work)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Whisk together egg, buttermilk and oil, add baking mix and sugar. Fold in blueberries. Spreak batter into an 8x8x2 pan coated with cooking spray and sprinkle flax seeds on top. Bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

I believe this recipe to be relatively healthy, especially after I sprinkled flax seed on top. It seriously took me about 10 minutes to prepare. I'm going to get some more fresh blueberries and make another loaf this week.

Tofu Steaks

My relationship with tofu is fickle at best. I've compared the taste to styrofoam and twigs. I've suggested that I'd rather eat paper or a dirty shoe. And I've dismissed it's appearance with a "gross" on pretty much any restaurant menu.

Here's the problem. The Mister and the Bebe heart the tofu. And why shouldn't they? I mean, I loath it. So it's only natural that they both love it. I have had it prepared properly. La Na Thai (French Thai Restaurant) in Media, PA on State Street makes an amazing tofu. They must inject it with delicious or marinate it in succulent for days, because it's flavor is nothing short of fantastic.

Tofu is high in protein, iron, calcium, magnesium and low in calories. I'm losing this fight, so rather than hate on the tofu I've decided to dominate it.

Here was my train of thought...what do I love? Meat and potatoes. Why not prepare the tofu like the meat? Over the past few months, the Mister has taken it upon himself to make me various cuts of meat. I've become familiar with different sauces and marinades.

TOFU STEAK

Ingredients

1 block of tofu (firm or extra firm)

1/2 cup Worchestire sauce

2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard

1 teaspoon chili powder

McCormick steak seasoning

1/2 large onion chopped

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

Marinade: combine Worchestire sauce, spicy brown mustard, chili powder.

Cut the tofu block into six blocks. Make sure they are thick and even, otherwise they are going to fall apart in the frying pan. Place the tofu in a deep baking pan and cover with the marinade, make sure everything coated and covered. The longer you marinate the tofu, the better it will taste. I recommend a minimum of 3-4 hours so it can really absorb the flavor.

Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil, add the mushrooms. Sprinkle the tofu with the steak seasoning. Place the tofu steaks in the pan with all the marinade (ta-da, there's the sauce!). You can fry 2-3 steaks at a time depending on the size of the pan. Make sure you put the mushroom/onion mixture on top of the tofu while you fry them so the sauce doesn't over cook. I fried them on medium for probably 15-20 minutes until the outside was browned.

Serve with the sauce on top.

And not to toot my own horn...but "toot-toot!" The Mister's eyes just about popped out of his head when I handed him the plate with the tofu and the mushroom/onion sauce on top. The presentation was quite impressive. I even made a side of mashed potatoes (straight out of the box, thank you very much) mixed with some wasabi sauce.

I really think these would be AWESOME on the grill. You'd have to make the sauce separately then grill the tofu, but that might be the way to go next time.

indian veggie pancakes

She is crude, she is rude, she is a mess. If she doesn't like it, she throws it, spits it and yells. She is the Beast. The Beast is presenting me with a variety of challenges these days. In addition to making something that the Mister likes, I also need to take the Beast's meals into consideration. All her counter parts have a mouthful of teeth and she has two, it presents additional obstacles. Such as chewing. I must say, that she gums the hell out of her food when she likes it.

Anyway, I digress. Really, I want something healthy and tasty for the kid and if the Mister can eat it, then I can hit the bottle earlier rather than later. (Things burn when I drink and cook.)

I raided TJ's yesterday. I came back with the Multigrain Baking and Pancake Mix, among other items. Multigrain always sounds as if it tastes like dirt. Not the case this time. I wanted to make some veggie pancakes with Indian spices. My mother-in-law makes something similar called Appom, which is very tasty, but I'm looking for something a bit healthier (Appom involves coconut milk.)

Basically what I did was shred a bunch of vegetables and add some flax seed and spices to the basic pancake recipe.

Indian Vegetable Pancakes

1 cup pancake mix

1 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup shredded zucchini, carrots (TJ's has them ready-shredded) and peas

1 tablespoon flax seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon chili powder (tweak to your tastes)

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 tablespoon cumin powder

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Spray frying pan, spoon mixture onto griddle and cook as you would a pancake.

We ate the pancake with what I thought was the best tasting yoghurt I'd ever had. It was actually sour cream. (Tee-hee) I'd suggest yoghurt for a healthy alternative. I really think you could put a lot of different veggies in the batter...corn and spinach might be good.

After spitting it out twice, the Beast finally chewed and once she tasted it, she ate the entire pancake. The Mister ate the other two.

Beast is satisfied.

domesmita lives!

Domesmita has spend the last six months in a deep coma. During this coma her family has eaten atrocities such as Kraft Mac N' Cheese, frozen pizza and grill cheese. Plain. Grill cheese.

For shame.

But there was a miracle this morning and she awoke. (I chose not to smother her with a pillow.) The first thing she did was run to Trader Joe's and fill the cart with fresh and healthy foods.

Her resolve was renewed.

Will she cook consistently? Probably not. (Especially since there are talks of a part-time job.)

Is the quality of her food going to improve? Maybe.

Domesmita wants healthier, quicker and fresher food. More vegetarian, less cheese (Ok, fine. Same cheese, but more masked vegetables.) and Indian recipes will dominate. The Beast loves Indian. (The Bebe may not-so-occasionally be referred to as Beast from here on out. The Mister will still be referred to as the Mister.)

Next time: Indian pancakes.

three-layer pudding pie

My most devoted reader requested a recipe. Well, by most devoted, I mean second or third most devoted out of obligation. (My sister.)

For New Year's Eve I made my impressive-in-presentation-but-ridiculously-easy-to-make pudding pie. It always gets compliments and this year someone even asked me if it was a french silk pie.

Ingredients

1 tub cool whip

1 package instant pudding (chocolate)

1 graham pie crust (pre-prepared, of course)

1 package of heath bar crumbles (found in the bakery section near the chocolate chips or you can ground up a candy bar)

Make the pudding, which gives you two cups. Separate one cup and spread in the crust as the bottom layer of the pie. Sprinkle Heath Bar crumbles. Next mix the remaining pudding with one cup of the cool whip. Spread as the next layer. Finally, spread the remaining Cool Whip as the top layer and sprinkle with more Heath Bar crumbles.

meatballs

When I began this blog, my aspiration was to learn traditional Indian recipes from my Mom. It was quite touching, really. Well, clearly it's evolved into more of a 'I'm trying to make the tastiest possible meals in as little time as possible' and I've gone astray from my original objective.

Luckily, my Moms was in town for about a week before Christmas and I did take advantage of learning exactly one dish. Meatballs. I heart meatballs. Especially Goan-style meatballs. They were surprisingly easy to make and turned out delicious.

Ingredients

1 pound ground chicken

1 tablespoon garam masala

1/3 cup finely minced onions

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup chopped coriander leaves

1/4 cup chopped mint

1/3 cup zucchini

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 tablespoon salt

a few drops of lime

Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn meatballs and bake another 15 minutes.

I love, love, LOVE these meatballs. My Mom did tell me to tweak the recipe to my tastes. Meaning add more onions or less salt, etc. You can eat them with some rice, throw them into a pita or naan with some raita, or just eat them plain.