Ham and Jarlsberg Quiche

I recently had the pleasure of eating a brunch with my sister and my mom, for a little baby shower brunch. It was a surprise to my sister and we got her good! We ate at a place called High Hand Conservatory

If you live near or are visiting near Sacramento, CA make sure to stop by High Hand. It was the best food I had had in a very long time. They also have a nursery you can visit, which we did, that had some great looking plants and flowers.

So I ordered the ham and Jarlsberg quiche. I had never had Jarlsberg cheese but I am glad I did! It was delicious. It also had rosemary sprinkled on top which I had never thought of with eggs but will be doing from now on on a regular basis. So when I got home from my trip I wanted to recreate this quiche for Mike. I think I did well.

1 refrigerated pie crust
6 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound ham or any meat you like
1 cup Jarlsberg cheese- shredded
1/2 tablespoon rosemary

Preheat oven to 425. Place the pie crust in a 9 inch pie pan. Pierce crust with fork for vents. Bake for 8 mins. While the crust is baking beat eggs and heavy cream together. Once the crust is out of the oven place the ham in the pie crust. Sprinkle about 3/4 of the cheese over ham. Pour egg mixture over ham and cheese. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Sprinkle rosemary evenly over the top of the cheese. Bake at 425 for 15 mins then at 350 for 15 mins or until the eggs are set.

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

Working on getting more vegetables in our meals. This recipe makes it easy. I love green beans and parmesan cheese so this recipe is perfect. Next time I might leave them in for a little longer than 10 minutes, just so they get a little softer.

Source: Tyler Florence

1 pound thin green beans
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Trim off the tough end of the beans and arrange the beans on a nonstick cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top and bake until the cheese melts and forms a crisp shell over the beans, about 10 minutes. Let the beans sit a few minutes for the cheese to cool slightly. Lift the beans out onto a platter and serve.

Product Review

I recently saw the new Giada De Laurentiis brand of pots, pans, pasta sauce, olive oil and just about all things cooking at Target. I picked up a jar of the pasta sauce to give it a try. It is really good for jarred pasta sauce. We tried the tomato basil and I was surprised to see actual pieces of basil in the sauce. For $2.99 this is definetly a good buy!

Chinese Beef & Broccoli

Sorry for the blurry picture. This is a super easy and extra tasty beef and broccoli recipe. The broccoli is nice and tender but still have a bit of crunch, which I love. The beef is perfect! I make this about twice a month, maybe more.

Source: The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

3/4 pound flank or sirloin, sliced thinly across the grain
3/4 pound broccoli florets
2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced or smushed through garlic smusher
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

For the beef marinade
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth

Marinate the beef: Stir together the beef marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the beef slices and stir until coated. Let stand for 10 minutes In a small bowl stir together the sauce ingredients. In a large saute pan add 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Add the broccoli and cover to steam for 3 minutes. Drain. Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the beef and immediately spread the beef out all over the surface of the wok or pan in a single layer (preferably not touching). Let the beef fry undisturbed for 1 minute. Flip the beef slices over, add the garlic to the pan and fry for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute until no longer pink, Pour in the sauce, add the broccoli and bring to a boil. Pour in the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, 30 seconds. Serve over rice.

Homemade chicken soup

This picture is strange. I have no idea why. This soup however is yummy! Mike loves soup so I thought I would make a big pot of chicken noodle. This was very simple. I made a few changes to the original recipe.

Source: The Foodie Fashionista

1 (3 pound) roasting chicken
5 large carrots, chopped
4 large celery stalks with leaves, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 parsnip, sliced in half vertically
1 turnip, sliced in half
5 garlic cloves, peeled
several sprigs of parsley and dill
10-12 cups cold water
salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces pasta (optional)
cheesecloth

Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs in a large stockpot. Add enough cold water to cover all the contents of the pot. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer; cover pot, but vent to allow steam to escape. Simmer for about 90 minutes.After 90 minutes, remove chicken from the soup. Remove as much meat as possible and discard skin and bones. Remove turnip and parsnip and discard. Find garlic cloves (they should be floating near the top) and smash them against the side of the pot and mix the smashed garlic into the soup. Add chicken meat back to soup; season with salt and pepper. Add pasta and bring back to a boil; boil until pasta is cooked through. (I cooked the pasta separate and added in). Remove pot from heat and cover top surface of soup with cheesecloth. Push cloth down into soup until it sits just below the surface. Allow to cool completely, preferably overnight. Slowly lift cheesecloth up, separating the fat from the top surface of the soup. Reheat to serve.

Crock pot Pot Roast

My undying love for my crock pot is going strong. Mike loves pot roast and I have never made one. This was super easy and very yummy.

1 beef roast
1 bag a baby carrots or a few carrots cut up
4 potatoes peeled and cut up
1 envelope onion soup mix

Place roast in crock pot. Sprinkle onion soup mix over meat on all sides. Wrap carrots and potatoes in foil, season with salt and pepper or seasoning you like. Place foil wrapped veggies on top of roast. Cook for 8 hours on low. Remove foil wrapped veggies, plate and enjoy.

Salsa Chicken

This recipe is super easy and really good. Gotta love the crock pot! You can serve it over rice, in a burrito or a taco. We made fried corn tortilla tacos...SO good! Best homemade tacos ever!

4 chicken breast (you can use more or less just adjust the salsa accordingly)
1 1/2 cups salsa (I used this recipe)

You can also add drained black beans or frozen corn kernels.

Place chicken and salsa (and any add ins) in crock pot and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Shred chicken and enjoy!

Homemade salsa

I love restaurant salsa, so does Mike. I have never been able to make it just right. It is always too chunky. This version turned out perfect! I will never buy salsa again! You can adjust the recipe to your liking.

28 oz can (or 2 14.5 cans) diced fire roasted tomatoes
half an onion
1 jalapeno
1 Serrano chili
1 bunch cilantro leaves
4 cloves garlic
lime juice
chili powder
salt
lime juice
pinch of sugar

Using a food processor blend tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, Serrano chili, cilantro leaves, and garlic until smooth. Add lime juice, chili powder and salt to taste. Add a pinch of sugar. The longer it sits together the better it gets.

Key Lime Pie

Mike loves key lime pie. I had never really had it before so I thought I would make one. This recipe is super simple and very good. The pie didn't last a week in the house, it really had no chance. I used a pre-made crust so the recipe below is just for the filling.

Source: outofthefryingpan.com

1 cup key lime juice
2- 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
zest of 2 limes

Mix ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until firm. Remove from oven and let cool. Refrigerate to set completely.

Fried Corn

I had heard about this fried corn business online and knew we had to try it. So glad we did because it was so good! Make this as soon as humanly possible!

Source: About.com

6 ears corn
2 tablespoons fresh bacon drippings or butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Slice the corn from the cob. Scrape the cob downward to get any remaining corn left near the cob. Heat a heavy skillet and add the bacon fat or butter. When hot, add corn and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar, and pepper. Serve hot.
Serves 4 to 5. (note: I had bacon from "making bacon drippings so I threw it in too. It would have been great either way)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Sorry for the less than lovely picture, I was hungry. My dad taught me how to make perfect garlic mashed potatoes one year at Thanksgiving. I haven't made them any other way for years now. They are super easy!

Source: My dad

2 red potatoes per person, washed with skins left on (or off whatever floats your boat)
1 clove of whole peeled garlic per person
Salt
Butter
Milk or cream

Cut the potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Try to make them about the same size since this will help cooking all evenly. Throw them in the pot with the garlic and cover with water. Salt the water until it is "salty like the sea" as my dad would say. Make sure you taste the water and you say ugh salt water, then and only then is it perfect. This is your only chance to salt the potatoes and if you do it right they will be perfect. Bring the potatoes to a boil and cook until the are nice and tender. Drain off water and place them back in the pot. Keep them covered and do not mash them until you are ready to serve them, this will help them stay nice and hot. Warm your milk or cream to prevent it from making the potatoes cold, just makes sense. I usually heat it in the microwave but you could also heat it on the stove on low while you cook the potatoes. Mash the potatoes up with some milk and butter to the texture of your liking. Mike likes them with lots of butter and a little milk so that it how I usually make them. That's it...enjoy!

Zesty ginger beer BBQ sauce

I made this to put on crockpot BBQ pork. It was great. Different from any BBQ sauce I have ever had.

Source: Food Network

2 cups ginger beer
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon black pepper