BLT Quiche

I know… it is a cardinal sin of blogging.  No pictures.  But I am so rusty it never crosses my mind to blog anymore.  This is a recipe that gets me back to the roots of why I started blogging.

So I could remember what the heck I did.

1 pound tomatoes

4 slices thick bacon

3 eggs

3 tbs milk

2 tbs good mayonnaise

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan

1 pie crust

I use a frozen pie crust.  I know…gasp.  After that it is easy.  Preheat your oven to 400.  Then mix the eggs with the mayo and milk and set aside.  Layer half the tomato (I used 2 decent sized tomatoes) on the bottom.  Cover with bacon, salt, pepper and parm.  Then add about half the egg.  Complete with another layer. Top with shaved parm or  a heavier layer of grated. 

We had a side salad for the L.  Let’s face it…it was good enough to get me to blog about it. 

Enough said.  

Enjoy!

Roasted Acorn Squash Pasta

I feel like I am back to where I started with the blog. No pictures, just a recipe. Sadly I have been so occupied with Sweet Cheeks, that not only has the blogging suffered, my cooking has gotten pretty basic and lax.

However, tonight Joel told me it was the best pasta he had ever had and “this is a recipe that I would tell you to remember how you made it.” And it reminded me of why I started my blog to begin with.

Luckily business has been great and growing, but because of that, I find it unlikely I will get regular at this for quite some time. However, until then…


1 acorn squash (halved and cleaned of seeds)
½ onion
½ stick butter
¼ c olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
¼ pine nuts
4-6 cloves of garlic sliced thin
1 lb pasta

I brushed olive oil on the squash, stuck them in a 425 degree oven cut side up and roasted for about 25 minutes (or until tender and a bit brown). Once squash is down, set aside to cool.

Once cool cut up squash into about 1inch cubes. Set aside.

Heat olive oil and butter and add onions and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent and add wine. Cook additional 2-3 minutes. In a oven safe dish combine onion and squash and put back into a 425 oven. Meanwhile, start water for pasta and salt well.

Let squash mixture cook for about 10-15 minutes or until golden and brown on top. Put pine nuts in and set timer for 5 minutes and turn oven off.

Once past is done add about ½ of the pasta water to squash mixture, drain pasta and toss mixture and past and sprinkle nuts on top.


Enjoy

The Winner of Blueberry Heaven

Okay, this is a double post. First, the winner of the contest  Sadly very few of you (2 to be exact) took advantage of multiple entries. One of the folks that did, won. So keep in mind that you could have had 30 bucks to go toward this, when I tell you about the next exciting thing coming. I am not telling you yet, but you guys really want to stay tuned. It is super cool.  And now for the winnner....

So the other day the fabulous Kindness Girl asked me to go blueberry picking with her. I have to say that I have not been blueberry picking since I was about 10. All I recall is thinking, “God this sucks.” So I accepted the invitation but did so with high doubts of truly lovely times to come. Kindness Girl assured me it was lovely, loveliness. Humph.



First the ride there was lovely, down tree covered roads and past water. I felt myself easing into just being. We got there and the kids were off. Typically, that would make my shoulders go to my ears and me want to turn tail and leave. Somehow, I knew that it was okay.

We selected a path and soon I found myself in a blueberry room. The bushes literally formed a tunnel. A tunnel of blueberry lusciousness.

 The bushes dripped with berries. I mean really. They hung on the bush like grapes. To me, it was amazing. Then Kindness Girl said, “Too bad you should have seen them last week. I never left one bush.” 

It took me about 30 minutes, all while negotiating kids, to pick about 10 lbs of blueberries. Which sounds great, but I could have been there all day. It was truly, lovely, loveliness. We had a picnic and the kids “stole” blueberries. Dreamy.

Tonight, cantaloupe and blueberry sorbet. Sigh…

New Toys, Tots and Pasta

Just recently in an effort to preserve my collards I tried my hand at making pasta. I thought, people make spinach pasta why not collard pasta. I must admit for the fist time making pasta, I was thrilled at the outcome. Especially since I could find no recipes so I had to make my own up.

My Dad, decided out of either kindness or because he didn’t like me borrowing his pasta maker, he bought me one of my own. So this morning me and the kids made pasta as a thank you. The kids had a ball and actually where very helpful! I made a citrus pepper pasta.

I send a pound a fresh pasta to their house and kept the leftovers. I had them for lunch.

This is again a non-recipe recipe, but here is what I did

Sautee about 2 tbs of chopped onion in about 2 tbs of olive oil.

Add 1 clove finely minced garlic.

Add 3 tbs slivered almonds.

Heat all until almonds slightly toasted.

Add…(these were leftover from the night before so I am guessing ) ¼-½ lb shrimp (mine were already cooked.

Add ¼ c. reserved pasta water (from cooking)

Toss with cooked pasta

Top with parm and a squeeze of lemon if you have it.


Joel I wish you were here for lunch!! :O

Chicken with a Kick

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will say this was awesome and is my new favorite marinade!
I have
been terribly distracted, and hope to get back to the blog…however the other night we had our CSA chicken and I decided to marinate the old gal. This had a kick to it, but if you are not a lover of spice use less sriracha.

Marinade:

½ c. Ponzu sauce
½ c. rice wine vinegar
1/8 c (depending on like of spice I probably did between 1/8 c. -¼c) Sriracha sauce

Mix together in bag, throw chicken in and marinate for 2 hours.