Potato Bacon and Blue Cheese Quiche

I recently decided to do a different take on the Spanish tortilla style quiche and it was really really good. My friend, Brooke, would make fun of me if she saw this because it has bacon in it. According to her, everything I make has bacon in it. I guess just call me baby Paula Dean.

Here's the recipe. Hope you enjoy!

Basic Quiche (like the one from this entry)
Ingredients:
- 5-6 eggs
- 1 pie crust (I like Pillsbury the best)
- 1/2-3/4 cup of cream (or milk) (the more you add the fluffier the quiche will be)

In addition:
- 2-3 small Yukon potatoes peeled
- 3-4 slices of bacon
- 3/4 cup blue cheese
- 3/4 cup gruyere cheese
- 1 small onion
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spray some nonstick cooking spray on your baking dish. This is especially important on the bottom edges as your pie crust there will stick the most. Cook pie crust for 5 minutes then take out and let cool (keep it in the dish).
2. Boil salted water with potatoes. Cook until soft when pricked with a fork, but not as soft as you would need them for mashed potatoes. When they are done, cut them into bite sized chunks.
3. While potatoes are cooking, chop up bacon and cook with onion in the butter and olive oil until the onion is cooked.
4. Whisk eggs and cream together. You can either do this with a hand mixer or by hand. Whisking adds air to the eggs, and the more you whisk, the fluffier the quiche will be. Just don't whisk so much that the cream whips.
5. Add in the cheeses and your other ingredients. Mix a little bit, then dump into your pie dish. Make sure the ingredients are spread out evenly in the dish and bake until the top is just starting to brown.

Roasted Butternut squash with Blue Cheese

I don't know if I'm the only person who does this, but during the summer time I love light healthy food like fruit, salads, and sushi, but during the winter time I want heavy fatty food. I guess that is an evolutionary thing, fatten up to keep you warm during the cold and slim down to balance out the heat? At any rate, my favorite kind of comfort foods are always starchy, full of cheese or butter, and very bad for you. So on Thanksgiving, as I was looking over my menu I realized it needed something more healthy to balance out the table. So while trying to think of a vegetable I could make, I came up with the following recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 Butternut squash
- Chopped walnuts
- Crumbled blue cheese
- Vermont Maple Syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Half the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds.
2. Place the squash directly on the oven, skin side down and roast until the insides are soft when poked with a fork. (If you want to minimize the mess, put them on the top rack and put a cookie sheet on the bottom rack to catch any juices that might come out.
3. When the squash in done cooking, take off the skin and cut it into cubes. Put it in a baking dish with walnuts and cheese (making sure there are nuts and cheese on all layers, not just the top).
4. Drizzle the syrup on top, then cover the dish and cook in the oven until the cheese melts a little bit.

Enjoy!

Dessert or Side Dish? I can't decide.

I got this really great recipe off of Delish for an Orange-Cranberry sauce. It's supposed to be a side dish, but as I was searching for one more dessert for my Thanksgiving dinner it dawned on me this would be really great served warm on top of vanilla ice cream. So what do you think?

You Need:
* 2 bag(s) (12-ounce) cranberries (6 cups)
* 1 tablespoon(s) grated orange zest
* 1 cup(s) fresh orange juice
* 1 1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup(s) grenadine syrup
* 2 tablespoon(s) red-wine vinegar

1. In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 6 minutes, until cranberries are soft and liquid has reduced to a thick syrup.
2. Pour into a serving bowl. Let cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate (or serve fresh and hot for dessert).

Need a Quick and Easy Side to add to Thanksgiving?

Quick and easy entry about a quick and easy recipe. (Can you tell I'm still stressed about school? We're down to the final days, I'm done Tuesday afternoon.)

This one is brought to you straight from my Granny's kitchen (and of course that means it's super yummy).

You need:
- One Red Pepper
- One Yellow Pepper
- One Orange Pepper
- One Green Pepper
- One Onion
- Small red potatoes (about 1/3-1/2 a bag)
- Olive oil
- Garlic Power
- Salt
- Italian Seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put some olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish.
2. Cut up peppers by slicing them lengthwise put them in baking dish.
3. Add sliced onions and cut up small red potatoes into quarters (or smaller pieces depending on your preference)
4. Sprinkle garlic powder, some salt, and Italian seasoning on it tossing it so that vegetables are covered evenly. Sprinkle olive oil on the whole thing.
5. Bake it for about half an hour or until potatoes are soft when poked with a fork.
6. Enjoy and remember to give your Granny a great big hug!

Three Takes on One Quiche

I don't know if this is a girl thing, or because I like French food, but I absolutely love quiche. It can be made in a million and one ways, be heavy or light, and as long as it's done right it's always good. I think you can put just about anything in a quiche, and as you'll see from the next few recipes, one little change can make a huge and yummy difference.

My father hates goat cheese, and I know that there are some people who are staunchly against this mild yet tangy cheese. But, it is extremely versatile and can mesh well with so many foods. It is a perfect companion for quiche because unlike some other cheeses, it does not get oily when heated and doesn't blend so much that the taste gets hidden. Here are three different options to this quiche, each one more delicious than the next.

Basic Goat Cheese Quiche
Ingredients:
- 5-6 eggs
- 1 pie crust (I like Pillsbury the best)
- 1/4-1/3 cup of cream
- 1 small container of crumbled goat cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spray some nonstick cooking spray on your baking dish. This is especially important on the bottom edges as your pie crust there will stick the most.
2. Whisk eggs and cream together. You can either do this with a hand mixer or by hand. Whisking adds air to the eggs, and the more you whisk, the fluffier the quiche will be. Just don't whisk so much that the cream whips.
3. Add in the whole container of goat cheese and your other ingredients. Mix a little bit, then dump into your pie dish. Make sure the ingredients are spread out evenly in the dish and bake until the top is just starting to brown.

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Quiche
-1 medium onion
-3 tbsp olive oil
-3 tbsp vinegar
-3 tbsp sugar

1. Slice up the onion real thin, then put in your pan with the other ingredients.
2. Cook on medium-high for a few minutes until the onions start to look a little cooked/opaque (stir often), then put the heat down to medium-low until the onions look like they are cooked
3. Then turn the heat down to the lowest setting and forget about them. They'll need to cook for about 30-45 minutes to get that nice dark brown color you see at the restaurants.
4. When adding to your quiche mixture, scoop out the onions with a slotted spoon. You don't need to add all those juices otherwise the vinegar and sugar are a little overpowering to the rest of the dish.

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Quiche
- 1 Small Red Pepper

1. To make a roasted red pepper you must be ok with getting your stove top dirty. Turn on your gas burner (I think you can probably do this on a grill as well if you don't have a gas burner).
2. Put the red pepper on the burner. Turn the pepper until it's all charred on the outside (make sure you watch it, the pepper will catch fire -which is ok- but you don't want it to get out of control and burn your house down.
3. When it's cool enough to handle take the burnt skin off with your hands.
4. Slice into bite sized pieces and add to your quiche mix.

Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Quiche
(this one's super simple)
- Smoked Salmon (I really like this from Trader Joe's. It is the freshest and least fishy smelling brand. I get the smaller sized pack.)

1. Slice up Smoked Salmon into bite sized pieces. And make sure you remove all the bones.
2. Add to the quiche mix.

I'm assuming you could add just about anything to the basic quiche and it would taste good (broccoli, peas and mushrooms, bacon, etc.). And the best part is that this dish can be great any time of day. On it's on for breakfast, with a salad for lunch, or as a side at dinner. I'd love to hear some ideas!