Hashbrown and Goat Cheese Quiche

After I adding my cookie recipe I noticed that I had never added any "real food" only baked goods...can you tell what makes me happy, huh? So today I was making Martha Stewart's Hash brown and Goat Cheese Quiche, that I have grown to love. Breakfast would have to be my next favorite meal next to dessert:) I have had a couple of events that I was planning for and realized that they were all breakfast and didn't want to only be able to come up with quiche so off to the wonderful world wide web. I liked this recipe because it looked nice in presentation and had a few different ingredients than the norm. but I had some concerns that it might be a little blah so I added diced orange bell pepper and Canadian bacon.



Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter, softened, plus more for pan
1 package (1 pound) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
12 large eggs
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1 package (4 to 5 ounces) soft goat cheese, room temperature
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Orange Bell Pepper, diced
Canadian Bacon, diced
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush a 9-by-2 1/2-inch springform pan with butter. Line the sides of the pan with strips of waxed paper (the same height as pan); brush paper with butter.
2.Squeeze excess moisture from hash browns. Mix in a bowl with butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pat into bottom and up sides of prepared pan, using a moistened dry measuring cup. Place on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until set, 15 to 20 minutes.
3.In a large bowl, whisk sour cream, goat cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until well combined; whisk in 11 remaining eggs. Pour into crust, and sprinkle with scallions. Bake until set, 45 to 50 minutes.
So, When is it done? Gently tap or shake the pan; if the filling jiggles slightly in the middle but not on the sides, the quiche is set.
Unmold quiche, and peel off waxed paper before serving. I personally like quiche better the next day and it is great when you are hosting to be able to make it a head of time.

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been quite a blog stocker lately and found several blogs talking about Oreo Chocolate Chip cookies. I L-O-V-E oreos so had to give them a try. As I mentioned I found them on several sites, so which to choose...a more cakey recipe or a chewy one. I tend to be more of a cakey person so gave that one a go. Cakey cookie and then adding more dry ingredients is not so bueno. So today I give it another try and found it..the perfect recipe. So Chewy it is!
A few suggestions to make sure that you get the great cookie: both recipes called for you to cook on parchment paper or greased and in my opinion it caused the bottom to brown to quickly. Next, this will make the difference between a dry cookie and an awesome cookie use: Double Stuff and only lightly smash the cookies or you will get a bunch of dry powder. The big chunks make a huge difference and the icing from the Double Stuff Oreos makes this cookie.

So here it is:

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Idea from here

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
20 Double Stuff oreos, lightly smashed


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Add in the crushed oreos. Beat on low speed for just a few seconds to break up the oreos in the dough. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

Drop cookie dough a rounded tbsp at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Carrot Cake ideas

I have been wanting an excuse to buy a mini bundt cake pan and decided the church cake walk would be a great one. I used Kelly's recipe for carrot cake and icing from a post before but really wanted to make it fun with an easy but cute piped icing design and a big bright red-orange daisy.
So in all honesty I really screwed up!!! I had procrastinated like normal and waited until Saturday night thirty minutes before Brayden's bed time to start my cakes that needed to be made for Sunday morning. So as I was planning how to accomplish this with the kitchen probably less than 10 feet from his room I decided to do everything that required the Kitchen-Aid first and then I would mix the rest after putting him to bed. Well, I read the recipe to quickly and somehow forgot the SUGAR. So I call Kelly telling her my mistake and hope that the smart girl that she is could help me in my despair to figure out the ratio and I can add sugar to the rest of the batter to be able to have something to take for the cake walk. As I am telling her my fopa she starts laughing so Matt asks what is up, so she inform him that I just made a cake with out SUGAR. So of course there is a long laugh at my expense and the question comes to: "How is it a cake without sugar?" So problem is solved and cake making commences. Next I find out that I am missing 3 ingredients to finish the icing. Yes, 3 ingredients for icing and you would be correct if the first thing that will comes to mind there are not too many ingredients in icing. So Brayden is in bed but not asleep. By this point I am determined to finish this cake and be done! So I get Brayden out of bed and ask him if he wants to go to the store. (yes, I know horrible mom)So the moral of this story is baking + procrastination are not good ingredients to mix.

Pesto Pizza

This was one of the rare times you stare longing into the fridge for something to magically appear to eat and it does. Not only did it magically appear, but it was very tasty!!!! But the best part it is so simple, even my mom could do it!! Love ya mom!!!!

Pesto Pizza

Ingredients:
7 in round pizza crust
1 heaping tbsp of pesto
7-10 pepperonis

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place crust on a non stick baking dish
3. Smear a heaping tablespoon of pesto onto pizza
4. Sprinkle Cheese.
5. Arrange Pepperonis
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes
7. EAT!

Tips:
I used Target brand Archer Farms 7 in italian style cheese blend pizza crust. I think they had full size pizza crusts too.
I did not have homemade pesto, so I used jarred. Be careful not to get carried away and add too much as jarred pesto is salty.
I always use Turkey pepperoni and I can not tell the difference in taste at all. Also, pepperonis can be stored in the freezer. If they are in the bag loose, you do not even need to thaw them, you can just place them on the pizza frozen.

Ham and Broccolli Quiche

Matt informed me that I have been using the wrong setting on the camera. I put it on here anyways and just made it really small!!! Now that I learned what I am doing wrong with my pictures, I hope that I will take better pictures in the future. I make no promises. I have decided that I can't be good at both cooking and photography!

Ingredients:
5 eggs, scrambled
1/2 C Milk
1/3 C Sour Cream
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 Cup Cheese (Swiss
3/4 Cup Cubed Ham
1 1/2 Cup Broccoli (cooked and WELL drained)
1 uncooked pie shell

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Mix all ingredients together
Pour into unbaked pie shell
Cook at 325 40-45 minutes
Mixture should not be jiggly when the egg mixture is completely cooked

Tips:
If you are looking for something simple try purchasing the off-brand ready pie crust that is in the refrigerator section in a box. It is much flakier and has a better taste and texture than the Pillsbury brand.