Sunday, May 23, 2010

Elegant Quiche




Well, I guess if I had wanted it to be really elegant, I should have used shallots instead of onions. But honestly, isn't a homemade quiche always elegant? Yet, it's also a comfort food, which makes it a creature of complexity. The name in itself bears an impressive aura, but it's really easy to make. It's as comforting as a cheesy casserole, but it's appearance is more sophisticated. In a word, quiche is simply... quiche!

Ingredients:
For the 9-inch crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cups spinach
1 cup blue cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Dash black pepper

Directions:
Make the pie crust and refrigerate at least an hour before before use. In a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to mix. Then, add cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a crumble. Slowly add ice water while pulsing. It will only take about half a minute. Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and work into a flat disk, wrap and refrigerate.

After dough had chilled for at least one hour, preheat oven to 350 degrees and roll crust out and fit to a 9-inch pie pan.
Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove from skillet and set aside on a paper towel. Crumble. Saute onion is bacon drippings. Once the onions have become tender, add mushrooms. Once mushrooms are tender, add spinach to the skillet and cook down.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine cheeses, sun dried tomatoes and flour. In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly and add heavy cream; mix well. Add in cheese mixture, ingredients from skillet, bacon and dash of black pepper; mix well. Pour into prepared crust-lined pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until knife comes out clean after being inserted in the middle. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies


I've already made two batches of these cookies this week, and there is not a single cookie to been seen in this house. My family attacked them like ravenous beasts, and I was quite pleased because... are you ready for this? I did a sneaky-mommy trick and put flax into these cookies that already had 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats. Now, I'm not about to say that these cookies are for health nuts (they still have a cup of sugar in them, in addition to a stick of butter), but they really aren't that bad for you, as far as cookies go. Also, it's hard to argue with getting healthy grains in a delicious way. These cookies are moist and chewy and perfect in every way a cookie should be. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup milled flax
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Ghirardelli 60% cocoa unsweetened chocolate chips
1/2 cup shelled chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until dry ingredients are moist. Roll balls of dough about the size of two tablespoons and place on cookie sheets. Bake for about 11 minutes.