Mini-Quiche Appetizers

I’d been meaning to try out a few appetizer recipes, and finally got around to making a few this week.  These little quiche were SO cute and really easy to make!  And they tasted really good too!

 

 

I should have taken pictures as I made them, but I forgot.  Oops.  I also didn’t use a recipe while making these, so the following will be a slightly vague description, but really, they were easy - I promise!

First, I made a batch of my standard pastry crust.  I use the Vinegar Pastry from Bette Hagman’s cookbooks.  (I’ve got a step-by-step description of the pastry as part of my chicken pot pie post.)  The recipe made more than I needed, so I ended up freezing half. 

While the dough was chilling, I prepared me fillings.  I made two kinds. 

Type 1 was Asparagus and Bacon.  I fried than drained about 4 pieces of bacon, and steamed some asparagus until just tender.  I also grated (with a micro-plane) some pecorino cheese (because that was the only kind I had on hand). 

Type 2 was Smoked Salmon and Green Onion.  I sliced the green onion (white and green parts) and diced the smoked salmon.  This also had grated pecorino cheese.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Using two mini muffin pans (12 muffins each), take small bits of the dough and press into the bottom and about 3/4 of the way up the sides of each cup.  Bake the plain crusts for about 7 or 8 minutes until barely browned.

Fill cups with filling, topping with grated cheese.  I filled them loosely, but I did fill them mostly to the top.  (Not much fits in each, as they are very small.)  Whisk together 3 eggs with about 1 cup of half and half.  Pour into each cup. 

Bake for about 10 minutes or until just set.  Once out of the oven, let sit for a couple of minutes to set up a bit more, then enjoy!

 

The crust was actually flaky!

Menu Plan Monday, May 12, 2008

I just haven’t been organized enough lately to plan a menu.  It just seems all too difficult.  I also haven’t been cooking or baking anything that seems “blog-worthy.”  So I apologize again for the lack of recipes.  I never was one to make desserts, so you aren’t apt to see to much of that here.  Although I would like to learn how to make them. Dinners have been a lot my standard recipes - nothing new and exciting. I’ve just been uninspired.

Next week, however, marks some big milestones. My 1 year gluten-free anniversary. And my 9-year wedding anniversary. Fortunately, we have this great restaurant here in town that we go to for fancy occasions, and they have always been able to get me wonderful and safe meal. I’ll be sure to give a full report on the food.

In the meantime, here’s an attempt at this week’s menu.

Monday:
Miniature (Individual) Quiches of various flavors
(I’ll try to remember to post about this)
Salad

Tuesday:
Out to Dinner

Wednesday:
Chicken
Asparagus Mushroom Risotto (from Gluten Free Cooking School)
(See the Step-by-Step instructions for Risotto kindly provided by Mary Frances - she rocks!)

Thursday:
to be determined….
(brain can’t think that far ahead)

Friday:
Kabob Party
(make your own kabob)

At some point I’m going to attempt to make creme brulee.  It’s one of my favorite desserts (when done right).  I’ll add a few strawberries along side to stay in keeping with this week’s theme.

Now head over to Faking It Gluten Free Style who is hosting this week’s menu swap to find more menus and recipes from people more organized than I am this week. 

   

And lastly, here’s my brag - my husband makes furniture in his spare time, and this is his latest accomplishment:

Life, Goats, Curry, and Bread

Right now, my life seems to revolve around searching for a new job.  My boss is retiring as of September 1, and that means my job ends then too.  The economy seems to be affecting every industry at this point, and even the legal field is feeling the pinch.  Which makes finding a job that much more difficult.  But life must go on, and it does.  I’ll find something, and it will be the right something.  If not now, eventually.  I just have to keep telling myself that.

Meanwhile, spring, and some days summer, has arrived with gusto to Eastern Tennessee.  Our open-air market is back, and this week we had our first strawberries.  Yum!  We don’t have a lot of other produce yet, but that won’t take too long.  And since I cheated and planted actual herb plants and not seeds, I’m already enjoying fresh herbs from my garden.  It may be a little while before I get basil, but I have plenty of thyme and parsley.
 

I mentioned last week that I had bought goat steaks from the market and was planning on grilling them.  They were really quite good!  The taste was excellent - a little bit like lamb.  They were a bit tough, and I don’t know if it was because I slightly over-cooked them (they should be kept medium at most) or if they needed to be marinated first.  So I’m going to try again this week, and give them a bit of a marinate in something acidic to help break down the meat.  Here are some “before and after” photos from our goat dinner:
 

 

Before

 

After

I recently discovered a great new product at the grocery store.  (Our store just underwent a major renovation and added a lot more international foods.)  It is Patak’s brand curry paste.  It makes a really fast and easy curry.  And it’s gluten free.  It says so right on the label!  (I was so excited when I saw that.)  Basically, all you have to do is saute up some onions, some beef or meat/vegetable/tofu of your choosing, add a little of this curry paste and water, and simmer.  I got the “hot” style and yes, it was HOT!  I needed extra rice.  My husband thought it was just right. 
 

  

 

Beef Curry over Rice

Finally, I made some fabulous bread over the weekend!  I’ve had a hard time with bread, so I usually don’t bother.  I don’t really miss sandwiches, so it’s not a big deal.  But now that it’s getting warmer, a sandwich is often a good choice to take for lunch.  This bread recipe is Gluten Free Gobsmacked’s Sorghum-Flax Bread.  It is moist, it has depth of flavor, it doesn’t fall apart in your hand - in other words, it’s great!  She lists three different ways to make the bread on her site.  I made the quicker loaf.  I also made a few minor alterations due to what I had in the kitchen.  I used quinoa flakes instead of oats, I used honey instead of agave nectar, and I left out the flax seeds (although I still used the flax seed meal).  Also, I used brown rice flour instead of regular. 

Sorghum-Flax Bread

 

Menu-Plan Monday, April 28, 2008

I apologize for not getting many recipes up lately.  Life seems to be getting in the way.  And I just keep making everyone’s recipes instead of creating my own.

Saturday I got some herbs and vegetables planted.   I just have a small space, so I have a few of tomato plants (regular, roma and grape), pepper plants (regular and jalapeno), and my herbs: rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, sage, parsley, and tarragon.  I’m going to add a few flowers in next weekend to help attract bees and to repel pests.  I know marigolds work well.

I did want to kill my dog this morning though, because when she was outside she managed to dig up about three of my new plants, mangling one of the tomatoes (the others were salvageable).  So now I have the tomato plants in cages and a taller fence around the garden.  Why can’t she dig in the other garden that is full of weeds?  That would be much more helpful.

Sunday was the first day of the “Chattanooga Market.”  It is a bit of a farmers’ market, but has more arts and crafts than vegetables.  There was very little there this early for produce, but lots of starter plants.  But some of my favorite vendors were there - the goat cheese guy (several varieties of fresh, local goat cheese) and the honey people (three different flavors of local honey).  I also found goat meat brought in from a nearby farm.  I’ve never had goat meat before, but always like to try new things.  They will apparently have lamb a little later this spring. 

Now for the week’s menu.  This week, the menu swap is being hosted by Asparagus Thin, and the ingredient is peas.  Next year, I’m going to have to get planting earlier and put in some peas.  I love fresh peas. 

Monday:
Hot Curried Beef (Is it sacrilegious to curry beef?)
Pea and Mushroom Curry
Rice

Tuesday:
Out to Dinner

Wednesday:
Grilled Goat Steaks
Gnocchi
Asparagus, Peas and Basil

Thursday:
Chicken Stuffed With Goat Cheese
Salad with Karina’s Basil Citrus Vinaigrette

Friday:
Baked Cod with Percorino and Butter
Homefries
a vegetable of some sort

 

Hopefully I get to some baking this week, but I won’t really count on it.

Menu-plan Monday, April 21, 2008

This week’s ingredient — Cilantro.

I just prepared my garden bed for planting - next weekend will be a trip to the nursery for lots of herbs and veggies.  I can’t wait!  I have a few herbs that survived the winter (and more importantly, last summer’s drought), but I’m mostly starting over.  I’ll try growing cilantro again, but I haven’t had much luck in the past.

My husband seems to think that cilantro tastes/feels “fuzzy.”  Anyone else have that reaction?

Sunday:
Grilled Steak
Potato Salad

Monday:
Smoked Salmon Pizza

Tuesday:
Out to Dinner

Wednesday:
Fish Tacos

Thursday:
Braised Chicken with Spring Vegetables
Polenta

Friday:
(to be determined)

I didn’t get to making bagels last week, but I did try hamburger buns. I was mostly successful. I didn’t cook them quite long enough (or at least, I think that was my problem) so they sunk when I took them out of the oven. They still tasted really good and worked okay with my burger, so it was hardly a problem.

For a dessert, I’m trying a tropical fruit pavlova. However, as of now, my first attempt at the meringue has failed, and I’m not sure why. If you want to read about pavlovas generally, see here.  It’s a great, naturally gluten-free dessert.
 

Check out the other menus at Gluten Free Mommy’s weekly roundup for more great meny ideas.

 

Flat-style Enchiladas

I love enchiladas, but I always used to make them with flour tortillas because I hated working with corn tortillas.  No matter what it did, what little trick I tried, I could not get those pesky corn tortillas to roll without tearing.  The solution?  Don’t roll them!  Apparently, those clever people in the South-West worked that out a while ago, and it certain areas, it is typical to find enchiladas served “flat-style.”

 

I made these in a square brownie pan because I didn’t need a huge amount of food, but I’ll guess on the amounts for a normal 9×13 baking dish.  This was one of those recipes that was only loosely based on a real recipe, I and made it up as I went along.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas Verde

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts 
Juice form 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic

1 can (15 ounce) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
2 cups canned green enchilada sauce or green salsa, divided
18 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese, such as Mexican-style, Monterey Jack or Cheddar
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Combine oil, lime juice and spices with chicken. Let marinate while oven pre-heats to 350 degrees.

2. Bake chicken until done (I have no idea on time - I actually cooked mine in the toasted oven and it took about 20 minutes.) Remove chicken.

3. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.

4. Dice/shred chicken. Combine with black beans, chiles, and 1/2 cup enchilada sauce.

5. Spread 1/4 cup enchilada sauce in the prepared baking dish. Top with an overlapping layer of 9 tortillas. Top with the chicken and bean mixture, followed by the remaining 9 tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas. Cover with foil.

6. Bake the enchiladas until they begin to bubble on the sides, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil; sprinkle cheese on top. Continue baking until heated through and the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes more.

7. Top with cilantro and serve.

Yield: 8 servings