Quick & Easy Quiche

The other night we were at a friends, and we were trying to decide what to have for dinner.  I said, "Let me see what I can find and I'll whip something up."  
Well, the result was a quick, and quite simple quiche.  The recipe I'm going to post is exactly the recipe that I made.  We used fresh raw vegetables from the garden at their house, which made all the difference!  Some recipes call for cooked vegetables, but I prefer to use raw and let them cook while baking.  That way they're not overcooked and maintain a higher concentrate of nutrients.
However, you can use the items you desire, or the ones that you have on hand.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs, (or 3 eggs & 3 egg whites*)
• 1/2 cup of milk, organic milk, or soy milk (optional ingredient, I made without)
• 1/2 large white or yellow onion, chopped
• Fresh organic green beans, cut in to 1/2 inch pieces
• Organic spinach (this you can use cooked or uncooked)
• 2-3 Small organic medium-hot yellow peppers chopped, seeds taken out
• Grated parmesan & romano cheeses, to taste
• Salt & Garlic to taste (optional)
• Unbaked, shortbread pie crust (Crust type is optional, but shortbread is preferred.  You can also choose to leave crust out, although not recommended. If leaving crust out, make sure to coat baking pan with cooking spray.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Beat eggs together in a bowl. If using a milk option, combine while beating eggs).  You want beat quickly and for about a minute or so to ensure you get a good amount of air in the eggs so the quiche is fluffy.
3. Add all vegetables and cheese to the egg mixture and pour over crust.
4. Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.  Note - cooking times may vary. Quiche should be spongy, but should not be runny in the middle.

*Substituting egg whites for eggs will make the quiche creamier.  I used all eggs to make it a tad denser.  You can adjust the egg to egg white ratio to find your preferred combination

Suggestion - we used organic vegetables.  To make a completely organic meal, you can substitute all the other ingredients with organic ones as well.

Worcestershire Sauce

Recently I was watching an episode of "How It's Made".  I'm a sucker for shows like that.  In any case, I was quite surprised at what I learned after watching this episode.
Apparently, Worcestershire Sauce is NOT vegetarian/vegan friendly.  The mostly unchanged recipe of the past 170 years, includes salt cured anchovies as part of the process in getting the final product.  
Apparently there is a veg friendly version out there, but I have not yet been able to independently verify such information.

Just thought I'd share this tidbit of information.

Crab Mac & Cheese with Garlic Cheese Bread

One night I had a craving for some lobster mac & cheese.  I didn't have lobster, so I decided to whip up my own crab version!! Feel free to use lobster in your version, and if you don't have Old Bay you can use something similar.  If you want to go vegetarian friendly, use a seasoned tofu, extra firm, in place of crab meat.

Ingredients: 

• 1 box shell or penne pasta (I’ve used both and usually use whole wheat)
• 2 cans Aunt Penny’s White Sauce (or any plane cream sauce base)
• 4-6 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning (I don’t measure, rather I eyeball the amount to taste)
• 2 cans of lump crab meat (brands vary…each can should be at least 4 oz. You can use more or less as preferred.  Just make sure it's real crab and not krab)

Nacho/Southwestern Dip

I experimented the other night when we were making nachos.  I wanted to dip them in something with a sour cream base, but not plain sour cream.  Here's what I came up with.

Ingredients:

• 3 parts Sour Cream*
• 1 part salsa, temperature of your choice
• Diced pickled jalapenos, to taste
• 1-2 tsp of jalapeno juice, from jar of jalapenos
• Cayenne pepper to taste

*For vegan option, you may substitute any vegan sour cream alternative.

Summer Tuna Salad

Not everyone is a fan of Tuna Salad.  But give this recipe a try, and you might change your mind.  I'm going to give you 2 recipes in one.  A regular recipe and a vegan recipe.  I'll make notes where to substitute for a vegan friendly version.

Ingredients:

• One 16 oz can low sodium garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• Two 5oz cans of Albacore tuna in water (you may use one large can, or leave out for vegan version)
• One cold cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 to 1/2 onion, chopped (type and inclusion, optional)

Dried Salmon/Salmon Jerky

Some time ago I was shopping at Whole Foods and discovered Ahi & Salmon jerky.  I really enjoyed them both, but I found them to be too tough at times. In fact, some of them were so tough they were inedible.  I've discovered since living in HI, that a lot of places sell different varieties of dried fish.  Salmon, mahi mahi, and ahi just to name a few.  It's not too expensive, but it can get pricey.  So after doing some research about making jerky at home, I've discovered a process using a my own recipe.  I also use this sauce recipe to marinate and bake salmon filets.

Ingredients:

• Four 4-6 oz salmon filets
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce

Swai Sauté

Swai is one of my favorite types of fish to cook.  It's actually a Vietnamese catfish, however it legally cannot be sold in the US as catfish, so it is marketed as Swai or Basa.  True story!  Apparently the US has some sort of trademark on the term catfish and they don't want anyone interfering with their catfish sales.  I like it because it is very similar to Tilapia, only it's larger and heartier than tilapia, but it cooks very similar.

Ingredients: 

• 4 Swai Filets, cut in to 1 inch pieces (fresh or frozen, thawed if frozen)
• 10-12 mini bell peppers, cut in halves
• 1 shallot, chopped

Savory Tofu

I know you what you're all thinking.  You read the title and  your first thought was, "Gross. Tofu is horrible!"  But, there are many great things about tofu.  You may have to play with your recipe some to get it the way you like, but I promise you can find a way.

Ingredients:

• Extra firm tofu, drained well and cubed (hint: you can even drain and freeze. Just thaw out when ready to use and the tofu will be a tad more firm)
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• Crushed red pepper
• Asparagus, cut in to 1/4 inch pieces

Homemade Veggie Broth

Here's a great way to save money, and show off to your friends.  I'm not sure why, but people always seemed shocked when I tell them I do this.  When I tell them how easy it is, they're even more amazed!

If you cook regularly, and I mean cook using fresh ingredients, then you probably use vegetables.  If you're anything like me, you've probably asked yourself on a number of occasions, "What do I do with all of these scraps?".  If you have a garden you might make a compost out of them.  But if you don't, they've probably been thrown away.  So, let me help you out.

When chopping your vegetables, be sure to save all of your scraps.  And when I say all of them, I mean all of them.  This includes, but is not limited to the following:

Brussels Sprouts

So I thought I'd start with the wildly misunderstood Brussels sprouts.  They have a bad reputation, and they didn't do anything wrong!
These little green cabbage looking things come from a species known as Brassica oleracea.  It is the species of plant that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, savoy, and Chinese kale.
If not properly cooked, the sprouts can have a very bitter taste.  This is most often why people assume they dislike them.
I've tried many different recipes and ways of cooking Brussels sprouts.  Here are 2 of my favorites.  Although I prefer the fresh method, if you're new to Brussels sprouts, I'd recommend the frozen route first.  Feel free to spice these up to suit your taste buds.

Fresh Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh Brussels Sprouts