Quiche with goat cheese

So I have made two quiches recently- both inspired by the bounty of my Easter basket. This year my mom gave me a wine and cheese themed Easter basket that contained a variety of trader joes cheeses.  I saved the best for last and ended up with goat cheese being the last cheese left in my fridge. Found this recipe on food gawker. http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2016/03/11/goat-cheese-spinach-sun-dried-tomato-quiche/

I didn't follow the instructions for the crust and used my own favorite recipe instead.

Also, I couldn't find my pie plate! So I used a 9" cake pan instead. First I pre baked the pie crust for 8 minutes at 350.

 

Sautéed spinach with garlic.

The quiche had 4 eggs and 1 cup of milk. Then added 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, the spinach, goat cheese and some fresh ground pepper. 

Baked at 350 for 50 minutes.

Another quiche success story!

Here is the quiche I made before this one. It had spinach, tomatoes and Gouda. Also crust from scratch! 

Marmalade

Marmalade recipe courtesy of grandma E. Also the oranges were from her tree!

Cut the ends off 6-7 oranges.

Thinly slice the oranges. If I could do this over I would slice thinner- I ended up with some pretty thick pieces of rind.

Put orange slices into a large pot and add 1/2 cup lemon juice and 6 cups of water. 

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

As the rind got softer I used my stirring spoon to chop it into smaller peices. 

Add 1 package of pectin then add 9 1/3 cups of sugar all at once. Bring to rapid boil for 5 minutes then remove from heat for 5 minutes.

Stir then put into jars. Place jars upside down for 10 minutes to help with rind distribution. Then let cool before storing. 

This recipe made way too much! I am giving away 6 jars and I still have a lot left over. Maybe next time I will reduce to a half recipe. It is delicious though.

Butternut squash soup

I decided to make some butternut squash soup to test out my new immersion blender, a Christmas gift from my aunt Suzanne! 

I wanted a savory butternut squash soup recipe because the last time I ordered this soup in a restaurant it was too sweet for my taste.

This recipe included onion, carrot, and celery.

Vegetarian soup stock and butternut squash. I also added some fresh ginger and red curry paste. 

Made the vegetable stock.

Sauté vegetables. 

Add other ingredient and simmer 30 minutes. 

Here is the hand held blender. No more messy blender explosions!

This was super fast and easy to use. Way better than transferring hot liquid in batches into a blender. 

This was hearty and savory. Perfect for a rainy day!

Lemon Bars 2

My friend Zaki brought us some lemons do I decided to make lemon bars.  I was excited to try this recipe because it uses the entire lemon!

Also for this recipe, all of the mixing was done in the food processor.  

First for the crust combine flour, sugar, salt and butter 

Press into 9x9 pan lined with parchment paper and buttered. Poke all over with fork and bake. 

Remove seeds from lemons 

Cut lemon into thin slices. Add sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and corn starch. I used 1 less egg than the recipe called for because I was ran out of eggs and only wanted to borrow one from my roommate.

Blend until smooth. 

Bake until set.

Let cool and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. 

Blueberry Muffins

I wanted to start baking more for my coworkers and I saw a recipe for blueberry muffins that sounded pretty good. Plus I had all of the ingredients on hand.

First oil the muffin pan and lightly dust with flour. 

I have been using coconut oil in place of butter or shortening with great results.  I have used it in the last 3 things that I have baked. I would say I'm a little obsessed. 

My other secret ingredient was my homemade vanilla.  I made vanilla for Christmas gifts and I have a jar of what was left over brewing in my fridge.

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately. At the end mix together until just combined

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Sprinkle sugar on top and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. 

I'm bringing what's left of these to work tomorrow! 

Peanut butter jelly muffins

A classic pairing of PB&J in muffin form! What's not to like?

I had pomegranate jelly on hand so I used that instead of the standard grape.

It was also a chance to put my cute new measuring bowls and spoons to use! These adorable woodland creatures were a birthday gift from my godparents!

The recipe I used was from pillsbury. I altered it by using coconut oil instead of crisco. Also I used half vanilla almond milk, half regular milk.

I almost forgot to add sugar on top of the prepared muffins, so I hastily pulled them out of the oven to throw some sugar on top. Also I failed to show the step of adding the jam. Basically you just fill the muffin cup half way, add a couple teaspoons of jam and then cover with more batter. 

I had extra batter left over so I made some extra mini muffins.

Done in 20 minutes!

These were pretty good. I brought them into work for my coworkers and they liked them. I am going to try to bring in treats for them more often-a New Years resolution along with working more on my blog. 

💜