Super Easy Mini Quiche

       Mini quiche is kind of the soup of breakfast. What I mean by that is if you have eggs and cheese, you have mini quiche. Just throw whatever you have left over in the fridge into your quiche, makes it interesting and its always tasty. Use the rinds of cheese hunks, that last bit of sandwich meat thats not enough for a proper sandi, the spinach thats about to go bad, the one spring of green onion you are not sure why you didn't chop up, really whatever. 

      Melt you some butter. It's not necessary to melt it in a pan but I don't own a microwave.

      Crush up some crackers in a ziplock or croutons, or hard bread or just use bread crumbs.

     Fill muffin pan cups with butter and crump mixture and smash down with whatever you can find.

      The hardest part of the whole process is chopping up veggies and cheese and whatever meats you find.    

     If you are using white onions and mushrooms, saute them in butter, and then eat the remainder of the stick.

     Layer the cheese on top of the crumbs, mix the cheese, don't mix it, I don't care what you do.

     Then put everything else on top, filling it to the very tippy top.

     Crack a couple eggs, pour about 1/2 cup of cream in and give it a generous grating of the nut of meg. Use fresh nutmeg, really it makes all the difference in the world.
      At this point you can either fill each cup with egg mix and cook in a 300 degree preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or you can keep the egg separate from the rest of the quiche and make it later. Like Sunday morning.
   

Ingredients

• 1 cup of crush crackers, bread crumbs, croutons, whatever you have. I used crackers and italian bread crumbs for flavor. 
• 5 TBSP of melted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 cheese 
• other toppings of your choice
• nutmeg, salt and pepper. 

   Preheat oven to 300. Melt butter and mix into crumbs, add about a tablespoon of mixture to each muffin tin. Smash into place with fingers or glass jar that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Layer with cheese then other toppings to nearly the top. Mix eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg then pour over muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

 

Balsamic Vinegar and Blackberry Chicken

     This is the "So good your boyfriend will do the dishes," chicken recipe I have come up with. I am still working on the "Proposal," chicken recipe which I have heard rumored exists but only married women know how to perfect it and are definitely leaving something out of their shared recipes. Anyway, I will share mine and not leave anything out. I have served this chicken with mash potatoes, and pumpkin gratin or sautéed spinach and mushrooms, it goes well with just about everything.
   

Balsamic Vinegar and Blackberry Chicken Recipe

       Ingredients list                                                                                              makes 4 servings

4 chicken breasts

salt

pepper

1/2 tsp sage
3 cloves of minced garlic. 

1 Tbsp honey 

1/4 cup blackberries ( I used frozen)

1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing or 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

     Putting it all together 

1. Heat some olive oil over medium low heat and place your chicken breast in the skillet. Salt, pepper  and add garlic and sage and half of the chicken broth. Flip the breast when you can see its cooked about half way through. 
2. When you flip the chicken add the rest of the broth, blackberries, honey and vinegar. The idea is to simmer the chicken into juicy, sweet submission. Yummy. 
3. After your chicken is done, serve the the yummy glaze over the top of your purple chicken. 

     Lately we have been enjoying sauteed mushrooms and spinach. Just slice up about 4 or 5 baby bella mushrooms and saute in a tablespoon of butter, then add 10oz. of fresh baby spinach and salt and pepper lightly. I also grate about an ounce of asiago cheese on it at the last moment. 

      So like I said, not a proposal but definitely get your dishes washed. 

Things You Can Freeze

     From a little experience of my own I have found that some things freeze better than others and some things were a drunken mistake and you should just move on. Okay well here are a couple things that can and can't be frozen.

   Good to freeze

1. Washed sliced mushrooms. I find it very convenient when making omelets and pizzas to have sliced mushrooms on hand always. 
2. Berries! Great for fruit salad, yogurt and hot cereal, as an extra bonus it cools down your cereal just right. 
3. Shredded cheese. Buy it in bulk or on sale and freeze what you don't use. 
4. Vegetable scraps. Keep the peels and tops of scrap vegetables in a freezer bag then later on make stock out of them, you can freeze the stock as well. 
5. Alfredo sauce. 
6. Cakes. Make a cake in May eat it in September, it will taste just as moist, just make sure to wrap it in clear wrap then foil. 
7. Left over Thanksgiving turkey. Wrap your left over meat in foil then store it in a freezer bag to keep off freezer burn. 
8. Grapes. They are delicious grape popsicles, but don't expect them to unfreeze well. 
9. Minced garlic. Buy bulk garlic, put it in your food processor and store it in a freezer bag, break off a chunk whenever you need it. 

Do Not Freeze

1. Potato soup. I do and have done it a couple times but it will come out grainy. 
2. Yogurt. Unless you are looking to have a tasty frozen treat don't try to unthaw your frozen yogurt. It gets a grainy texture and will loose its creamy thick texture. 
3. Eggs. hehe forgot about that boiled egg I wanted to cool off quickly. 
4. Beer. BIG mess. 
5. Lettuce, but everyone probably already knew that. 

The amount seen in the food processor makes a substantial amount more than pictured in the Mason jar.

Dog Cookies

   

    This time of year I tend to go through a lot of butter, like Julia Child amounts of butter but the other day I baked a dish that was in fact butter-less. It is a hard biscuit made of wheat flour, pumpkin and peanut butter, healthy. Plus I made up a frosting for it using ricotta cheese (because I didn't have cream cheese) and peanut butter with a bit of honey. The ending result some something like a dog treat!

Recipe for cookie:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees
2. Using a wooden spoon, mix together all ingredients in a bowl. The dough will be dry and using your hands is unavoidable. Add a bit of water if you need.  Roll into a 1/2 inch thick sheet and cut out shapes. Place on a baking stone or cookie sheet. 
3. Bake until hard, about 35 minutes. 

Recipe for doggy frosting:

1/2 cup cream cheese or ricotta
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey

   Mix all ingredients together and frost. It will crack if it dries, I like it, you may not.

German style

Red cabbage, sauteed golden apples and brats with mash potatoes and mustard reduction.

Homemade Make-up Setter/ Mixing Medium.

   I have heard of setting sprays made by high end make up lines, I myself have never invested in one. I knew that if I tried it, I would like and have to buy it over and over again as it is something that I have heard nothing but good things about.

Retails for $19.00

Retails for $29.00

   You can use setting sprays to moisturize your skin, set your make up, and add some shine to your hair. If you look cakey with too much face powder you can use this product to make it melt into your skin. It is great in the summer months because it prevents your make up from moving or if you are one of those girls who wears makeup to the gym. If your foundation dries before you buff into your skin all the way, you can spray it on your brush and then finish applying the make up. Pretty much everything and anything.
   Now lots of companies also make a mixing medium, sold with your pigment eye shadows so that the loose powder doesn't fall on your face. Mixing medium is also very versatile in its uses. The funny part is that its the very same thing as finishing spray just in different packaging... damn!
   Now the really funny part (the not so funny but more the part that is going to piss you off) about all of this is that finishing spray and mixing medium are both nothing more than glycerin and water. That's right sugar water! $&*%*$*@$!!! Sorry...

   Recipe

• 1 part pure glycerin (You can find it in the facial care, pharmacy, cooking, or even craft stores) 
• 3 parts Filtered water (not sure where to find that...) 
• Something to put it in (spray bottle is the best idea I can come up with)

   All you do is mix 1/4 glycerin to 3/4 water inside a spray bottle and use. That would be if you have combination skin. If you have oily skin try 1/5 glycerin to 4/5 water and if you have dry skin try using 1/3 part glycerin to 2/3 parts water.
    If you have redness in your skin you can add 1 part rose water, that will also give it a nice rose smell. I like to put one part witch hazel in mine personally because it makes it feel less sticky. If the stickiness is still a problem for you, try just a little rubbing alcohol.   

   Glycerin is also used in cooking, many beauty products and medicines. Its a lubricant, moisturizer, and heals burns, its also good for colds. 

I hope you enjoyed this, I know that I did, I am so happy to know that I could make a gallon of this stuff for under $5 bucks! SWEET!

Like this blog on facebook for daily updates.

I Give Up.

   You can get just about anything delivered in Abu Dhabi. Your laundry, groceries, and of course, food. Delivery is really offered anywhere and everywhere. All you have to do is call them up and place your order. The problem that I face however, is language barriers.
   Ryan is gone most of the day and usually gets home right before things close so getting meals delivered from outside the hotel just makes sense. Apparently no one in any of Abu Dhabi's restaurants has any idea where the Intercontinental is? It's the huge building with the giant "I" on it.

   Oh yeah, that one. I have tried a couple times to call for delivery, I usually just give up after about five minutes of asking for them to repeat what they just said and end up hanging up. I figure that there is absolutely no way that they are going to get my order right even if they do manage to make it to the right place.
   Lately I have been seeing this advertisement for a one delicious looking food thing in a box, I didn't know what it was because I had only seen it will driving past it at night, plus its in Arabic. While watching tv I saw it in a commercial for PizzaHut!

   It's called the Mighty Variety and it serves 6, so way too big but I still wanted it! Ryan could take the left overs to work and I could get supreme and he can get whatever it is he likes. We tried to go to pizza hut after he was off of work and it was closed. What pizza place closes at 2AM? So if I wanted it I would have to make the call.
   The plan was made, we knew what we wanted and I had the hotels address, phone number and money. I called and the guy asked for my area code, shit. This is the hotels phone number +971 2 666 6888, please, if you can pick out the area code, HELP ME because its not 971... The guy got so frustrated with me that HE hung up!
   The pizza guy hung up on me because I could not understand him. All I wanted for the Fourth of July was a freaking pizza and he hung up. My country freaking invented that pizza!
   I guess I will go and get chicken shawarma. It's a local dish, kind of a like a gyro, but made of chicken and served with fresh mint leaves and hummas.