Real moms do so make Quiche…

I’ve hear it said that a real mom doesn’t make Quiche.  Well, it’s not that hard, and I am SO a real mom!  We just tend to eat Quiche for dinner instead of breakfast and it doesn’t take any longer than any other meal. 

A good Quiche starts with a good pie crust.  Here’s mine:

Stir together with a fork: 1 cup flour 1 tsp sugar 1/8 tsp salt Cut in 1/2 cup Crisco with a pasty cutter. When it starts to look like crumbs, Slowly add in 1/4 cup water using your hands to work it together (dust your hands with flour to keep the dough from sticking to you) Sprinkle flour onto the surface you will be rolling your dough out on, and get to it

 

For the Quiche:

1 cup heavy cream

About a half a pound of bacon cut and fried

1 cup diced onion fried in the bacon grease

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup miracle whip

8 or so eggs, lightly beaten (I use about a dozen because our chickens are laying like nobody’s business!)

1 and 1/2 cup shredded cheese

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Pie crust

 

How to make it:

First, make your pie crust and line a 9 inch pie plate.  Then sprinkle the cooked bacon on the bottom of the crust.  Add the onions and top with the cheese.  Mix all other ingredients together and pour on top.  Cook in a 375 degree oven for about 45-60 minutes.  You know it is done when a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean.  Let cool 5 minutes and eat!

You can vary this basic recipe by adding a cup or so of one (or more) of the following:

steamed broccoli, sauted mushrooms, sliced zucchini, chopped ham, or any other cooked ingredient you like in a Quiche. 

You can also change the type of cheese you use.

Corn Pudding/Souffle… Mmmmmmm…..

If your from the south, you know all about this delicious side dish.  Usually, we use a recipe for fresh corn and eat this in the summer.  But I had a hankerin’ for some of this and found a recipe using canned stuff.  I’m sure it’s not as good, but it was easy.  Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 2 cans whole kernel corn
• 2 cans creamed corn
• 4 Tablespoons white sugar
• 4 Tablespoons flour
• 4 Tablespoons milk
• 4 eggs

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, beat eggs with a whisk and then add everything else.  Mix some more with the whisk (why dirty anything else?)
3. In a buttered corningware type bakeware dish, dump it all in and stick it in the oven for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours until it’s not jiggly in the middle (kinda like a cake- you could even insert a knife and if it comes out clean- it’s done.)
4. Enjoy!

Of course, if you’re a fancy pants cook and own a souffle dish (and can find it!), use that instead.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti- doing it my way

This was previously posted on my main blog, but it belongs here.  So I moved it.  It doesn’t mind.  It didn’t even have to pack an overnight bag. 

Here’s dinner at our house.

Last night at 4:30, we were getting hungry. No problem, I thought. We’ve been out of town for a week, but we have stuff in the pantry- I can adapt…

So here’s the recipe (and here’s what we actually did):

• 1 package 7 oz. spaghetti, broken (yeah- I used the whole box of angel hair- I hate opened boxes in the pantry- so that’s 12 oz. )
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken (I poached a package of chicken breasts and cut it up and threw it all in, extra protien!)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided (Didn’t see the word divided- so I used about 6 cups- more on this later)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (Since I used twice as much pasta, I doubled this also)
• 1 cup Milk (I had to double this also- It was too thick to stir without the second cup of milk…)
• 1 Tablespoon diced pimentos (ick- we left this out!)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (pour salt until you feel you have enough in there)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper (didn’t even see this ingredient when I made it…)

And now for the details:

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. (Put the pasta in the pot and WALK AWAY. When you remember about it, it will only be slightly overcooked…)
2.  Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the chicken, 1 cup cheese, soup, milk, pimientos if desired, dalt and pepper. (Yeah, that’s a long list. Can you see why I forgot about the pepper?!? And the cheese… Well, it normally comes in 2 cup bags, but I had the super large one and we don’t measure real well around here. I just dumped until it looked like I had a couple of cups in there. Missed that darn divided word in the beginning, and now I have overlooked the plainly stated 1 CUP)
3. Drain spaghetti; add to the chicken mixture and toss to coat. (Dump it all together and stir until your child starts screaming that her brother took her toy. Walk away to deal with the trauma and come back and notice that it is really hard to stir once it has started to congeal a little… Hence the extra milk. Stir quickly and move on- You’re almost done!) 
4.  Transfer to a greased 13X9 in baking dish. (Okay- I know how I cook and I have invested in a slightly larger and deeper pan for occasions such as these when I forget how quickly the dish grows and ends up being enough to feed an army. I have also divided stuff in the past and frozen half.)
5. Sprinkle with remaining cheese (what? Oh yeah, reread the directions- I was suppose to DIVIDE 2 cups of cheese… Geez. I still sprinkled, we love cheese…)
6. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. (Or until the rest of the meal is done, whichever…)

 

And that’s how we roll at my house… So… What’s for dinner at your house?

The secret to a good pie…

As any good cook (or good pie eater) will tell you, the secret to a good pie is an excellent crust.  Here’s my grandmother’s recipe for pie and cobbler crust.  The recipe is for a one crust type pie.  If you want a top to your pie, double the recipe.

Stir together with a fork:

1 cup flour

1 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Cut in 1/2 cup crisco with a pasty cutter.  When it starts to look like crumbs,

Slowly add in 1/4 cup water using your hands to work it together (dust your hands with flour to keep the dough from sticking to you)

Sprinkle flour onto the surface you will be rolling your dough out on, and get to it. 

Enjoy!

Feel like chicken tonight… and dumplings…

Our recipe for chicken and dumplings is a little different from others.  We have noodle type dumplings and not the biscuit stuff.  Anywhoo- here it is…

 

Remember that I am measuringly challenged…  I can’t measure.  I just eyeball and dump. 

In a big pot, bring to boil some chicken broth (I used about 12 cups if the amounts listed on the cans are accurate) and cut up cooked chicken (I open up a package of boneless chicken breasts and put it in a pan with some water, bring to boiling, cover, and cook for about 14 minutes).  While waiting for the big pot to boil, make your dumplings:

Combine 2 cups flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, and 1 cup milk with a fork.  Place on a floured surface and roll out fairly thin.  Cut with a pizza cutter (or knife) into strips about 3/4 inches long. 

When your big pot boils, drop those bad boys in and cook until they shrink and appear done.  They will look a little shiny.  Add pepper and salt if desired and serve.  Enjoy.

Raise your hand if you love Paula D…

I found this recipe of hers for Chocolate Pecan Pie at Kelly’s Korners Recipes.  But I didn’t have any semisweet chocolate.  But I did have semi sweet chocolate chips.  So here’s what I did…

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Unbaked Pie Crust (9 inches)
• 2 cups pecan halves
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup Karo brown sugar corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Here’s what you do:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Cover bottom of pie crusts with the two cups of pecan halves

Melt the butter in the microwave and whisk in the three beaten eggs.

Dump in the chocolate chips and Karo syrup.  Whisk some more.  (I love my whisk!)

Add the sugar and whisk some more.  Yeah, it makes a mess.  (It would probably be better to add the chips LAST, but I’m all about making things difficult… )

Dump all that yumminess over the pecans and place the pie on a sturdy baking sheet.  Put it in the oven for 10 minutes.

When the buzzer goes off, lower the temperature to 350 and leave in for another 25ish minutes.  (Untill the pie sets up)

Put on a wire rack to cool.

Fluffy and Fattening Pancakes

We love having breakfast for dinner around here.  And pancakes are soo yummy!  We only have them once every couple of months because the momma- she is lazy.  Here’s our favorite recipe:

 

Fluffy Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg (slightly beaten)

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup shortening (melted)

 

1.  In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Stir. (Yes, this is a child friendly recipe.  My Sweet Pea loves to stir!)

2.  Stir in the milk.  Stir in the eggs.  Stir in the melted shortening. Be careful with the stirring here.  Only stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened.  (We over stir at our house.  Sweet Pea says that taste delicious anyway).

3.  Pour batter by 1/4 cup (or smaller or larger, depending on your tastes) onto a hot griddle.  Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes; cook until the second side is golden brown.

This only makes 8ish pancakes, so we usually double it.  Happy Eating!

My version of the Classic Poppyseed Chicken

Darling Honey is working late and we have Dance tonight, so we are going easy-peasy.  This is such a “can of this and can of that” recipe that almost everyone has had it before.  Especially if you live in the South.  It’s the classsic standby for taking to your neighbors in times of joy and sadness and generall all around need.  Here’s my version:

 

POPPYSEED CHICKEN

• Poached chicken breasts, diced (I just stick however many boneless breasts come in the package in a skillet on the stove with about 3/4 cup water and boil covered for about 12-14 minutes)
• One container of Sour Cream (we like ours with extra tangy goop so we use the 1 lb.container or whatever amount we can find in the fridge)
• One can cream of chicken soup (ometimes we add an extra can of this is I have overdone the sour cream- opps!)
• One can cream of chicken soup
• A little salt, a little pepper
• Ritz Crakers (one to two tubes- we use two, gotta love that buttery goodnes type of cracker!)
• Butter (We use a whole stick because I can…)
• Poppyseeds
• White Rice

We poach the chicken and cut it up.  In a bowl I let my Sweet Pea daughter dump in the sour cream and cans of soup and stir.  We toss in the chicken and stir some more.  Add a little salt and pepper.  Stir some more.  My daughter loves the stirring.  We pour all of that goodness into the 9X13 pan.  And then dump the Ritz crackers into a zip lock and begin a-smashing. When we have smashed them into small pieces, we unzipped and pour.  I spread them out on top and then zot the butter in the microwave to melt it.  Sprinkle poppyseeds over the crushed crackers and pour on that butter.  YUM.  Into the oven it goes at 350 for about 30 minutes or until it’s bubbly around the edges.  While it’s a-cooking, make some rice according to the directions.  When everything is done.  Put some rice on the plate, spoon over the poppyseed chicken and add a salad.  And it was good.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.