Quiche…the answer to leftovers

I know that we all have leftovers that go over, or vegetables that have had a few too many days of hanging out in the fridge and are now less than stellar. Now, don’t get me wrong – I don’t keep stuff past its safe to eat date, but sometimes that’s tough. That’s where the quiche comes in. A quiche is simply put, the best way to use a bit of this and a bit of that.


A quiche is sometimes best comprised of the most random items – for the quiche that I made for this post, I used about three mushrooms, a handful of spinach, half of a green pepper, a half cup of shredded cheddar, and salt and pepper. Some other interesting things would have been cooked bacon, a different cheese (gouda sounds good), turkey sausage, kale, red peppers, tomatoes, you get the idea.

So let’s make some quiche!

First, preheat that oven! 375 degree. You will need a pie crust – it can be store bought or homemade. Next, roll out the pie crust, poking holes with a fork to release the air as it bakes (believe me, you want to do this!). After the crust is all ready, crack 6-7 eggs into a large bowl with half a cup of milk, and beat together.

Mix in any ingredients that you would like (cook any meats prior to mixing into the eggs). Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Bake for 45 minutes, until eggs are nice and fluffy. Serve warm or room temp. This quiche will serve about 6 people. Leftover quiche is great for work lunches and quick breakfasts throughout the week! Enjoy!

Sugar-free Orange Muffins

When my sister came to visit recently, she told me about some delicious orange scones that she had eaten with chunks of orange peel that made them so satisfying and yummy. I decided that I really wanted to create a recipe based on her description of the scones, but wanted to try muffins instead of scones, and I wanted to make them sugar-free to make them a bit healthier. I think that I've accomplished that with this recipe. One of the best ways to reduce sugar in a recipe is to replace the butter/margarine/oil with fruit purees. It not only alleviates the need to use butter (unless you are looking for a butter taste -- consequently, this is not recommended for scones), it can also replace or significantly reduce the sugar.

These muffins would be an excellent addition to brunch, or just a nice treat after school.

Ingredients:
1 large orange
1 extra-large egg
1 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (could also substitute wheat)
2 tsp baking powder
1 banana, preferably browned
1/2 cup natural applesauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp orange flavoring
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
cooking spray

Makes approximately 8 muffins.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, smash the banana using a potato masher or fork (I used my hands!) until it is very creamy. Stir in the applesauce until well combined. Cut the orange into quarters, and squeeze in as much juice as possible, being sure to pick out any seeds. Add the orange flavoring

Add the egg, and whisk until all liquid is well blended, and the mixture bubbles slightly.

In a separate bowl, mix together the remainder of the ingredients.

Cut a few pieces of the rind and chop into small bits. Add about a tablespoon to the dry ingredients.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients carefully, until just combined. Overmixing will make them tough!

Spray a muffin tin, and fill the cups with the batter. Bake for 25 minutes.

Cool on a cooling rack in the pan, remove muffins carefully.

Almost-vegan Banana Bread

Not intentionally almost vegan, but I wanted to play with egg substitutes, and I've found that applesauce is the best replacement. This bread could be made completely vegan by substituting soy milk for the buttermilk. This bread whips up very quickly, but takes awhile to bake, so it will take some planning ahead if you plan on serving it at breakfast or brunch. This bread is also low in sugar and high in fiber because of the natural sugars of the bananas and the wheat flour and oatmeal. Dried fruit and nuts would also be excellent additions, if desired.

Dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats (I used Quaker)
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Wet ingredients:
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 bananas, best if very brown
1/3 cup milk, buttermilk, or soy milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup applesauce

cooking spray for the loaf pan

Optional Mix-ins:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup orange zest
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup currants
1 cup chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Peel the bananas and place them in a bowl. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the bananas until they are a very thick liquid consistency. Add the remainder of the wet ingredients to the bowl, and stir until they are well mixed.

In a larger bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Once they are mixed, slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. The batter will be very thick.

Spray a loaf pan with the cooking spray, and pour in the batter. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then pop it out and let it cool another 15 minutes.

Slice and serve with butter, if desired.