Broccoli Quiche with No-Roll Pie Crust

The other day I was given a good batch of beautiful broccoli.  Immediately I steamed up a big pot of it and started eating it.  I ate it as a snack all day.  And the next day.  And the next!  The broccoli smell sort of permeated my pores so there was one downside.  The upsides included NORMAL blood sugar, no hunger at all, and slightly reduced weight.  All in all a good thing.

Since Dear One likes quiche, I decided to make a quick one to include this steamed broccoli.  Since I did not want to make a "real" pie crust...more work than I had time...I just made a no-roll crust.  It is not the ideal pie crust, but it works quite well and was delicious for this.  I think next time I will add some herbs to the crust...

No-Roll Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/4 cup water

Mix the water and oil together then pour into a bowl where you have previously whisked the flour and salt together. When all the flour has been absorbed into the liquid measure, press into the bottom and up the sides of a deep-dish pie plate. I  have a Pyrex glass pie dish that I particularly like.

Broccoli Quiche

4 slices swiss cheese
1 cup steamed chopped broccoli
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or multi-cheese mixture)
1 cup whipping cream
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the four slices of Swiss cheese in the bottom of the pastry crust, more or less covering the bottom evenly.  (This is not an exact science so don't worry if there are some empty spots.)

Spread the finely chopped broccoli over the Swiss cheese then sprinkle the chopped onions over the top.  (These should also be very finely chopped.) 

Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the vegetables.

In a bowl gently whisk together the cream, eggs, salt, pepper, and garlic granules.  Carefully pour over the mixture in the pie plate.  With a fork, gently mix things together so there is cream/egg mixture throughout.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until beautifully golden brown on top and there is not jiggle.  If there is a TINY bit of jiggle, you can still bring it out of the oven as it will continue to cook a bit as it cools but if there is a LOT of jiggle, give it another 2-5 minutes in the oven.

Serve warm or completely cooled.  Or hot if you cannot wait...

Homemade Croutons/Munchies

When you have some bread that has dried out, make bread crumbs OR you can also make delicious croutons which are a popular munching treat at our house.


1 to 2 loaves French or whole grain bread
1/4 cup Greek (or other) olive oil --another type of vegetable oil can be substituted
1 teaspoon each kosher salt, dill weed, granulated garlic, onion powder
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Seasonings used for croutons, plus Greek olive oil

Cut the bread into crouton-sized cubes.  Put into a large bowl or covered container.  Drizzle with the olive oil then stir well, or cover and shake until all sides of the bread cubes are coated with oil.

Bread cubes in bucket having been "oiled" and shaken.

Place all the spices and herbs in a bowl and stir well to combine.  Sift over the bread cubes then stir well or cover and shake until all side are seasoned.

Seasonings sifted over the bread cubes that were previously spread with oil.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  When croutons-to-be are well coated, place them in a half-sheet pan or very large baking pan with high sides (to avoid spillage when stirring) and spread out to make as close to one layer deep as possible.

Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven and stir well.  Return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes.  After the 30 minutes total baking time, remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.  Store in a covered container....if you can keep hands from the container!

At our house these disappear rather quickly.  They are tastier, cheaper (you already have the bread!), and healthier than potato and other chips.  Of course, to make this last true, you cannot eat the whole container at one sitting....

Quick Strawberry Ice Cream--in a heavy-duty blender

Quick Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup heavy cream (what I used, not having the  half and half called for in the original recipe)
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
16 ounces or 3 cups frozen strawberries
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Using a heavy duty blender like a Blendtec blender, a VitaMix blender, or a Bosch mixer Blender, place the cream, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and frozen berries into the blender jar in that order.

Start blending on low, then go through the gears to high.  Within about a minute you will hear a grinding sound in the Bosch, which is what I used, not having one of the other higher priced machines, so stop the blender.  (If you have a Blendtec or Vitamix, there is most likely an ice cream button...)

After removing the cover, use a spoon to check all the way to the bottom of the blender jar to see that all the berries are blended.  Spoon into serving bowls and enjoy.  Serves 4 or 5 people a nice bowl of wonderful ice cream.

Leftover strawberry ice cream.

If you do NOT have a heavy duty blender, better not try it.  It will probably destroy your blender with the strain of grinding the frozen berries.


Next time I will try blueberries.

Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns

On Monday and Wednesday mornings we provide a breakfast-y snack for the Seminary students.  This morning I awoke at 4:29 and decided cinnamon buns were the order of the day.

Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns, ready to eat, though still a little hot!

 Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns

4-5 cups flour
2 packages dry yeast (a scant 2 Tablespoons if using loose yeast)
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter

Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter

Combine 3 cups flour, sugar, salt, and dissolved yeast in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer.  Attach bowl and dough hook, mix for one minute.  Combine milk, water and butter in a small saucepan.  Heat over low heat until quite warm--110-115 degrees F.  Butter does not need to melt all the way.  Turn mixer on to medium speed and slowly drip the milk/water/butter into the flour mixture then continue mixing for one more minute to be sure all the flour is absorbed into the wet ingredients.  Slowly add in the remaining flour until the dough leaves the side of the bowl, then knead for an additional 5-7 minutes and the dough is smooth and elastic, though still soft.  Not all the flour may need to be used, depending on the humidity of the house and the flour....

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place dough in  a greased bowl, turn over so all sides are greased, then cover the bowl and set into a sink half-filled with warm water for 15 minutes.  The dough should have nearly doubled in bulk by now.  Put dough onto a lightly floured board and roll out into a large rectangle.  Brush melted topping butter over entire top surface of dough rectangle.  Mix white sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over top of dough, covering the whole surface.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over top then roll up rather tightly from the long side.  Cut into 1 1/2 inch rolls and place on parchment lined half-sheet pan.  Cover with a clean towel and let sit for 15-20 minutes, until at least a little bit puffy, though not doubled in bulk.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Check at 12 minutes to see if they are cooked.  If not done, let cook another 2-3 minutes.

Place on a rack to cool completely before eating.  Eating when hot will burn your lips, a most unpleasant situation.

Yield: 14-or 15 buns

Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns still on pan, not burned.

These are very popular with the Seminary students.  What is not to love about yeasted dough, butter, sugar, and cinnamon?!

Kale Chips are a Delight!

Last year A shared some kale chips with me that she had made at a place where she was volunteering.  I loved them.  I tried to make them and turned out solid black ash with some salt, garlic and onion on them.

This year I found some kale chips at Morning Glory in Brunswick, Maine.  They were $6.99 for a small box!  I am sure they were delicious but I did not have the money for them.

SO....I made more and this time they worked.

What you need:

Fresh kale ( I used curly kale)
Granulated garlic
Granulated onion
Kosher salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Oil a baking sheet, or put a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet.  Wash kale and pat dry.  Pull pieces off the stem (about 2 to 4 inches square-ish) and place in a large plastic bag. 

Drizzle about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over kale pieces.  Close bag and shake until all sides of kale are coated with oil.  Mix together garlic, onion, pepper, and some salt...no more than one-half teaspoon of salt or it will be way too salty.  Open bag and sprinkle mixed flavoring over the top them close bag and shake again until kale is well coated. 

Kale Chips...going fast!

By now the oven will be ready.  Spread kale pieces onto baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 10 minutes...NO MORE.  When your oven timer goes off, pull out the baking sheet.  You can let the kale sit a moment but it is really ready to eat immediately.  Enjoy these chips!  Way better than potato chips....

It seems to me that the Morning Glory kale chips had a peanut butter coating.  That might be interesting to try.  It did look rather sludgy but if you like peanut butter, or maybe almond or cashew butter...it might be worth trying it.

Cream Puff Shells

In Julia Child's book, The French Chef Cookbook,  from her long-running TV series, there are two recipes for cream puff shells: one the regular recipe and one for a slightly larger batch.  I made the larger batch, which made 48 puffs.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Butter two cookie sheets/half sheet pans and set aside.  Be sure your oven racks are in the upper and lower third of the oven.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
9 Tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 1 Tablespoon)
5-6 eggs

If you are making sweet cream puffs, you can add 2 teaspoons of sugar to this batter.

Put the water, salt, and butter in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring.  When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat, drop in the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.

When all the flour is absorbed into the water (or vice versa!), return the pan to the stove over medium heat and stir until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.  REMOVE PAN FROM HEAT AGAIN.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and drop in one egg at a time and stir vigorously again until each egg is absorbed, then drop in the rest, one at a time, until they are all absorbed into the flour mixture.  I used all 6 eggs since I could not tell if the batter was the right consistency or not...

While still warm, use a teaspoon to drop 1-inch across and 1-inch high globs of batter, set 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart on the BUTTERED pan.

Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, checking at the end to be sure they are not over-cooking.  Remove from oven and put on a cooling rack.  With a sharp knife, puncture each shell near the bottom where you might want to cut for a hole for filling them. 

You can go OCD and check the interior of the puff to see if there is any "wet stuff" in the middle.  If there is, just pull it out with the handle of a teaspoon, but...not necessary in my book.  Particularly since it was just the family eating them.

Once the puffs are cool, you can fill them with pastry cream of many varieties, sweetened whipped cream, or any number of savory filling.  You can also make them much larger and use them for creamed savory fillings like Turkey a la King, etc.  If you do make them larger, cook them for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F then lower the heat to 325 degrees F. and bake another 15 minutes or so then check one to see if the inside is cooked.  If not, push back in and cook some more.

My Own White Bean Hummus/Dip recipe

My Own White Bean Hummus or Dip

6 cups cooked white beans
1 teaspoon chopped chives
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1/3 cup chopped basil
1/2 cup tahini
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish

Soak 2 cups white bean (Great Northern is the kind I used) overnight in a large pot of water to which you have added 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Drain  and rinse beans then cover with water about an inch over the top of the beans until bean are soft.  Allow to come to room temperature.

Put all ingredients into a large Cuisinart and process until smooth.  Serve with vegetable sticks or chips or crackers or....