Crustless Quiche

I love quiche but I really dislike preparing, kneading and rolling the pastry dough for the base. So when I saw the recipe for "Crustless Quiche" posted by The Waitakere Redneck's Kitchen, I knew I had to bookmark it.

This recipe yields a delicious dinner! Ok, that's for me and darling son YW. Hubby dear and darling son KW are no fans of quiche. They dislike the "softness" of the quiche. But nonetheless, they finished their dinner.

I'm the opposite of them. I like this dish and I like that it is easy to prepare. I also like that you can use whatever ingredients you have on hand to "fill" the quiche. Instead of using canned salmon as stated in the recipe, I opted for salmon fillets. Since I need to be out, I cooked the salmon in the morning, flaked it, and set it aside for use later in the evening. I also blanched the spinach, let cool, and squeezed out the excess water. All I needed to do when I return home in the late afternoon, was to put all the ingredients together in a baking tray, and send the tray into the oven.

Fuss free and simple.

1/2 cup Flour

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

4 Eggs

2 cups Low fat Milk

75g Butter, melted

2 Salmon fillets

2 Ham Slices

1 bag Baby Spinach Leaves

1/2 cup Grated cheese (I use Cheddar Cheese)

1 Tomato, cut into rings (optional)

A dash of black pepper and salt, to taste.

• Clean and pat dry salmon fillets.
• Season with a little sea salt. Spray a little oil over the fillets.
• Put the fillets in a tray lined with parchment paper.
• Bake at 400F till fully cooked.
• Remove from oven and let cool.
• Flake the cooked salmon into smaller pieces. Set aside.
• Blanched the bag of baby spinach.
• Let cool. Squeeze out the excess water.
• Cut the spinach, using a pair of kitchen scissors, into smaller pieces.
• Set aside for later use.
• Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl.
• Stir in eggs, milk and melted butter.
• Add the blanched spinach. Stir to mix well.
• Add salmon, ham, and grated cheese.
• Pour the mixture into a large greased baking pan.
• Bake at 350F/180C for about 45 minutes or till set.
• Let cool before slicing.

I poured the mixture into an 8-inch disposal square baking tray. The remaining mixture went into a small disposal loaf pan. The baked quiche in the small loaf pan tasted just as good the next day. I will bake this again, for myself, when the boys and the man are not at home =)

Mini Sweet Peppers

I was at the supermarket today, when I started gravitating towards the section where the leafy vegetables were kept. Amongst the bed of greens, sat a few rows of yellow, red and orange. I would normally give this colourful section a miss, but today, the boxes of mini peppers seemed to be calling out to me =)

Nowadays, I don't really fancy eating meat. My little boy will sometimes run into the kitchen when I am cooking or baking the meat, and ask me what I'm cooking. "Smells good!", he will say. But I felt otherwise. When I was pregnant with my second boy, I couldn't tolerate the smell and taste of pork. This intolerance continued even after the birth of the boy. Coincidentally, my little boy doesn't like eating pork. He will try very hard to stomach a small amount of the meat, and rather have his rice and vegetables whenever pork is served. Even when the pork is cooked and masked by the rich flavor of char siew sauce, I still find the distinct pork taste lingering after swallowing the Char Siew. And I am not referring to Americanized Char Siew. Char Siew back home, served at the hawker centres. Bad huh? Maybe that was the main reason I went ahead and bought the packet of mini sweet peppers today =)

A simple stir-fry vegetable dish for lunch today.

• Minced a few cloves of garlic and thinly sliced one medium shallot.
• Heat up pan and add some olive oil.
• When oil is hot, add the minced garlic and sliced shallot.
• Fry till fragrant, but not browned.
• Add the sliced peppers and mix well with the garlic and shallot.
• Add the baby spinach. Mix well.
• Add some chicken stock.
• Cook till the spinach soften.
• Turn off heat, and add salt to taste.
• Do not overcook if you want the peppers to have a little crunch when you bite into them.

Since the vegetables had quite a good amount of liquid in it, I thought it would be nice to add some pasta to my share of the vegetables. Tomato and spinach shells, it will be.

While waiting for the pasta to cook in the pan of boiling water, I chopped some grape tomatoes and added them to my bowl of vegetables.

Hubby dear had his standard lunch of rice, vegetables and baked fish, while I enjoyed my bowl of pasta with lots of vegetables! Satisfying lunch for me =)

Penne in Creamy Sauce

Wholegrain Penne, broccoli, grape tomatoes, and carrots.

Sounds heathy? Loads of vegetable goodness =)

The load of vegetable goodness is neutralized by the addition of a creamy sauce and bacon bits. I don't serve this dish regularly, so I guess it is ok for the bacon to make its guest appearance on the dinning table once in a long while =)

2 cups Wholegrain Penne

1 head Broccoli

3 stalks Carrots

12 Grape Tomatoes

1 packet Bacon

• Cook penne according to the package instructions.
• Drain and set aside.
• Cut the broccoli into small florets.
• Microwave or blanch in hot water.
• Set aside.
• Remove skin from carrots.
• Cut into strips or cubes, whatever you prefer.
• Set aside if you like it raw.
• Microwave if you like them soft.
• Wash and pat dry the grape tomatoes.
• Thinly sliced them.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix penne, broccoli, carrots, and grape tomatoes together.
• Set aside till ready to eat.
• Bake the bacon in the oven, according to package instructions, till crispy.
• Remove baked bacon and leave them on a paper towel to cool.
• Once cooled, break the crispy bacon into smaller pieces and set aside.

Sauce Ingredients

2 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp All Purpose Flour

2-4 tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese

1.5 cups Milk

Preparing the Sauce:

• Put the butter in a saucepan.
• Place the saucepan over low heat and warm till the butter is melted.
• Add the flour to the melter butter.
• Using the whisk or a spoon, stir the flour and butter until the mixture is smooth and bubbling, but not browned.
• Raise the heat and stirring constantly, slowly pour the milk into the saucepan.
• Stir continuously, and cook until the sauce mixture is smooth and thickened.
• It should be about as thick as melted ice cream.
• Remove saucepan from the heat.
• Add salt and stir well.
• Add Parmesan cheese.
• Stir until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth.
• Pour the sauce over the mixing bowl of prepared penne and vegetables.
• Mix well.
• Add the bacon bits and mix well.
• Pour the bowl of penne, vegetables and bacon into a large serving bowl.

I was too lazy to wash another big mixing bowl, so I poured the sauce directly into the serving bowl which had the penne and vegetables, before mixing in the bacon bits. The sides of the serving bowl had the sauce and it didn't look very nice.

You can also add some shredded cheddar cheese to the sauce, if you like a very cheesy and thick sauce. The sauce can be prepared 15 minutes prior to serving the meal. The ingredients can be prepared ahead of the meal. While preparing the sauce, I popped some vegetable spring rolls into the oven to bake =)

This dish also makes a good pot-luck dish. It can be served warm or cold. It tasted just as good the next day as leftover, warmed up in the microwave. I didn't add much salt to the sauce, as I felt that the bacon bits did their job well in providing the saltiness, and that extra crunch. Personally, I feel that the bacon bits are the "soul" of this dish. Without them, the dish is kind of bland.

If you really dislike the idea of having bacon in your diet, then feel free to replace the bacon with some other cooked meat =) The next time I cook this, I may replace the bacon with some raisins and toasted nuts ... no meat!

Miso Chicken and Penne

When you think of miso paste, you think of miso soup.

But with a big box of miso paste sitting in your fridge, you are going to take quite a while before you use up the box of miso paste. How about using miso paste in your cooking as well?

Packed school lunch for my two darlings today .... Fried chicken pieces in miso paste, miso-flavored penne, and some blanched broccoli. It is a fairly easy to prepare lunch box, especially when you prepare the ingredients the day before =)

A piece of chicken thigh fillet was cut into bite sized cubes the day before, and marinated in some shaoxing wine and cornflour. The wholegrain penne was cooked the day before, let cool and sprinkled with some olive oil before storing in the fridge. All you need to do in the morning is ......

• Microwave the box of precooked penne, about 2 minutes.
• Microwave some broccoli.
• Drain and set aside.
• Heat up a frying pan.
• Add some olive oil.
• Add the chicken pieces and fry till cooked.
• Turn off heat.
• In a small bowl, add a little water to 1 tablespoon or less of miso paste.
• Add the diluted miso paste to the cooked chicken pieces.
• Add penne and mix well.
• Add some water if you find it too salty.
• Add the blanched broccoli and mix well.
• Pack into the lunchbox.

Remember not to add the miso paste while the heat is on. Adding blanched broccoli helps to even out the saltiness of the miso paste. But if you find that you have added too much of the miso paste, add some water to dilute the mixture. Alternatively, you can start off by adding just a teaspoon, and gradually add the paste till you find it acceptable. It all depends on your taste and how much penne you are adding to the cooked meat.

Pasta with Minced Chicken and Mushrooms

200g Minced Chicken/Pork/Turkey

1 tsp Grated Ginger

1 tbsp Minced Garlic

1 - 2 tbsp Vegetarian Shitake Mushroom Flavored Sauce

1/2 - 1 cup Water

5 pcs Dried Mushrooms

2 tsp Sugar

1-2 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Corn Flour

3 tbsp Water

• Reconstitute the dried mushrooms in water.
• Squeezed out the water from the mushrooms when they have softened.
• Diced the mushrooms.
• Marinate the diced mushrooms with 2 tsp sugar and 1 tbsp Soy Sauce. You may add more sugar and soy sauce if you have use more mushrooms, or if you prefer a stronger flavor.
• Marinate for 15 minutes or more.
• Heat up a frying pan. Add 2 tsp of oil into the heated pan.
• Fry the mushrooms. Remove and set aside.
• Add 1 tbsp of oil into the heated pan.
• Fry the ginger and garlic till fragrant.
• Add the minced meat and fry till cooked.
• Add the oyster sauce and water. Mix well.
• You can add more oyster and water if you have more pasta. It's ok for the sauce to be a little more saltier than what you normally want, as the sauce will mix with the pasta, and the taste will be diluted.
• Mix the 1 tbsp corn flour and 3 tbsp water to form the cornstarch mixture.
• Pour in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the meat sauce. You need not use all the cornstarch mixture. Thicken the sauce to your desired consistency.
• Pour the meat and thicken sauce over the pasta.
• Serve warm, and with a side of broccoli.

No more store-bought pasta sauce!

Or good when you run out of store-bought pasta sauce =)

Bento and Leftover Pasta

This was my lunch, the leftover after packing the boys' lunchboxes.

I didn't have time to take a picture after packing their lunchboxes.

And lunch was leftover pasta from last night's dinner. I sprinkled a little olive oil into the container of leftover pasta, and kept it in the fridge for today's lunch. All I needed to do this morning was cooked the meat, and microwaved the broccoli! Instead of using spaghetti sauce, I used the sauce from the meat to flavor the pasta.

I cooked Miso Chicken. Would love to use minced turkey (softer texture), but I didn't have any in the fridge. I added a little more miso paste, and some water. When the meat was cooked, I added some cornstarch mixture, to thicken the sauce. The pasta was added into the pot of miso chicken.

Ta Da! Done! Let cool before packing in the lunchboxes. Arrange the broccoli florets nicely beside the pasta.

Are you ready for lunch?

Pasta with Broccoli

Something different for dinner ... pasta with broccoli. Why?

Because I am tired of having rice for dinner.

Because the men in the house like broccoli.

Because my boys love cheese.

Because I have a pack of small sea shells sitting in my pantry.

1 bunch Fresh broccoli : Cut into small pieces.

2 cups Pasta Shells or similar type pasta

1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 tbsp Butter

• Cook pasta according to instructions on packet.
  
• Cook broccoli till tender. You can add the broccoli pieces into the pot with the pasta when the pasta is almost done, or you can microwave the broccoli.
  
• Put the drained pasta and broccoli in a large serving bowl.
  
• Add butter and cream to the pasta and broccoli and toss with spoons till the butter melts and most of the cream soaks into the pasta.
  
• Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top and toss till well combined.
  
• Add more cream, cheese, or butter if necessary.
  
• Serve immediately.

A simple and fuss-free meal.

Compliment the meal with baked chicken wings.

No nagging at the boys, as they finished up every single shell that was found on their plate, leaving their mummy happy and pleased.

What's for dinner tonight, Mom?

The weather is getting colder each day.

Mom is really tired and feeling cold, and doesn't like her hands to get wet.

So she whipped up this "short-cut" dish for dinner =).

Angel's hair with baked soy chicken wings, accompanied by pre-cut broccoli salad. Minimum washing. Mom can sit and rest while the wings baked in the oven.

Only thing that Mom disliked about this dish ... it gets cold real fast ... a cold dish for a cold winter night? Oh well, something different for a change.

Sauce for Angel's Hair : For 4 persons
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
4 tablespoons Low Sodium Kikkoman Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil

• Cook pasta according to packet's instructions.
  
• Wash in cold water and set aside for use later.
  
• Marinate chicken wings with soy sauce: 4 tbsp for 10 wings (2 section).
  
• Baked wings in oven at 400F for about 30 mins to 45 mins.
  
• Drizzle oil from baking wings onto broccoli salad. Mix well.
  
• Scoop angel's hair onto plate.
  
• Arrange a handful of broccoli salad on top of pasta.
  
• Drizzle sauce over broccoli salad and Angel's Hair.
  
• Wings at the side of the meal.
  

Enjoy!