Crustless Salmon Spinach Quiche

Good solid dish, serve with some crusty baguette. Next time I'm going to play with mixing the salmon into the egg custard. We tripled this recipe and the cook time was much longer. I recommend a single batch, which is what I'm transcribing here.

Crustless Salmon Spinach Quiche
from Lynns Kitchen Adventures

Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
10 oz. frozen spinach
14.5 oz canned boneless salmon, drained and flaked
16 oz. plain full-fat yogurt
4 eggs
1.5 cups cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
0.5 tsp herbes de provence, dried
tomato, sliced thin, for garnish

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Bring a skillet to medium heat and melt butter. Sautee onion until golden-brown, then add garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
3. Combine well all other ingredients to create the egg custard and set aside.
4. In a 9x13" pan, spread spinach in bottom. Then layer salmon on top of spinach, then the sauteed onion, then the custard mixture. Make single-layer of tomato on top of custard.
5. Bake for 50 minutes, or until egg custard is completely set in the middle when cut.

Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Pinwheels

Ah, Thanks giving day! A true foodie holiday. My immediate family and I went over to my aunt's on my mom's side and had our feast there. But before going, I asked my mom (same morning, of course): What are we supposed to bring? She tells me a vegetable dish and an hors d'oeuvres tray. When I ask what vegetable and hors d'oeuvres, she said sweet potato and pickles (respectively). I had a minor panic, knowing that neither of those would be the options my aunt was looking for. Sure enough, when my mom called over to see if sweet potato would be an acceptable vegetable substitute, someone else had already been assigned the task of brining the sweet potato side, so I quickly whipped up these little guys for hors d'oeuvres and a ratatoulli (which ended up becoming a south-west vegetable fry, because chili-ready diced tomatoes != diced tomatoes).

In the end, it all worked out. Everyone loved the pinwheels, so much so that I didn't end up taking any of these little guys home (probably for the best, given all the days of over-eating unhealthy foods to come). With these, I substituted in toasted blanched almonds, chopped finely because my parents' pinenuts had gone bad, but it worked out quite well! Feel free to make said substitution yourself. I didn't happen to have scallions on hand (as my dad doesn't like onions of any kind), but they would definitely make this appetizer pop.

I hope everyone got to enjoy their family and good food this Thanksgiving holiday, and bon appetit!

Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Pin-wheels
from cook and be merry

Ingredients:

Crepes:
3 eggs
1.5 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
10 oz. fresh spinach
1 cup finely minced scallions (I omitted)
olive oil

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1 Tbs vodka
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and minced
3 oz (1/2 cup) toasted pine nuts, roughly chopped

Instructions:
1. Heat a skillet over medium-heat. Add about 1 Tbs. of oil, and saute spinach until completely wilted. Remove from pan and finely chop.
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.  Whisk in minced spinach.
3. Heat a pan (or multiple) on medium-low heat, add a little bit of oil to coat the pan, and add 1/4 cup batter. Swirl around to evenly coat the pan. Cook the crepe until the crepe stays together enough to be flipped, then flip and cook until the other side has set. Place to the side on a plate and repeat with remaining batter.
4. Mix together all filling ingredients.
5. Take a crepe, spread 1/4" thick filling across the top, and roll together. Place on a plastic wrapped tray and repeat with remaining crepes and filling.
6. Cover finished rolls with more plastic wrap and chill for an hour to over-night.
7. When ready to serve, take out and slice slightly diagonally (if desired), munching on the ends as you go, and place pin-wheels on a platter. Serve cold or room temperature.

Jalapeño Poppers

One of the many things that happened on fry-day. These were by the far the best jalapeño poppers I've ever had, and I think a large part of that had to do with the fresh jalapeños being used. We froze some of these for later, and they weren't nearly as good after being frozen. I would make just as many as you're going to eat, and try to find local jalapeños. They were 18 for 1$ at the Kirksville farmer's market, so you can probably find them pretty cheaply in your area!

Jalapeño Poppers
from Whisk the Pantry

Ingredients:
8 jalapeños
3 Tbs. cheddar cheese, shredded
3 Tbs. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 cup panko (or fresh) breadcrumbs
1/3 cup flour
oil for deep frying (I used peanut oil)

Instructions:
1. Fill deep-fryer to indicated level with high-smoke point oil, and let come to temperature (365F).
2. To prepare the jalapeños, cut a line length-wise on the jalapeños. Then cut a line half way-across the top, just down from the stem. The jalapeños should now open up like a coin purse when you press the ends together. Gently scoop out the seeds.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cheddar and cream cheese.
4. Spoon the mixture into the jalapenos. Dip the stuffed jalapeno first into milk, then flour. Do this with all of them, letting them dry before dipping in milk, and then bread crumbs.
5. After having dipped them all in the breadcrumbs, do a second coat of milk and then breadcrumbs.
6. Once oil is at heat, pop the jalapenos in (I suggest holding by the stem and sliding them into the oil to avoid getting splattered) and cook until outter coating is golden-brown.
7. Take out finished poppers with a slotted spoon and set on a plate lined with paper towels. Serve hot.

Cream Cheese Syrup

Delicious on pancakes, especially carrot cake pancakes (recipe here)!

Note: For the buttermilk, I used the yogurt substitute (2 Tbs. milk + enough plain yogurt to fill up to 1 cup line), found on this great buttermilk substitute post.

Cream Cheese Syrup
from Cooking Classy

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk (note above)
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:
1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Stir in sugar, buttermilk, and cream cheese.
2. Cook mixture, whisking constantly until cream cheese has melted. Stir in baking soda and whisk for 10 seconds, until frothy.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm.

Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week and reheat before serving.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Walnuts

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Walnuts
adapted from Pinch of Yum
makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 butternut squash
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup toasted walnuts + more for garnish
salt and pepper
1 lb. whole wheat rotini
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 Tbs. butter
3 oz. cream cheese
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded + more for garnish
1-2 cups. vegetable broth (as needed)

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.
2. Halve the squash, scoop out the seeds, then cut into large chunks. Place the chunks in a baking pan, fill pan half way up with boiling water, and bake for 1 hour, or until fork-tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a bit.
3. Scrape out the flesh and purée with the milk. When squash is smooth, add the walnuts and purée until walnuts are coarsely chopped throughout. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cook pasta according to directions.
5. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for several minutes until onions are golden and translucent. Stir in squash purée and cream cheese, and combine. Turn the heat off, and stir in the cheddar cheese until combined.
6. Combine pasta and squash/cheese mixture, adding vegetable broth as needed for getting the right consistency. Serve with extra cheese and toasted walnuts to garnish.

Grain-free Cheesecake Brownies

I made this back during the school year for my grain-free friend. Yeay for catching up on a backlog of posts!

Grain-free Cheesecake Brownies
adapted from food renegade

Ingredients:
brownie:
1 c. peanut butter
2 eggs
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1/2 c. canned coconut milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. chocolate chips
cheesecake:
8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F and grease a 9" x 9" pan.
2. Whisk together brownie ingredients, until well combined. Pour into prepared pan.
3. In same bowl, combine cream cheese, and beat until smooth. Then combine the rest of the ingredients and beat until combined.
4. Carefully drop cheesecake batter evenly over brownies, and carefully smooth out on top.
5. Swirl brownies by dragging a tooth pick up through the cheesecake layer from the brownier layer, until desired swirl effect has been obtained.
6. Bake for 35 minutes.
7. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Deliciousness in disk-form. My personal taste is that they need to be more chocolaty, but still these are worth making.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies
recipe from neighbor

Ingredients:
1 - 8 oz. brick cream cheese, room temp.
1 stick butter, room temp.
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 bx moist chocolate cake mix
confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a large bowl, cream cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in egg, then vanilla, then cake mix.
3. Cover and refridgerate for two hours.
4. Roll chilled batter into T. size balls, and roll in confectioner's sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 mins.
Note: The cookies will remain soft and "gooey".