Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Quiche Cups

Several years ago, I tried following the South Beach Diet plan.  At that time, I was perusing the South Beach diet book and found a recipe for veggie quiche cups.  They used Egg Beaters and spinach.  You baked them in muffin tins and stored them in the freezer.  I loved them because they were very easy to reheat on busy mornings.  As I'm now trying to shed some baby weight, I've been looking for some low carb recipes and more specifically low carb breakfast recipes.  The South Beach recipe was the first to come to mind.  Then, a friend of mine shared a recipe for Breakfast bites and I tried that one but didn't have all the ingredients on hand so I had to improvise a little.  They also required a mini muffin pan and the batch I tried stuck to the pan terribly.  Still delicious, but it was a big mess!  After that, I began thinking about the South beach recipe and decided I would go back to that portion size (and the standard muffin pan I'm accustomed to using without anything sticking) and try to incorporate what I tried with the Breakfast bite recipe.  The combined attempt turned out great and I will definitely be making more of these for the freezer!  With a 2 month old and 2 year old, this momma has little time to cook in the morning!!


Did I mention these are super easy????


Start by heating 1 T. of butter in a skillet and then adding 1 cup of onion seasoning blend.  If you've never tried the onion seasoning blend, you can find it in the freezer section.  It is a frozen blend of onions, celery, red peppers, and parsley.  Cook mixture 3-4 minutes or until onions are tender.


Add in 4 slices of chopped deli ham and cook for about another minute.


Allow the mixture to cool slightly (about 5-10 minutes).


In a mixing bowl, combine 6 eggs, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning blend, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and pepper to taste.  Add in cooled skillet mixture.


I used an 1/8 cup measuring cup to ladle the mixture into a prepared standard 12-cup muffin tin. 


I baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Note:  I used a dark nonstick pan so you may need to adjust your cooking time.  Make sure the eggs are set before removing from oven.


 Store them in the fridge for 2-3 days or place them in ziploc bags and lay flat in the freezer.  From refrigerated state, I heated mine for 30 seconds in the microwave.  From frozen, it takes about a minute.


Quiche Cups

created by me with inspiration from the South Beach Diet and The World According to Eggface

1 cup frozen onion seasoning blend
1 T. butter
4 slices deli ham, chopped
6 eggs
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
black pepper to taste
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook onion blend in butter in skillet over medium heat until onions are tender.  Add in ham and cook another minute.  Cool mixture for 5-10 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and mozzarella cheese.  Add in ham/onion  mixture and stir until combined.  Ladle 1/8 cup of mixture into each cup of a prepared standard 12-cup muffin tin.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until eggs are set.

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Goulash

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Easy Fruit Salad

We attended a family reunion this past weekend and when I saw this fruit salad, I knew I'd be making it soon.   It was such a beautiful salad and my daughter loved it!  I didn't follow any recipe as it looked fairly simple.  I'm not sure this is exactly what we had, but it sure comes close!  I made this today since my brother and nephews were going to be here for lunch.  There's only a tiny bit left!  Everyone loved it and I hope you will too!  We have another family reunion in a couple of weeks and this is what I will be taking!

P.S. This would be great over angel food cake and topped with Cool Whip!!!  Yum!!!

Happy 4th of July!!



You will need two quarts of fresh strawberries, 2 cups of blueberries, and a 15 oz. can of mandarin oranges.


My strawberries were rather large so I quartered them.


Drain mandarin oranges reserving 2-3 T. of the liquid.  Mix all fruit together.


Drizzle reserved juice over the fruit.  Chill before serving!!


Serve this one in a pretty crystal bowl!!!

Easy Fruit Salad

2 lbs. of fresh strawberries, cut up  ( I quartered mine.)
2 cups fresh blue berries
1 can (15 oz.) of mandarin oranges, drained with 2-3 T. of juice reserved.

Mix all fruit in large bowl and drizzle reserved mandarin orange juice over fruit.  Chill before serving!!

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Monday, July 2, 2012

Weekly Chore Chart

Okay, so this isn't a recipe, but I thought this might be useful for some.  When I started my "new career" as a stay-at-home mom, it was a huge adjustment for me.  I had been a teacher for fifteen years and had no idea how to be at home all day.  I loved being able to stay home with my daughter.  I just wasn't organized and found I needed a system to get everything done around the house without scrambling to get all the laundry done or cleaning finished in one day.  I also wanted to avoid doing a ton of housework on the weekend!  I was familiar with Flylady's system and had used something like this before but it was suggested to place it in a binder and I found myself forgetting about it.  So, over the winter I decided I would place it on my fridge in a page protector.  I used a vis-a-vis pen to check off the tasks each week.  In the past few weeks, I realized that with adding a new baby to our family, my schedule needed to change a little.  The image below is my revised list.  I have been using this for the past week and can already see I may be adding a few more things.  Hope this is helpful for some of you!!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Ranch Party Spirals

It's so good to be back to posting recipes.  I actually made this one the night before I went into labor.  I had planned on posting it the next day but I guess God had other plans for me.  We have welcomed a sweet little boy into our family and life is good!  I was actually making these for an event at our local library.  I did get them finished but a friend of mine had to deliver them for me!  I got this recipe from my mom.  I usually make my party spirals with black olives, chiles, and pimientos but her recipe is so much easier to prepare and the spirals are delish!  These would be perfect for your next summer gathering!!  Enjoy!

You'll need to packages of cream cheese, 2 green onions, 1 pkg. dry ranch salad dressing mix, tortillas, and thin-sliced deli ham.


Mix together softened cream cheese, dry ranch salad dressing mix, and green onion.


Spread 2 T. of cream cheese mixture over tortilla.


 Add ham to cover the cream cheese mixture.


Roll tortillas tightly and refrigerate for at least an hour.  You can also refrigerate overnight and slice the next day.


These are a party favorite!


Enjoy!

Ranch Party Spirals

2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese
1 pkg. dry Hidden Valley Ranch Salad dressing mix
2 green onions, chopped (both white and green parts)
12 - 8 inch flour tortillas
thin-sliced deli ham

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and salad dressing mix until smooth.  Add onions and mix well.  Spread about 2 T. of the mixture over each tortilla and top with ham slices.  Roll each tortilla tightly.  Cover and refrigerate until firm.  They should be refrigerated for at least an hour but could also set overnight.  Cut each tortilla into 3/4 inch slices.  Keep refrigerated!

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