Mini Quiche's

I made these about 10 years ago and decided it would be a good idea to make some again.  If you follow the recipe they are only 165 calories for two of them and they freeze well.  I thought I'd package them up with 2 in a pack and freeze them to grab for breakfast at work.  You can vary with different ingredients such as a little green pepper, mushrooms, 3 slices of cooked bacon diced up finely, sausage crumble, use all veggies, whatever you like.  I made them with swiss cheese and ham before and that was good too.  You can make a bunch of varieties ahead of time and reheat them for a family brunch.  They are cute and good.

MINI QUICHE:
spray a 12 place muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. 

In a medium bowl; add 9 eggs, salt and pepper and whip until thoroughly mixed.  (or you can substitute egg whites in a carton although they will be more bland tasting, or combine half eggs and half egg whites.  set aside.

Toss in whatever ingredients you want into the muffin cups.  (divided into each cup)  I used 2 slices of ham diced tiny, about 3 Tablespoons of chopped spinach (I buy the frozen in a bag and rinse and dry it-then just toss the rest back in the freezer), cherry tomatoes diced up-I used about 6 of them, a little bit of diced onion or green onion, and about 2 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese.  Then using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour the beaten eggs in each cup.   Put the muffin tin on a cookie sheet and baked at 350 for 20-15 minutes.  Voila, breakfast!

Italian Sausage and Broccoli Pasta

My Supervisor, Kim, took a two week vacation to Italy recently and when she was there she stayed some of the time with her sister-in-law who would cook for them at times.  One of the last days she made this pasta dish and Kim posted it saying it was one of her favorites.  I asked for the recipe and her hostess was kind enough to share it so I made it tonight.  It was great!  I did a few changes that I will put in parentheses because I was scared of putting white wine in it (not much on wine in food) and I used half hamburger and half mild Italian sausage because I like Italian sausage a little but not a ton of it in my food either.  I couldn't find her cheese she used either, so just substituted a 3 cheese Italian blend instead.

Here is the recipe:

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND BROCCOLI PASTA: (per her sister-in-law)
I just sautéed garlic in olive. I used about 2 minced garlic cloves and added a little finely diced onion. Then I added ground sausage. I used about half a lb each of hamburger and mild Italian sausage.  I let it cook through and added about a cup of wine. I used chicken stock. I cooked it till the wine evaporated half way. In the mean time I boiled water with salt added. Once it boiled I added fresh broccoli and let it cook till it was soft. I used a smaller bag of frozen chopped broccoli. Once soft, I scooped out broccoli and added it to the sausage mixture keeping the broccoli water in pot to then cook orecchiette pasta in.  I used about 8 ounces of pasta)  I smashed broccoli with a potato masher and let it cook some more in the pan with the sausage. I cooked the pasta as directed on the package. Then I mixed everything together and added a loooooot of pecorino cheese to it. I couldn't find this cheese, so used a small tub, maybe 1 cup,  of Italian 3 cheese blend.  Voila’!

Second set of washcloths for Yvonne's birthday

I finished my second sister's washcloths for her birthday today.  This set went way slower because life keeps taking up my time!  This set I am calling "Pretty in Pink" because Yvonne likes rose, mauve and pinks a lot.  I used the same pattern as the previous set because I really like the bumpy effect.  I chained 32 for this set, the last one I used 36, but really like the size of these.  I can't believe the original pattern called for 46!  They must have been huge!  I don't like really big cotton cloths, once they are wet they weigh a ton and are hard to manage, I think.  Anyway, one more set for my 3rd sister whose birthday is the 2nd of September, so I have some time.  Have a crochet project to make for my daughter Shellie some king-sized pillow shams for her bed first though.  She brought the yarn over for them about a month ago already..like I said..life keeps getting in the way!