Veggie Quiche Bites

It must be spring, its Walk Kansas time! Walk Kansas is a program to encourage walking and healthy eating by K-State Research and Extension. Its always been a favorite activity of mine and I usually walk each day, but make a special effort not to miss during the Walk Kansas weeks. Each participant is part of a team and we don't want to let our team members down as we try to collectively cover the distance that it would take us across the state. Besides keeping walking records, we receive a weekly newsletter with tips and recipes to promote health. This week I tried the Veggie Quiche Bites and took them to a church covered dish brunch. Not a one was left!

Veggie Quiche Bites
(recipe makes 6 servings in regular muffin cups. I made mini-quiches in mini-muffin pans and made 24.)

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup chopped vegetables (your choice: start with ¼ cup chopped onions, add any combination you like - bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, etc. I used green peppers and tomatoes for a colorful combination)
½ cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
¼ cup nonfat milk
5 large eggs
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
dashes of salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Coat (6) muffin cups with cooking spray. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and swirl to coat. Add vegetables and sauté for 3 minutes or until almost tender. Transfer vegetable mixture to a small bowl; cool for at least 3 minutes. then stir in cheese.
3. Combine milk and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk until blended. Stir in cheese/vegetable mixture. Divide mixture evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until puffed and set. (Quiches will deflate slightly as they cool.) Serve warm.
Nutrition information per serving (for 6): 110 calories; 7 g fat; 4 g carbohydrate; 8 g protein; 1 g fiber; 160 mg sodium. 

This filled pan came home empty!

Sour Cream Hamburger Casserole

Is it Spring yet? The daffodils are blooming in my yard, but thats about the only sign of spring here. A strong north wind blows, a cold rain drizzles, I can't wash the coveralls or put the long underwear away yet! So dinner was a comforting winter casserole and a hopeful spring dessert. This Sour Cream Hamburger Casserole is easy, warm and tasty but not too pretty (so no picture!). The strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries tastes of spring days - we can be hopeful.



Sour Cream Hamburger Casserole
from the Greenwood County Cattlewomen's cookbook. I reduced the salt and sugar amounts and used 2 half-pints of homemade salsa instead of the onion, green pepper and canned tomatoes. I also increased the ground beef by ½ pound - our beef comes in 2# packages, I like to take out 2 patties to re-freeze for a quick meal later.

1 ½ pound ground beef
½  cup diced onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
15 oz. can tomatoes
8 oz. sour cream
½ Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

Brown ground beef with onion and green pepper; drain. Add tomatoes with juice and other ingredients and mix well in the skillet. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and let cook for 25 minutes. Stir once or twice during cooking.

60 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

It was another bake-a-thon weekend! Daughter and son-in-law from Texas made a surprise visit for Don's birthday so there were celebration meals. After the Saturday evening baked steak dinner with butterscotch pie (Sara's recipe - a later blog) on Saturday evening, and the Sunday lunch of Cheesy Beef Tetrazzini (May 19, 2012 blog) followed by Molten Chocolate Cake (February 15, 2012) with ice cream, it was breakfast for supper on Sunday evening. One of my favorite meals: scrambled eggs, fruit salad, bacon, and cinnamon rolls.

These 60 Minutes Cinnamon Rolls are a favorite because they really are that quick. Other recipes I've used require more time and planning ahead. I've also found that mixing them in a bowl with a wooden spoon saves clean up time (no mixer bowl and beaters to wash) and makes a very good dough. This recipe is from the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Home Baking Association.

60-Minute Cinnamon Rolls

makes 18 (2.5 oz) cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups milk, scalded

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup cold water

1 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, beaten

3 to 4 cups bread or all-purpose flour, divided

   (flour may be half whole wheat flour and half bread or all purpose)

1 envelope (¼ oz or 2 ¼ tsp) fast rising (highly active) dry yeast

Filling Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, softened

4 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons flour

Directions:

1.     Heat the milk until it steams (scald). Stir in sugar, butter, water and salt. Measure the temperature, allowing the mixture to cool to 120 degrees F.

2.     Mix in beaten egg, 2 cups flour and yeast, mixing for three to five minutes on medium speed or by hand. Mix in the remaining flour by hand or with dough hook. Mix with dough hook or knead by hand for five more minutes to form an elastic dough.

3.     Cover the dough with the bowl and let it rest 5 – 10 minutes and proceed to step #4 two day method. OR form dough into a flat oval and place in a greased (or sprayed) large food bag or bowl. Squeeze out air and refrigerate overnight, punching down once before shaping.

4.     Mix the butter, sugar, cinnamon and flour together. Grease or spray a 9 x 13-inch pan.
Roll out the dough to 18-inche x 10-inches. Spread with softened butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture to within 1-inch of one of the long edges. Moisten the edge with water. Roll up, ending with the moistened edge. Pinch to seal seam. Cut into 12-15 , 1 ½-inch slices and place in the pan. (I just discovered that a plastic lettuce knife makes a great knife for cutting cinnamon roll dough!)

5.     Cover pan with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with pan release spray to avoid sticking to the rolls. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Let rolls rise for 20 minutes.

6.     Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15-18 minutes.

7.     Cool briefly on a wire rack, drizzle with icing if desired. Serve warm.

Vanilla Drizzle:

1 cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

water or milk to mix until able to drizzle

Options: Shape as tea ring OR before filling, shape in balls, roll in melted butter and cinnamon sugar. Place lightly in two loaf pans or a small bundt pan. Allow to double in height and bake at 350 degrees 25-35 minutes. (190 degrees internal temperature)

Happy Pancake Day

Yesterday was "Fat Tuesday", a traditional day for eating pancakes. More correctly called "Strove Tuesday", it is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. On this day before a period of self examination and fasting or at least denying oneself of some favorite foods, it became a custom to eat richer foods that may not be eaten again until Easter. In earlier times it also served as a meal to use up the eggs, butter, sugar, etc that would not be a part of many meals during Lent. Pancakes were a popular food that incorporated many of these ingredients. So, now we celebrate this day also as "Pancake Day".

We were attending the county spring dinner of Cattlemen and we not going to pass up the smothered steak, party potatoes, creamy coleslaw, bacon-seasoned green beans, rolls and pie for pancakes. So our pancake night was tonight. And a good night to try out a recipe I'd found in the blog "Everything You Wanted to Know About Country", by another Kansas ranch wife. She credits the recipe to Bobby Flay and the Food Network. It is very good, fluffy and rich tasting with just the right crunch from the pecans.




Bobby's Pancakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups, plus 3 tablespoons buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for griddle
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Combine all wet ingredients in a smaller bowl and whisk together.
Stir the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix only till well combined. Let the batter sit for about 15 - 30 minutes before cooking the pancakes.