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Goat cheese, spinach and bacon quiche

1pkg Mini Tart shells (no name in this case, just don't grab the sweetened ones)

1/2 an onion minced

1 clove of garlic minced

4 cups baby spinach 

4 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

3 whole eggs 

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup cream

1 cup milk

1 large pkg goat cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Add a little olive oil to a large pan, on medium heat, and toss the onions in and cook until translucent and soft.

Add in the spinach and wilt it with the onions. 

Add in the garlic for 30 seconds to a minute (don't burn it).

Dump in the crumbled bacon and stir. Leave in pan off the heat to cool.

Beat eggs, milk, cream and add in salt and pepper.

In each mini tart add in a small amount of bacon/onion/spinach mixture.

Pour egg mixture over top.

Add about 1/2 tbsp worth of chunks of goat cheese to each tart.

Try to keep it close to the top. Add more or less to your own taste. My kids love goat cheese, so I go heavy.

Fresh black pepper to the top.

Bake at 375 for about 30-40 minutes (my oven is still on the fritz, and I live close to the Rockies, so adjust accordingly) 

I served with a balsamic salad of baby greens, cucumber and tomatoes (kids).

And it's likely what they'll get for breakfast! 

Goat cheese pasta

6 cups cooked pasta of choice (penne/weird cut is what was in the pantry)

1 left over steak or chicken chopped into pieces

 1/2 a small onion minced 

1/2 cup chicken stock

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 large pkg of goat cheese

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 cup spinach leaves (optional)

Boil and drain pasta to just before al dente.

In another pan, add a little oil and toss the onions in and cook on medium until translucent and soft.

If you wanted you could add in fresh baby spinach and wilt it with the onions. If I have it, I'll do it, but the dish is just as tasty without it. The spinach just adds a good serving of veggies, which is usually a good idea.

Add in the garlic for 30 seconds to a minute (don't burn it).

Dump the chicken stock and cream into the pan and bring to a boil.

Put chunks of goat cheese into the mixture and keep stirring or whisking until all cheese is melted into the cream/stock mixture. 

Dump the cooked pasta in and the meat into the cheese mixture.

Allow the sauce to coat the pasta and cook until pasta reaches desired doneness and sauce thickens up a little.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tada.

Left overs that don't taste left over.

Broccoli Soup

A lighter version of a fan favourite, perfect for dreary spring Sunday afternoons when you can't be bothered with a fancy supper!

1 onion chopped

2 or 3 celery hearts chopped

1 carrot chopped

3 cloves minced garlic

6 cups chicken broth

7 cups broccoli

1/2 cup milk

3 tbsp sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

sharp cheddar cheese shredded

Directions:

In a medium sized stock pot melt butter and soften, onions, carrots, celery, adding garlic once onions are translucent.

Add chicken stock and broccoli bring to boil and drop to a simmer until broccoli is super soft and failing apart.

Add salt, pepper to taste.

Add in milk and use immersion blender to break down veggies.

Add sour cream.

Add cheese when serving.

Roasted garlic

Roasted Garlic

If you're like me, you hate leaving food to waste. T will buy a big bag of pre peeled garlic every now and again when he's cooking something that needs a lot of garlic. But we always end up with left overs that rot, because no matter how much you love garlic, you just can't use it all before it grows fur.

Roast it.

I just cut off the end, drizzled the pan in olive oil and then drizzled a little more over the cloves and let it alone in the oven at 200 for about 35 minutes. The cloves should come out soft with a mellowed flavour.

Amazing smeared on fresh bread as is or mashed into potatoes or into compound butter.

If you manage not to eat the whole pan, pack it into a mason jar and cover with olive oil.

Will keep for about 10 days or so, and you can use the olive in when cooking too.

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

T and I have been out of town all week for family reasons. The kids have been with my mum and we missed them. T leaves today for business and we wanted a special breakfast treat for the family without going out and spending $75.00 on breakfast. I didn't have time to whip up a batch of cinnamon buns, so cinnamon swirl pancakes will just have to do.

Pancakes: Use whatever recipe you normally use for pancakes. They're all the same essentially, but whatever works for you is just fine, including your favourite mix.

Cinnamon Swirl sauce:

4 tbsps butter

1/4 cup hard packed, lump free brown sugar (light or dark, it doesn't really matter)

2 tbsps ground cinnamon

Melt butter in bowl in microwave.

Add in cinnamon and sugar and stir. 

I have a plastic squeezy container I put the mixture into and could nuke when it got too cold to squeeze, but a ziplock bag with a hole at the end works just as well. You do need something though to embed the cinnamon into the pancake.

Glaze:

4 tbsps butter (room temp)

4 tbsps cream cheese (room temp)

3/4 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Using a hand mixer cream together butter and cream cheese.

Add in icing sugar and whip well.

Add in vanilla until well blended.

Take half of the mixture and put it in the microwave until everything melts, maybe 15 seconds.

It should have looked like a light whipped cream mixture before the microwave. It should now resemble white molten lava. Do not burn it or over cook it. 

It's just gross with the cream cheese.

Again, plastic squeezy container or ziplock bag with small hole nipped off the corner. Or just smearing the mixture over the pancakes works too. 

Use the second half as needed.

Using coconut oil put your pancake batter into a hot pan like you would for every other pancake you have ever made.

When the bubbles begin to come up, signalling they're cooked enough to flip add in that cinnamon swirl mixture and flip over.

Cook like a pancake is normally cooked and put on a plate.

Add the glaze, wether by squeeze tube, ziplock or spoon.

Serve hot.

Even the 8 year old boy couldn't do anymore than 3 of these puppies. They're really that sweet.

The Helper of Hamburger

So, the Helper of Hamburger. 

I, being a child of the 80's am no stranger to this concept. However, we tend to not buy prepackaged food whenever possible, preferring to go from scratch/homemade. I am finding this tougher and tougher to do with hockey and dance and swimming lessons and archery and yoga and work and basket weaving. Quick, easy meals don't have to always mean a box is involved. This is a one pot meal that can be on the table in 25 minutes. I serve it with a green salad but I'm sure you could easily toss in a handful of spinach. 

It also reheats really well.

1 pound lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups uncooked penne

1/2 tsp onion salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup havarti cheese

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/8 cup asiago cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and drain off grease. Drain well because even when it's lean ground beef I find it can be super greasy.

Add in uncooked pasta, spices and cheese.

Stir in milk, cream and water and mix well.

Sprinkle the flour slowly into the mixture until combined, don't dump it in or it might seize.

Over medium high heat bring mixture to a boil and then drop down to low, cover and let simmer until pasta is cooked to taste.

Make sure you open the lid and give everything a good stir every now and again and mix things up so the contents don't stick to the bottom or fry the cheese.

Add in salt and pepper to taste. You will need a little