Healthy Spinach and Smoked Salmon Quiche

Really, healthy and quiche in the same sentence you say? Yes! and its darn tasty!


I love my sleep in the morning, its the time that I have my best dreams, or my strangest... this morning I dreamt that I was a bumblebee and in order to continue buzzing about in dream land I ran out of time to make breakfast resulting in a muffin from the local bakery. The local bakery does make great muffins but I hate feeling all doughy, not to mention looking doughy so I made this Quiche for breakfast tomorrow, and the next day or as long as it lasts so that tomorrow morning I am free to live in la la land for a little while longer.

As I mentioned I don't want to look doughy so I made a few substitutions to make this a healthier version while still keeping all of the flavour.














For the Crust I used a tried and true Martha Stewar Pate Brisee with a funky twist.

1 Cup Spelt Flour
1/8 Cup Ground Flax
1/8 Cup White Flour
1/2 cup chopped cold butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/4 Cup ice cold water

I put all of the dry stuff in the food processor and buzzed it to mix it thoroughly. Then I added the chopped butter and pulsed it until it was at a mealy texture, and while continuing to pulse I added the water until it all came together. I think the Spelt and Flax really added a nutty texture as well as health perks.
Martha says to shape it into a disk and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. I put it directly into a spring form pan and pushed it down and around the sides and then refrigerated it. I always end up having to use a bottle for a rolling pin because I don't have one...















The Eggy Custard is made with:

5 eggs
1 1/2 Cup of 1% Milk
2 tbsp Flour
1 box of frozen spinach
1/4 Cup Red Onion
150 Grams of Wild Smoked Salmon Lox
1 tsp each salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg

In a bowl whisk up the eggs, add the milk and gradually add the flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Once the crust is nice and cold add some finely diced red onion to the bottom of the crust, spread around the lox around then top with the spinach (after defrosting and wringing out as much of the liquid as possible - the drier the better). Top the fillings with the eggy custard and bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, until the filling is set and doesn't giggle and the crust is nice and brown. Don't forget to give it a rotation half way through. Let it rest for about half an hour before serving, or enjoy at room temperature with a nice side salad, or cold as I will probably for breakfast after enjoying a flight around the garden. Buzz Buzz!

Pork Chops with Apples and Onions

Yum!


What am amazing day! BBQ season is definitely here on the island so I decided to do something that I have never done before... make a rub! and I did it! and it was a lot easier then I thought.
Honestly I'm not a huge pork fan, and while I'm sharing secrets I ran out of propane and cooked these in a frying pan. Don't tell anyone, and seriously try it on the BBQ because these babies are good but on the BBQ everything is better.

So lets get on with it then:

Funky Pork Rub

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup pepper
1/8 cup dry mustard
1/8 cup onion powder
1/8 cup paprika
2 tbsp dry rosemary
1 clove of fresh garlic

That's all I used!

I combined it, but only added the garlic to the amount of rub that I needed, you can keep the rest of the rub for later, but not with the garlic, I guess you could use the dry stuff... but I personally just think that's plain old wrong, but I always encourage others to take a recipe and make it how they like it so feel free, I won't send the garlic police.... not this time anyway!

So I rubbed down 4 pork pork loin chops and let them hang out for a while, the trick here is to really rub it in, get to know your meat and give it some love, so it loves you back!

Now onto the side, which in my opinion is equally as important, and was equally delicious.

1 huge or 2 medium onions sliced
3 mackintosh apples sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp rosemary
salt and pepper

Start with the onions, slice them up and add them to a pan with 1 tbsp of butter and about 1/4 cup of water, the water helps to soften the onions and allows them to be insulated so that they cook evenly, it also encourages the sugars to come out so they get nice and caramelized, cook it over medium to medium high heat until the water dissolves and the onions begin to get golden, then add another tbsp of butter, the apples and the brown sugar, stir and let the apples begin to soften, add the rosemary and season with salt and pepper, this is where the tasting begins, I like to add just a hint of vanilla, for me it was around 1/8 of a tbsp but add a few drops at a time and taste until it has a little something that makes them say hmm... but not enough to make it seem sweet, like pie, the real trick to these apples and onions is that they are still savoury.

Once the onions and apples were seasoned and are getting to know each other you can put the pork chops on, I would have loved to BBQ them but as I sadly admitted before I cooked them in a medium hot skillet with a bit of olive oil for only a few minutes a side, it is very important not to let the pork dry out, use a hot enough pan that it will get nice and brown fairly quickly. I also brushed them with a little Cattleman BBQ sauce that I thinned out with a little bit of orange juice. After all of that, they should look this delicious:



And laid on top of a bed of savoury apples and onions it looks even more delicious: Hello BBQ season!



Wonton a Smore?



I have so many recipes to post but now looking back at them, as spring is here, and it feels like summer is just around the corner it seemed like time to do something I rarely ever do. Make dessert! It is just my man-friend and I so it doesn't seem worth it to make a whole cake, or a dozen cupcakes. cookies yes but a fancy shmancy dessert? It hardly seems worth it. Plus if I made a cake, I would have to eat it on my own... maybe that wouldn't be so bad but with summer approaching we've got to keep an eye on the waistline. This idea came to me today. I was inspired. Call it what you want. A dessert wonton? An Asian smore? Damn Tasty?

Look at that little pillow of pleasure.

And the inside filled with ooey gooey marshmallow, chocolate chips, and creamy banana!
How does that go again?

Take a plain old wonton and add a slice of Banana, 3 miniature marshmallows and a few chocolate chips. Wrap it up in any wonton fashion you prefer. I like this way because it holds more of the goodness.


Then I fried these little suckers until they were golden brown, I topped them with a little whipping cream and some fresh strawberries. A little something like this: