Mini Quiche with a Sweet Potato Crust

So it was Mother's Day...

These little faces greet me each morning...

 But on Mother's Day they greeted me just a little bit later than normal... it was the best gift in and of itself :) I mean I love my children, they are the best thing to happen to me, but man when then sleep in!

I figured I would make breakfast for the family as I do everyday, I was offered breakfast in bed, but alas I am happiest in the kitchen making food I know will nourish and fill my family. Oh, and I am a complete control freak :) There is just something about the unknown..you should see me decide on a meal at a restaurant I haven't been to.... yeah, not pretty.

These were super yummy, quick litte quiches that tasted amazing and were free from that guilty feeling you get when you realize you basically just ingested a pie crust filled with butter....for breakfast...filled with eggs and cheese....yeah.

Mini Quiches with Sweet Potato Crusts

Crusts
Par cooked sweet potato/yam or both shredded...
yup precook those babies, its really the only way to make this crust work. scrub them up, pop them in the oven and cook until they are tender with just a little bit of 'bite'left in them...don't bite them, just push on them and they should not be completely mushy.

Let the potatoes cool, peel and then roughly grate them. Press into a mini tart pan with removeable base (you can also do this in a large tart pan or even muffin tins - just grease the muffin tins or they will stick). When you are pressing in the potatoes make sure to get the whole thing covered and go up over the side edges a bit because they will shrink a bit while cooking. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes.

Precooked - i used one small sweet potato and one small yam

Bake at 425 for about 15-20 minutes. You want the crusts to brown up but not burn, so watch carefully. Remove, set aside and turn down oven to 400.

Quiche



3 eggs
2 tablespoons milk or cream
choice of fillings - sauteed for a few minutes
(I used spinach, zucchini, asparagus, bell pepper, scallions and shallot sauteed in a bit of olive oil until spinach was wilted and shallot was almost translucent)
2 tablespoons grated cheese - I used parmesan

veggies all sauteed up and ready to be used

ingredients...i think i need more color here :)

Add sauteed ingredients to the par baked crusts
mix up eggs and milk/cream, season with salt and pepper to your taste
Pour egg mixture into crusts to almost the very top
Top with cheese

Bake at 400 for about 12-20 minutes (time will depend on size of your baking dish) or until eggs are set and golden brown.

All golden, bubbly and delicious

Remove your quiche from your tart shell (if using) by placing tart pan on top of a small bowl and letting tart ring slide off.

Ahhh, look at the beautiful butter and guilt free crust

Garnish with chives or sliced scallions and enjoy :)

And thank your mom, she's pretty great.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Cocoa mini cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream and salted caramel sauce

 

 

I love salt.... seriously, it is a hard core love affair with that stuff...
I like sweets of course, but they are SO much better when they have a bit of salt in them.
Salt just enhances all of the flavors and makes everything pop...right in your mouth - YUM!

Salted caramel is everywhere these days... sauces, ice cream, cakes, brownies, everywhere. It is pretty much the perfect base for a myriad of desserts...and maybe chips or something, I mean it is pretty amazing.

This is simple, quick and only has 5 ingredients... most of which you probably have in your home right now...so read on and then quick, run to the kitchen and whip up a batch of this yumminess!

Salted Caramel Sauce

2 cups sugar ( I used evaporated cane juice crystals)
3/4 cup (or 12 tablespoons) butter - cut into pieces
1 cup room temperature heavy cream
1.5 tablespoons flaky sea salt (large pieces are what you are looking for here)
1 vanilla bean, cut in half and scraped to get the seeds out (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)

Add all sugar to a heavy bottomed saucepan
Stir sugar until all sugar has melted
Once all sugar has melted, carefully watch but do not stir until sugar turns a deep amber color and reaches 350 degrees (use a candy thermometer clipped to the pan to help with this step if desired)
As SOON as sugar reaches 350, add the butter in and stir until melted
Remove the pan from heat and add in HALF of the cream and vanilla bean seeds/extract (be careful, it will bubble up and possibly splatter), stir well
Whisk in sea salt and let pan cool on stove (turned off) about 5-10 minutes
Add in remaining cream and stir to incorporate
Store in a bottle or jug in the refrigerator for up to a month (if it lasts that long)

Stir in the cream, yum

adding in remaining cream



Oh, she's so pretty!

Tummy Tamer Lolliops

Stomach sickness is awful... period.

There is just something about when your stomach is feeling upset that makes it hard to do anything else. I can work through headaches, colds, runny noses, allergies, etc... but when my stomach gets sick, forget it, I am out.

I jsut returned from a really fun quick break away with my husband. We needed it. I am so happy we went :) We hit the beaches of California and took a quick day at Disneyland. It was great!

One of the most fun things about vacationing is eating :) Oh is that just me, ok then...

I am happy to report I ate everything under the sun, a lot of things I normally do not eat. And then I paid the price. My stomach quickly let me know that it really couldn't wait for me to be home cooking like I ususally do.

We all know how great ginger is for when we are sick, but there are almost zero brands of ginger ale that are free from high fructose corn syrup and some have absolutely zero actual ginger in them... fail.

I wanted to think of a way to incorporate ginger in a fun, easy to eat, portable way... thus the lollipop was born.

These babies are good! Full of fresh grated ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice and honey. oh and they are corn syrup free too!

Lemon Ginger Lollipops
(makes 8 big ones, or 16 small ones)

natural (not bleached) sugar and honey make brown pops, but they sure taste amazing!

1 cup sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice sugar)
1/3 cup water
1/8 tsp cream of tarter
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (do not use the powdered stuff)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon honey
1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
8 big lollipop sticks (or 16 small ones)

honey is missing here, but there is the ginger, lemon and zest

Line a baking sheet with parchment (not waxed) paper, and spread out sticks - set aside
In a heavy bottomed pot fitted with a candy thermometer, over medium heat, add sugar, water, lemon juice and cream of tarter
Stir until all sugar is dissolved
Turn up heat to medium high/high and let boil (do NOT stir) until it reaches hard ball stage (about 310 degrees) . It took me about 7 minutes.(if you drop some of the liquid into ice cold water it should harden to the point of breaking and no longer be sticky)
Working very quickly after the temperature reaches the right stage, remove pot from burner, plunge bottom of pot in water, add in honey, lemon zest and ginger, stir, and carefully pour onto sticks.
Let set up about 10 minutes.
Brush tops of lollipops with more lemon juice and sprinkle with more zest and ginger if desired.
Let set until completely dry and peel from paper.

Happy Eating...