Christmas Quiche

It's been a tradition for the last 14 years or so that I make a quiche for Christmas breakfast. Usually, I make the classic Quiche Lorraine with bacon and swiss, but I've been known to throw in a curveball every now and then with a quick quiche (using Bisquick in the filling) or a hash brown quiche. This year, Kara has specifically requested Lorraine, but since we've got a lot of ham left from a few days ago I figured I'd also make a ham and cheese quiche too.

Here are the recipes I plan to use, both culled from AllRecipes.com, one of my favorite idea spots.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
• 12 slices bacon
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/3 cup minced onion
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups light cream
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Place bacon in a large skillet, and fry over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then chop coarsely. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion into pastry shell.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, sugar and cayenne pepper. Pour mixture into pastry shell.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Allow quiche to sit 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Ham and Cheese Quiche

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 3 eggs
• 2 slices Swiss cheese
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup canned mushrooms
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can ham, flaked
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Beat together flour, salt, half-and-half and eggs in a medium bowl.

Place Swiss cheese flat in the pie crust. Arrange spinach evenly over Swiss cheese, then cover with mushrooms. Pour the flour and egg mixture over mushrooms. Cover with flaked ham and top with Cheddar cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven 45 to 55 minutes, until surface is golden brown.

Baked Bacon

I love bacon; I mean, who in their right mind doesn't? But it's such a mess to cook! There's avoiding hot popping grease, cleaning up splatters, smoking oil, and the burnt-on bits left in the pan.... The remedy? Baked bacon.

Blasphemy, you say? No, it's bliss. Here's why: no popping messes, no cooking in batches, no flipping, no scrubbing pans afterwards, no muss, no fuss. Oh, and all the bacon is done at the same time!

Baked Bacon

Ingredients
1 lb of bacon

Directions
Place a rack on a large cookie sheet (do not attempt this with a "rimless" cookie sheet unless you want a horrible mess in your oven! Bacon grease will spill out all over everywhere! If you don't have a rack, use aluminum foil that has been crinkled and then mostly smoothed out. If you don't crinkle the foil you'll have sticking issues. Even if you do have racks, you might want to put foil under the rack (between the rack and the sheet, not between the rack and the bacon) to prevent grease from burning onto the pan.

Lay out your bacon on the rack in a single layer. I had to use two sheets and two racks to fit one pound of bacon. Slide the bacon into a cool oven.

Set the oven to 400F and cook bacon for 17-20 minutes. Check for doneness--you might go as long as 25 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon and the speed at which your oven heats up. Be careful not to overcook; there's a fine line between crispy bacon and dried hunks of meat-that-was-formerly-bacon.

Mrs. Hobbs' Banana Pudding

You might not have strong feelings either way about banana pudding, and normally I wouldn't have strong opinions on it either; however, today I was forced to come to grips with a new way of thinking. This banana pudding, as some of my elite friends might say, r0x0rz. The sour cream in the mix might sound surprising, but it adds a texture and tang that boxed pudding along can't touch.

Mrs. Hobbs' Banana Pudding

Ingredients
3-3.4oz boxes Jello French Vanilla Instant Pudding mix
1-16oz tub Kraft Cool Whip
2-12oz boxes Keebler Vanilla Wafers
1-8oz tub Breakstone's Sour Cream
6 to 9 bananas
3- cups 2% milk

Directions
Mix instant pudding and milk until well blended. Add Cool Whip and sour cream, mix thoroughly. Cover bottom of four quart casserole dish with pudding mixture. Add a layer of vanilla wafers, and a layer of banana slices. Repeat the layers and top with crushed vanilla wafers.

Chill and serve.

Best when prepared one day and served the next.

"Surprise" Cookies

These cookies are a huge hit every time I make them! Fillings I have used:

• The Teeny-mini candy bars (Snickers work really well!)
• Rolos
• Peanut Butter Cups
• Mint Kisses
• Mini Hershey bars (not as easy, since these are larger than, say, Snickers)
  

"Surprise" Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pkg. snickers minis

1. Combine butter, pb, & sugars on low until fluffy.
2. Slowly add eggs & vanilla until combined. Then mix in flour, salt & soda.
3. Cover & chill 2-3 hours. (If you're in a rush, it won't kill you to make them right away.)
4. Unwrap minis.
5. Remove dough, divide into 1 T. pieces & flatten.
6. Place mini on dough.
7. Form ball around mini.
8. Place on greased cookie sheet & bake @ 350° for 10-12 min.
9. Let cool on rack or wax paper.

The Cape Skinner

Last year, I was given two identical knife kits by a fellow Scouter. They are comprised of a through-tang blade, a guard, a pommel, and a block for the handle. For months they sat on my workbench as kits, but a few months ago I was inspired to start on one.


I decided to make it ergonomic, which involved a lot of trial-and-error sanding with my Dremel--pretty much the whole thing was done with my Dremel using sanding drums or engravers.

A great big thank you goes out to John Sharp, who donated the leather, rivets, tools, and expertise for making the sheath.

This knife will be given to the Scout who completes the most Merit Badges between now and February. I hope it inspires them to work hard!

I *just* may be a little bit crazy

In addition to working lots of hours at my "real job," being Scoutmaster, Den Leader, Father of three, Husband of one, Crossfit junkie, and having more hobbies than you can shake a stick at, I have decided to add one more thing to the mix: The Paleo Challenge.

My gym is having a one month challenge (starting today) to stick to the Paleo Diet: Meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Kara and I are going to try it for a month and see how it goes--she'll be diligent about blogging it and I won't, but I will keep an "analog" journal.

Anyone who knows me will probably be gaping in amazement right now. One month without bread? Yeah. I know. But I'm only half doing this for me--if I bake fresh bread, it'll make it that much more difficult for Kara to keep to her goal. So we're doing this as a team, and it'll be great. :)

What's for breakfast?

Thick-cut deli meat (maybe cajun roast beef today)

Strawberries and grapes

Dry-roasted almonds

Pork Tenderloin

I've made pork tenderloin a few times now, and they've been pretty good for the most part. But tonight, I made a pork tenderloin that put all my previous efforts to shame! It was flavorful, but not overpowering. It was simple, and not too terribly time-consuming. I based it off a recipe I found at http://www.foodnetworkfans.com/forum/pork-recipes/3449-balsamic-olive-oil-pork-tenderloin.html...

Balsamic and Olive Oil Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

Reduction:

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

3 tsp honey

1 medium plum, diced

1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloin

4 T balsamic vinegar

4 T olive oil

2 t minced garlic (6-8 whole cloves, smashed)

2 t kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

8-10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Directions

Make the balsamic reduction ahead of time, because it takes about 30 mins to reduce. Place 1/4 c balsamic vinegar, honey, and plum in a small sauce pan over med-low heat. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for about 30 mins. Remove from heat. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

Preheat oven to 400F. Remove fat and silverskin from tenderloin.

Place tenderloin in a glass roasting pan, drizzle 4 T balsamic vinegar over the top of the loin, and rub into the meat. Pour 4 T olive oil over the loin and rub into the meat. Sprinkle garlic, salt, pepper, and basil evenly over the loin.

Bake uncovered for about 35-40 mins for medium rare to medium. Cover loosely with foil and let rest on a cutting board for about 5-8 mins then slice into 1/2 inch medallions. Place medallions on a serving plate/dish and drizzle the reduction over the meat.