Potato Crust Quiche

This recipe is one that I modified from the traditional pie crust lined Quiche. I like the potatoes for the crust because I think that it adds more substance for a dinner choice.

Ingredients:
Potatoes - two potatoes, .
Vegetable - two carrots, you can use vegetable you prefer, chopped broccoli is also a good choice.
Onion - can be any kind you like. I used scallions.
Roasted red pepper - remember your frozen ones that you made a few months ago? Also Cost Co sells jars of red peppers.
4 eggs (add 2 more eggs for a larger pan)
1 cup milk (2 cups for a larger pan)
2/3 cup grated cheese (increase cheese for larger pan) I used a creamy Asiago, but kids might prefer a more standard cheddar
2 Tbsp flour (increase to 4 Tbsp for larger pan)
1/2 tsp salt


Coat a 9 inch pie plate with oil, and line the pan with sliced potatoes. If you are making quiche for more than 3-4 people, you can use a 9 x 13 inch rectangle pan.

Put a layer of grated vegetables on top of potatoes. Microwave until potatoes are done, about 5 minutes at "vegetable" (medium?) setting.

While veggies are cooking, get eggs, milk and cheese ready. I didn't cook the scallions, but if you use raw onions and red pepper, do it now in a skillet. You can add flour to those ingredients if you like, or just mix flour into the egg-milk mixture. Break up any lumps of flour.

Put red pepper and onions on potatoes. Add the eggs, milk, cheese and salt.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20- 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when poked into the center.

Carmelized Upside-down Pear Pie

This tasty recipe came from my cookbook, Cooking with just four ingredients.
I choose it because we have a lot of pears on our Asian pear trees. If you are considering planting a fruit tree, Asian pears have no pests so they don't require spraying like apples and peaches do. We purchased ours from Stark Bros. catalogue. We need two trees to pollinate, and so we have 2 types of Asian Pears (there are three).
5-6 firm, ripe pears
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
8 oz. shortcrust pastry


1. Peel, core, and slice the pears. Toss with some of the sugar.


Melt the butter in a 10 1/2 ovenproof omelette pan. Ed suggested that I use a non-stick pan, which would have making the removal of the pie from the skillet.

Add remaining sugar. When it changes color, arrange the pears in the pan.

Continue cooking, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has completely caramelized.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured board, slightly larger than the pan. Lay the pastry on top of the pears and then carefully tuck it in around the edge. My not-so-long fingernails cut the pastry, so be careful!


Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let the pie cool in the pan for a few minutes. To unmold, run a knife around the pan's edge, then using oven gloves, invert a plate over the pan and quickly turn the two over together.

If any pears stick to the pan, remove them gently with a spatula and replace them on the pie. The pie is best served warm.

Mexican Corn and Zuchinni

I went to an antique and art show. I saw this book for $3. It has a lot of zuchinni recipes!
I made this one with corn on the cob, tomatoes, zuchinni, and onions from our garden.
Serves 6

3 ears of corn
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp oil
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 medium zuchinni, cut into 1/4 inch slices (my zuchinni is round so I cut it in half, then in 3rds, then slices)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 pepper

Cut corn from cobs (about 1 1/2 cups).

Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in 10 inch skillet until onion is tender.

Stir in corn and remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10-15 minutes.

This recipe is a fast one to make. I served it with corn bread
and extra tomatoes, since the tomatoes disappear in the other vegetables.

Spaghetti Carbonara

This recipe is one that you need to prepare all the ingredients first. Then you add and stir, add and stir.
8 oz dried spaghetti (I used the thin pasta)
3 oz pancetta or bacon, divided ( I had Canadian Bacon on hand)
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots ( I used home grown scallions)
3 large eggs
1 medium zuchinni, cut into ribbons ( cut mine in the food processor, but a vegetable peeler would probably make the zuchinni more ribbon-like)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup half and half (not for me, I used Greek yogart (zoi or fago)
2 Tbsp milk to thin the yogart
1 tsp salt
coarse ground pepper

1 Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking water.

2 Use a non-stick skillet if you have one. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add pancetta; saute until almost crisp. Add onions, saute until onions are golden and pancetta is crisp but not burned.

Add onions, saute until onions are golden and pancetta is crisp but not burned.

3 Add pasta to skillet; toss, cooking over medium heat. Add eggs; stir vigorously, scraping pan to loosen cooked egg.



Add zuchinni; toss well. Add cheese; toss. Stir in half and half, salt, pepper.

Cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated, adding some reserved pasta cooking water if the mixture seems too dry. Serves 6