Vegetable Quiche

I've slowly been renovating my diet over the last few months, replacing one meal at a time with something healthy, organic, unprocessed, and/or low in sugar. I also make and plan almost all meals at the beginning of the week to eliminate the emergency Hardee's trips due to unpreparedness. (that $5 big bag tho!) 

This also keeps my grocery bill to $20-$30 per week. (yes, cooking for one #foreveralone #mycatsfoodbillishigher)

This week, for example, I'll have:
Breakfast: organic cereal and unsweetened almond milk
10am snack: tea
Lunch: grilled chickens and black beans
2pm snack: Chobani flip (this is the one thing I haven't replaced yet because I love it and it's my treat)
4pm snack: hummus and carrots
Dinner: vegetable quiche (our featured recipe) 

I can't say I've noticed many changes in my body. I haven't lost weight and I mostly feel the same. But hopefully eating mindfully will help me live long, prosper, avoid the doctor, etc. and such as. 

It's also nice to have more control over my diet, and theoretically, my willpower (although that's not always the case). Even though tbh I'm trying to relinquish control in ALL other areas of my life so maybe I should just eat whatever the F I want too! 

Anyways, the quiche...the reason we are here...is really delicious, and it's only about 200 calories per slice or 1/8 of the pie. You can put in whatever vegetables you like, but the radishes look good, right?! Enjoy! 

Ingredients:

Pie crust
6 Eggs
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Radishes
Salt + pepper
Parmesan cheese (optional)
2 slices peppered bacon (optional)

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Unroll the pre-made pie crust into your pie pan. Bake for 5-7 minutes. 
3. While the crust is baking, lightly whip your eggs with the almond milk. Generously season with salt and pepper. 
4. Chop your desired veggies and add to egg mixture. 
5. Julienne the radishes. 
6. Fill the partially baked crust with your egg mixture, and top with the sliced radishes. 
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Check periodically because you may need to cover the crust edges with foil near the end. 
8. Fry up the bacon while quiche is cooking. Then, chop into small pieces. 
9. Top fully baked quiche with parmesan cheese and pieces of bacon. 

fortune cookies

Well it’s one month from Valentine’s Day…and if your life is as full of “pinterest-fails" as mine is, then you better start planning your V-day treats now. My sister introduced me to chocolate-dipped fortune cookies almost 2 years ago and I figured now would be the perfect time to try them. 

This fold is one of those techniques I definitely thought I would screw up. But it actually wasn’t as difficult as you might think—you just have to move quickly. 

[ingredients: 1 egg white | 1/2 tsp vanilla extract | 1.5 tbsp vegetable oil | 1/4 c flour | 1/2 tsp cornstarch | 1/4 c granulated sugar | red food coloring | chocolate chips]

makes about 8 fortune cookies 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Have your fortunes written and ready-to-go.

Grease

baking sheet.

Whisk

the egg white, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil together until frothy. Add the flour, cornstarch, and sugar to this mixture and

combine

. Add enough red food coloring to achieve a deep pink. 

Spoon

out about a tablespoon of batter onto your pre-greased cookie sheet. If necessary, smooth the batter a bit with your spoon to form a perfect circle. They should be about 3” in diameter. Once the cookies come out of the oven, you have to work very quickly so its

best to only bake

2 cookies

at a time

. 

Bake for about 7 minutes. Quickly remove the cookies and use a spatula to flip them onto a dish towel. Insert a fortune and fold both cookies in half. Carefully (because the cookies will be hot) place the cookie on the edge of a glass and pull both sides down to form the typical fortune cookie shape. Then, put your cookie into a muffin tin to hold its shape. Repeat steps until batter is gone. 

Naturally

,

 I forgot to take these pictures

before

I decorated them…

Melt chocolate chips over a double boil and dip your cookies any way you like! Refrigerate and enjoy! And since we were talking about my sister(s)…here’s a picture of us from about 20 years ago! I’m the little one.

Easter

My brother and I dyed some eggs. Do you ever age out of that? Yes. No. I’ve been dyeing eggs the same way for 20ish years now so we tried a new rubber band technique. Truly thrilling. 

Also these bird’s nest cookies. 

And check out this amazing sandwich I had today at lunch. Granny Smith apples, bacon, sharp cheddar, on french toast with powdered sugar and syrup. Served with a side of jalapeño bacon mac & cheese. You could easily make this sandwich at home.

Sorry for the not so great food pictures. I’m not usually an instagrammer, but I don’t always have my camera with me. Can’t believe they got bought today for $1 billion. I wish someone would buy my blog for $1 billion. 

Top 5

I just found a recipe that definitely goes on my top 5 dessert recipe list. I’m not sure which ranking it takes because I’ve not actually considered the other 4. Anyways, these are amazing. The original recipe says you can make them without flour but I would use the flour. I did and mine were the perfect texture – extremely gooey but solid enough to cut into squares. 

Also I got that pink sparkly heart plate at Targets after-Valentine’s-sale. Worth the wait. 

[ingredients: 3/4 c. butter | 1.5 c. rolled oats | 3/4 c. brown suger | 1 tsp. baking soda | 1/2 c. flour | 1 tsp. vanilla extract + 1 tsp. vanilla extract | 1 c. chocolate chips | 35 caramel squares | 2/3 c. half-and-half or cream]

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Mmmmm, these are dank. I’m dedicating (and giving) these to a local celebrity, my boyfriend. Because today is his birthday yay! He’s not a traditional cake man and he hates chocolate (I know, I know….wteff we fight about it all the time). But these apple cheesecake bars are a great compromise — so delicious, not too sweet, and the perfect amount of crumb topping. Usually recipes don’t have enough crumb topping for me, but this girl apparently knows where it’s at.

Here he is, surfin’ it up as a kid. 

[ingredients: flour | brown sugar | butter | cream cheese | white sugar | vanilla extract | eggs | apples | cinnamon | oatmeal | caramel]

Recipe here. 

peanut butter cups

{It’s been a while, sorry. Gosh, I’ve just been so busy….actually I’ve had a lot of failed recipes.}

Does anyone remember when Reese’s made crunchy peanut butter cups? Well, like many foods I’ve loved and lost, they took them off the shelves several years ago. So I decided to create my own version. If you love peanut butter cups, instead of buying a bag, try whipping these up! They will knock your socks off. Plus, they are so sweet and satisfying that you won’t sit around, popping them into your mouth until half the bag is gone.

[ingredients: chocolate chips | crunchy peanut butter | chocolate gold fish or chocolate teddy grahams | silicone baking cups (shown below)]

Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler. Coat the bottom and about 1/4 inch up the sides of a silicone baking cup with the melted chocolate. Freeze. Once frozen, cover the bottom with a layer of chocolate goldfish. Spread a heaping lump of peanut butter (to your liking) on top of the chocolate fish. Put another layer of chocolate fish if you like. Then top with remaining melted chocolate. Pop them back in the freezer for a while, and then enjoy!

{I’m not going to lie; these are kind of a pain in the @$$ to make…but they are so worth it in the end. And there are endless possibilities once you’ve mastered it. Can you imagine white chocolate? filled with strawberry jelly and chocolate cookies? Or chocolate ganache and peppermint chips? Or caramel and peanuts? mmmmmm}

Dexter

I just finished season 5 of Dexter; they continue to outdo themselves. So this week’s celebrity-inspired recipe is for the one and only Dexter. Red velvet cheesecake brownies…I think you’ll see the connection. 

And as an ode to Dexter (and my North Carolina State Education), I relished the process.

Bring it on Season 6. 

not for the casual chocolate lover

WARNING:This dessert is only for chocolate lovers that are ready to go the distance. Instead of my typical monday-celebrity-inspired-food, I’m going to post this cake I made for my little brother. He had his first day of high school yesterday, and he loves chocolate chocolate cake so I wanted to make him something fun to celebrate. This cake has 6 different levels of chocolatey-ness so get excited! And buy some vanilla ice cream…or milk, if you’re into that kind of thing.

[ingredients: 1 box chocolate cake mix and ingredients listed on box | chocolate chips | milk | 3 oz. instant chocolate pudding | chocolate frosting | oreos | hot fudge for sundaes]

Follow these directions to create an extra moist cake from the box mix. Add chocolate chips. Split into three 8 inch pans and bake according to time and temperature on box. Meanwhile, crush 1 part oreos and mix with 1 part hot fudge (no need to heat it).  Once the cake cools, put a little chocolate frosting on the first layer. Then put a heap of the oreo fudge mixture on top of that and spread it out. Top with the next layer of cake and repeat. Then frost the entire cake with the remaining chocolate icing. 

Cheers, Harry Potter!

We went out with a bang. Chose some wands. Ate some food from Hogsmeade. Got to the premiere 3 hours early. (don’t worry I’m first and foremost a fan of the books)

Butterbeer: Pretty delicious but I could hear my arteries solidifying. I’d suggest getting rid of the cream in the recipe.