Five Things....

Five new recipes I want to try...

1. Cinnamon Leaves Bread  at Shop.Cook.Make
   
   
2. Individual Chicken Pot Pies at The Kitchn
   
   
3. Pie in a Jar at Our Best Bites
   
   
4. No Knead Peasant Style Bread at A Chow Life
   
   
5. Croque Madame at Everyday Occasions
   

Fill In The Blank Friday

I'm a little late getting in on this action today, but better late than never.  It was the 2nd beautiful day here in LA and the hubs got out of work early.  So we took advantage of the sun and rode our bikes up to the Santa Monica pier, rode a few rides, ate some ice cream, and rode back home.  A great way to spend a Friday afternoon!

Starting off with margs at Baja Cantina

Ferris Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier

The view from our gondola

 
1.   The best prank I ever pulled was  never.  I'm not much of a prankster - I think I'm just not creative enough.

2.  The best prank ever pulled on me was  when I was little my sister gave me a glass of "lemonade" but it was really pickle juice.  Yuck.

3.  A day without  good food   is a day wasted.

4.  The most important things in life are  giving and receiving love - from friends, family, pets, random strangers, whoever  - being happy with who you are, finding something you love doing whether it's your job or a hobby, a comfortable bed, and ice cream!

5.  I dream of   owning a nice home, having a family, taking charge of my career and making it into something I'm happy with.

6.  I dread  getting up for work every morning, getting my cavities filled, having to buy a new car.

7.  A discovery I made this week was  this new recipe for Breakfast Buttercups I'm gonna try making tomorrow morning.


My weekend will consist of baking cupcakes, going to a baby shower, and possibly test driving some cars.  What are you up to this weekend?  Hope it's a great one!

Cleaning Out The Fridge - Veggie Quiche

A week or so ago I bought way too much produce while grocery shopping.  Our fridge was practically overflowing with broccoli, asparagus, onions, carrots, and zucchini.  To make matters worse, the hubs was on his way out of town for a long weekend.  In an effort to not let our abundance of greens go to waste, I decided to make a veggie filled quiche.  I've always loved making quiche for dinner - it seems so fresh and light, and goes perfectly with a small side salad.  It also makes great leftovers for breakfast or lunch the next day.  You can pretty much use any combination of veggies, herbs and cheese within a basic quiche recipe.  To make this quiche I mish-mashed a few recipes together to come up with my own combination.  I think the results turned out pretty darn good!

Veggie Quiche

1 store bought pie crust
3-4 cups of various chopped veggies - I used broccoli, scallions, zucchini, asparagus, and shredded carrots
1 teaspoon dried herbs - I used thyme
1 cup shredded cheese
4 eggs
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup nonfat milk - I used a combo of milk and half and half in an attempt to make it a little lighter.  I don't know what official quiche protocol is, but it seemed to work fine for me.
Salt
Pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper

1.  Unroll the pie crust and line a 9-inch deep pie dish with it
2.  Lightly saute the chopped veggies in a bit of olive oil just until they're crisp tender.  Season with salt, pepper, and herbs if desired.
3.  Pour veggies into pie crust 
4.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top
5.  Beat the eggs with milk and half and half
6.  Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to eggs
7.  Pour egg mixture over veggies and cheese - I'm always so afraid I don't have enough egg mixture but it puffs up as it bakes and ends up being perfect
8.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until the eggs are set and a knife in the middle comes out clean

 Slice up the quiche and serve with a side of mixed greens.  Enjoy!!

Fill In The Blank Friday

1.   My most prized possession is  - sounds cheesy, but my wedding band.  I love that it combines diamonds from both of our grandmothers.

2.  If I could be one age for the rest of my life, I would want to be - Probably around 25.  It's just a nice, not too young, not too old age.  I definitely wouldn't want to be a teenager again!

3.  The best way to spend a weekend is  - a relaxing Friday night at home with the hubby, a nice bike ride to the beach on Saturday, spending some time with friends with good food and good wine.  A good mix of relaxing and fun.

4.  My outlook on life is  - It certainly doesn't happen as you plan it.  You're in charge of what you make of it - i f you're not happy with the way things are going then you need to change it up a bit.  And don't take anything too seriously.  I think life is really about spending time with people you love, not stressing about work.

5.  If you want to annoy me, just  - Drive slow in the left hand lane!

6.  I am completely defenseless when it comes to - Sweets.  Put a cookie in front of me and I cannot say no.  Even if I'm sickenly full, or trying to diet.  I just cant resist.

7.  When dressing for the day one should - put on what makes you feel good.  Something that you're not gonna be tugging at all day.  Be stylish and slightly trendy, but be comfortable.

Happy Birthday Tor!

The hubby turned 32 this past weekend and we celebrated with good friends, a bike ride up the coast, and some yummy carrot cake.

A few weeks ago when I asked what kind of birthday cake Tor wanted he immediately replied "carrot cake!"  I'd never made a carrot cake before so I quickly looked on one of my favorite baking websites, The Joy of Baking, to find this delicious recipe.  For some reason I'd always been kind of afraid of carrot cake and had only recently started eating it.  I think it was the 7 year old in me thinking that the words "carrot" and "cake" did not belong together.  Boy was I wrong!  This recipe was soo yummy and moist, with cream cheese frosting slathered on top.

The hardest part was definitely shredding the carrots.  Since I don't have a food processor I had to do it all by hand.  My arm was pretty tired by the time I got 2 cups worth!

After mixing all the ingredients I poured the batter into two 9-inch cake pans lined with parchment paper.

After letting the cakes cool, I spread cream cheese frosting all over and stacked them on top of each other.  Next time I'll probably leave the lemon zest out to make the frosting nice and smooth. 

 

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the birthday boy blowing out candles.  But I'm loving my new cake plate I got at Home Goods!

How was your weekend?