Tobi's Quiche

In general I'm not a fan of eggs. They just don't appeal to me. But happily at one point in my life someone forced me to try Quiche. One happy explosion of deliciousness in my mouth and I was hooked.

Here is my favorite way to prepare Quiche.

Ingredients

• 1 Frozen Pie Crust
• 1 1/2 cups cubed cooked ham
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup frozen broccoli florets, thawed, well drained on paper towel or you can use fresh
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
•  2 to 3 tablespoon finely chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. 
2. Layer ham, cheese, broccoli and onion in the frozen crust pan. In medium bowl, beat eggs and milk with fork. Stir in black pepper and salt. Pour over broccoli, cheese, ham and onions.
3. Bake for 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving. 

And of course you can put just about anything you want in a Quiche. Because even though I don't love eggs. I must admit they are quite versatile.

Sinfully Rich Chocolate Truffle Pie

We made this for Thanksgiving dinner this year and it was amazingly easy and so delicious!

12 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
1 T Vanilla
1 (9-inch) Prepared Chocolate Cookie Crumb Crust (or make your own using 1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs and 1/4 cup melted butter)

1. In microwave dish combine chocolate chips and 1/2 of the cream. Cook on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Stir in sugar & vanilla. Set aside.

2. In small bowl, beat the rest of the cream until soft peaks form. Beat in chocolate mixture on high speed 1/3 at a time. mix well and spoon into crust.

3. Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls if desired.

Enjoy!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

I made these cookies for the Volunteer Dinner at my library and everybody loved them.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze


Cookies:
2 1/2 Cups of flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese (I used low fat)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest from one lemon

with a mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until well mixed. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly and add dry ingredients. Spoon the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until slightly golden at the edges. Let the cookies cool and frost with glaze.


Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
zest from one lemon

Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest, stir until smooth. frost each cookie with 1/2 teaspoon glaze,

Pumpkin Recipes

As soon as the height of the summer heat passes and the days turn cooler, I start craving pumpkin foods! Here are some of my favorite pumpkin recipes.


Pumpkin Pancakes


2 cups flour
2 T sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs--separated
1/4 cup melted butter

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine milk, egg yolks, vanilla, butter and pumpkin puree. Stir into dry ingredients until just blended. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Pour onto hot, oiled griddle about 1/3 cup at a time. Cook until tops bubble and turn and cook other side. (Note: sometimes I don't bother to separate the eggs and the pancakes still turn out great!)

These taste great with syrup, but my kids favorite way to eat them is to sprinkle mini chocolate chips on the warm pancakes, let them melt a little bit and then top with a dollop of whip cream. YUM!


Pumpkin Dump
(It tastes better than the name sounds, I promise! It is kind of like a pumpkin cobbler.)




1 (29 oz) can pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp cloves)
1/2 tsp salt1 pkg cake mix (I like vanilla, but the original recipe calls for yellow or spice)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices. Stir in the milk, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Sprinkle cake mix over the pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle on the pecans. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool.

4. Serve with whip cream, refrigerate leftovers.

I have found that when I drizzle the butter, I sometimes get areas of dry cake mix in the end result, so what I do is take the butter (cold) and slice it thinly and cover the cake mix with the thin slices. It takes a little longer, but I think it is worth it.



Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes
(OK, so technically this isn't a pumpkin recipe, but it tastes a lot like pumpkin pie, so I am including it anyway)

1 40 oz can sweet potatoes
¼ cup orange juice
¾ cup all –purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch salt
½ cup butter or margarine
1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place sweet potatoes in a 8x8 inch shallow baking dish and pour orange juice over.

3. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; mix well and then cut in margarine. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.

4. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with marshmallows and broil until browned.

Even people who are not sweet potato fans love this recipe (how could they not---let's face it, by the time you add all the extra stuff on top, they can hardly be considered a vegetable!) If you have extra time, I think it tastes better to use "real" sweet potatoes rather than canned. Just peel and slice 2.5 lbs of sweet potatoes, then boil until soft.

Chili-Lime Mango Chicken Skewers

I got this recipe from Our Best Bites. I tested it out on Kevin, Sylvia, Victoria and Ken. They all said it was Yummy!! Caution this recipe makes A LOT.


6T olive oil
¼ cup fresh lime juice
Zest of 1 lime
1 t chili powder
¼ t cayenne pepper (I used double and I still didn't think it was spicy at all)
½ t salt
1 T sugar
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 ripe but firm mangoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

(I watched this video to learn how to cut a mango and it worked out perfectly!)

Directions:
If you're using wooden/bamboo skewers, make sure to soak them in water for 20-30 minutes before you use them. Otherwise they'll fire right up on the grill!

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, chili powder, cayenne, salt and sugar. Place in a zip-lock bag and add the chicken and mangoes, stirring gently to coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.

Prepare grill (or indoor grill pan)

Remove the chicken and mangoes from the marinade and thread onto skewers, alternating the pieces and dividing them evenly.

*When you're making any type of skewer, make sure not to smash everything together tightly. In order for the food to cook thoroughly and evenly, it needs room! The pieces threaded on should just barely touch each other, or not touch at all.

Arrange the skewers on the grill and cook, turning until the chicken is nicely charred and cooked through, 6-10 minutes.

I like to serve these with Jasmine rice. I bet they would taste great with cilantro rice too.

Sloppy Joes Aunt Linda style

Samantha posted this recipe on her blog today and I thought to myself, this family recipe needs to be on Wok The Dog too and so here it is. Thanks Aunt Linda for many years of good Joes, these are super easy and super tasty.

Sloppy Joe Sliders

1 lb ground beef {I use 90/10}

1 medium onion chopped finely

1 stalk celery chopped finely

Brown above ingredients in a skillet until beef is done and onions and celery are translucent. Then add:

1 can Campbell’s chicken gumbo soup ( yep you read it right and yes this is the secret ingredient)

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp yellow mustard

2 Tbsp brown sugar

Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Serve on “slider buns {smaller, pictured above} or regular hamburger buns.

Fruit Sorbet

While on our trip to Denver, Sylvia decided (and I agreed) that we needed to try out some of the sorbet recipes in her ice cream cookbook. They were pretty easy to make and turned out really yummy. We thought they had a better consistency when put in the freezer for a few hours, rather than eaten right out of the ice cream maker. My personal favorite was the Mango.


Raspberry Sorbet

1 cup sugar
½ cup water
1 heaping quart fresh raspberries, about 1 lb
Juice of ½ lime

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Place the raspberries in a blender with the cool syrup and lime juice. Blend until completely smooth, about 1 minute. For a smooth sorbet, pour the puree through a strainer to remove the seeds, otherwise freeze immediately in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer sorbet, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Note: Frozen raspberries can be used--be sure to get the kind without added syrup.

Makes about 1 quart. Each 1/2 cup serving contains 125 calories.


Lime Sorbet

1 ¼ cups sugar
2 cups water
1 large egg white
2/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 6-7 large limes)

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Raise the heat and boil the syrup 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

In a medium mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg white with a whisk or an electric beater until foamy, about 10 seconds. Slowly beat in the hot sugar syrup. Continue to beat until the meringue cools down slightly. Add the lime juice. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight. The mixture will have foam on top, but will incorporate into the sorbet when it freezes.

Stir the chilled mixture, then freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer sorbet, transfer to a freeer safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Makes about 3 cups. Each ½ cup serving contains 180 calories and 0 g fat.
　
　
Mango Sorbet

1 cup sugar
¾ cup water
2 ripe mangos about ½ lb each
¼ cup orange juice concentrate
Juice of 1 lime

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and place over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely and the syrup is clear. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Peel the mangoes and cut as much of the fruit as you can away from the large pits. Place mango and orange juice concentrate in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the cooled syrup and lime juice and lend until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled mixture, then freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer sorbet, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Makes about one quart. Each 1/2 cup serving contains 150 calories.