Food In Many Forms

From the archives... originally written in 2018... The last time I mentioned this quiche was back in 2011. But, I have definitely used this recipe over and over again. Short on time and need to make lunch for the week? Make a quiche! Want to bring food to a friend with a new baby and cook for yourself too? Make two quiches! In the past month or so, I have been experimenting with the ratio of eggs to milk, as well as using milk alternatives, such as soymilk. Ultimately, I like the recipe as it is. The soymilk made the quiche inflate in the oven more than normal, and it collapsed once it came out. It was "original" (i.e. not vanilla) soymilk, but it still had some sweetness to it and it was a little weird the first day. For some reason, the sweetness had dissipated on Days 2 & 3, which made it more palatable. Although it seems like a lot of milk to add, the texture was very much impacted by using less. So, this is one recipe, I do recommend you follow pretty closely. ...

I'm in week 2 of meal planning for the new year. But I realize after week, that I really only need two or three recipes to hold me over for the week. Last week it was tuna antipasto, French lentils, and homemade hummus. This week, I have quinoa salad and avocado sandwiches planned, which may be plenty since it's also restaurant week :) This Mediterranean edamame salad was super delicious - but maybe next time I will buy the pre-shelled edamame. Ingredients 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained 1 cup water 1 package frozen edamame 2 medium tomatoes, chopped 4 cups fresh arugula/ spinach mix 2 Tbsp olive oil 2 Tbsp lemon juice 1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese Dried basil, salt, pepper, to taste Directions In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer on low for about 15 miutes or until quinoa is tender and liquid is absorbed, adding edamame the last 4 minutes of cooking  In sm...

This recipe totally made me rethink enchiladas - the nontraditional ingredients really worked well together! I felt like the original recipe could use even more vegetables, so I changed the recipe to double up the veg for next time. Ingredients : 8 (5 inch) corn tortillas 1 unpeeled butternut squash, seeded 1/2 cup water 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 onion, chopped 4 cups fresh spinach, chopped 8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped 1 cup enchilada sauce 1/4 cup goat cheese,  crumbled 1/4 cup cotija cheese,  crumbled 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish (optional) 1/4 cup sour cream, for topping (optional) Directions : 1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 2. Lay the tortillas flat onto a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Meanwhile, place the butternut squash half into a microwave-safe dish cut-side-down, and pour in the water. Cook in the mic...

It was just a matter of time before Pinterest entered my life in food form , and this recipe was too easy to resist. It took 10 minutes to prepare after I got home from the gym, and 25 minutes to bake. The original recipe had too many egg whites , and too few whole eggs for my taste, so the modified version below has twice as many whole eggs and half the egg whites. There are four servings after all, I think one egg yolk per person is okay. And that is my professional opinion ;) Healthy Breakfast Frittata Makes 4 Servings Ingredients: 1 Cup Eggwhites (I use eggwhites from a carton to make my life easier) 4 Whole Eggs 1/2 a Small White Onion Finely Chopped 2 Cups Spinach (not packed) 1/4 Cup Reduced Fat Feta Cheese Black Pepper, to taste Crushed Red Pepper, to taste Salt, to taste Directions: Preheat oven to 425 F. Place all ingredients in an 8×8 previously oiled baking dish sprinkling your spices on top. Using a fork fold ingredients together....

Monday night, after the gym, I was inspired to pick up some sliced almonds and nonfat Greek yogurt, and make myself a fruit parfait for dinner. It took about 10 minutes to assemble, and it made for a healthy, satisfying dinner. A few Google searches later, I found this recipe for a Chicken, Pesto, Celery, Walnut, and Spinach Wrap . It's just as easy to assemble, and made for plenty of leftovers! Ingredients: 6 Fiber One garden vegetable wraps 1 1/2 pounds rotisserie chicken  4 stalks celery, diced 2 Tbsp pesto 3 cups spinach, fresh 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped Directions: 1) Pull the meat off the rotisserie chicken, remove the skin, and divide it into smaller pieces.  2) Mix the pesto, walnuts, and celery in with the chicken. 3) Sprinkle 1/2 cup spinach on a vegetable wrap and cover with approximately 3 oz chicken 4) Roll it up like a burrito and enjoy! Adapted from:  http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/quick-recipes/dinner/qui...

Look Familiar? I last posted about this recipe in March 2010. This Spinach Artichoke Dip recipe from Juan Carlos Cruz has served me well over the past few years, so it is too bad that they took down the recipe from the Food Network website. Luckily, one of my fellow bloggers shared her version of the recipe, and I tend to agree with most of her revisions. Thanks, "Tiny Kitchen Cooking" .  Spinach Artichoke Dip Recipe courtesy Juan-Carlos Cruz & the Food Network Ingredients: 1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed 1 cup light sour cream 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, plus more as needed 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained Carrot sticks, celery sticks or baked tortilla strips, for serving Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Squeeze all excess liquid ...

I'm on my  third carton of eggs in six weeks , and today I began to wonder if this is a healthy trend. Between 2 quiches, a batch of lemon bars and some scrambled eggs here and there, I have used gone through 21 eggs . Not to mention the hard boiled eggs I eat at work, the egg whites in my favorite spinach feta wraps at Starbucks and the fried eggs going into my Au Bon Pain breakfast sandwiches. I have given myself a little too much wiggle room these past couple weeks, and my scale knows it. So after I finish the quiche that is baking in my oven right now, I am going to switch to egg whites and re-focus on lowering the fat and cholesterol in all parts of my diet . It also means that I am going to work hard to curb my cravings for cookies and sweets, and go for the fruit instead. Just this week, I decided to slice up some very ripe bananas and freeze them and they were such a great snack. I am stocked up on my favorite Greek yogurt, and my pantry is stocked with heal...

In my attempt to give some store-bought crescent rolls a little boost of nutrition , these crescents are filled with spinach, Parmesan and caramelized onions. Plus, these little guys can be made the night before and refrigerated until breakfast time. This also means you don't have to cook (or eat) all 8 at once ! Ingredients 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup chopped onion 2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1 (8 ounce) Open Nature refrigerated crescent rolls Directions Caramelize onions. Add spinach, Parmesan cheese, onion, oil, salt and pepper to a bowl.Unroll and separate the crescent dough into eight pieces. Spread spinach mixture evenly over dough to within 1/8 in. of edges. Roll up and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Check out this gooey deliciousness... Adapted from:...

These past three months have been really stressful while I waited to see what next year would bring . But now that I have my plans locked in for next year, I am definitely going to be posting more! With little time to cook or go to the grocery store, I was living off of cereal, fruit and yogurt. It's no wonder that I was craving some vegetables today! Chick Peas and Spinach Background : At work, I will sometimes grab Asmar's chickpeas or hummus before I start my shift. The chick peas are prepared with lots of olive oil and lemon, a little bit of spinach and a mixture of spices. Today, I tried to make a similar meal. Ingredients : 1 can of chick peas, washed and drained, 1/2 bag of spinach, washed, olive oil, 1/2 fresh lemon, garlic, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper Procedure : Saute garlic and spinach in a little bit of olive oil. Once the spinach is cooked down, add in the chick peas, and spices, to taste. Use lemon juice sparingly, as the spinach...

Friday was Spinach Artichoke dip day and it was way delicious! I noticed that almost all the ingredient measures are based on the commercially available size, not what actually produces the best taste. Why is 1 8 oz tub of cream cheese the correct amount? Why not 6 oz or 7 oz? I will have to experiment with less cheese and see if it tastes the same. The one alteration I did make is use half the sour cream and it didn't seem to make much difference! Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

My absolute favorite College Park bar food is the Spinach Artichoke dip from Santa Fe Cafe . It comes out of the back piping hot and still bubbling, very green but also very cheesy and you cannot taste any one flavor or tell how they make such a wonderful creation. The pita gets gobbled up quickly and then only the salty tortilla chips are left... maybe I am the only one who notices but the fatty, cheesiness of the dip with the salty chips is just a little too much.  Flashback to last Tuesday...perusing the aisles of my favorite Bethesda grocery store and I see a can of artichoke hearts calling my name. My phone is dead and I have no idea what is in spinach artichoke dip but I know that I have to make it.  Flashforward to this morning...I go to the convenience store, recipe in hand, and am so grateful they actually have sour cream, hot sauce, whole wheat pita and shredded mozzarella. If only they had a beautiful plate for me to serve it on: When my food looks li...

After reading so many other blogs and recipes online I can't help but adopt the use of the word "hubby". I often read reviews that read like, "made this Sunday night, hubby didn't like it, probably won't make it again." Well, if I was writing a review of this Rachel Ray recipe (will try to post it), I would have to write, "made this last friday, hubby had seconds and thirds, will definitely repeat." Ingredients 3 cups dry red wine 2 cups chicken stock 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) 3/4 pound bulk Italian sweet or hot sausage 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 1/2 cups arborio rice Salt and pepper 1/3 pound spinach leaves, stemmed and chopped (about 2 cups) 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese Directions In a large saucepan, combine the wine and chicken stock; keep warm over a low flame. In a large, heavy pot, heat ...