Monday, September 7, 2009

Labour Day Weekend/Cooking & Baking Day

Happy Long Labour Day Weekend everyone!

With the house to myself (Trevor having to work today), I decided to make good use of the day and go crazy in my kitchen! Well actually I started to get a little silly yesterday when I tried out a Zucchini Quiche. It was quite delicious and below I have posted the recipe. I was a bit stunned as I forgot to take a photo of the final product as we were just too hungry and I just cut into the quiche without thinking.. Duh on my part.


I picked up this book at one of our local Shoppers Drug Mart locations. They have a great variety of recipe and quilting magazines.


Zucchini Quiche

(the mazagine is called "Taste of Home. Picnics Potlucks and Barbecues" The issue says it is to be displayed until July 27, 2009. You might even find the recipe on their website www.tasteofhome.com)

4 cups thinly sliced zucchini
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each garlic powder, dried basil and oregano (I used fresh basil and oregano from my garden)(I also used fresh garlic)
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tsp prepared mustard
1 pastry shell (9 inches)

In a large skillet, saute the zucchini and onion in butter until tender, drain. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, parsley, salt, garlic, basil, oregano and pepper. Stir in cheese and zucchini mixture. Spread mustard over pastry shell; add egg mixture.

Cover and freeze for up to 2 months. Or bake, uncovered at 400 degrees celcius for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and crust is golden brown (cover loosely with foil after 25 minutes if needed to prevent overbrowning). Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

To use frozen quiche: Thaw in the refrigerator. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees celcius for 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean and crust is golden brown (cover loosely with foil after 35 minutes if needed to prevent overbrowning). Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

One of Trevor's friends is a recreational farmer, and he is very good at it! He gave us this zucchini and other squash from his garden. I have to say it is the biggest zucchini I have ever seen i my life! It measures 18" long and about 4 inches thick!!!!!! My little zucchinis that I am growing on my patio deck look like tiny pickles next to this monster!!! But I am going to make good use of this baby today! I am going to make chocolate zucchini loaves, another quiche (as the recipe I got it from says it can freeze up to 2 months) I will also make an extra loaf for our farmer friend as a thank you for his generous gifts! hmmm maybe by supplying him with food he might give us more!!! He doesn't sell his produce but keeps so much for himself and gives alot of it away! I'll be more than happy to take some off his hands! He doesn't live that far from us here in Kilbride and he has a nice size farm that he plays in. Trevor says he has sunflowers in his greenhouse measuring over 8 feet tall!!!!!!!!!!!! Mine are about 3 -4 feet now and the buds are just starting to get ready to open.

So today's plan of attack in the kitchen is as follows:
Going to try a new lasagne recipe
Honey Garlic Meatballs
Chocolate Zucchini loaves
Zucchini quiche
Focaccia Bread
Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Butternut Squash/Coconut Soup
And if I have some more time, I'll try a new cod au gratin recipe I found in my recipe collection!

I have a nice little recipe book collection. When I renoed my kitchen I bought a nice big bookcase to display all my recipe books. I wanted a big one so that I would have plenty of room to add to my book collection. Trevor's sister gave us this beautiful hand carved chair. Eventually I plan to reupholster it and make a pretty accent cushion to go with it. Once I get my living/dining room curtains made (so far they have taken me 3 weeks to make and still not complete), I think I will tackle the kitchen roman blind and other accents.



Anyway, I'm drifting off course!! So now I have this cozy little space in my kitchen to curl up and read through my recipe books and choose what I want to create! Like my sewing and quilting, playing in my kitchen is my other big passion!

Speaking of quilting, I will be teaching my Sampler Quilt class a week from tomorrow. Arrgghh!!! I still have so much to do with it! I'm figuring after my day playing in the kitchen today, I'll have to hand cuff myself to my sewing room and get crackin' on finishing this puppy. Right now I am sewing the sashing rows to my block rows. I almost have that complete. I'm figuring another hour with that step and it should be done. Next is the 3 borders. One of which is all 3 inch squares!! hee hee fun times ahead!


Well it is already 11:30am and I have nothing to show for all the plans I have for today, so I better get off this computer and get crackin'! I will take photos as I go along through my kitchen adventures and post again soon!

Let me know if any of you try out the zucchini quiche!!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

2 comments:

Quilter Going Bananas said...

Love the quilt sampler Andrea! Can't
wait to see it done :^) No zucchini at my house at the moment so I can't make your recipe just yet...

limpingalong said...

So happy to see you back -- you've been gone a long time, and last blogged about being sick. It had me wondering if the swine flu had done you in!
The quiche sounded delicious, right up until the mustard got spread on.
Mustard?! I'm trying to think of how this would taste. Mustard isn't my favorite flavor.
Loved the pictures of your kitchen!
Good luck with your class -- my ESL class starts again on Wednesday but will be small or else I must get some new students. Various events have scattered my former students.
Again, glad to see you back in bloggland!