Spinach Quiche

These little spinach quiches are another option for large group entertaining.

I chose to post spinach quiche because this is the favorite vegetable in this house!

You can vary the recipe by changing your fresh ingredients.

Try ham and cheese.

Bacon, caramelized onion and tomato.

Mushroom and goat cheese with thyme.

Simple eggs, onion, and truffle cream or truffle oil.

They are also perfect for lunch and or dinner.

Toss a fresh salad to go along with it and you have a perfectly easy and delicious meal.

For the quiche.

Frozen pastry shells(no lard! Look for all vegetable shortening).

Place frozen pastry shells on a baking tray and cook as per directions.

1/2 cup Frozen spinach-

1 onion finely diced

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

8 eggs

Run the spinach under hot water to defrost.

Squeeze out any excess liquid.

Place in a colander in the sink and let any liquid come out.

Meanwhile, in a frying pan gently saute the onions.

In a bowl whip the eggs.

Add nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Add the mozzarella cheese.

Add the spinach to the frying pan and gently cook on low heat until warm.

Allow to cool slightly.

Mix the whipped eggs with the spinach mixture.

Ladle or pour the egg mixture into the pastry shells and top with more mozzarella cheese.

Cook until cooked about 10 minutes.

Blueberry Drops

These little mini muffins are so tiny that in our home we call them drops.

We love them. They are incredibly tasty it's often very hard not to eat the whole batch in one sitting.

I made these all summer so the recipe calls for fresh berries. You can use frozen berries in the winter.

5 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

3/4 cups plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/2 cups of self rising flour

or:

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Butter your cupcake trays.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add egg and incorporate well.

Add yogurt and lemon zest.

Sift flour mixture into batter slowly until well incorporated.

Fold in blueberries.

The dough is thick! Spoon into muffin cups about 3/4 full.

Cook 20-25 minutes.

Something for everyone...

Banana Loaf- Or Cupcakes

This is a recipe for a large amount of banana bread. We go through it pretty quickly in our home.

I usually make one large loaf and cook it for about an hour and 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can divide the batter into two loaf pans and cook for about 40-45 minutes.

Or, you can make 12 very large cupcakes and cook for 30-35 minutes. (18 regular sized cupcakes cooked for 25-30 minutes) or about 48 mini muffins cooked for about 30-35 minutes.

Many choices cooking times will vary depending on the power of your oven. Always check readiness by inserting a toothpick into the centre and seeing that it comes out clean.

It is a very tasty recipe that pleases many!

I like to use real chocolate in my loaf, as opposed to chocolate chips, it gives the bread a much more sophisticated flavor and texture.

You can also add walnuts, more diced banana, coconut and or granola to the batter to add even more texture!

Serve the loaf warm on a plate topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Simply, a perfect no fuss dessert.

Pack it up in parchment paper and bring it along to a play date or slice it up for breakfast warmed in the toaster and spread with butter. Or send to school as a yummy snack.

3 cups all purpose flour.

1 1/2 cups of sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter, melted and cooled. (or soft)

2 large eggs

3/4 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas (or 3 if you like it really moist) mashed

1/2 cup of chopped dark chocolate

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter loaf pan.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl or in an electric mixer.

Add the melted butter and blend either with a hand blender or with an electric mixer with the paddle attachment.

Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas.

Add them to flour mixture and blend.

Do not over mix.

Add the chopped chocolate and fold in.

Spoon batter into the loaf pans.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 5-8 minutes.

Invert onto a wire rack and allow to cool.

Enjoy.

More Brunch Entertaining.

More Saturday or Sunday morning Inspiration.

Baked Breakfast Loaf

1 round sourdough loaf ( we used a potato sourdough)

6 eggs

4 strips of organic bacon

1 onion chopped

4 Roma tomatoes quartered or 8 cherry tomatoes whole

6-8 basil leaves torn

Salt & Pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Step 1:

Cut the top of loaf with a bread knife. ( I cut the bread too low. Next time I would leave a deeper bowl)

Step 2:

Remove bread from the inside creating a makeshift "bread bowl" Cut inside bread into cubes. Place in a ziploc and freeze for croutons.

Step 3:

In a pan cook bacon until lightly crispy.

Remove bacon and place on a plate with paper towel.

Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, add onions and tomatoes to bacon oil.

Cook about 4 minutes on medium high heat, until tomatoes soften but don't break down.

Step 4:

Whip 6 eggs and basil.

Chop bacon into bits and add to egg mixture.

Add tomatoes and onion to egg mixture.

Pour egg mixture into bread "bowl".

Top with shredded mozzarella.

Step 5:

Cook loaf in oven about 40-55 minutes or until egg on the inside is cooked.

Slice up and serve with a fresh simple salad & roasted tomatoes with basil.

This is a great dish for entertaining a group of 4-6 for Brunch.

I also thought about how to make it work for larger groups.

For mini portions of this dish simply buy the individual sourdough loaves and follow the same steps.

We chose tomatoes and basil as we took a morning trip to the market and bought some delicious fresh organic produce that made the dish burst with sweetness.

You could turn this dish into any combination under the sun.

Eggs with fresh herbs like tarragon, basil, oregano and parsley with goats cheese.

Eggs with cilantro, chorizo and chipotle with Monterrey Jack cheese.

Eggs with roasted garlic, tomatoes and onion and smoked gouda.

Eggs with bacon, hot italian sausage, and smoked mozzarella.

Eggs with mushrooms, thyme and truffle oil.

Eggs with asparagus, garlic and basil with garlic goats cheese.

Eggs with tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, fresh oregano and olive oil.

The possibilities are endless!

Coming Home to Color & Warmth.

Camelot is the name for my parents home. It is my favorite place in the whole world. When I come home there is a sense of peace and calm that takes over me.

Perhaps it is the flowers found in every corner of the house, or the use of color in every room.

Perhaps it is my moms breakfasts or the gentle way my parents adopt my children as their own.

Coming home feels right in every way.

The next couple of recipes are devoted to just that. I have tried to write about recipes that warmed my childhood.

These recipes also won the love of my husband.

I try very hard everyday to get them just like mom does, which is the way my grandmother's did it!

Being around my mother inspires the very essence of creativity in me. Especially in the kitchen!

Here are some wondeful Mexican inspired recipes that I hope you all try.

They are easy, fun and full of flavor; the way we all should be cooking!

I wish I could say that when we cook Mexican food we start from scratch.

But we don't!

We just don't always find what we need in season for many recipes. Therfore we have found an array of Mexican cooking products and lines that we like to use in order to maximize flavor.

However, when we do find Chile Poblano, zucchini flower, fresh corn, fresh epazote and beautiful ripe avocados in the market stands, we get a little crazy and buy as many as we can! We make rajas, we make chiles rellenos, we grill, we roast, we fry for days! It's a lot of fun.

SALSA VERDE

Salsa Verde:

4 medium tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered.

1 large garlic clove peeled and quartered.

1/2 onion roughly chopped (optional)

1 Jalapeno chili stemmed and roughly chopped.

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine tomatillos, garlic, chiles, cilantro and onion in a blender.

Add 1/4 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process to a coarse puree.

Taste and season.

Serve within the hour to enjoy the freshest possible flavors!

We kept our in our fridge for up to a week and it was still delicious on day 7!

LA TORTILLA MEXICANA

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

2 tablespoons of olive oil

12 eggs whisked

1/2 cup yellow sweet corn(in the summer try and use fresh corn)!

1 cup chile poblano stemmed, seeded and skinned (from a can if you can't find fresh poblanos). Be careful not to rub your eyes after seeding the rajas. It's amazing how many times I have done it!

1 onion sliced

Mozzarella

salt

pepper

Whisk eggs and set aside.

In a large skillet gently heat corn, rajas, and onion with olive oil.

Add eggs to pan and cook as if cooking an omelet.

Cook for about 8 minutes.

Sprinkle mozzarella on top of the egg.

Transfer skillet to oven and finish cooking for about 8 minutes longer.

The top should be nicely browned and inside nicely cooked.

Transfer Tortilla to a large round plate and serve whole on the table.

Everyone can serve themselves.

Serve with warm bread or warmed tortillas.

RAJAS

4 chiles poblanos

Char the skin of the poblano over an open flame until it starts to crackle and blister. Be sure to burn all sides of the poblano.

If you are not using an open flame, roast in the oven at high heat 475 degrees until black.

Throw them in a ziploc bag when they are hot.

Allow them to cool.

Once cooled remove the poblano and remove the black skin, the core and the seeds.

Slice your poblano into thin strips.

To make Rajas with crema (cream)! This recipe is incredibly delicious and works as a side dish for any dish, meat, pork, poultry and fish.

Slice a large onion into slices.

Add the onion and sliced poblano to a frying pan with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat.

Season with salt.

Heat until the onions become soft and translucent about 20 minutes.

Add 1 small container of sour cream.

Heat through.

We especially love this with steak for Patrick, Tuna steak for me!

Simple Scrambled Eggs with Tortillas

Olive oil

2 eggs

Heat oil in skillet on medium low heat

Gently fry tortillas about 2 minute each side, on medium low heat.

Set aside on plate with paper towel.

Scramble your eggs with salt and pepper.

Transfer eggs to Tortilla

Wrap and eat! So easy and so tasty.

This little meal makes a great kids breakfast, lunch or dinner! As a child I used to eat these with ketchup. My kids do the same thing!

Huevos a la Mexicana

Recipe for 2

4 large organic eggs

1/2 cup diced tomato-any kind you like. In the winter I always use cherry.

1/2 cup finely diced sweet onion

half a jalapeno finely sliced

if you don't like heat but would still like to add some green color, we often use diced green pepper.

In a pan saute onion, tomato, jalapeno, green peppers for about 2 minutes.

season.

Add eggs and scramble.

Serve with bread or tortillas.

Los Huevos Rancheros:

large organic eggs

Corn Tortillas

Salsa Verde or Salsa Roja

Cilantro

Sweet onion finely sliced

sour cream for garnish.

sliced avocado for garnish.

Warm salsa verde in frying pan or small pot.

Gently fry 4 tortillas on medium high heat.

Set aside on a plate with paper towel.

Crack 4 eggs and cook sunny side up.

Place sunny side up egg on tortilla.

Pour salsa verde on top of eggs.

Use sour cream and avocado for a garnish and eat with warmed tortillas.

Las Tostadas

We love these with Tuna but you can make them with just about anything. Cooked white fish, chicken, pork, beef. The possibilities are endless. So fast and so easy. Great for entertaining large groups!

Simple fresh ingredients allow for bold flavors that make any simple dish come alive.

Tostadas (baked tortillas that are crunchy and hard)

1 can of white tuna-even better if you use fresh tuna grilled and cut.

1 Finely diced sweet onion

1 Finely diced tomato seeds removed

Finely chopped Cilantro

Finely diced iceberg lettuce

1/2 teaspoon chipotle

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

For the tostada

Refried beans

For the Garnish

Avocado

Sour Cream

Place tuna and all ingredients in a bowl

Combine and mix well.

Spread a Tostada with beans.

Scoop a tablespoon or two of tuna mixture onto Tostada.

Garnish with Avocado and a dollop of sour cream.

Eat and enjoy!