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.

Getting your Junk Food Fix!

Since we are on the topic of giving in to our food cravings, I decided to dedicate this post to just that!

This is a slight twist on satisfying that craving that creeps in and just doesn't want to let go.

We gave up bad eating habits a long time ago. It goes against our very nature to get into the car and drive to a fast food joint to satisfy our craving.

It seems almost unnatural and wrong. In fact if you analyze the food you actually get when you indulge in such places, it is exactly that: wrong and unnatural.

My switch to Organic local farming happened when I started eating chicken again during my pregnancies. I practice it religiously, avoiding chicken that I know has not been raised in healthy happy homes. Patrick, has just recently made the switch and can't even eat in his food court anymore!

I promise, he will have that post out soon on industrial factory farming vs local organic farming soon, here and at

So this post is dedicated to satisfying our natural urges for "bad" food and turning them into pretty healthy options for lunches and/or dinners.

So here you have it:

The Hamburger

The Sub

The French Fry

For the Hamburger:

I make these hamburgers for my kids all the time. I make the mini versions for all of us. I don't need a huge hunk of meat sitting between two pieces of bread at lunch time.

A small mini burger like this one and a salad is more than enough.

For the Chicken Burger.

1 pound of organic lean ground chicken

2 corns cooked-kernels only

2 shallots finely diced

1 green pepper finely diced

1 red pepper finely diced

2-3 sprigs of parsley finely chopped

Salt & Pepper

1 egg

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Season.

Make small patties and grill about 5 minutes each side on the bbq.

(if you are cooking inside use a grill pan)

Toast the mini buns, dress your burger and enjoy!

Change ground meat to turkey or beef and use the same recipe.

The Homemade Sub

Incredibly sweet peppers. Soft sweet onion, tender juicy organic chicken, or organic steak, fresh crisp salad and melted mozzarella cheese make this sub a Friday night delight!

Easy, healthy and so tasty.

You can leave out the bread and just enjoy your sauted veggies, with chicken, or with beef for an even leaner alternative!

For the Vegie Sub

1 green pepper julienne

1 red pepper julienne

1 yellow pepper julienne

1 orange pepper julienne

1 vidalia onion sliced

Mushrooms sliced

Mozzarella cheese grated

1 bread roll

Slice up all your vegetables.

Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper

Grill on bbq or bake in an oven at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Or lightly saute veggies in a wok over medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes.

Lightly toast bun.

Place veggies in bun.

Add shredded cheese.

Broil for about 2-5 minutes until cheese has melted and is golden brown.

For the Chicken Sub

I use chicken scaloppini.

I season with salt and pepper and grill or saute it.

I add it to my sub with the same veggies and cheese and voila! delicious.

For the Steak Sub

Marinate a flank steak over night.

For the marinade:

1/2 cup orange juice

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp chlli powder (Patrick likes to use chipotle chili)

2 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp kosher salt

1/2 tbsp ground pepper

Grill the steak for 4 minutes a side on direct high heat.

Cut the meat across the grain into thin slices.

Layer up your sub.

Heat under the broiler for 2-4 minutes or until cheese melts.

Enjoy.

So easy, so cheap and so much better for you than the alternative.

The French Fry.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel 6 potatoes.

Cut your potatoes to the desired thickness of choice.

Soak in milk, buttermilk or cold water about 30 minutes.

Rinse under cold water.

Dry well.

In a bowl coat with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt.

(if you want to add seasoning like sea salt, parsley, garlic, paprika, rosemary etc. do it at this moment).

Cook potatoes for about 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees.

Flip fries and cook another 10-15 minutes.

Add salt when warm!

A low fat recipe would be to mix 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 240ml of water. Pour into a spray bottle and simply spray the potatoes with the oil and water mixture. Cook for the ten minutes, spray them again and cook for another 10 minutes. Or until crispy and golden brown.

IT"S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL!

One important detail I love about the Montessori World is that in essence, it is a world made smaller for little people!

Everything becomes easier when portions, sizes, and even words are made smaller.

Mini plums for snacking.

I have found some great "mini" portions of certain foods that make all meals more of a joy!

Here are some examples.

An assortment of mini bagels to build sandwiches and snacks.

Cream cheese & Apple

Peanut Butter & Jelly

Cream cheese, smoked salmon & capers.

Butter & cheese.

Peanut butter & banana.

Hummus.

Cream cheese, honey & raisins.

Tomato, onion & cheese.

Eggplant spread, roasted red pepper spread, avocado refried beans!

Mini Pasta Mexican Soup- A classic in my kitchen

Take half an onion and 4 large tomatoes. (2 cups pureed tomatoes) puree in a blender

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a sauce pan.

Add 1 cup mini pasta.

Add tomato and onion puree.

Season.

Add 4 cups of vegetable broth or water.

Cook about 15 -20 minutes.

Helping Hands

Maria Montessori stresses the importance of children's hands in the classroom and in real life. Getting children to be a part of the dinner process allows them to connect with the food they eat and allows them to be helpful and creative in the kitchen.

Here, the kids peel corn to help make the salsa for the Tilapia.

Tilapia with Corn & Fruit Salsa

Season fish with salt and pepper.

Cook fresh summer corn and remove kernels when cooked.

In a bowl combine, corn, raspberries, diced peach, diced cucumber, finely sliced basil and feta cheese.

Grill or pan fry fish. Serve with salsa.

Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli

SPINACH & RICOTTA RAVIOLI

I wish I could say I did make my own. I don't!

I buy freshly made ravioli from the little Italian shop down the road.

Cook as directed. Toss with butter chopped basil or parsley.

A perfect little meal.

Kids Chicken Soup

CHICKEN SOUP

I usually make my chicken soup for scratch. Any time Patrick and I eat a roast chicken for dinner I take the leftovers to make my stock. It may sound overwhelming, but it really is a very simple recipe.

If I don’t have a leftover chicken handy, and I want a quick healthy chicken soup dinner, I use Organic Chicken Broth as the base for the soup.

For the Leftover Chicken Soup Broth

1. Take off the skin and anything you might have stuffed the chicken with.
2. Put it in a large stock pot.
3. I add just enough water to submerge the bird. About 8 cups.
4. 1 fresh bay leaf ( or dry)
5. 1 onion peeled and cut in half.
6. 1 large carrot or 2 small carrots peeled.
7. 1 celery stalk
8. 4 garlic cloves thrown in
9. 1 leek properly washed
10. Parsley- a bunch
11. Thyme-a little less.
12. 1 tablespoon salt.

Bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat for about 4 hours. Or until you try your broth and it’s delicious. If it doesn’t have enough flavour, season and simmer for another hour or so.

Once the soup is cooked let it cool.

Put a large bowl in the sink with a sieve on top. Strain the chicken stock into the large bowl separating liquid from solids.

Scoop out cooked carrots and dice finely. Set apart.

Take any chicken peices that might have been left behind and set apart.

Replace liquid from stock back into stock pot.

Add egg noodles or dry noodles of your choice.

Cook as you would pasta.

Add carrots and chicken.

Serve with bread, parmesan cheese lemon wedges.

It’s the perfect kids meal.