Vegetable Quiche with Smoked Gouda

409. Quiche love is a real thing.  After enjoying our most recent quiche, post #407, I wanted to experiment with a couple different ingredients.  Oh the possibilities with a block of Gouda Cheese, bacon, fresh chives, zucchini and mushrooms.

I made half a recipe of pie crust and filled a 9" spring form pan with the dough to create a high, deep filling that can stand alone once baked.

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Chop up each of the filling ingredients before mixing your eggs.

The Gouda was a smoked variety with apple and hardwood flavor and it added such amazing flavor.

This quiche was packed with so much flavor, texture and every bite was my favorite.

Once baked, the house smelled intoxicating.  Paired with a light spinach salad, what more could you need or want for dinner?

And what a lovely slice of deliciousness.  Happy Weekend!

"Cooking is like painting or writing a song.  Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart."

~Wolfgang Puck, Master Chef

Bacon and Leek Quiche

407.  Quiche was on the menu tonight with a lovely recipe.  The Magnolia Table Vol II should be a staple in every kitchen because of the useful tips, hints, suggestions and recipes.  Joanna Gaines shares her processes and ideas and this quiche recipe is part of the collection.  It is the Bacon & Leek Quiche and is "Perfectly Delicious"...my words written in my copy of the cookbook.  

The ingredients include bacon, eggs, heavy cream, leeks and Gruyère cheese.  The flavors are delightful and the finished quiche is perfect!

Pick up the cookbook and get the recipes, you will be very happy you did.

"The reality is, we all need food.  We can't survive without it, and I've never met anyone who'd want to.  Because food fuels and satisfies.  We wake up hungry for a morning meal because it breaks our fast and fills us up.  We anticipate dinner because it gathers us at evening's end and declares another day done."

~Joanna Gaines "Magnolia Table Volume II"

Key Lime Pie

390.  It is citrus season on the west coast with lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit hanging from neighborhood trees.  Although this is common, it has become a great delight each year seeing the beautiful fruit just hanging there!  for Free!  On the east coast citrus fruits were always so expensive.  So I collected limes, juiced them and created this masterful Key Lime Pie.  

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 You could also substitute lemons for this filling but the limes have that extra beautiful flavor that is unmatched!

"You know what they say:  'Why sit at a table that doesn't have Key Lime Pie on it 

if you don't have to?'"

-Sloane Crosley

Quiche

358.  Spring is here and it was a perfect day to celebrate a beautiful young lady who is a bride-to-be.  We held a shower for her and I wanted to share our simple but delicious menu.

Two plates of mini Quiche Pies were a big hit.  We prepared one with sausage and one without.

Here is the recipe:

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 Next was a Yogurt Parfait with vanilla greek yogurt, fresh strawberries and blueberries and a sprinkle of granola on top.

 A charcuterie board with a variety of crackers, cheeses, olives, meats, honey and jam along with

a heaping platter of fresh fruit.  And a fantastic chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting (you can find the recipe here:  Best Chocolate Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting

 Coffee and Fruit Water with grapefruit and orange slices were the beverages.

It was a lovely event filled with great friends, conversation, fun facts, yummy eats and beautiful gifts.

"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."  ~ Mother Theresa

Apple Raspberry Mini Pies

341.  Fall has arrived and the harvest of summer fruits is winding down.  And, a pie is always a good idea!   So tonight, it is Mini Apple Raspberry Pies...a little taste of summer and a little taste of fall.  

Apple Raspberry Mini Pies

3 Apples peeled, cored and cut in chunks

1 cup of fresh red raspberries (never rinse)

1 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon corn starch

1 tsp of apple pie spices or cinnamon

1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 Tblsp butter

1 recipe of pie dough

Prepare the apples and mix with the sugar, corn starch, spices and lemon juice.  Mix together and set aside.  Roll out the pie dough till 1/4" thick and cut out circles or squares large enough to fit into  each space in a muffin pan and trim to fit.  Fill each dough cup with the apples and juices from the bottom of the mixture.  Top each apple pile with 5 or so raspberries. 

Roll remaining dough out 1/4" thick and cut round, square or cookie cutter shapes for each mini pie top.  Dot the apples with butter and place the cut shape on top of the apples.  No need to seal.  Brush with milk or heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees till the liquid is bubbling, about 20 -25 minutes.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

I topped off the pie with an autumn leaf cut out from my pie dough.

 Go out and enjoy the fall by picking apples or pumpkins.  Try baking something for your family and enjoy the simple pleasures of homemade goodies.

" All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."
~ Winston Churchill

Fresh Peach Blueberry Pie

311. A slice of fresh peach blueberry pie is on the dessert menu tonight.  

Using free-stone peaches is a breeze.  You are able to remove the peach pit quickly and clean leaving the beautiful peach in perfect shape.

A little sugar, corn starch and lemon juice with a pinch of salt and dash of cinnamon makes your filling light and perfectly sweet.

Instead of the traditional top crust I'm using my star cutters to make a random pattern, perfect for July⭐️ 🇺🇸.

If the stars are all the same it makes your top crust too uniform.  So I cut three different sizes and star frames as well.

A sprinkling of water and a few corse sugar crystals finish off the top.

With the left over pie crust I cut out little stars and sprinkle a sugar-cinnamon mix over.  My mom would make these for me when she had extra dough. 😋

I used Joy of Cooking to check my ingredients.  The recipes are always spot on and reliable.

And here is the finished product for your viewing pleasure!

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." 

~Steve Jobs, co-founder & CEO of Apple

Concord Grape Pie

285.  My dear friend Darlene was the first to introduce me to Concord Grape Pie.  Every year, in the fall, she would collect concord grapes from her families grape vines and make us a perfect grape pie.  At first we had never heard of such a pie till we tried it.  It was fantastic!

Her pies were so perfect, her niece requested that her Aunt Darlene bake grape pie for her wedding in place of a wedding cake.  Now that's the sign of a delicious dessert!  

She taught me her recipe, of course it could never match Darlene's pie, but here is my version.

Concord Grape Pie

pie dough for a two crust pie

4 cups fresh concord grapes

2 cups sugar

4 Tablespoons tapioca

Roll out the bottom crust and place in pie plate.

 Rinse the grapes and drain.  Have ready a 3 quart saucepan and a bowl.  Take each grape and squeeze the grape over the saucepan.  The juice and center of the grape with the seeds will pop out and let it drop in the saucepan.

 Place the skin in the bowl.  Continue until all the fruit is separated.

 Place the saucepan on the heat and bring to a boil.  Boil for about 3 minutes till the seeds begin to rise to the top of the liquid.

 Place a strainer over the bowl filled with the skins.

 Pour the hot liquid with seeds into the strainer.

 With a spoon or spatula, press the liquid pulp through the strainer back and forth.

 Till all the liquid has gone through the strainer and the seeds are the only thing left.  Throw away the seeds and scrap the strainer clean of all liquid and pulp.

 Mix the pulp juice and skins together.

 Add your sugar and tapioca.  Mix and allow to sit for about 15 minutes.

 Pour filling into a prepared pie crust.

 Cover with a top crust and cut vent slits over pie to allow steam to escape.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes and till you see bubbles of the filling rising from the opening slits.

 Allow to cool.  Slice the pie and serve with vanilla bean ice cream.

 Now this is indeed a treat!  This is how pie should taste!

"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."

~Mother Teresa

"GRAPES - The Fruit of Hope!"