How to Salvage a Quiche When Everything is Going to Hell

All I wanted was quiche for my Certified Cicerone exam day breakfast.

I love quiche, but like my good friend Marielle, I usually default to frittata. In fact, a draft post on this very blog that I haven’t been able to make come together is about frittata.

But, in truth, while I make frittata regularly, quiche is the “egg pie” I actually want to be eating. Why? Because it’s custardy! It’s delicious! It HAS CRUST! So, sometimes even when I’m not up to making pie crust (and, trust me, my skills are mediocre currently1), I make quiche. By buying pie crust.

The bad news is it’s been impossible (so far) for me to find in PDX the deep dish pie crusts I prefer for quiche.… Continue reading →

[114] Linguine Nagoda for Two

Cover of Cooking for Two

I picked this recipe because it looked very fast and easy to make, and because it involved pasta, heavy cream and walnuts. Which is funny, because I’m not the biggest fan of walnuts. They’re growing on me, particularly mixed in with something, but generally I don’t like ’em.

And I’d better not see any in or on my brownies. No joke.

Anyway, I needed a dish that wouldn’t take much energy, time or focus, because I was “battling baked beans TO THE DEATH for a party.”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/221-113-Borracho-Baked-Beans.html I needed something that would be fast and good enough to fill the gaping hole that comes from smelling delicious food cooking all day, then being told (or telling yourself), “Don’t eat that. It’s for a party.”

This appeared to fit the bill when I was digging through my cookbooks.… Continue reading →

[109] Sherried Tomato Soup

Cover of The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

I made this soup based entirely on the name and the photos in the cookbook. It’s right next to the cornbread recipe, which is my new always & forever cornbread recipe (unless I have to make some other recipe to advance the challenge, I suppose), and it taunts me every time I go to make cornbread.

That’s more often than you might think, actually. We’ve become a little obsessed with “her cornbread”:http://www.metacookbook.com/archives/123-67-Skillet-Cornbread.html because it’s delicious.

I have to admit, I rarely am motivated to try something just because it sounds or looks good. Obviously, that’s a pivotal part of the process, but it doesn’t usually start there. Usually, it starts because I have an ingredient I want to try or use up, or I have a method I want to learn more about, or I’m “desperately seeking a vegetarian meal”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/211-Whats-the-longest-youve-gone-without-eating-meat.html… Continue reading →

[59] Creamy Butternut Squash

cover of Cook With Jamie

I love butternut squash. I don’t think I had it a lot as a kid, but I definitely had it some. Mostly, my mother would cut one in half and put a little butter and brown sugar in the cavity and bake it until it was soft and delicious. In fact, I don’t think I had it any other way until years after I started making it at home. Of course, over time that sort of preparation makes you wonder if you’re having a veggie or a dessert, so I started looking for other ways to make it. Mostly, I found soups. I like them, but I still wanted something else.

That’s part of what’s been making this challenge so neat; I’m being forced to branch out in two ways.… Continue reading →