Good Morning What's for Leftovers Readers! We have had a very busy weekend. Our children went out of town because Andy had to play the piano in our friends' wedding. So needless to say, there was not a lot of time for leftover cooking. Because of this, I made sure to make a dish last Thursday to post this Sunday. It was a breakfast quiche for the guys at Andy's shop for lunch. It was a big hit judging by the empty pie dish that came home with Andy that night. Quiche filling is one of the easiest food items to prepare, but the crust, unless you use a store-bought one, is a little more time consuming. Since I was in hurry, and I didn't have any ready-made pie crusts, I used baking potatoes as my crust. This was so simple, plus it made the dish a little healthier. I love to sneak vegetables in my recipes whenever I can! Let me know if you have any questions.
Ham and Potato Quiche
Ingredients:
2 Medium Baking Potatoes
1 Cup Chopped Broccoli
1 Cup Diced Ham
1/4 Cup Diced Red Bell Pepper
1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
6 Eggs
1/3 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Cups Shredded Colby Cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a glass bottom pie pan.
2. Peel baking potatoes. Cut in half and thinly slice. Layer potato slices on bottom of pie pan.
3. Layer chopped broccoli, ham, and bell peppers on top of potato slices.
4. In a blender or Magic Bullet, whip together mayo, eggs and milk until creamy and frothy. When finished, gently pour over vegetables.
5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes add cheese to the top of the quiche and bake for another 15 minutes. When finished, the bottom of the quiche should be light brown and the cheese should be completely melted and bubbly.
We have quite a variety of salad dressings in our fridge. Earlier this year, my friend Kimberly taught me how to really use coupons to save money when grocery shopping. Because of this, I have an even larger variety in our pantry waiting to be savored on delicious salads. I have completely stocked up because of low, low prices! Opening a new bottle of salad dressing is a fabulous surprise, you really never know what new flavors you're going to get. We have a bottle of Imo's dressing that has been hanging around in our refrigerator for awhile. I've been trying to finish it up so I could open a new bottle of dressing. Last night I succeeded when I made this yummy pea salad. It's a spin on the version you might have eaten at church dinners and you'll love it! Bring it to your next church dinner or picnic.
Peas and Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Frozen Peas
3 Cups Cooked Pasta
1/2 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 Hard-boiled Eggs, chopped
1/2 Colby Cheese, diced
1/4 Cup Red Onions, diced
1/4 Cup Italian Salad Dressing
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Tsp Dill Weed
1. Pour frozen peas into a large bowl. Do not cook them.
2. Add cooked pasta to the bowl
3. Chop and dice bell peppers, eggs, colby cheese, and red onions. Add to bowl.
4. Pour Italian salad dressing and mayo into the bowl. Sprinkle dill weed on top. Mix thoroughly.
Your salad will need to sit out while for awhile (1/2 an hour to an hour) to allow your peas to defrost. After that, stir and either serve immediately or put in the refrigerator to enjoy later.
We have had Chinese 3 times in the past week- that's a lot! Each time it was delicious, but once again I was faced with the dilemma of what to do with another carton of white rice. I made the rice into a tangy salad, that you'll hopefully love. It's a great change from all of the 'winter' foods we've been eating lately.
Tangy Rice Salad
Ingredients:
3 Cups Cooked White Rice
1/2 Large Green Pepper- diced
20 Small Green Olives- sliced
1/4 Cup Large Red Onion
1/2 Cup Small Cubes of Colby Cheese
1 Cup Frozen Peas
3/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup Italian Salad Dressing (I used the Pasta House dressing)
1 TBSP Dijon Style Mustard
Pour the rice into a large bowl, breaking up the clumps as you pour it into the bowl. Mix the Mayonnaise, Salad Dressing, and Mustard into the rice. Add the Veggies and Cheese and stir.
The vegetables I added to the salad are what I had on hand. Other veggies that would be good in this are artichoke hearts and black olives.
I love grilled cheese. They are one of my comfort foods. It reminds me of my childhood when my mama would make me fried bologna grilled cheese sandwiches. I think I used to even dip these in ketchup. Tonight I made my family a variation of these, but I used ham (Do people even buy bologna anymore?), and made the sandwiches French toast style. It turned out to be a great variation of an old favorite. Of course, I cut them into four small triangles for my kiddos, just like my mama used to do when I was little.
French-Toast Style Grilled Cheese
Ingredients:
5 Eggs
3/8 Cup Milk
2 tsp Spinach Dip Seasonings (the kind that comes in little packets to make a dip- mine was a PartyLite packet)
8 Slices of Colby Cheese
16 Slices of Deli Stye Honey Ham
8 Slices of Bread
Whisk eggs and milk together until creamy. Add 1 tsp of Spinach dip seasoning and stir until mixed in. Heat a large frying pan or griddle and spray with pam. Dip both sides of a slice of bread in egg mixture and put in pan. Dip another slice in the egg mixture and put in pan. Flip the first slice when browned like French toast. Add a slice of cheese, two slices of ham and then another slice of cheese to this slice of bread. When the second slice of bread is browned, flip cooked side onto cheese (like a sandwich). Finish cooking the second side of the first slice, then turn entire sandwich over to cook the last side. Made sure both sides are browned like French toast and cheese is melted before taking off heat. Repeat to make the second sandwich. Before making the third sandwich, add 1 more tsp of Spinach dip seasoning to egg mixture. Mix in and continue making the third and fourth sandwich.
