Chicken Spinach Quiche

I just love a good quiche.

For breakfast, lunch or dinner. Especially when it is full of yummy ingredients like ham, spinach, chicken, cheese, mayo (I have a slight love affair with mayonnaise), and basil (this too).

Most of all, a quiche is a one pot dish. It's almost like cooking dinner without cooking dinner. Sort of a night off, if you will.

And boy, have I needed a night off!

Chicken Spinach Quiche

(courtesy of the Grace Chapel Cookbook and Susanna Guess)

 

2 unbaked 9 inch pie shells                                              2 eggs, beaten

1 cup cooked chicken, chopped                                       3/4 cup mayo

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese                                           3/4 cup milk

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach                          1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 cup chopped onion                                                      1/2 tsp diced basil (I use dried)

 

 

1. Pierce pie shells with a fork and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

 

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss together chicken, spinach, cheese and onion. Spoon into pie shells. I use a chopper on the chicken and onion. I have found that the smaller the pieces, the easier my kids will eat it. I also use what ever meat is on hand. Tonight was ham. We will see how it comes out. I also defrost my spinach and tear it apart with my hands before puttin it in the bowl.

 

3. (This part is my own brilliant thinking) Rinse out the large bowl and use it in step 4.  See! No extra bowls!

 

4. Stir together eggs, mayonnaise, milk, basil and pepper until smooth. Pour over chicken mixture. Now, the liquid never seems to cover the dry ingredients. Don't worry about it. It will come out just fine. Don't do what I did the first time and add more egg and milk to make more liquid. What will happen is that the quiche won't set and you have a pie pan full of goo.

 

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

 

 

This will feed my family of 5 and leave a few slices left over for my darling man's lunch the next day. Great as a leftover. Sorry, I don't have the nutritional info on this one but with the mayo, milk and cheese, I'm going to guess it's fairly high in calories and fat. But yummy also!





As a parent, you will never be perfect. You will never do everything just right. But take heart! There sometimes come along these moments where your Mommy radar was spot on the money. If you read my last post, you know that Ian has not been himself lately. After about 3 weeks of this, it was getting frustrating and I was getting impatient. You can only take so much of a crying, whining little boy who is dissatisfied with everything.

Monday of this week, Ian was at his worst. Crying at everything. Bursting into sobs at random moments with a velocity that made me think he was in actual pain over something. But nothing was wrong that I could see. No fever. No rash. No diaper issues. Nothing I could put my finger on but in the back of my mind, I kept telling myself "This is not normal."

Monday night was epic. Up all night and crying.

Tuesday morning, I found dried fluid in his ears and that was it for me. I made an appointment with the pediatrician and took him in for a check up. And guess what?

Both of his eardrums had ruptured and he had a double ear infection. It makes my heart hurt for him just thinking about it even now. But it did make me feel wonderful that I had taken him in even thought there were no concrete signs that anything was off. Makes a Mommy feel like she did her occupation proud.

The doctor said that they had ruptured recently, probably Monday night. But this is what makes me say a prayer of thankfulness. Tuesday morning, when I noticed all the dried fluid and built up earwax, I was going to drip a little hydrogen peroxide in his ears to clean it out. I do this to my own occasionally when they get a little too waxy. But I hesitated and decided to wait till after the doctor appointment in case they could make a diagnosis by what was in his ear canal. Can you imagine the level of pain if I had poured cold peroxide onto freshly ruptured eardrums? Not to mention the possibility of post infection? I am ever so thankful to the providence that made me stop.

After 5 days of  antibiotics, he is back to his old cheerful self. It is nice to have my little man well again.

And then life happens.

You know how you make all these great plans for the month? for the week? for the day? All these grand schemes of what you will accomplish and the wonderfully healthy fresh meals you will cook every night. All the To-do list items you will slash a red marker across. "Finished! Accomplished! Done!" you will cry with vigorous gusto as you march like a conquering barbarian across the vanquished wasteland of unfinished chores.

And then life happens. Kid get sick. Ironing piles up. You run from one appointment to the next and don't have time to plan menus and cook. The dust bunnies under your couch get friendly and start multiplying like, well, like rabbits. And at some point you stop, look around you at the chaos, and exclaim "What happened?!"

I find in times like these, the best remedy is to slow down. Stop. Take a deep breath and start over.

This week has not gone as planned. I have not been as productive as I wanted to be. What I have to remember are the other things that were accomplished. For instance, I didn't sleep for more than 30 minutes Monday night. So Tuesday, I was tired, nauseous and unable to do almost anything other than survive. But the reason for my sleeplessness was worth it. Ian was running fever with a bad cough. From 11:00 pm to 5:30 am, I was curled up in his bed, nose to nose, cuddling while I scratched his back and he tried to get comfortable. Neither one of us slept but at least he was happy to have Momma there where he wanted me. Just so you don't think I am some super mom, I will quickly tell you this was NOT fun. My arms and legs kept falling asleep and since we had to be nose to nose, every time he coughed was right in my face (probably the reason my throat is sore today).  Every time I thought he drifted off, I would sneak back into my room, slide under the warm down comforter and lay my head on my pillow.

Only to hear him wind up again, crying at the top of his lungs and coughing.

It was a long night. A hard night. A night I do not wish to repeat. But then again, to have a entire night of him curled up against my chest, feel his hot breath on my cheek, have his feverish hand resting on mine and to have him whisper over and over again, "I need you Momma. I need you."

I would do it willingly again in a heartbeat. He'll only need me for such a little while.

It's a beautiful morning!

Mornings are my favorite time of day. Rising early before the sun comes up, watching the stars fade, hearing the birds start to sing before it is light. Of course, in order to enjoy all this I have to actually get up and that, as we all know, is the hard part.

This recipe should help make your morning a little easier. Chocked full of goodies like raisins, carrots and bananas, they give you a pep in your step. Make these up the night before and pop a couple in the toaster to warm as you make a cup of Joe. Take them both outside and snuggle up on your porch under a blanket and watch the world shake off the bonds of sleep, stretch and rise.

 

Healthy Morning Muffins

(courtesy of Everyday Foods)

 

 

Makes 12 * Prep time:10 Min * Total time: 35 Min

 

1 1/4 Cups AP flour                                             4 medium carrots, shredded

1/2 Cup packed dark-brown sugar                       1 Cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda                                     1/2 Cup raisins

1/2 teaspoon baking powder                                 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg                                             1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt                                        1/3 Cup skim milk

                                                                              1 medium banana, smashed

 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12- cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg and salt until there are no more lumps. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, egg, milk, carrots and banana and stir until blended.
2. Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 Cup batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, 23-25 minutes. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature. To store, keep in an airtight container, up to 3 days.

per muffin: 186 cal; 4.7 g fat (0.8 g sat fat); 3.6 g protein; 33.9 g carb; 2.2 g fiber

 

 



Blueberry Heaven

I ripped this recipe out of a magazine years ago. It was in an interview with Gwenneth Paltrow about healthy living and she gave a few family recipes. This one was from her mother Blythe Danner.

BLYTHE'S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS - makes 12

1/2 Cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
1/2 Cup whole milk
2 Cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 Cup plus 1 tsp sugar, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 Cup fresh blueberries

Heat oven to 375*.

Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk butter, eggs and milk in a bowl. Combine flour, 3/4 Cup sugar, baking powder and salt in another bowl.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients; fold in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups;sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp sugar.

Bake until muffins are golden brown and a knife comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm.

I usually cook these the night before for breakfast and unless we control ourselves, there aren't any left for the morning. Lillie personally would like them without the blueberries but then they just wouldn't be blueberry muffins, now would they?

I store them on the counter in a sealed container. they keep for about 3-4 days.

This should hold you until I get my camera cleaned out. Last week, we went to a Spirit Cookout before the local football game. It was held at Lillie's school. There were bouncy houses, free hot dogs and lemonade and $1 cotton candy. Lillie was off on her own the entire time, Ian stayed in the toddler bouncy house and Small Fry did this.

 He had snagged a bag of free popcorn and she had found out. She stayed by his side the entire time, mooching popcorn pieces. There was loud chaos all around. Kids screaming and laughing, bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, adults hollering at kids. And off to the side of the bouncy house, in a quiet shady spot, with the hot wind blowing her wisps of hair, she was content to just hang out with Daddy.

Photos are coming.

I promise.

I have so many photos on my camera since the last time that I uploaded to my computer that it will take me a full day or so just to sort thru them and post.

The first photo on my camera is the week before Elsie was born. That's right. It has been over a year since I cleaned out my camera.

That is one of my goals this week, among others. Would you like to know them all? All righty then.


THIS WEEK'S GOALS  (fanfare)

I said that in bold so it would be dramatic. I thought it was a nice touch.

1.  Re-start my Couch to 5K. I started it a few weeks ago but it crashed and burned. I was trying to run at night after the kids were asleep but that required my darling man to be home and his school load was so heavy that he was staying late to study and not coming home till 11 or later. Having had some time off,  I realized that the last time I ran successfully was when I did it in the morning. Now that I am not nursing a baby, there is not a frantic panic to get home and showered before the baby wakes up. I am more of a morning person than a night person. I get wired after I exercise so that keeps me up at night but would be a big help in the morning. It really is a much better time and more than likely, I would be much more successful at it.
    
2.  Finish all ironing. A lofty goal.

3.  Upload, edit and sort all photos on my camera. Preparatory to ordering them, upload to website by month and, unfortunately, by year.  :(

4.   Clean off my desk of all papers, receipts, pages ripped out of magazines and such.

5.   Sit down and make a list of all presents needed for upcoming birthdays, Family Day, and Christmas.

6.   Complete at least one Thanksgiving decoration craft with kiddos. Pinterest, here I come!

7.   Sit up straight. My posture is terrible and it drives my darling man crazy. It is a hard habit to break since you don't realize that you are doing it most of the time. I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle.



There. That ought to keep me out of trouble for a week.

Do you have any big goals for this week or are you just surviving?