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Quiche with Spinach or Broccoli

12/3/2016

 
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Quiche with Spinach
I first learned about quiche from my beloved aunt, MJ. She was Mom’s only sister, older by 7 years, a cosmopolitan world traveler who also happened to have a mind as sharp as anybody’s I’ve ever known. That prodigious intellect earned her admission to Stanford University back in the day when they first began accepting women.

Mom always maintained that her own admission to Stanford some years later was on MJ’s coattails. I have serious doubts about that since Mom was far from the dumb blonde that she felt people often perceived her to be; they seemed to be deceived by her extraordinary beauty.

But the fact is that she was definitely no slouch in the brains department, possessing an insatiable intellectual curiosity that endured until the time of her death in her 90’s. She and MJ shared that passion for learning, a familial trait.
 
But MJ’s lifestyle could not have been more different from ours. Unlike Mom, she never married and never had children, so she showered love, attention, and life lessons upon me and my 8 siblings.

Among other things, she often treated us to fancy restaurants and plays on Broadway, and exposed us to a style of gracious and luxurious living that was the polar opposite of our own far simpler, much less sophisticated way of life.

​She fostered further the seeds planted by Mom that encouraged in us an appreciation for music and the other arts, as well as for the richness other cultures and countries have to offer.

​To that end, she funded international trips of exploration and discovery for each of us upon graduation from high school and during college. She was a major influence in my own decision to study languages and live overseas after high school and beyond. 

Even the town MJ lived in, an artsy, affluent community within commuting distance of New York, was worlds apart from my small, middle class town. While our main street was lined with the comfortingly familiar Woolworth's, Grant’s store, pizzerias and sandwich shops, her main street was lined with boutiques, shops and restaurants that featured products and food from all over the world.

And among those was a small French restaurant run by a lady named Dolly (that's my recollection of her name anyway), who also ran a catering business. She was the precursor to Martha Stewart,  who, some years later, would get her own start in this very same town.

​It was there at Dolly's that I had quiche for the very first time. I have no recollection of what kind of I ate at that restaurant, but I loved it. 

Besides being very tasty, quiche is actually a very easy dish to put together. 

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Sweet Potato, Spinach and Feta Quiche

4/28/2016

 
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Sweet Potato, Spinach, and Cheese Quiche
This recipe is a new one for me this year, but based on my family's reactions when I've served it, it's going to become a standby.

I got the idea from a friend’s Cooking Light post on Facebook. I was immediately intrigued since I love both spinach and sweet potatoes, and they are powerhouses of nutrition. However, the original recipe used some ingredients that made it somewhat more expensive than I recommend spending, so I made some adjustments to bring it more in line with my budget guidelines, and also to make it more family friendly.
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That means in my family of hungry males that the entree has to be suitably filling. So, while the sweet potato is a delicious quiche ingredient, I am not convinced that it is a proper substitute for the crust. I just do not consider it to be in the same category as a regular wheat-based crust in terms of food groups.

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Butternut Squash, Cheese and Apple Casserole

2/17/2016

 
Butternut Squash, Cheese, and Apple Casserole
This delicious butternut squash and cheese dish is an old recipe that I’ve had in my recipe box since I was a teenager. It’s a very retro approach to creating meals with bread and eggs, called strata. It was developed, I suspect, by frugal homemakers of old who were looking for a way to use day old bread so that they didn’t have to throw it out. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like winter squash, both by itself, and as an addition to various recipes. We eat all kinds of this brightly colored vegetable for its great nutritional value and naturally sweet flavor, but when I’m adding it to other dishes, I typically use the butternut variety. And when I do, I peel and dice it, as I describe in my blog post here.

Occasionally, I find a bargain in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store and snag a bag of pre-diced squash for less per pound than the cost of a fresh squash in the produce section. That can save quite a bit of time and effort.

It's a practice I recommend for every busy cook. 

However, it’s been my general experience that the frozen squash does not match the flavor of the fresh, so I do recommend using the fresh whenever you can, and particularly if it's cheaper. It’s a bit of prep work, but I think it’s worth the trouble.

Still, with lifestyles as busy as they are, it's important for people to incorporate techniques and shortcuts to keep meals realistic and practical.

​Using the frozen, pre-cut squash makes this already straightforward recipe an absolute breeze -- about as simple as you can get. 

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Shakshuka-Style Spicy Egg, Tomato and Cheese Bake 

1/26/2016

 
Shakshuka - Spicy Egg, Tomato, and Cheese Bake
This is a recent addition to my repertoire. It’s a variation on the traditional shakshuka dish that originated in Tunisia, from what I understand, but is fairly common all over the Middle East.  A Moroccan friend made it for me for lunch one day not very long ago, and I found it to be absolutely delicious.
 
She gave me the recipe, and I tried to make it the way she had, but I was less than successful. The flavor was great, but I didn't care for the way the eggs came out. So I decided to adapt it in order to make it easier for myself, and also to make it more of a full meal as a casserole.

The results were a huge hit with my family. 

The savory, spicy sauce is what makes this dish so special. ​

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Avgolemono (Greek Egg and Lemon Soup)  (Vegetarian Version)

1/5/2016

 
Greek Avgolemeno (Lemon-Egg Soup)
The first instance when I tasted Avgolemono, it was a bit of revelation to me. It was so different from anything I had ever experienced growing up, and I immediately loved the combination of the thick, creamy rice and egg soup and the tart, lemony flavoring.

​My Greek-Cypriot husband made it for me that first time during our university days in Vienna as international students.

​He used the recipe he found in an old Cypriot cookbook and struggled a bit with the decidedly vague instructions, but managed to make a success of it as far as I was concerned. I gobbled it up.

 
Since that first time enjoying it, this soup has been a mainstay of our family menu planning.

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Mediterranean Zucchini and Eggs with Sweet Potato Oven Fries

8/14/2015

 
Mediterranean Zucchini with Eggs and Sweet Potato Fries
It’s that time of year when zucchini is abundant in gardens, the produce section of the grocery store, and at farmers’ markets.  There’s often so much of it coming in at once that gardeners don’t quite know what to do with it. One old joke says that mid to late August is the only time when residents of many small towns in New England feel the need to lock their car doors -- the reason being that if they don’t, well-intentioned neighbors will deposit bags of surplus zucchini squash on the seat.

Now, zucchini has a relatively short shelf life, even when refrigerated, so  I recommend using it as soon as possible. If you end up with more than you need, and it’s starting to go bad, here’s a quick way to store them for future use: 

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Wash them, cut off the ends and any damaged parts (don’t peel them), and then puree them to a liquid pulp in a blender. Freeze the zucchini puree in approximately 1-2 cup portions in ziplock bags, labeled and dated. The puree can be thawed at any time and used, among other things as a thickener for sauces – your family will not even realize it’s there -- and as a less calorifying substitute for oil to lend moisture to cakes, brownies,muffins and the like.

But there are, of course, many very nice recipes that call for zucchini, some of them wonderfully simple and fast, like the one here.

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    Hi, I'm Nancy, and I'm on a mission to help people eat and live well on a tight budget. In these uncertain times, it has never been more important to practice frugality. 

     In this section of the blog, I offer some meal plans and recipes, some old, some new, to help get you started on eating well for less than you think and keeping money in your bank account.

    I hope you find some of these recipes useful.  

    And thanks for visiting!

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