Sausage Onion Spinach Quiche

    I have always loved quiche! It's an easy idea and you probably have all of the ingredients in your refrigerator already. You can make quiche with just about anything you want in it. I like my quiche to be pretty dense, so I use less cream and lots of add-ins. I made this recipe for dinner last night and it came out really good.

Sausage Onion Spinach Quiche

Ingredients:

- 1 9 inch pie crust

- 1 pound of ground breakfast sausage

- 1 cup of roughly chopped onions

- 1 cup of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, rinsed, and drained

- 1 cup of shredded cheese, I used white cheddar

- 5 large eggs

- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

- salt and pepper to taste

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and cream, add a little salt and pepper and set aside. In a skillet, sweat the onions with a little salt and pepper for a few minutes, do not brown them, set aside. Once you've removed the onions from your skillet, throw in the sausage and cook until it starts to brown. Once the sausage is cooked, drain the fat (I put it on a paper towel). Add the spinach, onions, sausage, and half of the cheese to the egg mixture. Save some sausage to put on top. Pour it into the pie crust, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, top with the rest of cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the center is set when you shake it and it's started to brown.

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Dip

    You really can't go wrong when bacon and cheese are involved!

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Dip

Ingredients:

- 1 16 ounce container of sour cream

- 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

- 1 packet of hidden valley ranch mix

- 1 cup of crumpled bacon

- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

    Mix everything together in the crock-pot and heat, on low, for 2 hours. Serve with crackers or chips. That's it! So easy! 

Chili Cheese Dip

    This stuff is addicting! So quick and easy. It's great for parties!

Chili Cheese Dip

Ingredients:

- 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

- 1 cup of sour cream

- 2 cans of Hormel chili (15 ounce)

- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

    In a bowl, with an electric mixer, whip together the cream cheese and sour cream. Spread the mixture into the bottom of a microwave safe serving dish. Next, spread the chili over the mixture and top with shredded cheese. Pop the whole thing in the microwave for 5 minutes. If the cheese isn't completely melted, put it back in for one minute increments until completely melted. It's wonderful with tortilla chips or on crackers! 

   

Poutines

    When you think of poutines, I'm sure you think of greasy french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. Well, poutine rapee is a completely different dish. This is a traditional Acadian recipe. My mother's family has a strong Acadian (French Canadian) background. She has many memories of her parents making them for New Years and for their church. My mom has been continuing the tradition, even after moving to Florida, she still relives her family's memories and creates new ones. Rape-e is french for grated, and grating potatoes is exactly what you are about to do if you're about to attempt this recipe. It's really is a tedious recipe, but there is nothing else in the world that tastes like them.

Poutines

Ingredients:

- 10 pounds of potatoes

- 1/2 pound of ground pork

- 1/4 pound salt pork

- salt and pepper to taste

- cheese cloth

     Start by dividing the potatoes into thirds.

    Take one third of them and cut into pieces. Boil, season, and mash them. Set them aside. The other two thirds are to be grated to a watery pulp. We've hand grated them for years but, my mom got a Ninja blender for Christmas this year and it worked quite nicely.

    Once you've grated the potatoes, take a piece of cheese cloth and squeeze the water from them. Do it in small sections so you can really get out the excess water.

    Once you've finished, and you dump the water from the pulp, the starch from the potatoes will have gathered in the bottom of the bowl. Set it aside.

    Next, take equal amounts of the mashed potato and potato pulp and mix together with half of the starch from the bottom of the bowl. My mom covers the counter in plastic wrap and mixes the potato by hand. Then, mix together the porks and form meatballs.

    Shape the potato mixture into balls, and place the meatballs into the center of each potato ball.

    Cut the cheese cloth into square sections and wrap each poutine. Tie together the corners. Place them into a pot of water and boil them for about 2 hours. 

   There you have it, poutines rapee!

Check out more on this Acadian dish!!!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dog Treats

    I may not be a human mom, but I am a doggie mommy! I have two beautiful Chihuahuas, Bruiser and Sookie. They can be a little picky when it comes to treats. So, I was hesitant when I decided to make them homemade treats. Let me just say, they went crazy for these! 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dog Treats

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup of oats

- 1 cup of whole wheat flour

- 1 banana, mashed

- 1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter

- 1 egg

    Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients. Roll out the dough, about 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

Bruiser loves them!!!!!!!

Eggless Tiramisu

    I've never attempted making tiramisu without eggs before. At first, I wasn't impressed. But I think that is because I tried to jump the gun and slice into it before it had completely set. I've come to the conclusion that this is a wonderful alternative if you are not crazy about consuming raw eggs. Although, tiamisu is my favorite dessert and I'll always love the classic preparation.

Eggless Tiramisu

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

- 1 cup, 8 ounces of Mascarpone cheese

- 1/4 cup of sugar

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 1 tablespoon of Amaretto or 2 teaspoon of almond extract

- 1 cup of espresso

- 1 package of lady fingers

- cocoa, for dusting

    Whip together the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add in the mascarpone cheese and amaretto. Dip lady fingers into espresso and layer the bottom of a 6x9 inch pan. I like to brew my own espresso. But, you could always use very strong coffee instead. Spread a layer, half of the cream mixture over lady fingers. Repeat with another layer of coffee soaked cookies and then top with the rest of the cream. Dust with cocoa powder and let sit for several hours in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

French Onion Burgers

    I've been making these for years! So easy and quick! If you're not sure what to make for dinner and you are cooking on a budget, these are a great idea.

French Onion Burgers

Ingredients:

- 2 pounds of lean ground beef (I've made them with turkey too!)

- 1 packet of french onion soup mix

- 1 egg, beaten

    Mix together all ingredients, don't be afraid to use your hands. Let mixture rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Shape into burger patties. Now, as far as cooking, you have options here. My favorite, of course, is throwing them on the grill for about 10 minutes. I've cooked them on my George Foreman grill as well. Then, of course, you could broil or pan fry them. Any way you decide to cook them, they come out delicious every time.