Tilapia Asparagus Quiche

More Quiche! Since I bought my hand blender, I've been experimenting all over the place. Jess got me drooling for asparagus, so I decided to put some into a quiche!
Ingredients:

1/4 lb cooked asparagus
1 handful spinach or 1 knob frozen spinach
1 filet tilapia, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
fresh chopped parsley
shredded swiss cheese
1 raw pie crust
salt/pepper

Directions:
1. Lay your pie crust in a tin and poke it with a fork, then stick it in the oven at 400°F for 5-7 minutes.
2. In a blender, blend the spinach, asparagus, and a drizzle of heavy cream.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, salt/pepper, and parsley.
4. In the half cooked pie crust, spread out the pieces of tilapia, then the asparagus mix, then the egg and cream mix. Sprinkle the shredded swiss on top.
5. Cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes... depending on the oven... until the top is golden.

Serve warm with a basalmic vinegaratte salad...mmmm!

Wild Strawberry Tart

My very first dessert! Woohoo! I usually like salty over sweets, but I found these lovely wild strawberries in my yard and I kind of wanted to try my luck with a strawberry tart! It turned out delicious. I used a kitchen scale (that I initially bought to weigh my baby dinosaurs) to measure my ingredients exactly. I didn't work my pastry cream long enough, though.. it should have been thicker and I should have put in a little more elbow grease.
BUT
The taste was spot on.
Ingredients:

• 750 g (1.5 lbs) strawberries
  
• 1 pie crust in dough form
  
• 30 g (1 oz) powdered sugar or regular sugar
  
• 30 g (1 oz) flour
  
• 20 cL (7 fl ounces) whole milk
• 2 egg yolks

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 250°F. Spread your pie crust in a buttered tin over baking paper. Poke holes in the crust with a fork, and put another layer of baking paper and some raw rice or beans on top for weight. Cook for 20 minutes, then let cool.
2. For the pastry cream, heat some milk on low heat in a pan and add half the sugar, then all the flour and mix well.
3. In a separate salad bowl, beat the egg yolks and the rest of the sugar. Pour a little of the hot milk and mix well. Then dump this mixture into the pan you are heating the milk in.
4. While on low heat, beat and beat and beat until the mixture kind of solidifies. Your arm will hurt. This may be a good use for an electric beater? Once it solidifies, take off the heat and let cool.
5. Fill your pie crust with the pastry cream, and lay your cut and washed strawberries on top. Refridgerate for a few hours before serving. If you have a very sweet tooth, you can add powdered sugar on top.

This was a hit! My first dessert! A little runny, but that won't happen next time. The cool thing is that you don't have to put strawberries. You can do this with raspberries, kiwis, peaches... or a mix! Also, I used eggs from my mother in law's hens, so the pastry cream is a lot more yellow than it would be with grocery store eggs. They are so much better though!

Asparagus Risotto & Chicken Pita Salad

I found these recipes on Sunset.com, one of my faves for dinner recipe sites. ;) I think you will like these ones. They both were yummie!

Asparagus Risotto
In a large pot in olive oil, cook 4 chopped green onions and 1 cup Arborio rice until fragrant. In 4 batches, stir in 1 qt. hot vegetable broth and cook, stirring, until each is absorbed and rice is al dente, 20 minutes, adding hot water if you need more liquid.

About 5 minutes before rice is done, add 2 lbs. asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 2-in. pieces; 2 tbsp. unsalted butter; and ½ cup grated parmesan cheese; cook until asparagus is tender-crisp.


Grilled Chicken Pita Salad
Prepare grill for high heat (450° to 550°). Rub 2 boned, skinned chicken breast halves with olive oil and cook, turning once, until no longer pink. Slice.

Meanwhile, whisk 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 tbsp. fresh oregano, and 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; set aside. Boil 1 lb. asparagus (ends trimmed), cut in spears and halved lengthwise, just until bright green; rinse with cold water.

In a bowl, combine reserved chicken; 4 oz. feta cheese, broken into chunks; asparagus; 2 cups halved grape tomatoes; ½ cup pitted kalamata olives; and 2 cups pita chips. Toss gently with reserved dressing. Add 2 cups baby arugula and toss once just to combine.

Creamy Duck Legs

Duck is delicious! It really doesn't taste anything like chicken or turkey. When it's raw, it looks like a red meat. We've been trying to eat different things every once in a while, and these really inspired me.. especially because I'd never made duck before! There is a lot of meat on duck legs.. we didn't finish them, so you can cut the meat off when they're cooked and easily serve 3 or 4 people instead of just 2 gluttons like us.
Ingredients:
2 duck legs, skinned
2 tbsp grapeseed oil or EVOO
1 small onion, chopped
2 chopped cloves garlic
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 handful mushrooms
2 tbsp heavy cream
fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1. Brown the legs in the oil on both sides a few minutes. Remove the legs and then do the same with the rosemary, onions and garlic.
2. Add the mushrooms and brown a little, then put the legs back in.
3. Add the wine and broth. I used a pressure cooker, so I cooked it for 20 minutes. If you don't have one, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. The meat should easily come off the bone. I guess you could transfer to a crockpot as well.
4. Reduce de sauce a little (uncover) and add your cream and fresh ground pepper to taste. I think I sprinkled some fresh parsley in there, too.

Serve with a nice salad and some home fries.. or white rice.. or pasta...or mashed potatoes... mmmm!

This completely blew my mind. I will now regularly buy duck.

Orange Avo Smoothie

A friend posted this on thier facebook page- and i Love it. I make it all the time!! I have a Magic Bullet- so, i just throw all the ingredients in and whip it up for b-fast.

ORANGE AVO SMOOTHIE
1/2 avocado
half frozen banana
2 dates (sometimes i omit the dates bc i don't have any)
1/2 c fresh squeezed oj
1 orange
2 T lemon juice

blend. yum.