Kale & Bacon Quiche with Hash Brown Crust

So I only planted 3 kale plants this year thinking that would be a good amount for 2 people and maybe share some…but wow, those 3 have really gone all out this summer and I have found myself looking for ways to use it all up.

Enter this Kale & Bacon Quiche with Hash Brown Crust.  I happened to have all the ingredients and it looked really good so thought I’d give it a try.  And hooray! Success! We ate it as dinner and then had leftovers for breakfast.  It was great both times.

Kale & Bacon Quiche with Hash Brown Crust
from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients
3 c frozen hash browns, thawed
3 T butter, melted and slightly cooled
salt and pepper
1/4 lb bacon, chopped
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 c chopped kale
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 eggs
1 c milk
1 c shredded gruyere cheese (see “My Comments” for what I used)

What To Do
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Press hash browns between 3-4 paper towels to remove excess moisture. Add hash browns to a 9″ pie pan with melted butter, salt, and pepper, then mix and press evenly into the bottom and up the sides. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until hash browns are golden brown around the edges. Remove then set aside and turn oven down to 350ºF.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain then discard bacon grease.

Add extra virgin olive oil to skillet then add onions and saute until translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add kale, season with salt and pepper, then saute until tender, 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 more seconds. Set mixture aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add shredded cheese, cooked bacon, and mixture then stir to combine. Pour mixture over hash brown crust then bake for 30-35 minutes, or until top is light brown. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

My Comments
For the hash browns, I used southern style – the kind that looks like little cubes.  Iowa Girl Eats used the stringy looking kind.

For the cheese, I used part cheddar and part mozzarella.

I did not press the thawed hash browns between paper towels but did dab them a little before mixing them with the melted butter.

I measured out 2 cups of PACKED chopped kale, meaning I stuffed as much into the measuring cup as I could.  It cooks down a lot.

I happened to have some bacon that Matt had previously cooked but if I had to cook the bacon, I would just leave some of the grease and cook the onions/kale/garlic in it rather than put in olive oil.  That’s just me, though.

Some Photos Along the Way

I bet it would be fun to make miniature versions of this too in a muffin tin.  It’d be great for brunch or any little gathering.  I love using hash browns as the crust and what a great idea if you have someone with gluten issues.

I hope your week is off to a great start! If life gives you kale this week, I hope you make quiche! 🙂

Orange Chocolate Chunk Bread

Happy weekend, everyone! I don’t know about you, but I had a long week and am ready for some R&R.  But what good is R&R without something yummy to munch on?

 

 

Mmmm…bread! And not just any bread.  Orange Chocolate Chunk Bread!! This is easy and quick to whip up (no mixer required) and your house will smell wonderful (like a spa!) while it’s baking!

 

 

Orange Chocolate Chunk Bread
from My Baking Addiction
makes 1 loaf

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
zest of 1 orange
3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

What To Do
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a glass loaf pan with non stick spray and set aside.

In a large large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, baking powder and ground ginger. In a second bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, milk and orange zest. Pour wet mixture into the dry and stir until combined. Toss dark chocolate chunks with remaining 2 tablespoons of flour then gently fold them into batter.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow bread to cool completely before removing from the pan. Slice and serve!

My Comments
I doubled the recipe to make 2 loaves.

FUN – I got to use my microplane grater/zester, one of my favorite handy kitchen gadgets!

When digging out my dark chocolate chips, I found a Lindt Excellence Intense Orange Dark Chocolate Bar so chopped it up.  It wasn’t quite enough so I used dark chocolate chips for the rest.

My batter was rather thin so I didn’t really see the need to “gently” fold in the chocolate.  And, even though I tossed the chocolate with flour, the majority of the chocolate sunk to the bottom of the bread anyway.  I was kinda disappointed in that so next time I might sprinkle the chocolate chunks on top of the bread batter or pour half the batter in the pan then sprinkle with some chocolate then add the remaining batter and put the rest on top.

I highly recommend lining your bread pans with parchment paper (spray the paper with non-stick spray) because I had a little trouble getting the baked loaves out of the pan because some chocolate chunks got stuck to the bottom of the pan.

My loaves took 75 minutes to bake.

 

 

This bread tastes great and I love how you can see the orange zest throughout.  Orange and Chocolate go great together, just like Rest and Relaxation!

Have a great weekend!

 

Lemon Almond Bread

I know this isn’t really lemon season but maybe like 5:00 – it is somewhere! I e-mailed myself this recipe a while ago and yesterday realized I had all the ingredients so thought, “why not?” and voila, we have delicious Lemon Almond Bread to enjoy throughout a cold gloomy week.  Nothing brings a little sunshine in like some lemon goodness and when paired with almond, it’s even better.

 

 

These would also make nice little gifts if you’re looking to spread some homemade love this Christmas season.

 

 

Lemon Almond Bread
from Two Peas & Their Pod

makes 1 loaf

Ingredients
Bread
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Lemon Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, for garnishing the loaf

What To Do
Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Rub together with your fingers until fragrant. Whisk into the flour mixture. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the almond milk, oil, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, and almond extract.

Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Place the loaf on a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes. Loosen the sides of the bread with a knife. Carefully remove loaf from pan. Let cool completely on wire rack.

While the bread is cooling, make the lemon glaze. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze of the lemon almond bread. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the bread. Cut and serve.

My Comments
So obviously, I divided the batter into 4 mini loaf pans – pan size 5.5″ x 3″ and 2″ tall.

Baking time for me was 30 minutes.

I made half of the lemon glaze recipe and that was plenty.  I drizzled a little on top of the almond slivers too.

 

 

These little loaves of bread are perfect for breakfast, snacks or dessert.  I love the burst of lemon and crunch of the almonds.  The two really go nicely together.  I had not tried pairing lemons and almonds together before but I certainly will again now that I know how wonderful it is!

I hope you have a great week! If life gives you lemons, strike back with some almonds and turn something sour into something sweet!

 

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Well, it’s a cool rainy day here and that means it’s the perfect time to make some muffins to enjoy throughout the week! Eating one (or two…or three…) of these Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins is a great way to start the day.

 

 

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins
from the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion
makes 16 muffins

Ingredients
3.5 c unbleached all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
8 T butter (that’s one stick), room temperature
1 c sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 t vanilla extract
1 c. sour cream, room temperature
1 1/4 c dried sweet cherries
1 1/4 c chocolate chips

What To Do
Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease 16 muffins cups or use paper liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy and almost white in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix until incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth.  Stir in the dried cherries and chocolate chips.

Fill muffins cups and bake for 18-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack.

My Comments
Using a cookie scoop to transfer batter from bowl to muffin tin minimizes mess.  I love it!

There are several variations you can make with recipe.  You could use other kinds of dried fruit or add nuts if you like.

 

I hope your week is off to a great start.  Hopefully these muffins will help you out!

 

Spiced Peach Muffins

Okay, so I was really going to try to wait until this weekend to post this, but “Muffin Saturday” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Muffin Monday.”  I bought more peaches at the farmer’s market over the weekend and this morning made these Spiced Peach Muffins.  I was worried the Spiced part would be too much, but it turns out it was just right.  I’m very excited to have these muffins available for breakfast this week!

 

 

Spiced Peach Muffins
from King Arthur Flour
makes 16 muffins

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups milk
4 peaches, diced (not peeled) or 3 cups small whole berries or other fruit, diced
granulated sugar

What To Do
Combine flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, vegetable oil and milk, then gently stir in fruit. Grease 16 muffin cups, and heap batter into cups; they’ll be very full. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until muffins test done.

My Comments
I peeled my peaches – it just seemed weird not to.

I didn’t have any allspice so left it out.

I made half the recipe and ended up with 10 muffins.

 

These muffins were so easy to throw together and are so delicious! I sure hope you try them out during this season of peachy goodness.  Have a great (peachy) week!