Quiche…

Double Recipe Day!

My son, Tyler does not really care for eggs. He will eat them, but could care or less if they are on his plate. I have been craving quiche for a while, and decided I would make it Saturday for breakfast. It has been over a decade, since I made my last one. My husband does not care for it, so I just haven’t made one.

I had four of the mozzarella sausage balls left, so I chopped them up and used them in my quiche instead of cooking bacon or more sausage.

I made the standard 9-inch pie and when breakfast was over there was only one slice left. I had one and my non-egg loving son ate the other six slices. Ty told me “wow this is so good; you have to put this on the blog.” I laughed and told him it was not a recipe I came up with; quiche has been around for a little bit.

 For the crust, I cheated and used a frozen one, and pre-cooked it to the manufacture instructions. Like I have said before, I can make a piecrust but it is not pretty.

Ingredients:

5 eggs

2 cups grated Swiss cheese

1 ½ cups whipping cream

1 small onion, diced

4 mozzarella sausage cheese balls / or half a cup of bacon or ground sausage

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F

In small skillet sauté onion in butter until translucent

In a bowl whisk eggs and whipping cream until frothy

In bottom of cooked piecrust spread evenly onions, sausage and cheese

Pour egg mixture into the crust until the mixture just reaches ¼ inch from the top of the crust.

Cook in oven for 40 minutes, until firm

Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Stop Your Seasoning Packet Addiction, Part Two; Ranch Dressing…

Did you know there really is a “Hidden Valley Ranch”? The actual ranch is near Santa Barbara, California. The Henson family opened the dude ranch in 1954. Besides the beautiful scenery at Hidden Valley, the people kept coming back for the wonderful house salad dressing; which was the only dressing served.

1972 Mr. Henson sold the Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing to the Clorox Company for $8 million. Clorox changed the recipe a bit before making it available in 1983.

Since 1992 Ranch dressing has become the most popular salad dressing in the United States, moving Italian dressing to the second more popular.

The Henson’s version of Ranch Dressing was made with buttermilk. One of the changes the Clorox Company made in the seasoning packet was add butter. The reasoning behind this was most typical families did not keep buttermilk in their homes. By adding butter, the consumer could now use regular milk.

I did some pricing the other day at the grocery store and found a single seasoning packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and dip mix was $1.68, but it was on sale at the time for $1.50. Personally for me that is a ton of money when you add it up over time for ONE TABLESPOON of mix.  

Throughout the year, if I used one packet per week, that means I spend around $88.00 on seasoning packets. Besides making the dip, I also use the packet for cornbread salad, roasted red potatoes, hamburgers, roast beef, and meatloaf.

 As I said the first time sometimes, the ease is not worth money spent, and most of us have a majority of the spices in our cabinets waiting to be used. Personally, the only ingredient I did not have was the dried dill weed I had dill seeds.

 I have found using 7 Ritz and 8 saltine crackers has personally given me a better tasting mix. This something you will have to play with and decide for yourself.

Todd Wilbur’s Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix recipe…

DRESSING MIX

·         15 saltines, ground up

·         2 cups dried minced parsley flakes

·         1/2 cup dried minced onion

·         2 tablespoons dried dill weed

·         1/4 cup onion salt

·         1/4 cup garlic salt

·         1/4 cup onion powder

·         1/4 cup garlic powder

Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and mix until completely combined.

Store in a airtight container for up to one year.

This recipe will make 42 packets

To make the salad dressing:

·         1 tablespoon Dressing Mix -- from the above

·         1 cup mayonnaise

·         1 cup buttermilk

Roast Ranch Red Potatoes:

1 Tablespoon of Ranch mix

¼ cup of vegetable oil

2 lbs, baby red potatoes

Roasting bag

Directions:

Preheat oven 350°F

Wash and cube the potatoes in to bite size pieces

Add potatoes to roasting bag add mix and oil.

Massage bag until the potatoes are well coated with mix and oil.

Close bag, place on cookie sheet and cook on top rack for half hour

Transfer potatoes from bag to bowl for serving.