Crab Quiche

Quiches are such an easily customizable meal, its hard to not want one for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They're a definite crowd pleaser - have you ever seen leftovers of those mini quiches at parties? I sure haven't. Unless they had mushrooms...then I don't blame anyone for not touching them. ;o)

So if you're planning your next brunch, look no further than this crab quiche. Using canned lump crab meat makes this an affordable meal, which is always a plus. I served it for Father's Day brunch, but it can also be a good main course for a light dinner; just serve with a tossed salad or bowl of soup.

I combined ideas of several recipes to come up with this delicious version. What are some of your favorite quiche-stuffers?

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Crab Quiche

• 6 eggs, slightly beaten
• ½ cup half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 (9-inch) pie crust, unbaked
• ½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• ½ cup finely sliced scallions, white and green part
• 1 (6 ounce) can fancy white lump crabmeat, well drained
• 1 fresh roma tomato, thinly sliced (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half and seasoning. Set aside.

2. In the unbaked pie crust, sprinkle half the cheese on the bottom and top with half the scallions. Break up the crabmeat and place evenly on top of scallions. Top with sliced tomato and the remaining scallions. 

3. Pour egg mixture slowly over the layers. 

4. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake 45-50 minutes or until center puffs and quiche is nicely browned.

Simple (End of) Summer Succotash

Labor Day is peeking its rather large head around the corner of our calendars. While I'm excited for fall things, like pumpkin spiced everything, boots, and crunchy leaves, I'm definitely going to miss summer. Humidity and all, even after this particularly brutal morning.

So whether you're wrapping up the season this long weekend, or the next (after all, it's summer 'til September 22), grab these ingredients and make this simple summer succotash.

If you have fresh corn or lima beans, feel free to use that in place of the canned. I typically use the canned veggies because I like to enjoy this all year.

The start to all great succotash is butter. So go ahead and add a half a stick into a large skillet and let it melt over medium heat. Throw in half an onion and let it sauté, followed by the garlic.

There are so many different versions of succotash, but I like using white shoepeg corn mixed with yellow summer crisp. They really balance each other out. Add that into the pan along with chopped red pepper, and let it warm up, about 5-7 minutes.

Sorry I'm not sorry I added more butter. There's a large surface area to cover, right?

Cook the lima beans separately as directed, and add in last, and gently stirring to combine all the ingredients. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. I like to go bring the heat, so I go heavy on the cayenne. For some more kick, serve it with spicy BBQ chicken or ribs!

A great big bowl of summer.

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Simple Summer Succotash

• ½ stick butter
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ white or yellow onion, chopped
• 1 bag frozen lima beans
• 1 can white shoepeg corn, drained
• 1 (11 ounce) can Del Monte Summer Crisp Corn, drained
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder to taste

1. Cook lima beans according to directions. Set aside.

2. Heat butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and sprinkle with coarse salt.  Sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.  

3. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.  

4. Add drained cans of corn, and red pepper.

5. Add the cooked lima beans and stir to combine with other ingredients. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

I'm a chocolate chip cookie fanatic who usually has some sort of cookie dough in my fridge. And as any untreated chocolate chip cookie-aholic, I also enjoy indulging in cookie cakes. I think it's hard to find store-bought cakes that taste good and aren't crumbling all over the place when served. If I'm wrong and I've been missing out on the best place to get cookie cakes in Richmond--someone please enlighten me!

So for my sister's recent graduation from high school I decided to make my own Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake for the occasion.

Call me Lucille Bluth - I made a pun.

I used a 12 inch spring-form pan that are typically used for making cheesecake, but it worked out well here! It ended up baking it for about 30 minutes, checking it constantly. Once it cooled, I just popped the outer ring of the spring-form pan off and there it was! It was perfectly soft and chewy at about an inch thick. Keywords: soft and chewy.

My decorating skills are another story...but this was for a UVA-themed cake, so it obviously couldn't look amazing.

Just kidding, love ya sis! Go Hoos!

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Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Adapted from Food.com 

• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• ⅔ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour, plus 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup semi-sweet hocolate chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat well.

3. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a separate smaller bowl.

4. Add dry ingredients to the larger bowl and mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Spread dough into a 15 ½ inch round pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before decorating, removing from the pan, or cutting.

Note: you can also spread dough into a spring-form pan, pressing against the sides evenly. It takes a little longer to bake, around 30 minutes. Be sure to watch it and remove from the oven when almost set.

En Su Boca

Driving down Main Street the other day, I passed so many restaurants I still want to try for the first time and many I want to return to.

Heritage -- I need to try your roasted half chicken.

Baja Bean -- I love the new patio and want a margaritaaa.

Burger Bach -- My mouth waters thinking about the Aucklander burger. Plus, you smell good.

And that got me thinking that I needed to share my experience at a newly opened Mexican establishment here in RVA. What's so special about another Mexican restaurant? Well...this one opened up in a space that previously functioned as an "adult store." But that's not all that makes it special.

What makes En Su Boca exciting to me is a simple, short menu -- but one that left me wanting to try everything. And with the short length of the menu, I'll probably be able to. Because I plan to come back until my mission is accomplished.

The cocktails look unique, too. I settled for a regular margarita but need to get my hands on that "Old South."

And oh my gosh, this fish taco.

No flaky, thin strips of broiled fish here...this was purely peppery, Southern fried, white fish. Yuuum. The carne asada and chicken taco were also tasty (and spicy), but I'm still having dreams about this fish taco. I couldn't get it en mi boca fast enough.

All in all, this restaurant had a nice atmosphere and fresh, good food. Get everything from En Su Boca en su boca STAT.

One-Pan Meal: Chicken Sausage with Potatoes and Summer Vegetables

This easy dinner I'm about to share is definitely one of my favorite summertime meals. The best part about is...only one pan is needed. Yep, one pan, to cook the whole enchilada.

I hope I didn't just confuse anyone...this is about the farthest thing from enchiladas. But I love them both one and the same.

To start the magic that is Chicken Sausage with Potatoes and Summer Vegetables, quarter about a pound of baby red potatoes. I've made this dish several times and I've used to halve them, which I've found takes much longer to cook, since you're working with bigger chunks of taters. Lesson learned: quarter them. Then, add them to a deep skillet with a tight fitting lid on high heat; season with garlic powder, salt and pepper.

So not all of these are quartered. Just ignore that :o) Cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until a fork can somewhat easily be poked through. Remove them from the pan and set aside. 

Add your choice of sausage to the skillet and saute on medium-low and cook. I like to use Al Fresco's herbed chicken sausage. Regular pork sausage would be great, too, but this just seems to pair perfectly - and leaves me 100% guilt free as I clamor for seconds (or thirds) of this dish. It's already cooked, so I keep heat it up in the skillet for about 10 minutes.

Add onions, peppers, garlic and rosemary to the skillet and mix. You know, all those vegetables you had a blast chopping for 15 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until onions and peppers are cooked and appear slightly browned.

Finally, add zucchini and cook an additional 10 minutes, mixing as it cooks until cooked through.

Then, those potatoes are gonna make another appearance. Add them to the pan and mix well. Cook for another 5 or 10 minutes, making sure you add more rosemary if you can't get enough of that herb, like moi.

No baking, no shoes, no problem. 

 

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Chicken Sausage with Potatoes and Summer Vegetables
adapted slightly from SkinnyTaste (if you don't follow her, check her out! she's a keeper.)

• 1 pound baby red potatoes, quartered
• 2 -4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• fresh cracked pepper
• 4 Italian chicken sausage, sliced 1-inch thick
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of the knife and peeled
• 1 orange bell pepper, diced 1-inch squares
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced 1-inch squares
• 1 red bell pepper, diced 1-inch squares
• 2 tablesoons fresh rosemary (or other fresh herb such as thyme), more to taste
• 2 cups zucchini, ½ inch thick and quartered

1. Place oil and potatoes in a large, deep non-stick skillet with a tight fitting lid on high heat; season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. When the skillet gets hot and starts to sizzle, reduce heat to low and cook with a tight lid on for about 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent the potatoes from burning. Remove from heat and let them sit 5 minutes without removing the lid. Set potatoes aside on a dish.

2. Add the sausage to the skillet and saute on medium-low and cook. If sausage is not pre-cooked, stir occasionally until browned but not quite cooked through, about 10 minutes. If sausage is pre-cooked, cook until heated through, about 5-7 minutes. 

3. Season chopped vegetables with salt and pepper. Add onions, peppers, garlic and rosemary to the skillet and mix. Continue cooking stirring occasionally until onions and peppers become slightly browned.

4. Add zucchini and cook an additional 5 minutes, mixing as it cooks until cooked through.

5. Return the potatoes back to the skillet and mix well. Adjust salt and pepper as needed; cover and cook 5 more minutes.

Note: Make it vegetarian and omit the sausage. Make it Spanish and use chorizo. I think I just blew my own mind with that last one.

A Visit to Tuckahoe Plantation

It's Monday, and on this particular day of the week around 8 pm, you can find me with a big bowl of popcorn watching the Bachelorette. Almost exactly three years ago, I stopped in Antigua while on a cruise, the beautiful island featured on this season's finale. A finale that is for once proving to be pretty dramatic. After years of proclaiming each season as the most dramatic one ever, Chris Harrison finally got it right.

I hope to share some of my favorite parts of our Caribbean cruising adventures in the future, but in the mean time, I've been keeping things local and taking in the beautiful scenery of Virginia.

We recently went wandering around Tuckahoe Plantation, the boyhood home of Thomas Jefferson, nestled in Goochland County outside of Richmond. The property itself has so much history, more than we had time to take in, as our afternoon came to an abrupt end thanks to a random downpour. Although quite romantic, I wish we had more time there to tour the house, too. But on this day we had a free afternoon and just did our own little tour of the gardens - which were quaint and lovely.

It was quiet, open, peaceful, and made us want to move out to the country! Check out some pictures below and mark your calendars to go visit while the gardens are still in bloom.

Walking up to the house felt like a scene straight out of The Notebook. If only Ryan Gosling had popped out from behind the trees...

The life of a plantation pup seems like a good one.

Getting the perfect shot.

I wonder how I'd fare in this old kitchen house.