HighFiber: quiche

Showing posts with label quiche. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2022

A Blog Post Within a Blog Post

Well, we're even further behind this year than in previous years. If Rocky has a bad day (meaning he can barely stand up to eat, drink and potty), one of us ends up holding him up. Just when we think he's reached the end, he'll have a really good day. However, the tree is up.

Oh, wait! That's last year's tree. Here's what we have so far.

The physical holiday cards are in the mail. The electronic version is here. (Feel free to see what I wrote, because it took a lot of time.) We're sending out links by email to close friends we have emails for.

I did the usual cooking, including this quiche.

Here's the recipe, only I used soft silken tofu instead of firm, and for the cheese, half feta and half mozzarella. I threw in some baby greens and used red onion instead of the green. I didn't have any faux bacon.

The pie crust was purchased frozen from Whole Foods. If you don't like to use soy, you can just use more eggs.

I had to visit the dentist, so I did get some knitting done, but not a lot. I'm still in hopes of being able to wear the Hinterland Pullover this winter.

I spent an hour and fifteen minutes in the Post Office, but not all at once. Monday I dropped off presents and books people had ordered from me. That took half an hour. Later that day, I was cleaning up the workroom/fiber studio so I could take photos for Friday's story in The Doll's Storybook. (Why would I clean up, otherwise?) I was putting pillows and clean sheets on top of the day bed trundle and found this.

They seemed to be having a good time, but I suspected that they missed their owner, so I packed them up and went back to the post office on Tuesday. During the half hour I spent there that day, I noticed a family several customers behind me in line. They appeared to be Hispanic. There was presumably a father with a huge box to mail, a mother, who appeared to be expecting, and a little girl who reminded me of a little elf. She and I kept making eye contact. I'm guessing she was about four years old. When I finished mailing my package, I went out to my car, continuing to think about the little girl. I remembered I had one of my new books in the car I had planned to drop off at one of the little libraries and decided if I could catch them before they left, I would give it to her as a present. They were just handing over their package when I arrived back in the post office with the book. I offered it to the mother (I never give anything to a child directly unless they know me) and asked if she thought her little girl would like it. The mother apparently didn't speak much English, but the father asked me if it was my book. "Did you write it?" he asked. When I told him that I did, he handed me his pen and asked me to sign it for Nicole. My eye just caught Nicole's face, which was lit up with excitement. I hope she enjoys the book. My encounter with her and her family made my day!

Thursday found me back at the post office, but I went earlier, before lunch, and it only took me 15 minutes to mail another book.

For this week's cuteness, here's Daphne, dancing with the tiny tots from Misty's Dance Unlimited's Christmas Cookie Social. Not too long ago, she was one of those little tots. How time flies!

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (some more progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "An Interview With the Writer." Just finished with an interview with The Writer for the school paper, Mariah comes into the workroom to find Charlotte quizzing Billy for a test and Pippa listening in. They discuss what journalism is.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor. Finished another chapter.

What's in my wine glass: enebral Tinto de Toro 2018. Pretty good.

What's my tip of the week: Red onion keeps better than green onions and can be used in the same way: in salads and recipes that call for green onion. It's milder than yellow or white and will keep well refrigerated even after being cut. One thin slice chopped up will made a nice addition to a salad for two.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Monday, May 30, 2022

Competitions and Endeavors

I've been trying to cut back on dairy fat, as my cholesterol was up a bit at my last checkup. We had been drinking whole milk, and I was using half and half in my coffee. We're now using skim and I'm putting Nut Pods original unsweetened coffee creamer in my coffee. We'll see. Our daughter-in-law shared this quiche recipe with me. She's using it because one of the kids has avoid dairy, and it has no cheese. The cheesy flavor is from nutritional/brewer's yeast. I adapted it considerably, using my favorite silken tofu to replace the egg whites. The recipe below is my adaptation.

No-Cheese Quiche

Ingredients
• 2 9-inch pie crusts (gluten-free, if needed)
• ½ teaspoon olive
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 cup chopped red yellow or orange bell pepper
• 1 teaspoons dried basil

• 1 teaspoons dried oregano
• 8-10 oz frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained*
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 1 box silken tofu
• ⅔ cup milk or non-dairy milk
• 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

*If you don't have frozen spinach on hand, you can use fresh spinach, sliced zucchini or shedded broccoli. I used fresh kale, chopped up and added with the onion, garlic and pepper.

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Add oil to a medium skillet over medium-high. Add onion, garlic and bell pepper, and cook until onion is translucent, about 6-7 minutes. If you're using fresh spinach, add it after about 5 minutes and continue sautéing until cooked down. Set aside to cool.
If using frozen spinach, make sure the spinach is as dry as possible by squeezing out all of the water.
In a Blender, Blend together eggs, tofu, milk, seasonings and nutritional yeast. Scatter veggie mixture and chopped spinach on the bottom of prepared crust.
Pour egg mixture over top and push under any ingredients not covered by the egg mixture to prevent burning. Bake uncovered until set and golden brown around edges, about 45 minutes. Let quiche rest at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cut into slices and serve.
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

It was yummy. I'll definitely make it again.

You will probably remember my political activities from previous blog posts. Since we're coming up on the midterm elections, I've been busy trying to help candidates I feel have good values and who I think will work for their constituents, not special interests. I've been unhappy with the Congressman in our district, so I was happy that redistricting put us in another district. (He's running again.) Then I looked into the Congressman currently serving in that district and was dismayed at his record. A big issue for me was when he voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, especially in light of the fact that the pharmaceutical industry donated a ton of money to his campaign. There were other issues, too. However, a candidate I've liked ever since we moved to Oregon was running against him in the primary, so I jumped in to give her my support. It really has cut into my knitting/weaving/quilting time, but she has won the primary. It took some time for the race to be called because of a bar-code issue in one of the counties, but she won by a lot, sending a 7-term Congressman back to the private sector. I will be working to help her win in November.

Last week I went to see the dermatology clinic because of an itchy place on my upper chest I've had off and on for two years. It had suddenly started bothering me a lot more, and applications of cortisone or antibiotic hadn't seemed to help. It was right where I had had a tick two years ago, when we went to Belnap Hot Springs to camp, just when the pandemic was in full swing, and we weren't really sure if it was safe to be with other people. (You can read about our adventures there here, if you like.) I picked up a tick during that adventure. I couldn't tell what it was at first. I thought I had a spider bite that I scratched and caused a scab. I put some antibiotic ointment on it. I took this photo, so I could enlarge it and see the wound better. (The shiny stuff on my skin is the antibiotic ointment, which incidentally killed the tick by stopping up its breathing holes.) This photo is much enlarged. The tick was only about 1/8". Our doctor gave me an antibiotic to take just to be sure I didn't get something like Lyme Disease from it. Last week, when I went to the dermatology clinic, I showed the place that itched to the technician and the photos I took. She identified the itchy place on my skin as exactly where the tick was in the photo and decided to remove the tiny bump that was there.

She assured me that any tick parts would have long since worked their way to the surface, but she would send it off for biopsy. We got the results this week. Pathology said the itching was caused by altered cells resulting from the tick bite. Interestingly enough, the technician removed a similar bump from a man's back around the same time. It was the same thing. The spot is healing nicely. The itching is almost gone and is probably now from healing.

We took the stroller and went to the dog park on Thursday. Rocky got to walk around and socialize with the other dogs at the park, and Dusty got to play and have some competition to chase the ball. Then we went on to the groomer after that. Rocky was groomed last week, but it was Dusty's turn. We walked home from the groomer. Rocky decided he wanted to get out and walk when we reached the trail, so he got a little more exercise. You can see Rocky in this photo, but Dusty is entirely under the covers!

Peter's family came down with Covid on Monday. As I write this, they are recovering well, but still testing positive. Peter may have to work from home this week. They were supposed to come here over the long weekend, and it would have been fun, but we certainly didn't want to get Covid or anything else, and I'm sure they didn't feel like driving. So now all of our grandchildren have had it.

Meanwhile, Karen's family has had visitors. David's mother and sister. They came to watch the kids' dance recital. Daphne has had some exciting news. She was accepted into the Pre-Pro program for ballet, which is very competitive, and has made it to Level 4 in all the styles of dance. She will get to go en pointe next year. (For laypersons, that means she will get to use toe shoes.) Zachary is dancing well, too. Both kids really enjoy dancing.

I had hoped to start sewing the T-shirt quilt during the week, but it was just too busy.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover, a few more rounds done, and the emPower People Kerchief, which is hibernating in Rocky's stroller. Also CO another striped sweater to check the pattern. I want to try to make the transition from stockinette to ribbing a little more tidy. Not much progress on that, either.

What's on my loom: No progress this week.

What's on my sewing machine: Still some trousers for Pauly.

What's in my hoop: Still waiting.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In A Scary Story, two dolls get lost in the big juniper forest and have some adventures that might seem somehow familiar.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone on the Audible app. No progress this week.

What's in my wine glass: Motacilla Alba Monastrell 2019 from Spain. Not bad.

What's my tip of the week: If you keep kale, zucchini or frozen corn on hand, it won't matter if you run out of lettuce for salad. Kale can be chopped or sliced thinly and used just as lettuce. Zucchini can be shredded and mixed with dressing. (I like to make a dressing from equal parts olive oil and lemon juice.) I have a great recipe for frozen corn salad with tomatoes, green onions, red onion, cucumber, sweet peppers, avocado and spinach or other greens with a dressing that includes pickled garlic and salsa. I think I've shared it here before.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.

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Monday, March 1, 2021

Another Mystery Knit-along in the History Books

The Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit-along is off the needles, and blocked.

The brioche was easier, once I got used to it. The bind-off is Latvian Braid, which was another new thing to learn. Here's a video showing how it's done.

Worked in the round is fairly easy, but this is a very long, flat edge treatment. What happens is, the two balls/colors of working yarn gradually get twisted around each other. You just do the best you can to keep it from tangling. I moved the yarn supply to the other end of the dining room table while I worked, and eventually to a chair. I moved the twist down the yarn every once in a while, and eventually I put a jar of olives between the two colors to keep the twist away from where I was working. As the next row is worked, the yarn untwists. There's more to it than that, but this is what's important in deciding to use this technique. I used the stretchy bind-off recommended in the pattern.

When it was dry, I got this photo in the mirror, so it's backwards, of course. I won't be wearing it to the shops, because the Rose City Yarn Crawl is completely online this year.

We've had the usual walks with the dogs and cooking, including my favorite quiche recipe (see below), which, for some reason decided to act like a soufflé this time. It collapsed into its shell after I took it out of the oven.

I finally decided I was tired of working out the gauge/tension needed to convert the larger Happy Kidz knitting patterns to Little Kidz (like Pippa), so I worked out this chart:

I cast on a sweater for Pippa. This is another pattern designed for the larger Happy Kidz. I used the formula above and selected 2.5mm needles and fingering weight yarn, Palette in "Lipstick."

Theoretically, you can use the same yarn as called for in the original pattern, but when you tighten up the stitches, you could end up with a knitted fabric that's really stiff. I really like the thinner fingering weight better for dolls anyway.

Just the sleeves to go and sew on the buttons. Then she needs something on the bottom half, pants or a skirt.

What's on my needles: The Crocus sweater for Pippa.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting....

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Pippa learns about vaccinations in "Getting Shots."

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Black Madonna by Stella Reilly and Love Is the Way by Bishop Michael Curry. The first is a very long novel. The second has been taken up by the Adult Forum at my church, and we're discussing it on Sunday mornings.

What's in my wine glass: FleurDuCap 2008 Pinotage, which we bought in Temple, Texas, when we were there for our daughter's wedding in 2010. I thought it was still really good, in spite of being submitted to temperature changes and a move from Utah to Oregon.

What's my tip of the week: My recipe for quiche reduces the need for eggs and increases the plant-based protein by using silken tofu.

Tofu Quiche

Ingredients

• 2 sliced green onions (optional)
• 4 strips of faux bacon, cooked (optional)
• 1 single pie crust (homemade or frozen premade)
• 1 C grated Swiss or other cheese
• 1 box silken tofu
• 3 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 1 T flour or psyllium husks
• ⅛ t pepper
• ½ t salt
• ½ t nutmeg (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°
Line pie crust with green onion, cheese and faux bacon. Mix remaining ingredients in blender.
Pour into pie crust and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into center comes out clean.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment at St. Jude. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.