Sweet Potato Crusted Quiche {+Asian Food Fest}

Posted in Breakfast, Casseroles by Cavities & Cravings

I cannot believe that I have less than 6 weeks left of residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Eeee! I feel like it was just yesterday that we moved to Cincinnati for this journey and now it’s almost over. Earlier this month I took my pediatric dental board exam and have been in the process of finalizing the details for my job. Once I am done with residency we will be staying in Cincinnati and I will be working at a couple of pediatric dental offices in the area, I cannot wait!

Husband and I are pretty excited about staying in the area; we will be calling Cincinnati home for the time being. One of my favorite things about the area is all of the festivals. With the weather finally warming up, festival season has begun. Wohoo! Last weekend we went to the Asian Food Festival downtown and we ate our way through it. Do not judge. All that food, got in our bellies and everything was delicious.

Le’s Pho: Pho & Crab Rangoon
Revolution: Kimchi Poutine & Thai Wings

For dessert we waited in a forever long line for some mediocre bubble tea & a basil mango Street Pop that was on point. Overall Asian Food Fest was a success!

Moving on to todays recipe! Husband was out of town one night so I decided to try a recipe I knew he wouldn’t be too excited about. I’ve been itching to try this sweet potato crusted spinach and feta quiche recipe and it turned out fantastic! The sweetness of the potato and the salty feta were a perfect balance to one another. Also! It reheated really nicely the next day at work. Give this recipe a try, it will not disappoint.

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon olive oil
1, 5-ounce bag baby spinach
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 large eggs and 2 large egg whites
1.5 ounces crumbled feta cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and thinly slice sweet potatoes. Spray pie dish with cooking spray and layer the dish with sweet potato slices. Lightly season with salt and pepper; spray again with cooking spray and bake in oven for 20 minutes.

2. To prepare the filling, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sauté spinach for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow spinach to cool. Place sautéed spinach mixture over sweet potato crust.

3. Combine milk, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and eggs in a bowl. Pour egg mixture over spinach and top with feta crumbles. Bake in oven for 35 minutes.

11Apr2012

Green Bean Casserole

Posted in Casseroles by Cavities & Cravings

Happy Easter!!

I’m Orthodox, so we actually celebrate Easter this coming weekend on April 15th. But this year, we get to celebrate it two times!! Some awesome friends of ours (thanks Jess and Ryan!) invited us over for a little Easter dinner this past Sunday. It was quite the feast: mac and cheese, cheesy potatoes, ham, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, rolls…the food was endless and delicious!

We typically eat a traditional Egyptian meal on Easter, so I had to ask Jess what their traditional Easter meal was. When she told me that it’s tradition to eat ham on Easter the first thing that popped in my head to bring was a Green Bean Casserole (second to dessert, of course!). I have no idea why I choose green bean casserole, before Sunday I had never eaten green bean casserole, let alone made one! But after much research and a combination of a couple of recipes I seem to have come up with a pretty yummy dish!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon margarine
1/2 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 cup freshly chopped mushrooms
2 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup
8 cups cooked green beans
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 1/3 cups French fried onion
3/4 cup crushed butter crackers
1 cup sharp cheddar shredded cheese

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Add margarine to pan on medium heat. Sauté mushrooms, garlic and onion in pan until onions are a golden yellow colored.

3. In 2 quart casserole dish mix together sautéed mushrooms, garlic, and onion, cooked green beans, cream of mushroom, salt, pepper, milk, 1/2 cup of french fried onions, 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheese.

4. In pan, add 1/2 tablespoon margarine, crushed crackers, and remaining french fried onions – until golden brown.

5. Top casserole with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and cracker-fried onion mix.

5. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown.

Of course I couldn’t help but bake some Easter cupcakes to take along as well: funfetti cupcakes with a chocolate buttercream icing! Delicious. 🙂 Recipes to come.

After dinner, we went outside and played a little bocce ball. That was my first time playing… I have to admit, I wasn’t very good at it. But that’s ok – I kept saying “We’re all winners,” to make myself feel better. All in all, it was a great evening!

Husband and I

29Sep2011

Italian Crescent Casserole

Posted in Casseroles, Entrees by Cavities & Cravings

One night this week I decided to try something a little different for dinner. This is a recipe that I somehow found a couple of weeks ago on pilsbury.com. It’s so simple and it turned out yummy, I thought it was worth sharing. I like this recipe because it leaves room for some creativity! Next time I make this, I think I’m making this mexican style with taco seasoning, salsa, sour cream…etc. Yum! (I haven’t eaten dinner yet and just talking about food is making my stomach growl…)

Anyways, for the moment here’s the Italian version 🙂

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup of your favorite pasta sauce
1 cup diced, drained tomatoes
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
1 tsp garlic salt

Instrcuctions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Stir in pasta sauce and diced tomatoes; cook until thoroughly heated.

2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream; mix well.

3. Pour hot beef mixture into ungreased 10-inch glass deep-dish pie pan (If you don’t have one, any kind of baking or casserole dish will work!). Spoon cheese mixture over beef mixture.

4. Unroll dough and separate into 8 triangles; arrange points toward center over cheese mixture, crimping outside edges if necessary. In small bowl, mix Parmesan cheese and butter. Spread evenly over dough.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 25 minutes or until deep golden brown.

Kind of pretty right? Enjoy!

16Aug2011

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Posted in Casseroles, Recipes by Cavities & Cravings

I made this for dinner last night and it turned out delicious!! So so yummy. At first when I was reading the ingredients, I thought that it would turn out to be a really heavy casserole, but it wasn’t! However, it’s probably because I used reduced fat ingredients, (the initial instructions called for full fat soups, sour cream, and milk).

You know who even enjoyed it?? Diesel (meet diesel our lab mix!)!! He jumped on the counter and put his nose in a corner of the casserole. Bad, bad dog!! I had to throw out half of it because of him. No worries, he had his tail between his legs and ears tucked down once he saw that mama wasn’t happy.

Enjoy!! And let me know how it turns out 🙂

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
6 ounces cooked egg noodles
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed fat-free cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed fat-free cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup of skim milk
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1.5 cups crumbled buttery round crackers ( I used Ritz crackers)
1.5 tablespoons margarine
Vegetables of your choice (I used what I had in my fridge – carrots and mushrooms!)

Poach chicken in a large pot of simmering water. Cook until no longer pink in center, about 12 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Bring chicken cooking water to a boil and cook pasta in it. Drain. Cut chicken into small pieces, and mix with cooked noodles.
In a separate bowl, mix together mushroom soup, chicken soup, sour cream, and milk. Add vegetables of your choice. Season with salt and pepper. Gently stir together cream soup mixture with the chicken and pasta mixture. Place in a 2 quart baking dish.
Melt margarin in a small saucepan, and remove from heat. Stir in crumbled crackers. Top casserole with the buttery crackers.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 -45 minutes, until heated through and browned on top.