Savory Vegetable Mini Quiches

Don't you love when you screw up a recipe and it turns out fantastic?! I do too! This recipe is definitely one of those. Pampered Chef's original called for mushrooms, green onions, & bacon. I accidentally used all the mushrooms and completely forgot to buy green onions. The bacon...I cooked in the microwave but forgot all about it in there until I was about to reheat my tea later. Oops! But I made some alterations to make up for it and I was really happy with the final product! I like these because they are really easy for Brandon & I to heat up throughout the week and we are still getting a nice & healthy breakfast. These would also be perfect to take to a brunch!

Savory Vegetable Mini Quiches

1 pkg (15 oz) refrigerated pic crusts (2 crusts)

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup finely chopped zucchini

1/2 cup red & yellow pepper (1/4 cup each)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 garlic clove, presse

dash of ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375. Let pie crusts stand at room tempurature 15 minutes. Lightly spray mini muffin pan with Pam spray. Whisk milk & eggs in medium bowl.

2. Chop zucchini & peppers. Add veggies, cheese, garlic & pepper to egg mixture, set aside.

3. On lightly floured surface, roll one crust to a 12 inch circle (only needs to go about 1 inch). Using Pampered Chef Scalloped Bread Tube (I'm sure a regular 3 inch circle cookie cutter would work just fine) cut out 12 pastry pieces. Press one pastry piece into each mini muffin cup & press down (PC mini-tart shaper works great). Repeat with remaining crust to fill remaining muffin cups.

4. Fill each muffin cup with about 1 tablespoon of vegetable/egg mixture. Bake 17-20 minutes or until crusts are light golden brown. Cool in pan 2 minutes; carefully remove mini quiches from pan.

**Original recipe did not have red & yellow peppers but instead called for:

4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, drained & chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms

1 green onion with top, sliced

Add during step 2 with the zucchini.

Three-Cheese Garden Pizza

I am really disappointed that I didn't get a picture of this because it looked just as great as it tasted...and I'd have to say for the first time ever mine actually looked better than the picture in the cookbook! This is one of the Pampered Chef recipes I recently picked out. It was delicious and a great vegetarian meal. I will definitely be making this again soon.

Three-Cheese Garden Pizza

1 pkg (10 oz) refrigerated pizza crust
1 small onion, sliced into rings
1 medium zucchini, sliced
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup (1 oz) grated fresh parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 400. Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll pizza crust into a 14 inch circle on baking stone. Bake crust 7 minutes.
2. Using Ultimate Slice & Grate (or some type of mandolin) fitted with V-shaped blade, slice onion, zucchini & tomatoes. Slice onion using egg slicer. (of course you can cut these veggies anyway you like but these things really do impress me everytime I use them)
3. Press garlic over crust; spread evenly. Sprinkle mozzarella & cheddar cheese evenly over crust; top evenly with onion, zucchini, mushrooms & tomatoes. Grate parmesan cheese over veggies. Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown; remove from oven. Cut into wedges and serve.

Cooks tips:
-for best results, layer veggies over the pizza as directed in step 3.
-prebaking the pizza crust will help keep it from getting soggy when topped with veggies that have a high water content.
-sprinkling some of the cheese on the crust before topping the pizza provides a barrier between the crust and the moist toppings.
-fresh zucchini is available year-round at most supermarkets. Select small zucchini, which are younger and more tender than the larger ones. Choose zucchini free of blemishes with a vibrant color.

*please don't let all the talk in the cook's tips scare you that your pizza might be soggy. Ours turned out perfectly fine by following the recipe directions & tips; even reheated the next day it still was not soggy or too wet.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

I pulled out my Pampered Chef cookbooks recently, picked a bunch of great sounding recipes that I hadn't tried yet and took a trip to the grocery store. This one turned out pretty good, which I'm not surprised because Pampered Chef has yet to disappoint me.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

2 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken* (about 12 oz)
1/4 cup chopped pitted ripe olives
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar & monterey jack cheese blend (I shredded my own colby jack)
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chiles, undrained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Pantry Southwestern Seasoning Mix**
2 plum tomatoes
1 lime
2/3 cup finely crushed corn tortilla chips, divided
2 pkgs (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls

*For 2 cups chopped cooked chicken, bake, poad or microwave about 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. Or for added convenience, use a rotisserie-cooked chicken, available at most supermarkets. A 9 oz package frozen diced chicken breast thawed can also be used in this recipe
**1 tsp chili powder can be substituted for the Southwestern Seasoning Mix

1. Preheat oven to 375. Cook & cut up chicken place in medium bowl. Add cheese, green chiles, mayonnaise & seasoning mix (or chili powder).
2. Seed & chop 1 tomatoe. Slice lime in half and juice to measure 1 teaspoon. Reserve remaining lime for garnish. Add chopped tomato and lime juice to chicken mixture.
3. Reserve 2 tablespoons crushed chips; add remaining chips to chicken mixture and mix well.
4. Sprinkle reserved crushed chips on flat surface. Unroll crescent dough. Place dough, sticky side down, onto crushed chips; press down lightly so chips adhere to dough. Separate dough into triangles. Arrange triangles, chip side down, in a circle on round baking stone (I'm sure a pizza pan would work but I've only ever used my baking stone) with wide ends overlapping in the center 4 inches from the edge (points will extend over the edge of the stone). Roll wide ends of dough toward center to create a 5 inch opening. Scoop chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle. Bring points of triangle up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of ring. (Filling will not be completely covered.) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
5. For garnish, cut remaining tomato into 8 wedges. Cut remaining half of lime into 4 slices; cut in half. Arrange betwwn openings of ring. Cut & serve with sour cream & salsa.

Additional garnishing touch:
To make a tortilla shell to hold the sour cream & salsa, preheat oven to 400. Lightly spray Classic Batter Bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Gently press on 6-7 inch flour tortilla into bottom of bowl to form a shell. Bake 14-16 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool in bowl for 5 minutes; remove to colling rack & cool completely. To serve, place cooled shell in center of baked ring and fill half with sour cream & half with salsa. Garnish ring with shredded lettuce if desired.

Shrimp Enchiladas

This is the best thing I've made for dinner in a while...well, since the fish tacos! Everything in between has just been mediocre. But these enchiladas are over the top! Brandon and I ate and ate these delicious enchiladas for days. I got the recipe from over at My Kitchen Cafe.

Shrimp Enchiladas

1/2 cup sweet red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup onion, minced

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3 cups Monterey Jack cheese, divided (you can use half pepper-jack cheese for great results)

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used the frozen kind from a bag)

1/2 cup onion, chopped

2 cups ripe tomatoes, chopped

8 (9-inch) flour tortillas

Saute red pepper, onion and green pepper in 1/4 cup butter until crisp-tender. Add oregano, salt, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, cream and flour; blend well. Continue cooking for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add 1 1/2 cups cheese; stir until melted. Add sour cream, stir to blend. Set aside.

In another skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute shrimp and 1/2 cup onion until shrimp are pink. Remove shrimp and chop; return to butter and onion. Add chopped tomatoes and 1/2 of the cheese sauce. Spoon 1/3 cup shrimp mixture into each tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on top of shrimp mixture. Roll up tightly. Arrange seam side down in a 9X13-inch glass baking dish. Spoon remaining cheese sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Spicy Meatballs

This is another of the recipes that I take for potlucks or for things like the Super Bowl party we are invited to this afternoon. It always seems to go over real well. I love it when people like it enough to ask me for the recipe or if I'll please bring my meatballs. They have just the right amount of bite and flavor to them. I think you'll really like these.

Spicy Meatballs

Meatballs:
1 # ground beef
1 egg
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
1/2 c. (1 slice) soft bread crumbs
1/2 chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix all ingredients together in bowl. Shape into meatballs. Place in 8" square baking pan. Bake 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees. Drain.

While these are baking, prepare the sauce.

Spicy Sauce:
1/2 c. ketchup
2 T. vinegar
2 T. water
2 T. brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce

In medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil; add cooked meatballs. Simmer, covered 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Sometimes I double the amount of sauce just because I like extra.