Jalapeno Popper Quiche

Randal loves jalapeno poppers, especially the ones from Arby's that come with that bronco berry sauce that contains no berries.  Usually though, quiche and Randal do not mix, but when I saw this jalapeno popper version from Closet Cooking I thought he might actually eat this one. 

We both really liked this quiche, although I will say that it is quite spicy so if you prefer a milder quiche clean out the seeds from the jalapenos.  I left the seeds in one of the jalapenos even though the recipe says to leave them in both, but I knew that would be too spicy for me, and even with one it was still hot!

1 frozen pie crust, defrosted

1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature

2 jalapenos, diced

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

5 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 jalapeno, sliced

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Place the pie crust in a 9 inch pie pan, prick the bottom of the crust with a fork and bake for 10 minutes.

While the pie crust is baking, heat the milk and cream in a small saucepan until barely simmering.

When the pie crust has baked for 10 minutes, remove from oven and lower the oven to 350.  Spread the softened cream cheese over the bottom of the crust, and top with the diced jalapenos.

In a bowl lightly beat the 5 eggs, and slowly add the warm milk and cream.  Stir in the spices.

Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with 8 jalapeno slices, bake for 10 minutes.  Then top with the grated cheese and bake for 5 minutes.

 Linked to: Simple Living, Kitchen Fun, House of Hepworths, Tutus & Tea Parties, Six Sisiters Stuff, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Addicted to Recipes, Couponing & Cooking, The Southern Institute, Serendipity and Spice, Making the World Cuter, Skip To My Lou, Sweet and Savory, Cozy Home Scenes, It's a Blog Party, Jaqs Studio, Newlyweds 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Biscoff Buttercream

When Randal tried these cupcakes yesterday he declared them the best cake I've ever made.  He has had this particular chocolate cake before as it's my go to chocolate cake recipe, it was the biscoff buttercream that was new.  For those of you who don't know what biscoff spread is, it's basically cookie butter and it tastes just as good as it sounds!

Chocolate cupcakes:

¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

6 tbsp. valrhona cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
½ cup black coffee
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt, whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, vegetable oil and egg. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, blend in half of the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated. Blend in the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated. Divide between baking cups and bake at 350 for 22-24 minutes.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Biscoff buttercream:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup salted butter, softened

3/4 cup biscoff spread

1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups icing sugar
3 Tbsp milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and biscoff until smooth.  Add the vanilla and icing sugar and mix until combined, add the milk and beat until combined.


Linked to: Michelle's Tasty Creations, Something Swanky, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, What's Cooking, Love?, A Little Nosh, Allie Makes, A Creative Princess, These Peas Taste Funny, Simple Living, Tutus & Tea Parties, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Addicted to Recipes, Couponing & Cooking, The Southern Institute, Serendipity and Spice, Crazy For Crust, Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Orange-Barbecued Chicken

This is a recipe from one of those little recipe magazines you find at the grocery store check out.  I'm trying to go through them and pull out recipes to try because otherwise they are just sitting there gathering dust!

I wasn't so sure about this when I decided to try it, I knew that Randal would probably like it but I really dislike anything with a bbq sauce on it.  I was pleasantly surprised by this though, it's sweet and a little spicy and baking them in the oven makes this an easy dinner for us.

2 lb chicken thighs

3/4 cup chili sauce

1/3 cup orange marmalade

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375

Place chicken in a baking dish and combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 45 minutes.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday:  Orange bbq chicken, corn on the cob, salad
Tuesday:  Jalapeno popper quiche and layered pea salad

Wednesday:  Chicken enchiladas, rice and black beans

Thursday:  Pork curry, jasmine rice

Friday:  Chili lime panko breaded chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans

See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Key Lime Cupcakes

I am slowly working my way through a huge bag of key limes, and these cupcakes from My madison bistro were a great way to use a few of them. I absolutely loved these cupcakes, can't say enough good things about them.  Randal  took them to work this morning and from what I hear everyone who tried them liked them also.

Cupcakes:
1 ¾ cups cake flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 ½ tbsp key lime juice
1 tbsp key lime zest
1 drop green food colouring
¾ cup buttermilk

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
2 ¼ cups icing sugar
1 tbsp key lime zest

Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with 12 liners.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, set aside.

Using a mixer beat the butter until softened. Add sugar and beat for four minutes, until fluffy. Add eggs, lime juice, zest, and food colouring and mix.

Add the flour in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Fill each cupcake liner 2/3 full. Bake 22-25 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese icing and sprinkle additional lime zest over frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the butter until softened.  Add the cream cheese and slowly add icing sugar until combined. Beat in zest.

Linked to: Something Swanky, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Stuff and Nonsense, What's Cooking, Love?, A Little Nosh, Brandy's Crafts, Momnivores-Dilemma, Allie Makes, A Creative Princess, These Peas Taste Funny, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Michelle's Tasty Creations, Blissful and Domestic, Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo, Tutus and Tea Parties, Six Sisters Stuff, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Create With Joy, Mrs Fox's Sweets, Bru Crew Life, Mom's Crazy Cooking

Lemon Chess Pie

Randal has been asking me to make a buttermilk chess pie for a long time, but I've never tried one and to be honest from what I've seen they don't really appeal to me much, so when I saw this recipe for a lemon version over at Ezra Pound Cake, I thought this would be a good way to try a chess pie as I usually love everythng lemon. This is actually a nice lemon pie, and maybe someday soon I'll make the plain buttermilk version that Randal really wants!

1 frozen pie crust, defrosted
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp cornmeal
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk eggs in a medium bowl and whick in the sugar, cornmeal, flour, salt, melted butter, buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla.

Unroll the defrosted pie crust and lay it in a 9 inch pie plate. Pour the filling into the unbaked pie crust, and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the pie is golden brown on top and almost set.

Grilled Chicken with Meyer Lemon Salsa

I bought some really nice meyer lemons from central market and went looking for recipes to make with them. One of the first things I found was this grilled chicken with meyer lemon salsa. I love fruit salsa so I knew I had to try it. We both really liked this, although I probaby enjoyed this a little more than Randal because I am in love with lemon, so I knew I would love this recipe from bon appetit.

Salsa
5 Meyer lemons
1/2 cup chopped English cucumber
3 tbsp thinly sliced spring onions
1 serrano chile, finely chopped
1/4 tsp sugar

Chicken kebabs
1-1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-1/2" pieces
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 tsp cracked coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric

Using a sharp knife, cut all peel and white pith from lemons and discard. Working over a medium bowl, cut between membranes to release segments into bowl, along with the lemon juice. Combine segments, 1 Tbsp strained lemon juice, cucumber, 2 Tbsp spring onions, and chile in a small bowl and mix well. Stir in sugar and season salsa with salt and set aside.

Place chicken in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. In a mini-processor or blender, puree yogurt, vegetable oil, garlic, coriander, and turmeric. Pour marinade over chicken. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes. Thread pieces of chicken onto skewers and grill skewers over medium-high heat on a grill.

Linked to: This chick cooks, Mandy's recipe box, Lady behind the curtain, Simple Living,