Oktoberfest Quiche

I am not normally one to go off-book when it comes to recipes. I love following directions. I love rules. I am not a confident cook. However, I had this idea to make an Oktoberfest or German themed quiche to bring to a Fest potluck with the other residents in our apartment building. I searched Pinterest and did not come up with anything exactly like what I had in mind, so I combined ideas from a couple different recipes and came up with my own Oktoberfest Quiche. It is a little risky serving something you have never made or tried before, but it turned out pretty tasty! 

This was my first time wearing my brand new dirndl! I am in love with it and so glad I found it in the sale section. Not only did I save a bunch compared to buying a current season style, but I had my eye on this exact one from my online browsing. Finding it in my size at 50% off made my day! And of course Suzie was a big hit in her "dirndl". 

In addition to my Oktoberfest Quiche, I brought my German Apple Cake. This is one of my favorite things in life and this time I made a salted caramel frosting instead of the typical vanilla buttercream. Yummy! It's not authentically German AT ALL! Germans would never make something that sweet, but it was made with apples we picked in Germany, so that makes it more legitimate to me. 

Creamy Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Need a good potato side? I've got you covered!

Potato Wedge Nachos

On Sundays, Charles and I typically do low-effort dinners. We lean towards homemade popcorn and nachos. This weekend we mixed it up a little with Potato Wedge Nachos. I adapted the recipe from this pin: Cheesy Potato Fries.

Photo borrowed from blog: Oh So Delicioso

Ingredients:
Potatoes cut into wedges--I used a bag of baby sized potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Paprika, to taste
Chedder cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Sour Cream
Salsa

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes and cut into wedges. With the baby potatoes, it was hard to get similar sized wedges since some potatoes were really tiny and others were larger. It didn't really matter. Some were a little more done than others. Place on baking sheet or in baking dish.

Pour on olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Toss potatoes.

Bake potatoes for 40 minutes.

When finished baking, remove from oven. Plate up and sprinkle with cheeses. Garnish with sour cream and salsa. Enjoy!

My go-to dinner

When it comes to dinner, I am not that creative. Cooking isn't one of my favorite things to do. If I could get away with just baking and eating desserts without gaining a million pounds I would. I have a couple go-to dinners that I rotate through. One is mini meatloaves with twice baked potatoes (which I always end up making into mashed potatoes because it's annoying to scoop out the potatoes without ruining the shells). Here are the recipes:

Mini Meatloaves
(this recipe is designed for 2 people, so if you have more than 2 you'll have to increase the measurements)

1 Tablespoon milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lb ground beef (I always use ground turkey...still delicious and less fat)
2 Tablespoons oatmeal (you could use bread crumbs)
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon BBQ sauce (I've never actually added this to the recipe)
Strips of cheese, optional

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat milk, egg and Worcestershire sauce with a fork. Mix in meat, oatmeal, salt and pepper. Shape into two equal sized meatloaves. Place in square pan. Brush loaves with BBQ sauce.

Bake 18-22 minutes or until meat is fully cooked. If using cheese, place cheese strips on top of loaves. Let stand 5 minutes.

Twice Baked (Mashed) Potatoes

2 potatoes
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons butter
Up to 2 Tablespoons milk
1 green onion, minced (I omit this because I don't like onions)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tablespoon bacon bits
2-3 Tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

Bake the potatoes. A shortcut for 2 potatoes is to microwave them for 6 minutes and then bake them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. This allows them to come out perfectly and in less time than just baking them in the oven.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut hot potato in half lengthwise. Scoop pulp into bowl, leaving enough in skin to hold potatoes shape. (Or be lazy like me and just mash up the whole potato...Charles likes the skins, so I include some). Beat potatoes until smooth. Add butter and sour cream. Beat until blended. Add milk to moisten potato mixture. Add green onion and bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into skins (or if you're doing it my way, just scoop the potato mixture into a baking dish). Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 10 minutes.

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Reasons to Skip the Housework

Time for Dinner

I wanted to share the past two meals I’ve made because they were really delicious and pretty easy to make.

Quick & Easy Chicken and Dumplings (for 2-3 people)

1 cup biscuit mix (I used Bisquick Heart Healthy)

1/3 cup milk

1 T flour

3 cups chicken stock (try to get the reduced sodium kind so it’s a little healthier)

1/8 cup water

1 bay leaf

¼ t each of salt and pepper

1 cup frozen veggies

1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (like a rotisserie chicken)

In a small bowl, stir biscuit mix and milk until just combined. Set aside. In a medium pot, combine stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. In a small dish, whisk flour and water and stir into chicken stock. Add chicken and veggies. Drop dumpling batter into boiling stock. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Parmesan Pasta with Chicken (for 4-6 people)

12 oz pasta (it called for orchietta, but I used mini ziti because the store didn’t have that kind and I already had the ziti)

1 3-4 lb rotisserie chicken

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ t each of salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Shred the chicken (this step was already completed since I used 1 cup of the chicken in the chicken and dumplings). Discard the skin and bones. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 ¼ cups of the water. Return the pasta to the pot. Add reserved water, chicken, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir over medium low heat until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 2 minutes.

Creamy Parmesan mashed potatoes

1 lb red potatoes (about 4) cut into ½ inch chunks

1 cup chicken broth

¼ cup sour cream

2 oz cream cheese

1 ½ T grated Parmesan cheese

Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Add broth. Cover. Bring to a boil on high heat. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes. Uncover, stir potatoes. Simmer, uncovered, 5-6 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and most of the broth is absorbed.

Add cream cheese. Reduce heat to low. Mash potatoes slightly until cream cheese is melted. Add sour cream and Parmesan. Mash until potatoes are smooth (we left it a little chunky) and heated through.

Enjoy!