Spring says quiche & salad, the weather screams soup!

20^th March 2018

Your life only gets better when you do.  Work on yourself and the rest will follow.

Well so much for an early night, Alfie has woke me too many times in the night, the foxes were being particularly vocal last night and it was winding him up so a disturbed sleep all round, glad I spent yesterday chilling now.  He was a bit of a nuisance from the minute he got up yesterday, we’re all allowed to have our off days I guess, even dogs!  Plus at 1am this morning as I watched him make a bed in my pile of clothes on my bedroom floor, it was a not so gentle reminder that I need to finally tidy my room.

In my defence, I think I’ve been hypnotised by a crochet yoda because I just wanna sit with my hook and make squares or hexagons, I’m going to blanket the world if I keep going at this rate.  On a positive, it even kept me off the wine yesterday and I only ate the two meals because I was so consumed in what I was doing it was around 3 when I realised I hadn’t had dinner yet, then on the night I was ready for bedtime before I’d thought about eating so we skipped tea.

I picked up some of those Old El Paso stand and stuff tortilla boats that everyone’s using, they were on offer in the local Co-op, I thought I’d use them for this Cheat’s Quiche Lorraine recipes instead of the WW wraps, I have all the ingredients besides the parsley which I can live without.

Cheat's Quiche Lorraine

Serves 4, 6sp each

3 Weight Watchers White Wraps 11 Points

4 teaspoons Sunflower Oil 6 Points

1 large Onion, thinly sliced

125g Bacon medallions, raw, cut into 2cm pieces 3 Points

4 medium eggs, raw

2 tablespoons Parsley, fresh, finely chopped

¹⁄₄ cube Vegetable stock cube(s), made with 100ml water, allow to cool

50g Half Fat Cheddar Cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4 and heat a baking sheet until hot. Brush one side the wraps with 2 tsp of the oil, then microwave each on high for 10 seconds to soften. Press one of the wraps, oil-side-down, into the base of a 20cm cake tin or pie dish. Halve the two remaining wraps, and press around the sides of the tin, making sure they overlap and leave no gaps.

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the onion for 6-8 minutes until softened, then stir in the bacon and cook for 3 minutes until just cooked.

In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then stir in the parsley and stock. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Scatter two-thirds of the cheese over the base of the wrap-lined tin, then spoon over the onion and bacon mixture. Pour over the egg mixture then top with the remaining cheese. Transfer to the hot baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the filling is set (see Cook’s Tip).

Cool in the tin or dish for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges to serve.

COOK’S TIP: To check the filling is ready, give the tin a little shake – it should have a slight wobble in the middle.

Yeah I fancy them today, maybe some soup, the quiche to celebrate the first day of spring, the soup to remind me you wouldn’t know it to look at the weather! 

Here's a nice soup recipe for you 

Bacon and white bean soup

1 tsp olive oil

2 lean smoked bacon rashers, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, chopped

3 thyme sprigs

2 x 400g cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

850ml/1½ pints vegetable stock

2 tbsp chopped parsley

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the bacon,

garlic and onion and fry for 3-4 minutes, or until the bacon begins to

brown and the onion softens.

Add the thyme and fry for a further minute. Add the beans and stock

to the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for

10 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor and blend with the

parsley and pepper until smooth.

Return the soup to the pan and heat through, then ladle into 4 bowls

and serve immediately.

Now for a busy day with my members and my meetings.  I know they’ll be full of smiles which more than makes up for the weather, here’s to the weather improving at some point, although I hear it’s not going to be this side of Easter!  On the bright side, it makes me feel okay about sitting with my crochet as it’s too yak to venture out, I’m also not venturing out to do a big shop, going to save me some money by using the stuff in my freezer again.  I really need to get my food shopping habit under control!

Here’s to a being Healthy, Happy & BeYOUtiful