0 Bento #203 - Hello Kitty Onigiri & Thai Chicken Peanut Salad

My version of Thai peanut chicken salad was soooo good!  I made enough for lunches for all three of us.  I picked up some Amylu Caramelized Onion Chicken Burgers for the first time, and they are delicious!  They are all-natural, gluten-free and excellent.  I cubed a couple of patties and sauteed them in a bit of canola oil, along with some ginger-garlic paste, fish sauce, toasted sesame oil and a small handful of halved roasted peanuts.  In about 7 minutes I had a savory-sweet salad topping that everyone loved.  I had initially planned to do lettuce wraps, but I realized that all my lettuce was small-leaf variety.  This would be awesome on Boston/Bibb/Butter lettuce.

I also made a Hello Kitty onigiri of plain, cooked rice.  She is decorated with a few decorative sprinkles to liven up her appearance.  I also froze a container of vanilla yogurt, in lieu of the ice cream they allow the kids to have on Fridays.

Bento #203 - Thai chicken peanut salad over fresh artisan lettuce, rice onigiri, and frozen vanilla yogurt.  Snack - organic baby carrots, dip, multi-vitamins, and fresh raspberries.

0 Turkey & Spinach Quiche with Caramelized Onions

Today I hosted a teacher appreciation luncheon at my daughter's school for both her teachers.  I had such fun planning the menu!

Turkey & Spinach Quiche with Caramelized Onions

Roasted Vegetables in Balsamic Butter Sauce tossed with Rotini Pasta

Fresh Fruit Salad

White Chocolate Chip & Berries Oatmeal Cookies

This is such a simple recipe for quiche, mainly because there is no crust to fool with.  I actually like my quiche without crust, so this is perfect for me (and anyone who is carb or gluten conscious.)

I normally make this quiche with bacon, but for once I didn't have any (horrors!) but had instead some really nice sliced roast turkey.  I browned it in bacon fat to get some extra flavor.  It turns deliciously brown and savory.

10 strips bacon (or turkey, as explained above)
1/2 yellow onion, very thinly sliced
6 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 package frozen chopped spinach (squeezed dry)
1/2 lb of hard cheese (I usually use 1/4 lb swiss and 1/4 lb cheddar cheese or Monterey Pepper Jack for a kick)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Heat Oven to 350 F.

Grate your cheese.  Hmmmm.

Today I used Emmentaler and Cheddar.

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp, and coarsely chop. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the skillet. Add onion and cook on very high heat until softened, browned and caramelized.  Add spinach and cook over medium heat with onions for about 3-4 minutes.  Remove and add to bacon, toss well together and cool completely.  When cooled, add cheeses and toss together.  At this point you could cover and refrigerate until you're ready to bake it, which is what I did for the luncheon.

In a large bowl combine eggs, cream, and pepper. Pour this egg mixture over your bacon, spinach and onion (with any drippings), and mix well with a fork.

Pour mixture into buttered 10-inch tart pan or 9-inch deep pie plate. At this point I'm in my mother-in-law's kitchen where she has much better lighting!

Tent with foil. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. During the last 15 minutes, remove foil for browning.

Cool 5 minutes and cut into wedges.