Beans with Spinach and Cheese

Since the Christmas beans turned out so yummy, I as eager to try more bean recipes. Christmas beans are a variation of the traditional Lima beans. So I got some traditional Lima beans to try out this recipe with beans, spinach and cheese.

I cooked the beans (with pieces of carrots and celery), used frozen spinach which I fried up with onions, garlic and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I put beans and spinach in a baking dish and topped everything with cheddar and mozzarella (since I don't like feta cheese much).

The result was really yummy, especially with the cheese. When heated up the next day in the microwave the cheese melted though and around all the layers. Mmmh, my kind of dish :)

Salmon Quiche

I tried this recipe once in a big pie form and then again in my muffin form.
It features cheese and almond meal in the pie crust and refreshingly little instructions. I changed it a little bit, adding more cheese and baking the crust at a lower temperature. Despite the crust being so brittle before baking it comes out great and is quite easy to get out of the pan.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 cup cheddar, grated
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 tsp paprika
6 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients and set aside 1/2 cup. Press the rest of crust into bottom and sides of 9 inch pan, bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Quiche:
1/2 lb frozen salmon
3 beaten eggs (I used 1 egg and 1/2 cup of egg whites to get rid of some of the egg whites that had piled up in our fridge after all the Tiramisu we enjoyed)
1/4 tsp dill weed and/or other herbs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cheddar, grated
1/2 chopped onion
chives
paprika, salt and pepper
Thaw, fry and flake the salmon. Add all other ingredients. Put in baked shell. Sprinkle reserved 1/2 cup crust over top. Bake at 325 F for 45 minutes (or less when using the muffin form) until the tops are golden.

Nine Layer Dip

This dip is usually called 7 Layer Dip (we used this recipe). But when making it for the super bowl weekend, we added some more cheese and avocado and ended up with 9 layers.

8 oz refried beans
1/2 pack taco mix spices
8 oz sour cream
4 oz cream cheese
8 oz mild salsa
1 avocado
lettuce
green onion
1 big tomato
1 green bell pepper
cheddar
black olives

Mix refried beans with taco mix spices and put in a dish as the first layer.
Mix sour cream and cream cheese. Spread over the refried beans.
Mash avocado and add some salt, pepper and lemon juice. Spread over sour cream.
Add a layer of mild salsa.
Add a layer of grated cheddar cheese.
Chop lettuce, green onions, tomato and bell pepper. Make one layer of each.
Top with a layer of  cheddar. And another one if you like. No one will know. They will just think it's one thick layer.
Garnish with black olives.
Enjoy with chips, nachos or bread.
This is also a great left over food.

Savory Madeleines II (filled with cheddar)

So this is the second time I made Madeleines and then liked them so much that I made a second batch on the same day. They are just so easy and fast to make and only bake 10 minutes!

On the same day after I added a blended mix of parsley, nuts, nutritional yeast and cheddar to this recipe of Parmesan-Herb Madeleines, I wanted to make them again. But instead of blending the ingredients, I mixed the chopped parsley and pine nuts into the dough. Then I filled the Madeleine pan with half the dough, added the grated cheddar and spread the rest of the dough on top.

It tasted so much better than when I blended the ingredients! The taste of the pine nuts and cheddar was much richer. We ate them all before I could take a picture..

Savory Madeleines I

For Christmas I got a Madeleine baking pan. I have yet to try a sweet recipe, but so far I've tried out this savory recipe of Parmesan-Herb Madeleines.

The first time I tried it I thought it would be a good idea to add some veggies (and/or bacon for the meat eaters) and the result was quite good. For some reason they turned out to be very salty, though. The recipe only calls for 1/4 tsp of salt and I didn't put in any other salty ingredients. That made them wonderful snacks to have with some beer!

Today I tried the recipe again and only put in a pinch of salt. Instead of veggies, I blended the following ingredients together to add to the dough:
1/2 bunch of parsley
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
about 50g cheddar

The result tasted very good. The madeleines didn't rise much, but I don't know which ingredients could have interfered with the baking powder. The result was still very tasty and I am sure I will make it again.