Mini spinach frittatas

So, the other day, I had a Brain Storm.
See, the InfoxicatedMan has recently started a job where he will be spending a fair bit of time away from home. Including overnights. And he gets up fairly early each morning, too - He has to be at work before 7, so he leaves home at around 6.
And that got me thinking. Normally, he makes a coffee and has that and a cigarette for breakfast. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon snack tend to be one-hand food, too. Last night, the request was made for chicken legs for lunch. (I baked them as I was making beef stroganoff.) I also thought to ask, what if I could find a recipe for a simple, nutritious, protein rich breakfast. Would he eat it?
So, I went looking. And found egg muffins.
But, being me, I thought I'd change it slightly.

• 1 bunch fresh spinach
• 4 large eggs
• 150mL cream
• 100g cottage cheese

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F)
2. Chop spinach roughly, removing the stalk
3. Rinse well
4. Wilt in heavy based pan with lid. Remove from pan, and allow to cool
5. Beat cream until soft ribbons form
6. Chop cooled spinach, and add to eggs. Mix thoroughly
7. Stir in cottage cheese
8. Fold in cream
9. Cook in greased cupcake tins for approximately 15 minutes, or until no longer wobbly
10. Allow to cool to room temp, and place in a container

These should freeze well, and are great to eat hot, cold, or room temp

I'm also thinking chorizo and semidried tomatoes, pear and blue cheese, and fennel and camembert.

Home made KFC style chicken

Several years back, we lived in the lovely interesting town of Lismore. It's a uni town. That is, if not for the uni (Southern Cross), the town pretty much wouldn't exist. Like many uni towns, there were several fast food outlets. 4 Subways, a KFC, 2 Maccas, a Red Rooster...
Anyways, we lived across the road from KFC. And some nights, we'd feel like cooking just wasn't an option. So, we'd go across the road and grab KFC. Of course, we always felt sick after it, so we figured we'd play around with some seasoning, and here's what we came up with.

• 1kg of chicken breast (diced, so its like popcorn chicken)
• Flour
• Masterfoods Season All
• Paprika
• Mustard powder
• Egg wash
• Hot oil (180C is good. Use the deep fryer you have. It's easiest) 

1. Mix the flour with the season all - try 2 parts flour to one part season all. Add in a few tablespoons of paprika and mustard. Mix them thoroughly.
2. Dip the chicken bits in the egg wash. 
3. Dust liberally with the seasoned flour.
4. Fry until golden. 
5. Continue in batches.
6. Re-fry the chicken until a dark golden colour.

Serve with fries, mustard (I suggest American, or honey mustard) and tomato sauce.

A thought...

My sister, Bast, lives in South East Queensland, in Logan. They're in a slab house, so if the rivers do break near them, they'll be swimming. My thoughts and prayers are with Bast, MrBast, the two baby girls (Bast' twins - aka Cut and Paste), BastJr, and the pets.

Uses for candy canes...

Inspired by this post on white hot chocolate with ginger, and with a rather large excess of candy canes hanging from the tree, I'm thinking of Ideas.
So far, I've used a small candy cane per mug of hot chocolate, I've been drinking peppermint mocha coffee each morning, and I'm eyeing off a bottle of vodka (peppermint vodka? Of course I want to try it).
Anyone else have any ideas?

My new blog button

I've finally folded and decided I should do this.
So, I played with GIMP this morning until I had something I like.
Do you like?
So, the thing is, you can now have this VERY SAME BUTTON on your blog, and all you need to do is copy and paste the code I shall be leave at the bottom of this post. I will need to edit it (of course) so that I get the correct location for the button, and I will also be playing with the html boxes on the side so I have a permalink there for it.


Thoughts?

Baked pork chops with caramelised apple

I did this one the other day. I looked in the freezer, saw some rather large pork chops, and had an Idea (intentional capitalisation). It worked well, because I used the same sauce I baked the pork chops in for the spare ribs the kids had, and it was snazzy enough for the guest we had for dinner, too (I found out she'd be eating with us at 430 in the afternoon)

• 1 large pork chop per adult
• 2 pork spare ribs per child
• 2 potatoes per person
• 6 rashers bacon
• Ginger (grated)
• cinnamon (ground)
• bourbon (eyeball this bit)
• Brown sugar (around 1 cup, not firmly packed)
• 4 large green apples, peeled and diced roughly
• 2oz (60g) butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger

1. Mix bourbon, a good measure of cinnamon and a good measure of grated ginger with the brown sugar. Add some water if you think it needs it.
2. Pour over the pork chops (and spare ribs) and turn them a few times while you're chopping up the potatoes.
3. Cook the potatoes for smashing in plenty of boiling, salted water.
4. AT THE SAME TIME put the pork into a moderate (180C) oven to cook while you're doing everything else.
5. Melt butter in heavy based frying pan, add in the apples, and start the caramelise them. Add in the brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Coat the apples well in the resulting caramel sauce, and reduce heat as much as you can.
6. TURN THE MEAT NOW
7. Cook bacon your preferred way (oven, under the grill in the oven, microwave - just make sure it's crunchy)
8. Smash the potatoes with a good helping of butter, and season sparingly. Add in the crumbled bacon, and a good handful of cheese.

Serve it all up on a plate, with plenty of Wet Ones nearby

Chicken and mushroom pasta bake

I made this one last night, and found it stupidly easy.

You could easily add in some good chunks of bacon, and it would make a lovely chicken boscaiola sauce.

• 1 packet pasta (we used penne, but any pasta will work well)
• 1 leek - finely chopped
• 200g mushrooms - finely sliced
• A good splash of white wine
• Olive oil
• Philadelphia cream for cooking (I apologise for the flash, but I didn't design that site :P )
• Cheese for sprinkling and baking

1. Cook pasta according to directions on packet.
2. Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan.
3. Cook chicken, mushrooms and leeks together in the olive oil. Season to taste.
4. When chicken is sealed, add the white wine, and reduce.
5. Toss the chicken mixture and the Philly through the cooked, drained pasta.
6. Pour the lot into a baking dish (I used a lasagne dish), sprinkle over some cheese, and bake in a moderate (180C) oven until golden brown.

You can reheat the leftovers in a microwave by sprinkly a small amount extra cheese on top, and heating through.

You can also make ahead, but cook on a lower temp in the oven.