Pear and Walnut Brown Rice

Today's post is inspired by... cafeteria food! Last week they had this awesome wild rice with pecans and apple - it was fresh, just a pinch sweet, and had a great richness because of the nuts. It reminds me a little of stuffing, but cleaner and completely vegetarian. I've decided to adapt it for my kitchen and I bet you'll love it too!

Pear and Walnut Brown Rice
Makes about 3 side servings

1 cup brown rice
2 cups water (or as otherwise directed by the instructions for your rice)
1 pear, washed and diced into cm cubes, skin on
2 handfuls crushed walnuts (so they're smaller than the pear cubes)
1 handful dried cranberries

1. Prepare your rice as per the package. Mine says take 1 cup rice to two cups water and boil, then immediately turn down to a simmer. Mine cooked in about 15 minutes (because I let it boil a bit too long - oops!).
2. While the rice is simmering and the water is mostly evaporated and absorbed, toss the dried cranberries on top. 
3. Dice the pear. Heat up a separate skillet and toast the walnuts a smidge. (a teaspoon of oil in a hot skillet, toss in nuts, turn and coat in the pan on medium heat. Toast until fragrant)
4. When the rice is done, add the pear and stir to incorporate. Serve and top with walnuts. (If you add the walnuts in too early, they won't be crunchy later!)

Enjoy!

Spinach Quiche

A few weeks back I reaaaaaaaaaaally wanted to make chicken pot pie. So I bought pie crust and all the ingredients and made a really awesome filling! Then I went to preheat the oven and... it was dead. Suanne was sad. Really really sad.

So then the oven got fixed, but Suanne had gone through all the chicken stew. So what to do with the pie crust?

Spinach Quiche
Makes 3 small servings


Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, made into paste
2 sundried tomatoes, minced
6 mushrooms, cut into cubes
1 1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
Dried basil, oregano, salt
1 mozzarella stick, shredded and chopped
1 roll pie crust (Pillsbury for me!)
3 jumbo eggs
1/4 cup milk
dash sriracha

1. Heat tablespoon olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add garlic and dried tomatoes. (Optional: add sausage or bacon here)
2. Reduce heat to medium after garlic is fragrant. Add frozen spinach. When mostly defrosted and loose, add mushrooms, basil, oregano. Cook on medium heat until the majority of water has evaporated (or you get runny quiche). In the meantime...
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Move the rack to the middle of the oven.
4. Prepare your ramekins (the ceramic dishes you see souffle come in?). I used three 3-inch-wide ramekins which were about 3.5 inches deep. Use wider and shallower ramekins for easier cooking! Take the pie crust and divide into 3 equal triangles. Trim the triangles to create a crust for each ramekin. Pinch and remove crust as needed to flatten crusts flush to the sides.
5. Crack your eggs into a bowl and beat. Add the 1/4 cup milk and dash of sriracha. Mix well.
6. If necessary, season the filling with salt and pepper. Don't be afraid to add a little more salt - the egg will soak up a lot of it.
7. Spoon filling into the pie-crust ramekins (don't pack it down). Mix in shredded cheese.
8. Pour egg mixture into the ramekins - fill just enough to cover the filling. Do not fill all the way to the top - the egg expands and may overflow! 
9. Take a deep baking dish and place the ramekins in. Add water into the baking dish until the water is a) halfway up the baking dish or b) halfway up the sides of the ramekins (whichever comes first). Adding water to the dish helps the ramekins distribute heat, prevents messy spills from quiche volcanoes, as well as keeps the baking dish from warping in the oven.
10. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until a chopstick/toothpick inserted through the middle comes out clean and not goopy with uncooked egg. If using a wider/shallower ramekin, try lowering the heat to 400 degrees and bake for 15 and check frequently.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool. Be really really careful removing the baking dish from the oven - please don't spill boiling water over yourself. If you're paranoid, let the whole thing cool in the oven.