Ham & Swiss Cheese Quiche

I made this on Monday afternoon for breakfast on Tuesday since I knew that I had to have my stuff together to do this low carb stuff. You know how that goes!

The original recipe is here but this is how I made it:

1 cup diced ham (I used half of a ham steak from freezer)
4 wedges of the laughing cow swiss cheese (spreadable, low fat stuff)
Diced red onions, eyeballed it til I thought there was plenty (1/2 of a thick wedge slice)
3 eggs
1 cup of cream (is whipping cream the SAME? That's what it is!)
Black pepper

Spray a pie tin/plate with Pam or other non stick spray, generously.
layer the red onion, ham and cheese in pan. I had to break up the cheese, it has a consistency like cream cheese
Mix eggs and cream with a whisk to break up the eggs. Pour egg/cream over the stuff in pie plate. Make sure that you cover all fairly evenly.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. Walk around the house while it cooks and say "Ummm, that smells delicious!" because it does! Then say out loud, low carb yumminess is on it's way!

Do a knife test and make sure center is no longer jiggly (oops, I had giggly there). I "thought" mine was completely set until it cooled and I went to slice it. It's sitting in the oven again for a few more minutes.

If you can believe this, it makes 6 servings AND each serving only has 2.5 to 3 grams of carbs. Woohoo!

I do need to scope out my pie tins though. This is one of my heavier, nicer ones, but I think it's smaller...which was OK for this recipe, but I think some of the other recipes I have, I would run the risk of it overflowing. I did bake this with a heavy duty baking sheet underneath as it was that close to the top.

Picture? You want a picture?? Princess took my camera on Saturday night to a party. The battery died and I'm still waiting to get both the camera and a charged battery back. Ho hum.

Tacos

This is not a recipe. Really. So maybe don't read any further. BUT if you are curious how a simple family prepares for taco night, then read on...

1 lb of ground beef. Or, in my case, at this time, 10 hamburger patties (or so) from the stellar deal I got on a 25 lb box of burgers. These were a fairly high fat content so I don't use them as burgers :)
1 Taco Dinner Kit - varies from Taco Bell, El Paso brands, depends on what was on sale. This week, it's Taco Bell
Half head of iceburg lettuce, sliced (shredded)
1 tomatoe, diced
1/2 onion, diced
bag of cheese ... mexican blend this week, from my outstanding bargain a few weeks back, 16 oz for 99 cents, been in freezer waiting for this day!
additional taco shells
sour cream
chips
salsa
fresh avacado, diced, only if on sale & coupon available (score!)

And that's it. Cook up the beef, DRAIN and add seasoning. Prepare the veggies as the meat cooks. Serve it up!

Lighter Shrimp Alfredo

So the recipe caught my eye with it being lighter, and the fact that I had EVERYTHING to prepare it NOW.

Originally the recipe is posted here, but I ended up modifying it and will make it again with a few more seasonings added. It was rather bland as was, and I suppose if you have little kids, that's ok, but I have big kids and a discerning hubby :)

1 pkg of raw shrimp, peeled and devined
4 tbs butter, divided
2 tbs olive oil
fresh garlic
fresh parsley
black pepper
1 box of pasta (I used whole wheat pasta, it grows on you after a while)
2 tsp corn starch
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup parm cheese
6 oz container of greek yogurt (plain)

Prepare your pasta. Since the rest of the dish comes together quickly, start your water now and get the pasta cooking.
Whisk the cornstarch with the chicken broth. In medium size sauce pan, melt 2 tbs butter. Pour in broth and whisk til boiling. Add cheese, and continue to watch til cheese is MELTED and smooth (don't make the mistake that the big GLOB is melted, it's not!)
Heat smallish skillet, melt other 2 tbs butter and heat with oil. Toss in shrimp garlic, season with black pepper & a dash of salt. Cook til slightly pink and flip ... keep an eye on them & don't overcook.
Once cheese is melted in saucepan, take of heat and stir in the yogurt til combined. Dump in the shrimp & all stuff from skillet. Mix well.
By now, your pasta should be done (or you may have already drained) ... dish it up and enjoy your much lower fat Alfredo!
Round it out with a green salad and, in our house, cuz we have no breadsticks left, croissants.

Steaks - Ribeyes

Ok, the price of steaks have gone through the roof lately and it just irritates me that there are no good prices to be had anywhere! So last time I was at costco, I bit the bullet and just paid $35 for 4 LARGE ribeye steaks. $7.99 a lb. I know that's not overly expensive BUT I do have the frugal in florida name to live up to!

I took those steaks and I sliced them thiner. They were at least one inch thick so I decided that we didn't need to be eating THAT much steak at a time (ohhh...that's the cheapskate coming out!) Besides, hubby doesn't eat his meat anyway but done. No pink. So if the steaks had been kept that thick, they would have cooked for an hour on the grill and I'm just not having that!!

So, here's what I did a few weekends back with some for friends and dinner one night:

Layed half of the steaks in a large tupperware dish (ziploc, glade, whatever?).
Poured some BBQ sauce in
Poured some leftover coffee in
Added some worchestershire sauce
chopped garlic
A1 Steak sauce
a little water to thin it out
And tried to mix it up some (so really, do the marinade FIRST and then add the steaks!)

Marinate for several hours, with the last 30 minutes or so being on the countertop to come to room temp.

Grill them up & serve with your favorite sides.

Italian Potatoes

Really, I think we need to cut up with a better, more descriptive name, but this is what we've called them for oh, say, 20 years or so.

Red potatoes (or any type really), cut in to LARGE pieces (don't cut smaller than a large bite size!)
Bottle of italian dressing

Parboil the potatoes until a slightly soft. They need to be cooked but not too much so.

Drain and allow to cool for about 30 minutes. Dump the potatoes in a large bowl and pour the dressing all over the them. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours (longer is fine).

Fire up the grill and place the babies on the grill and cook til a little charred, turn over periodically to keep from burning too much :) These are a great crowd pleaser.