Updated Quiche Recipe

I've been making this recipe since my kids were still little, as you can see from reading my old posts, since after our trip to Disney World in Florida.
I never leave a recipe alone, and I figured it was time to update it. I found that the old recipe made too much for one quiche, not quite enough for two. So this is just a modified version of my old recipe.
Enjoy!

Quiche

2 prepared 9" deep-dish pie crusts or 3 regular 9" pie crusts
6 strips of cooked crispy bacon, coarsely chopped, or 2 cups chopped ham, or 1 cup cooked and thinly sliced bratwurst, or 1 cup cooked and crumbled breakfast sausage, or 1 cup diced cooked chicken or turkey breast, or 1 cup chopped artichoke hearts (or any combination. Just go nuts.)
2/3 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons diced green onions (optional)
3 cups shredded Swiss/mozzarella/Jack cheese (any works)
1/4 Cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups milk or half-and-half (anything from skim milk to half-and-half, you can combine milk and sour cream or plain yogurt for additional flavor)
9 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Divide the  meat/artichokes, minced onions, optional green onions, and Swiss cheese amongst the pie crusts. Whisk together the other ingredients and pour into the pie crusts, and top with the parmesan cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 300 degrees and continue baking for another 30 minutes. Allow to cool for ten minutes before cutting into eight slices and enjoy while still warm.

Crunchy Cinnamon Almonds

I took my family to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in Daly City for the first time this year, which I heartily recommend. I called it "The Christmas Renaissance Fair", which it resembles in its cosplay aspects. You can get in some shopping, watch fun stage plays, and eat food you don't find just anywhere, such as meat pies, or bangers and mash.
One thing we all enjoyed were freshly roasted Crunchy Cinnamon Almonds, served hot in a paper cone. If course I wanted to find a recipe for it, and I did at "The Chunky Chef".
Altogether now: and then I modified it...
Here's my version:

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 egg white
3 Cups raw almonds

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Combine vanilla and egg white, and then whip to a froth using a wire whip or hand mixer. Mix in almonds, thoroughly coating them with the egg mixture, and then add the dry ingredients and stir to coat thoroughly. Turn out the mixture into the cookie sheet and spread out into a single layer. Bake for one hour, stirring them every 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before attempting to eat them. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.

Conversions

Folks-
Knowing how to increase or decrease the size of a recipe is important. To do it properly, you kind of have to know how to convert your volumes. Mostly because here in the U.S. we use units that are not related to each other in any logical way.
To help us all out, I'm going to put here some useful conversions, and update it as I remember some, and look up some conversion factors later.
One thing I should note is a convention i use here that my youngest found confusing: if I mean "one and a half" of something, I will write it as "1-1/2". My youngest read that as "one to one half" which is incorrect in several ways (I would go smaller to larger in a situation where there is a range anyway). I write it that way so you don't see "1 1/2" and because of the way your browser renders it, you think to yourself "eleven halves". That would also be incorrect. "1-1/2" is always "one and a half" on this site, just as "1-1/4" is "one and a quarter".

1 tbsp = 3 tsp (1/2 tbsp = 1-1/2 tsp)
1 fluid oz = 2 tbsp
1 cup = 16 tbsp = 8 fluid oz
Therefore, 1/4 cup = 4 tbsp = 2 fluid oz, and 1/8 cup = 1 fluid oz = 2 tbsp
1 pint = 2 cups = 16 fluid oz = 32 tbsp
1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups = 32 fluid oz = 64 tbsp
1 gallon = 4 quarts

Spanish Rice

Folks-
Obligatory mea-culpa over how long it's been since I posted anything.
Now that I have that out of the way...
I've enjoyed making Spanish Rice as a side dish with my Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast (my first post here!) for several years now. I've found it especially easy to make, and a rather unexpectedly forgiving recipe. You can tell just how versatile it is from the options I give below. The key to making it is the Browning of the rice, and the rice to liquid ratio (follow the instructions for your rice. The below amounts are an average suggested amount.) Feel free to try your own variations! Anything you try here is going to be better than boxed, store-bought rice.
Here's my recipe for Spanish Rice:

2-4 tbsp cooking oil (vegetable, olive, grape seed, or sunflower)
2 cups long grain white rice
3 cups chicken stock OR beef stock OR vegetable stock OR water and bullion cubes to make a stock
1 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste OR one cup chopped stewed no-salt tomatoes, drained OR one cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano OR 1/2 tsp dried Italian spices

Optional (any or all of these):
1/4 tsp paprika or chili powder
1 tbsp chopped green pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric

Heat the cooking oil in a pot over high heat. Brown the rice just until it is somewhat translucent. Add the onion, garlic, tomato paste or tomatoes, and if you're using it, the green pepper, and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender. Add stock and spices and bring to a rolling boil. Cover and reduce heat to very low, and summer for 20 minutes. Do NOT lift the lid to check on it! Use a glass-top pot if you might want to do this. Turn the heat off and allow the rice to rest covered for five minutes before fluffing with a fork.
You can optionally stir-in a pound of browned and drained hamburger meat, diced and cooked chicken or turkey, shredded pork, or fish to make this a main-course, or serve it as a side-dish with my Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast, or with tacos, encheladas, or other Mexican foods.
Just try it already! It's a breeze! Honest!

Fried Chicken Strips

Folks-
Guess what? It's time for Fried Chicken Recipe III! This one is based on my last one, modified (you knew that was coming!) and tested on my family. This time they may not let me further modify it.
I served it this evening with mashed potatoes, gravy made from the oil from the chicken, fresh biscuits, and steamed asparagus spears. It was possibly the best meal I have ever made featuring chicken!
Here's my recipe:
Edly Fried Chicken Strips

1-Cup All-purpose Flour 
1/2-Cup Italian Bread Crumbs 
1/2-Cup Corn Flour or Masa
1-Tsp Salt
1-1/2-Tsp Italian Seasonings
1-Tsp Celery Salt
1-Tsp Black Pepper
1-Tsp Dried Mustard
4-Tsp Paprika
2-Tsp Garlic Salt
1-Tsp Ground Ginger
3-Tsp White Pepper
1-Tsp Turmeric
1/2-Tsp Chili Powder
1/2-Tsp Garlic Powder
1-Tsp Chicken Bouillon 
1/2-Tsp Baking Soda
2-Eggs
1/2-Cup Buttermilk
2-8 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (about 2.5 to 3.5 lbs)
Enough cooking oil to fill a large frying pan 1/2" deep

Put all dry ingredients into a gallon sized Ziploc or similar bag and shake it to mix them together. Wash chicken breasts and cut into strips about  2 CM wide (1/2 inch). Beat eggs and mix with the buttermilk. Throw chicken strips, a few at a time, into the Ziploc bag and toss them in the powder to coat them.  Dip the chicken strips into the egg and buttermilk mixture, and throw them back into the Ziploc bag a few at a time and shake it to coat them. Place them on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator to cool for 1 to 2 hours (No joke. Don't skip this step or the coating won't stick.)
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before frying. Heat about 1/2 inch (1-2cm) of cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat to 350-380 degrees (use a thermometer). Put several strips into the oil. Fry until medium brown, about 4-5 minutes on the first side, flip and cook another 3-4 minutes. Remove from the oil and drain on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet (not on a plate with paper towels!) This keeps the chicken coating crispy. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken or Turkey Alfredo Lasagna

After Thanksgiving this year, I wanted something different to do with all of the leftover turkey. After a suggestion from a coworker, I looked up a Chicken Alfredo Lasagna recipe, and found a simple one on the Pilsbury website.
Repeat after me: “I modified it...” tested it on my family, and this is the result. It works just fine with either turkey or chicken, and in fact, might be the recipe most forgiving of changes or substitutions that I have on this site.

Chicken or Turkey Alfredo Lasagna

1 container (16 oz) ricotta cheese or small curd cottage cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheese blend (3 oz)

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt with parsley

1 cup chopped or thinly sliced onion

1/2 package (4 oz) sliced fresh baby portabella mushrooms or 1/2 7oz can mushroom stems and parts, drained

3 cups shredded deli rotisserie chicken (from 2-lb chicken) or Turkey breast meat, cooked and shredded

1/2 cups roasted red bell peppers (from a 12-oz jar), drained, cut into 1/2-inch strips

2-1/2 jars (15 oz each) four-cheese Alfredo pasta sauce

9 sheets rectangular instant lasagna noodles (7 1/8 x 3 1/2 inches)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9- inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix ricotta or cottage cheese, cheese blend and garlic salt; set aside. 

• In a large bowl, combine Alfredo Sauce, chicken, onions, muchrooms, and roasted peppers. Spoon about 2 1/3 cups chicken mixture in baking dish. Layer with 3 noodles, half of cottage cheese or Ricotta mixture and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 3 noodles, 2 1/3 cups chicken mixture and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. 

• Bake uncovered 50 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Modified From: https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/chicken-alfredo-lasagna/41f5c4fc-9779-4c36-a1f9-d01406c6183e

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Folks-
This is a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe with just a couple of subtle changes. Melting the butter, instead of using softened butter, is my dad's contribution. I also often use vanilla sugar thrown into the measuring cup before measuring out the white sugar. Tip: I use a 2-cup measuring cup most of the time. First I pack-in the brown sugar, then I finish by adding white sugar until it reaches the 1-1/2 Cup level. That gives you the most accurate measure of sugar for your cookies!

Ingredients
1 Cup (2 sticks) melted butter
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
3/4 Cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or 2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 large eggs
2-1/4 Cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cocoa powder
2 Cups chocolate chips
Optional: 1 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Add all other ingredients except chocolate chips and nuts and mix well. Mix in chocolate chips
From into 1-2 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Note: It's easy to use a mellon-baller to form these. They can be frozen for up to six months, and baked straight from the freezer.

Eleanor's Peanut Butter Cookies

If you ever wondered how I started cooking, or where I got my tendency to change the recipes of others, this is where both started. You see, this is my mom's Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe. She took the recipe from a '60's-era Betty Crocker Cookbook, and changed it by a single ingredient. The original recipe calls for a combination of butter and shortening, but she found that if you used more butter instead of the shortening (a 1 for 1 substitution) then the cookies came out softer, and more flavorful.
Here's my mom's variation of the Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe:

1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 Cup peanut butter
1/2 Cup softened butter
1 egg
1-1/4 Cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Mix together sugars, peanut butter, butter, and egg until smooth. Add all other ingredients and thoroughly mix them in. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
Set oven temperature for 350 degrees. Shape the dough into 1 to 1-1/4 inch balls by hand or using a melon-baller, placing them 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a checkerboard pattern into the top of each cookie with a fork. Bake 9-11 minutes until golden brown around the edges.
Remove from the cookie sheet and allow cookies to cool on a platter (they tend to fall apart if cooled on wire racks, unless supported by parchment paper.)
Optional: dip the fork into granulated (white or party-colored) sugar between pressing the checkerboard pattern into each cookie for an added decoration.
Tip: This recipe makes a lot of cookies, but you don't have to bake them all at once. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days, or four to six months in the freezer. I like to make them into balls using a melon-baller, and then freeze them in a zip-seal freezer bag labeled with the expiration date. When I want fresh cookies, I put the frozen balls on a cookie sheet, press in the pattern, and bake them as directed.

Pumpkin Juice

Yes, another two recipes in one day.

A couple of years ago, my family visited Universal Studios Florida, and visited the then new Diagon Alley, and older Hogsmeade sections of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Besides the food at The Three Broomsticks, our favorite drink was (no, not Butterbeer, even the kids found that too sweet) Pumpkin Juice. It's served all over the Harry Potter section of the park, and only there. In fact, you can't find the standard Pepsi products there. Everything in those sections of the park reinforce the theme, but are exclusive to those areas. Unlike Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans, you can't get many of the foods sold there at places like Honeyduke's, outside the park.
That means you have to make them.
I found a recipe for the cold and refreshing Pumpkin Juice online at the now-inactive but archived foodie site, The Disney Diner. I've made it for several years, but found her recipe unnecessarily complicated, and have streamlined it, removing one ingredient and changing the proportions of one ingredient at the kids request. Here's the version for fixing it by the batch:

Ingredients:
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate
2-1/2 cans of water
1/2 cup of canned pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pour apple juice and water into blender pitcher. Add canned pumpkin, vanilla and cinnamon. Blend on high until well incorporated. Pour into glasses and serve cold.

To make this as a frozen mix for quick fixing it:
1-15oz can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Measure out in 1/2 Cup quantities, put into small plastic containers or freezer bags, and freeze them. To make pumpkin juice, in a blender add together pumpkin juice mix, one can of frozen concentrated Apple juice, and 2-1/2 cans of water, and blend until thoroughly combined. Serve cold.

Baking Mix Blueberry Muffins

I tried to make blueberry muffins the way I remembered them from my childhood, but even using those recipes, they seemed dry, and not the way I expected. Modern recipes were too much like a yellow cupcake with blueberries in them. I eventually tried a recipe off of a box of biscuit and baking mix, and it was pretty much exactly what I wanted.
Of course I lost that recipe.
I later found one on Food.com that is probably identical. Being who I am, I've modified it a bit. Here's my version:

Baking Mix Blueberry Muffins
2 Cups Bisquick, Jiffy, or other biscuit and baking mix
1/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup milk
1/4 Tsp vanilla (or 1 Tsp vanilla sugar added to sugar before measuring)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Egg
3/4 to 1-1/2 Cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12 muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray, or line with paper baking cups, or line with parchment paper. Mix together all ingredients except blueberries until moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fold in blueberries. Divide blueberries evenly into the muffin cups and bake 15-20 minutes until lightly browned around edges. Cool briefly and remove from muffin tins. Serve while warm.

Notes 2/2/2025: Today I tried a baking mix alternative with mixed success. I suspect you can replace the Bisquick with 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/3 cup shortening cut in, as long as you increase the sugar in this recipe to 1/2 cup and milk to 3/4 cup.