Quiche

I made some mini hamburgers and froze those, but I figure that everyone knows what they look like, no real chore there. Today though was a job of love. For the first time in my life I made quiches (or as my daughter likes to say kweeshes). I used a frozen puff dough and rolled it out thin. Then I made rectangles and layered them in muffin tins. To prebake I used some aluminum foil (which is not very thrifty or eco friendly, but they are getting recycled at least) balled up and put inside the cups. They baked for about 5 minutes, then I filled them with the egg mixture and topped with some cheese, and back into the oven for another 25 minutes total. They are not the prettiest things, but they should go nicely in a bento box. Next time I will do better.

I will top them with some chopped chives, green onions or herbs for presentation to break of the pale colors. I am not sure whether I will simply thaw them or bake them the morning of, so that will be an experiment either way. In this picture they are on a tray destined for the freezer so they will freeze individually for packaging.

Mini Blueberry Muffins

As I have mentioned before, it is good to have some food for bento stashed in single use packages. In this case I had some blueberries that were headed to la la land, so I cleaned them up and put them to use in this bento fare.  I adjusted a recipe I found on about.com because the recipe didn't have any acid to make the baking powder work and no baking soda. It also had them cooking five minutes longer than necessary. They came out quite yummy.

I am so sorry that I can't seem to get decent pictures in my kitchen. Blame the people who put in the recessed lighting! Sure, that is the reason.

Okay, this isn't such a suck shot. I wish I knew what I did to the camera to get that shot. Anyway, I will be placing most of these on a baking sheet and freezing them individually then popping them into a freezer bag.

Here is the recipe:

Yield: Makes 36 mini muffins

Prep Time: 08 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 28 minutes

Ingredients:
•2 cups sifted, all-purpose flour

•4 tsp baking powder

•1/2 tsp salt

•1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp powdered buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

•1/4 cup soft butter or margarine

•1 medium egg, lightly beaten

•1 cup milk

•1 cup fresh blueberries

Preparation:

1.Grease 24 cup mini muffin tin. Preheat oven 400 degrees F. In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, powdered buttermilk, baking soda and sugar. Mix in soft butter (mixing with clean hands works well). In separate, smaller bowl, lightly beat egg. Pour milk into egg bowl and stir. Stir wet mix into dry mix until flour mixture is just wet. Fold in blueberries.

2.Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown and feel spongy. Remove muffins from tin with spoon and let cool. Serve warm or cold with butter.