Isabella and I are so excited for next year’s blogging adventure. We would like to thank everyone in the blogging community for welcoming and inspiring us. Looking forward to all the new bloggers and their stories.
Happy New Year to all! With Love and Peace in our Hearts!
Isabella and Gina 🎉
I had such a blast cooking this recipe with my sister. We served these delicious small bites for our Christmas morning brunch.Â
A perfect party appetizer or classroom snack. This is a great kitchen activity for the children and helps with eye and hand coordination.Â
Ingredients
2 eggs, brown organic taste best here
½ cup whole milk
1 cup grated cheese; Cheddar, Colby Jack or any cheese you wish
2 boxes refrigerated pie crust dough, Pillsbury, or homemade tart shells (frozen is ok)
1 cup diced: ham, bacon, spinach, onion, mushrooms or any fresh garden vegetable
salt and pepper to taste
dried garden herbs: rosemary or French thyme
The dried garden herbs add a nice elegant flavor. A wonderful appetizer to serve if entertaining a crowd.
Recipe tip:  if possible, try not to use the processed shredded cheese. It doesn’t bake as well and lacks the flavor.   Offer choice and get creative when choosing the quiche toppings.
Now let’s get to cookin’!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, making sure the oven rack is centered.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs with the milk. Beat together until fluffy. Slowly add the shredded cheese. Add the cooked vegetables and mix well. Season with dried garden herbs, salt and pepper.
On a piece of parchment paper, roll the dough out into a flat circle. Using a cup face down, press firmly to create circle cutouts. Gently press the cutouts into the muffin pan. Evenly spoon the quiche mixture into the mini pie shells. Bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned and puffed in the middle.
             
Happy cooking friends and enjoy the party!
Yours truly with Love and Peace in my Heart,
G-xx
In my family we call these treats Mexican Wedding Cookies.
Ingredient
1 cup salted butter, softened
½ cup confectioner’s powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ÂĽ cups all-purpose flour
For cookie sprinkle
½ cup confectioner’s powdered sugar
Now let’s get to bakin’ these delicious cookies!
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Using butter or Pam spray, coat the baking sheet.
In a large bowl, add the softened butter and powdered sugar, cream them together until smooth. Add the pinch of salt and vanilla extract and mix well.
Slowly add the flour until the dough comes together. Fold in the pecans pieces and mix well. Let the cookie dough chill for about ½-1 hour in fridge. It is very important not to skip this step. It is much easier to form the cookies when the dough has been refrigerated. The temperature of your hand will make the butter in the dough soften. Trust me on this one, I have learned this the hard way!
Roll the dough into small balls and place onto the baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until the cookies are golden brown about 12-15 minutes. When done, remove the cookies from oven and let cool on a baking rack. Once the cookies are cool, roll them in the sifted powdered sugar. It’s important that you allow the cookies to cool so that the powdered sugar sticks well. Roll well in the sugar making sure that each cookie is completely covered.
You can easily double this recipe if entertaining for a holiday party. This is a great cookie dough to make the day before your baking party.
Along with baking and decorating sugar cookies for Santa, these Christmas Snow balls are for the little elves…Mama and Papa!
Enjoy friends and Happy Baking!
Yours truly with Love and Peace in my Heart,
G-xx
This recipe can be used for so many dishes. Breakfast burritos, tacos, grilled chicken etc… Isabella loves to have a small bowl for a snack.Â
My favorite…squeezing fresh lemon juice to add a little kick!
Ingredients
1 – Â 15 oz can tomato sauce, I like to use Contadina
2 cups basmati or jasmine rice
2-3 tablespoons Knorr chicken flavor bouillon
ÂĽ cup vegetable oil
2 cups filtered water
salt and pepper
Now let’s get to cookin’!
In a large saucepan on medium heat, add the vegetable oil. The bottom of your saucepan should have a nice even layer of oil. Once the oil is heated, slowly add the rice. Brown the rice until it becomes a nice golden color, 3-5 minutes. Stirring frequently as you don’t want the rice to burn. Trust me when I say, I have burnt rice many a times! Silly me!
Using a measuring cup, measure 1 cup tomato sauce and 1 cup water into a bowl. While using the measuring cup, slowly add 1 cup water to the rice; stir as you pour. Stand back a little from the stove and don’t get your hand to close to the pan. Steam will rise and you don’t want to burn your hand. Now pour in the tomato and water mixture. Stir until mixed well. I like to add water to the tomato sauce can so that I don’t waste any sauce. Pour the remaining tomato sauce into the rice mixture.
Add the Knorr chicken bouillon, salt and pepper and mix well. Continue to cook the rice on medium heat until it reaches a boiling point. You will notice little bubbles in the middle of the pan. Lower the heat to simmer and cover the rice with a lid. Wrapping the lid with a kitchen towel and then covering will help create a nice fluffy rice. Cook for about 25-30 minutes or until rice is nice and fluffy.
You can get creative and add vegetables to this dish. I will sometimes add chopped tomatoes, carrots, corn, peas and onion. Most of the time my grandmother made this recipe as described above. My father is kinda picky, so she would often times scoop out a little onto the side and then add the vegetables.
If you only wanted to make a small portion of rice use the following ingredients: 1 cup rice, 1 8oz can tomato sauce and 1 cup water. Cut back on the oil and bouillon.
A helpful kitchen hint…don’t wash or soak the rice before cooking, it just doesn’t work here at all!
Enjoy and Happy Cooking Friends!
Yours Truly with Love and Peace in my Heart,
G-
Gina Misty and Isabella Gwen 