Savor easy-to-make bite-size quiche, pesto tarts

Yesterday I made mini quiches and pesto tarts to take to a dinner party. These are really easy and fun to make. To make the dough, beat an 8-ounce package of cream cheese with two sticks softened butter until well blended. Add two cups flour. Mix until dough forms. Shape into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate one hour, or overnight.

Shape the dough into golf-ball size rounds and place into a non-stick mini-muffin tin. I press the tarts into shape with a little wooden mini-tart shaper I bought from Pampered Chef. The dough is easy to work with and this little pestle is just the coolest kitchen tool. With a toothpick, poke holes in the flattened crusts and bake at 425 (400 convection) for about 10-15 minutes, until crust is golden. Let the tart shells cool a little in the pan.

To assemble quiche, mix two eggs with 1/4 cup milk. Put a little Swiss cheese in the bottom of the baked tart shells, add a little shredded spinach, finely chopped onion, bits of ham, whatever you like. Drizzle egg mixture into each filled shell with a teaspoon to fill. Season with salt and pepper.

To make pesto tarts, put a little shredded mozzarrella or Swiss cheese into the bottom of each baked shell, top with a dollop of pre-packaged pesto sauce, top with more cheese and about three pine nuts.

You can also fill the tarts with just cheddar cheese and a little pepperoni or ham, bits of bell pepper and feta, bits of chopped olive, anything that sounds good.

Bake tarts at 425 (400 in a convection oven) for about 10-15 more minutes, until cheese is melted and the eggs in your quiches are cooked. Serve immediately. Makes 3 dozen lovely mini-tarts.

Pass the Dijon: Turkey feta burgers, grilled peppers

Another gorgeous evening, and we're still on this (probably temporary) health kick, so we grilled turkey burgers for dinner, adding a few sprinkles of feta before we pulled 'em off the heat. I chopped a red bell pepper into big chunks, skewered the pieces and brushed my pepper kabobs generously with olive oil. While the meat patties cooked, Dave grilled the pepper pieces, making sure they got just a little blackened and nice and soft. They were perfect. I made a spinach, tomato and walnut salad, which I topped with a shake of low-fat balsamic vinagrette. Easy supper in about 10 minutes.

Instead of standard hamburger buns, we used nice slices of whole grain bread for our burgers. Didn't slop on any mayo, just spread with a baby bit of Dijon and some red-leaf lettuce. Delectable.

Heat up the grill on a beautiful sunny weekend

Today was warm and wind-free, so we spent all day outside with the pup and then had dinner on the patio. We grilled chicken with sweet potatoes, peppers, onions and broccoli.

With a nice cold bottle of Fat Tire, I felt like summer has arrived. I came up with a quick way to grill sweet potatoes. I cut two potatoes into home-fry-size sticks, brushed those with olive oil and then laid them flat on a sheet of aluminum foil. I folded the edges of the foil up, covered the bottom sheet with a second sheet and sealed those up. The sweet potatoes were cooked through on medium heat in about 20 minutes. Sweet potatoes provide good, healthy carbs, and I just love them. These would also be good with a few shakes of fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

Nice and healthy: Stir-fry vegetables with shrimp

I'm on a health jag. I'm determined that we are going to start eating right, every meal, every day. This resolution will not last two more weeks, I know, but for now, we've had a lovely weekend with lots of vegetables, low-calorie meals, all the right moves.

Tonight for dinner I cooked up a wok full of veggies with shrimp to serve over rice. It was easy and so good. In the 30 minutes it took to cook rice in the microwave, I chopped a red bell pepper, a sweet onion, two large chunks of broccoli, about 10 stalks asparagus, three stalks of celery. I heated some canola oil in my wok with a few sprinkles of sesame oil, then threw in all the vegetables, and cooked those on high heat for about 6 minutes. I added about 1/2 cup white wine, and three generous shakes of red pepper flakes. Then I added one pound medium-sized, peeled, pre-cooked shrimp, which I'd bought today at the grocery store fish counter. And I added a 1/2 cup bottled Kikkoman-brand stir-fry sauce.

Yum. And healthy, too.

Lebanese inspiration: Pizza on pita bread crust

Carrie Rengers forwarded me her terrific pita pizza recipe. Her husband, food writer Joe Stumpe, got this idea from someone in the local Lebanese community. What an inspiration to make quick pizza on a pita bread crust. She recommends buying pitas at N&J Bakery in Wichita. You can freeze the pita bread and thaw briefly in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, or just top pita and cook frozen.

Spread sun-dried tomato paste on several pita rounds in a thin layer. (Carrie recommends the squeezable tubes of tomato paste, available in the veggie aisle at Dillons.) Then top with whatever fresh ingredients you like: fresh veggies, diced bell peppers, olives, shredded chicken, sausage, fresh herbs, a few raisins. Add some cheese, maybe some crumbled feta or blue cheese. You can also add a few pine nuts or chopped pecans. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the pizzas and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 to 400 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on your desired level of crunchiness. "Joe likes them a little less crunchy," Carrie says. "I like them a bit more crunchy. Seriously, these are a great way to use leftovers -- the pitas don't take many toppings. And they make a fine meal (perhaps served with a salad) or appetizer. It's fun to experiment with different toppings."

Start and end the day with Irish soda bread

This month's book group selection is "Life with Mae," by Neal Shine. Great, funny book about Shine's Irish mother and their family's life in Detroit. We're getting together tonight to discuss, so I got up early this morning to make Irish soda bread for the occasion. When Dave and I were in Ireland a couple of years ago with our mothers, this was served at every meal. It's remarkably easy to make. Here's the recipe I used:

Irish soda bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup raisins

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup butter. Stir in 1 cup buttermilk and egg. Add raisins. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. In a small bowl, mix melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk. Brush loaf with this mixture. With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top of the loaf. Bake in 375 degree oven (350 if using convection) for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Brush the loaf again with buttermilk mixture after first 20 minutes of baking.

March Madness in April: Quick couscous salad

Yesterday we went to an open-air concert in the afternoon with friends and then invited them to our house to watch KU play North Carolina in the Final Four. I didn't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen during the day, so I bought nice German sausage at YB Meats (great store-- I gotta shop there more often!) to grill once we got back to the house, and before we left for the concert, I made a very quick couscous salad. Our friends contributed an elegant spinach salad and pita-bread pizza appetizers. (I'll post that recipe once I get it from Carrie.) Excellent food, and (as it turned out) an excellent game.

Making couscous salad takes all of five minutes from start to finish. Pour two boxes of quick-cook couscous into boiling water according to package directions, remove from heat, cover and let sit for five minutes. During that five minutes, chop 1/2 cup green onions, a red bell pepper, a peeled, seeded cucumber, three or four large tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil. Mix in a large bowl with 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives. Add couscous. Stir well. Chill for several hours before serving. Then add 1 cup crumbled feta cheese.

The recipe made plenty, so we have leftovers to enjoy during KU's championship game tomorrow night.