After 2 days of rest....

I didn't have to cook dinner on Thursday and Friday night. OCT had dinner with the new recruit students in a posh restaurant on Thursday night, and we went shopping on Friday night after his work, so no cooking was required. It's good to be off the cooking duty sometime, especially when I have run out of creativity.

I baked a batch of Double Chocolate Chips cookies from MS Holiday Cookies magazine on Wednesday night, and packed some for OCT to bring to lab the next day. These are dark-colour cookies, which look crispy from the exterior, but very chewy texture in the center. A bit bitter because of the Dutch processed cocoa powder I used.

Later, I asked OCT what his colleagues thought of the cookies, but he said they didn't say anything....

"so do you think the cookies are good?" I asked him

"I think they are ok....but not excellent."

Ok, so I must remember people have their own preference....But I like the cookies nevertheless :)

Saturday night, after coming back from OCT's lab I cooked spaghetti with Vodka cream again. But I added some Smoked sausages and mixed veggies in addition to prawns to make the meal more scrumptious.(I hope). It was a fast meal solution. We managed to have our dinner ready in 45 minutes, including thawing the mixed veggie and prawns.

OCT commented that the sauce wasn't "as tasty as last time". I explained to him that it was because I added water to the sauce, and didn't add any salt this time. "This is for your own good, you know?" Really, I wasn't finding an excuse for myself. We should try to eat more sensibly and healthy at this age. Then I assured him that i will make sure the dishes are "tasty" when we have guests in the house.

"You mean I will get unhealthy meal when Adeline comes over for dinner?" OCT asked.

"Of course not. What I meant was I will not skip the condiments when we have guests"

Later that night, I tried another new recipe after dinner. (Not very sensible because we were actually very full at that time) But I had the urge to bake, so I proceeded to curb my urge while OCT happily left me alone to play his computer game.

I baked a Cajun Quiche in a Rice Crust using the leftover rice and smoked sausage. It was an unusual quiche as it used rice as crust. The process of breaking eggs, measuring rices, chopping up ingredients and mixing them up was real fun for me. OCT took some photos of me prepping the quiche.

Present to you another new recipe I tried this week: Cajun Quiche in a Rice Crust

Hmm, I tried but failed to capture the texture of the quiche with my 3.2 MP digital camera. But it was somewhat like the one featured in the magazine on the background... OCT said it tasted like chinese fried rice, but with more eggs. Of course, because this was a quiche.

Cajun Quiche in a Rice Crust

Crust:
2 cups cooked long-grain white rice, cooled
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
Cooking spray
1/4 cup (1 ounce) reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Filling:
1/2 cup prechopped onion
1/2 cup prechopped celery
1/2 cup prechopped red bell pepper
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
3 ounces andouille sausage or kielbasa, chopped (about 2/3 cup)
4 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375°.
To prepare crust, combine rice, garlic powder, onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 egg. Spread mixture into the bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle bottom of crust evenly with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

To prepare filling, heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and the next 4 ingredients (through sausage); sauté 5 minutes. Spoon mixture evenly into prepared rice crust. Combine the remaining eggs, sour cream, salt, and hot pepper sauce; stir with a whisk until well blended. Pour egg mixture over sausage mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until the center is set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Note: You can use 2 eggs and 2 eggs white insteads of 4 eggs,and add more hot pepper sauce if you fancy something REALLY spicy.This is a good base recipe, which you can basically mix and match with other ingredients, such as mushrooms.