Pancetta and Mushroom Quiche

I love eggs. If we go out to breakfast, it's hard for me to resist getting an omelet or frittata or scramble of some sort. When I was a kid we used to go out for big, family brunches on Sunday at the buffet at a local casino, and the first thing I would do was head straight for the omelet making station, every single time. Breakfast is one of my favorite dinners. I seriously just love eggs.

Another thing I love is pie crust, though Justin thinks that that love is unnatural. I think if he could have pie without the crust, he'd be all for it. I on the other hand want it surrounded by crust--bottom, sides, and top. I'll take the extra bits that stick up off of his pieces of pie. Pie crust is flaky and delicious. I don't know what his problem is.

Naturally, these things combine to mean that I really, really love quiche. It's basically a frittata in a pie crust, and what's not to love about that? According to Justin, everything apparently. He likes eggs, but he doesn't like it when they're baked. He's weird like that. Therefore, quiche is one of those things I only get to make when he's not around. This was my first time trying this particular combo, and it's definitely a winner. If you are cheap--like I am most of the time--you could just get regular bacon instead of pancetta, but where's the fun in that?

Red Pepper & Gouda Soup

I'm going to start by letting you know that this soup is dangerous. I know, you think I'm going to say, "It's dangerously good." While that is true, that's not what I was going to say. I actually injured myself making this soup. It starts out with eight red bell peppers, and by the time that I finished dicing up all of them, I had a blister on my hand. I told you, it's dangerous. Be warned.

That being said, it was totally worth it because this soup really is delicious. It doesn't have complicated, multi-layered flavors all working in harmony to produce an excellent overall flavor; the taste is simple and straight forward, and sometimes that's all you really need. You can taste the red peppers. You can taste the gouda. What else do you need?

Ricotta Pasta Salad

I have to admit, I'm not as obsessed with Pinterest as everyone else seems to be. For quite a while there, I just didn't get the appeal at all. I've come around a bit though and used it to find inspiration for some DIY art projects for our master bathroom as well as some recipes. I don't spend hours and hours on the site, but I can see the usefulness of it now. (If you, on the other hand, are all about Pinterest, you can also access all of my recipes from the Cake & Coke Pinterest board. Feel free to re-pin and share your favorite recipes with friends!)

I happened across a photo of this recipe, but my attention was really captured by the caption which said that this pasta salad was made with ricotta instead of mayo. First of all, I love ricotta cheese. I can just eat it straight from the container. Second of all, I love creamy pasta salads but would like to be able to make them lighter (aside from just using light mayo). Justin, however, isn't a big fan of the texture of ricotta unless it's mixed into something like lasagna where he won't really notice it. This recipe, though, mixes in some pasta water to make the ricotta into a creamy sauce rather, which I thought would be a perfect way to hide the texture a bit. We adjusted the veggies to what we thought would be tasty and gave it a try. I think if we made this again I would maybe add a packet of ranch seasoning or something similar to the sauce to make it more flavorful--it was a little on the bland side--but otherwise I definitely liked this idea for a different take on pasta salad.

Grilled Three-Cheese & Rosemary Sandwiches

Justin and I love grilled cheese. First of all, who doesn't like cheese? It's pretty spectacular. Then it's also just so easy to make. Slap some butter and cheese on some bread and toss it in a hot pan. Voila, dinner. Tangent alert: I don't like it when people make "grilled cheese" with meat on it. That's not grilled cheese. That's a grilled sandwich with cheese on it. That's a poor man's panini. I'm sure it's still freaking delicious, but it's not grilled cheese. I can make an allowance for veggies I suppose, but even that's a little iffy to me; you're still verging on grilled sandwich territory there.

Sorry about that. I get really passionate about my grilled cheese. Anyway, in my book, you really can't beat the childhood favorite grilled cheese, white bread with Kraft singles. However, sometimes we like to pretend to be adults and fancy it up a bit. That's where this grilled cheese sandwich comes in. It still has the American cheese in there to give it that classic, gooey creaminess, but it also adds sharp cheddar for a little bite and Swiss cheese for a rich nuttiness. The rosemary butter gives it a hint of freshness. While this will never be my absolute favorite grilled cheese, it's a good alternative for when I want to feel a bit more sophisticated. My one major tip for this sandwich is to put the American cheese in the center of the other two slices. Being harder cheeses, they'll take a bit longer to melt, so having each of them right up against the bread should help with that a bit.

Roast Beef Foldovers

This is one of my absolute favorite sandwiches. I make it for lunch fairly often and dinner occasionally. For me, the thing that makes this sandwich more awesome than a regular roast beef sandwich is the bread. I always use garlic naan. If you haven't had naan before, you don't know what you're missing. It's a type of flatbread, but it's puffy and soft; it's not tough like some flatbreads can be. Once you heat it up and all that garlic aroma gets released, mmmm...

Fruit-free Chicken Salad

It has taken me a long time to find a chicken salad I'll actually eat. I've told you before about my distaste for those indiscriminate "salads" they serve in deli cases and such, so I don't really jump at the chance to eat chicken salad in the first place. When I find some place that makes fresh chicken salad, it almost always contains fruit, and I am not a fan of fruit in savory meals. I can go the opposite direction and eat bacon in dessert all day long, but I do not want cherries, cranberries, apples, grapes, or raisins in my chicken salad. Maybe it's because of the mayonnaise; I'm not really sure. Either way, I just can't do it.

Simple Egg Drop Soup

Egg drop soup will forever be something I associate with my mother. No, my mom wasn't Chinese, but when other kids would have asked their moms to make them some chicken noodle soup when they were sick, I asked mine to make egg drop soup. As soon as I was old enough to use the stove by myself, I asked her to show me how to make it.