The Food Post is Back!

I've been experimenting with some recipes lately, mostly because sometimes I look in my fridge and think "well what am I going to do with that??" This week, I was wondering what I was going to do with blue cheese, arugula and a sweet walla walla onion. The answer: Quiche.
Blue Cheese, Arugula and Carmelized Onion Quiche

1 3-oz package cream cheese, room temp
1/3 cup half and half or whole milk
3 eggs
a few handfuls arugula, well washed (the original recipe calls for 10 oz frozen spinach)
1/2 a medium, sweet onion (I used a walla walla, but a red onion would work too)
1/2 cup blue cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pre-made pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. The original recipe calls for you to beat the cream cheese, but I actually didn't have any cream cheese so I just moved on and added an extra egg and a little extra milk. Mix in the eggs and milk, and add in everything else except the onion. Depending on the crust you have, you might want to pre-bake it for five minutes. Cook the onions with a little olive oil until brown, then add to the egg mixture (it might actually be good to wilt the arugula with the onions, next time I'm going to try this and add more greens). Pour it all into the crust and bake for about 25 minutes. Tasty!

*****

I was also struck by a huge chocolate craving last week. I almost started eating chocolate chips out of the bag, but I'm more creative than that. I decided that I would make brownies... but I didn't exactly have all the ingredients to complete any one recipe, so I ended up with a frankenstein recipe that was the union of two versions of "one-bowl brownies" from the back of the Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate box. They turned out to be very interesting - I didn't have enough butter, so the top of the brownies had a fluffy, chewy, almost cake-like texture, and the chocolate chips sunk to the bottom making a kind of upside-down brownie cake - so definitely not for you if you are more of a fudge-style brownies fan.

Bonnie's Strange Brownies

4 squares Baker's sweet German chocolate (or unsweetened and up the sugar)
3 Tablespoons butter (maybe a little more or less? I'll have to experiment with this)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
whatever goodies you want to put in (I did 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips and 1/2 cup walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the baking chocolate and butter in the microwave and mix together. Stir in the eggs, sugar and vanilla (one of the recipes I borrowed from called for two cups of sugar, but the baking chocolate I had was already sweetened, so I only did one) and stir more! Mix in the flour and your chosen tidbits.I wanted my brownies super-chocolately so I added in 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder as well, but I'm not sure if it made much of a difference. Pour into a greased baking pan and bake for roughly 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Original recipes:
Baker's Chocolate Brownies
Smitten Kitchen's Spinach Quiche