More, please

I'm exhausted from having too much fun. I didn't think that it was possible to have too much fun, but I managed it. Family came into town and we spent our days skiing, eating, drinking beer, snowshoeing, and eating some more. It's great sharing our home and doing things with the people we love. Next time, I'll just have to pace myself a little better. I live a tough life, I know.

We ate a lot, but I typically don't mind that activity. My family tends to center activities around meals and always make time for a snack. We got to check out some wonderful restaurants around Denver like Japoix http://www.japoix.com/- a mouth watering Japanese/French combination and Fogo de Chao http://www.fogodechao.com/- a Brazilian steakhouse. Each dinners was accompanied by a glass of wine and dessert. Okay, maybe each dinner had two glasses of wine and second helpings of dessert. That might explain my lethargy.

As much as I enjoy dinning out, I prefer to cook when I can. Cooking says what I sometimes cannot. Its a way to express my love. I enjoy nothing more then seeing someone chewing with a mouthful while "mmming" and then going back for more. I'd do it everyday if I could. Since my father prefers foods that come from a box and I insist to cook from whole foods, I had to find something that would appease us both and not lead to arguments. After all, its how I show my love.

This recipe came from my friend Faith when I was planning a brunch for a group of girlfriends a few months ago. I got into a panic when the quiche recipe that I had just wasn't turning out. She hadn't made this quiche before but claimed that it came from one of her most reliable hometown cookbooks: Miss Aimee B's . Based on how this quiche turned out, I'd have to agree. I made the quiche for the brunch and then made it again the next day when there weren't any leftovers. Faith is an honest friend.

I use a homemade pie crust with this recipe. I prefer a sweeter crust then the store bought ones. But its perfectly fine to skip this step and go to the store for this part. No judgment from me - I swear. Making the filling is a cinch, aside from lightly beating the eggs on their own, all the ingredients get tossed into a bowl and then poured into the crust. The bacon adds enough salt for my liking, but if you prefer the no-meat edition by omitting the bacon, a little salt may be necessary for flavor enhancement. Even though the original recipe calls for frozen spinach and low-fat milk, I use fresh spinach and whipping cream. I'm not willing to trade flavor for calories. But for those more health conscious, low-fat milk is an option.

I made this quiche for four dainty women and even they had a hard time saying no to seconds. They finished all the contents in a 9-inch pie pan. I'm proud of them.

Oh, and my father insisted to my mother that she take the recipe home.


Copper Mountain Spinach Quiche (Modified from Miss Aimee B's Cookbook)

1 9inch deep dish pie crust

2 1/2-3 cups fresh baby spinach, stems cut off

2 tbs flour

10 slices cooked bacon

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup sweet yellow onion, chopped

1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

1cup cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the raw pie crust for 10 min at 350. Then combine cream and mayonnaise and beat until smooth. Stir in the egg and then onion. Once combined, blend in bacon, spinach, flour, mushrooms, cheddar and Swiss cheese. Pour into partially baked pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.