Quick Quiche

I had never been a fan of quiche before, and frankly, I actually didn’t even like it. I had given up on it for many many years, and then I Came across this simpler, quick quiche recipe. I thought “Why not?” because I didn’t have to make any pie crusts or anything. That, and it only had 4 steps! And I had everything I needed at home anyway.

The original recipe can be found here: Allrecipes.com: Quick Quiche.

I found it to be actually quite yummy. It was still alright as leftovers, but you need to make sure it’s heated thoroughly when reheated. Cold egg just isn’t very appealing.

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 skim milk

How-To:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Fry the bacon in a pan until cooked. Drain the oil and pat dry the bacon with paper towels to remove excess oil. Crumble (or use a knife to cut into small pieces) and layer into the 9 inch pie pan. (Allrecipes calls for a light greasing of the pan. I don’t remember if I did. I would think that the oil from the bacon and cheese would have been enough.)

Layer the cheese into the pan. Mix with bacon if desired.

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, eggs, onion, green onion, salt, flour and milk. Whisk together until smooth (the flour may clump up quite a bit. Keep whisking it!). Carefully pour into pie pan.

Place into oven for 35 minutes until set (use the toothpick method). Make sure the middle reaches 74C!

Serve hot.

Favourite part: the “crust.” 🙂

Restaurant Review: Amigo Cafe Restaurant, Port Coquitlam, BC

NOTE: Google as well as other restaurant review sites have called this mom and pop restaurant “Amigo Pancake House.”

So my boyfriend and I woke up late one morning (11:30am!), and there wasn’t much in the fridge. I was getting hungry, and he was craving pancakes.. and because we don’t get to see each other very often now, we decided to head out for a cheap breakfast… which meant it had to be a diner, drive-in or dive! He started looking online as I went to change and make myself presentable to the outside world. At this time, we also came up with the goal that we will, for the rest of the year, not go to any large chain restaurants (ie. IHOP). So here we have Amigo Cafe Restaurant, a small restaurant in a quiet neighbourhood on a Sunday morning. (PS. “Downtown Port Coquitlam” is VERY quiet!)

There were only a few people inside, contrary to what we read in some of the restaurant reviews at dinehere.ca. It definitely had a mom and pop feel, it wasn’t anything like the big chains. Plain wallpaper, a few pictures here and there; nothing spectacular. The servers were super friendly though, and were always attentive. I caught their eye a few times accidentally, and they would come over with a smile and ask if everything was okay. They also came often to refill coffee and water.

As we flipped through the menu, the prices were indeed cheaper than any IHOP or De Dutch. Definitely rivaled McD prices, back in the day before all those coupons and deals came out! $6 for a meal and healthier? I’m down!!

And now, to the food. Introducing, the…

Two Pancake Breakfast! 2 fluffy pancakes with two eggs and 3 breakfast sausages, and unlimited refills coffee. $4.95, I think.

I admit I have a real soft spot for eggs and breakfast sausages.. There’s just something about eggs that are so comforting and familiar and simple: you can have them any way you want them. And sausages.. they speak for themselves. Unfortunately, for both pictures, I was a little slow in getting the camera out. Hunger overtook my blogging instincts. He already started to butter his pancakes and added ketchup to his plate and poked the over medium eggs so the yolk started to run..

And what I had:

The Breakfast Special for $5.95! (Honestly I can’t remember the exact name or price since we came here 5 days ago before I started writing my final exams) Comes with 2 slices of toast (white or whole wheat), 2 eggs, 1 farmer’s sausage and potatoes. Again, because my hunger got the best of me, I pushed everything to one side to get the ketchup its own space and ate half a piece of toast before getting out my camera. I was surprised at the sausage — it wasn’t any breakfast sausage, really. It was a spicy smoky! I would prefer breakfast sausages in the morning because it requires less jaw movement, but I was okay with that.

The potatoes were done just right — they weren’t hard nor were they soft. They were a crispy golden brown around the edges (just low how I like my french fries!). The toast wasn’t burnt, nor was anything else on the plate. Everything was perfect, even the meal size. Doesn’t look like a lot in the picture, but it was a healthy amount. Though if there was more, I’d be happy to eat it… guiltily.

That’s all I’ve to say about this one. Definitely DEFINITELY a place on my list to go back to.

Take home message: I’m super happy to be able to spend some money on a place that is owned by real people with real lives and real families. The service is different, the food is different, and there is CARING. Check out places in your neighbourhood and help out those families trying to make a living. IHOP can survive with a few less customers.

 

Amigo Cafe Restaurant / Amigo Pancake House

2228 McAllister Avenue, #102
Port Coquitlam, BC V3C2A5

Tel: (604) 464-2040

5Hrs27m

Until I’m free! Three down, one big one to go!

Then to reduce the blogging backlog ;D

4-Day MIA

New foods will be posted soon! As well as some reviews 🙂 one exam down, three to go!

Potato Vegetable Bacon Soup

I’ve recently been challenged to lower my carb intake, and exercise more. And I’ve been dared to do some pole dancing, which I intend on taking up! Unfortunately, I’m not working and therefore have no money… And it’s a few days before the start of finals, so realistically, I will NOT be eating well. Of course, starting with this yummy potato vegetable soup… So much for low carb!

Ingredients:

• Chicken stock (as much as you’d like, depending on how much soup you want and how thick you want it. I completely eyeballed it, so I’ve no idea how much I put in. Half a pot?)
• 4 slices of bacon, sliced into 1″ long pieces
• Half a red onion, sliced and cut into 1″ long pieces
• 6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 carrots, peeled and cubed
• 5 celery stalks, cubed
• (shrimp)
• Salt and pepper to taste

How-To (only one pot is needed!):

Turn on the stove to medium heat and throw in the bacon. Once browned, add in the onions. Allow to simmer (stir often or they will stick and burn to the bottom of the pot!) until onions are translucent. Add the potatoes and continue to stir on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add in the chicken stock and allow it to heat up to a rolling boil.

In the mean time, cut up the rest of the veggies (carrots, celery) and throw them in the pot. Doesn’t matter if the soup isn’t boiling yet — it all comes out in the end.

Now, this part is totally up to you. It really depends on how soft you want the vegetables. Just keep poking and tasting the vegs until you get the right softness. I prefer my vegetables soft in soup, but not mushy. The only thing that should ever be mushy in a soup is the potatoes..

If you want a creamier soup, add some milk here, and bring to rolling boil.

At this point, if you want to throw in any seafood, make sure the soup is boiling before throwing them in. Seafood cooks fast, so stir them in and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Heating them too much makes them rubbery 😦 Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot. Refrigerate any leftover portions immediately.

Serves 5 (in big bowls).

Enjoy!

Recipe from: Mom

I apologize for the sub-par photo. All I had was my camera phone at the time.. The soup looks and tastes better than what’s in the picture.

Side story:

So today was the last day of classes, and I only had one class today. My communicable disease instructor is from Hong Kong and speaks English with a Chinese/British hybrid accent. I admit I almost died laughing inside when we started talking about water and bacteria in pools. He doesn’t/can’t say “L” in most or all English words. Instead of “stool” it’ll come out as “stew” and “really” comes out as a “woolly”/”woory” hybrid (a rolling r like in Japanese). So in my mind, for some reason I came up with his voice saying “Pee in the poo.” Minutes later, instead of “bloodborne diseases,” I hear “buttborne diseases.”

Totally pointless, but I had a really good laugh. Totally made my day. 🙂