Recipe Corner: Quiche Muffins

I have a problem in my house. I love to eat things like quiche, omelets, and fritatas. My husband cannot stand eggs in anything other than baked goods. My little munchkin doesn't care for them much, either. So this recipe was my solution to that problem. I baked a big batch of quiche muffins, little individual quiches! Now I can have eggs whenever I want them. I got the recipe from 30 Day Gourmet over here.

You will need:
16 oz. cottage cheese, pureed in a food processor
4 eggs
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 c. onions, chopped

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add milk, flour, baking powder, and salt to eggs and mix until smooth. Add the pureed cottage cheese to the egg mixture and mix. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, and onions.

Pour filling into a well-greased muffin tin. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool and freeze in small freezer bags for individual servings.

These are delicious! The only trouble I ran into was getting them out of the muffin tin. I ran out of cooking spray and had to use butter for greasing my pan, I guess I didn't get in the corners well enough. They still taste good, though, even if they don't look quite perfect. And I love that they are freezable. They will last me for months!

Happy Cooking!
Nicole.

Rainbow Rice Sensory Box

Sensory boxes are so much fun! I saw this idea on Pink & Green Mama, and I knew I had to try it!

You will need:
* a large "under the bed" plastic storage box - I think mine is 36 qts. or so, I got it at WalMart for $6.50
* rice - I used two 10 lb. bags
* food coloring
* rubbing alcohol
* gallon-size food storage bags

1. Separate the rice into 6 bags (or as many colors as you want).

2. Add a little rubbing alcohol to each bag.

3. Add food coloring to each bag. We decided to do primary and secondary colors. If you child is old enough, have them help put the food coloring in.

4. Seal bags and shake! Add more color, if necessary, to achieve your desired shade.

5. Pour rice out on waxed paper to dry. It will dry fairly quickly, but I like to give it a day for the alcohol smell to air out.

6. Put rice into the plastic storage container and let the kiddos have at it!

the first scoop!

pouring into a bowl

I couldn't stand it any longer - we had to mix the colors together!

the "aftermath" on my floor - wasn't too bad, actually

This is great for scooping and pouring! It would also be fun for hiding things inside to find (like an I-spy), or as an imagination play box with small toys. Check out Pink & Green Mama's ocean box, construction box, and farm box - those will be making an appearance at our house soon, I am sure!

Pumpkin Patch - Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Snow!

It snowed here this weekend! The first snow of winter is always special, and E hasn't seen snow for quite a while. Last winter she wasn't walking well enough to go out and play in the snow, so this was a first for her. We only got a dusting at our house, but Grandma and Grandpa got 4 inches! We went to their house for Sunday dinner and E got to play in the snow on the deck.

brushing snow off the chair

seeing how deep it is

Grandma and Grandpa helped E build a snowman!

Tot School Week 2

E is 21 months

This was our second week of tot school. We are continuing with the farm theme, and E is really enjoying all the activities we've been working on.

Learning Toys:
We pulled a few more ideas from 1+1+1=1 for our trays this week. E has been working on several montessori-like activities, like:
transfering pom-poms from bucket to bucket with a spoon. She did not like this activity, she would much rather hold them and pet them. Ha! Having to use a spoon just frustrated her.

sorting yellow and purple pom-poms into separate containers.

pushing pasta into small holes. This activity was a big hit, we used it for three days straight!

We also continued using our animal matching cards from last week. I've found if I put fewer matches out, then E has a much easier time finding the matches and keeping interest in the game. We're working on 6 sets at a time.

Another game we tried this week was finding the objects hidden in the bowl of pasta. This was also a great activity, E just loves to play with pasta.

Alphabet:
We had our playdate for Letter C and read some caterpillar stories. We also made a Letter C caterpillar to hang on our fridge. You can see my post about that here.

E helped me make carrot and pineapple muffins for our playdate. She has been quite the helper in the kitchen recently. She loves to help stir and pour when I'm baking, and the other day she breaded the fish for dinner (with mama's help, of course).

Theme - Farm:
We got a new toy this week, a set of Little People Building Blocks. We got the farm set and it came with a farmer, scarecrow (E's favorite), and chicken nest with eggs. We have had fun building towers with it, sometimes matching colors or shapes, but mostly just trying it out and playing around with it.

I printed off the farm totbook from 1+1+1=1 and we have started working on that. We read through the alphabet book, and did a few of the pages in the coloring book. I introduced the size cards to E and had her find the big tractor or the small tractor when I was holding up just two cards.

Another activity I printed from 1+1+1=1 was a matching page. I used velcro for the pieces once I had them laminated, and E had so much fun matching up the images and then ripping the velcro off to do it again.
Reading Basket:
Our reading basket this week was the same as last week.

We did go to storytime at the library this week and the theme was fall stories. E had a lot of fun, and I appreciated someone else reading her stories for a half hour!

Favorite Photos of the Week:Wearing Daddy's Shoes

Letter C for Caterpillar

We had such a fun playdate at our house this Thursday. Every other week we host a "letter of the week" playdate. This week was letter C! The weather even cooperated, because it was COLD! I saw somewhere that October 8 was Read for the Record day, with the book being The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I didn't have that book planned to read, but we pulled it out anyways and added our names to the list for the world record! We also read The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain.

We did our Letter C for Caterpillar craft, borrowed from No Time for Flashcards, as usual.

The kids did a great job of playing together, they are getting fairly good at sharing toys with each other. We also got to eat Letter C snacks like crackers, cheese, coldcuts, cucumbers, celery with cream cheese, and carrot muffins! Moms enjoyed some coffee, too!

Yay for Letter C!

I've Been a Busy Mama!

This is turning out to be such a busy week! I feel like I am still recuperating from cooking day back on Sunday! I have, however, gotten a few things done for E's totschool and arts and crafts time. I got a new color cartridge for my printer and I am back in business!

E's farm theme "totbook" (You can download it for free here) It has so many great activites; a coloring book, ABC book, a puzzle (probably too hard for E), size sequencing cards, a counting fold-out, matching/memory cards, and a match the front half and back half of the animal game:


Colored rice and orzo for arts and crafts, and pouring practice - once she gets a little better with the bigger pasta. Rice is a little harder to clean up when it's all in my carpet!:

In His Hands,
Nicole