Teresa's Zucchini Quiche, and More!

Now that Teresa and Domenico (my daughter's in-laws) departed for Italy, it's been real quiet at my daughter's household...not that they were noisy, but a lot of cooking and baking going on, a lot of "hustle and bustle"...only Italian language heard.

I went there yesterday, to help organize all the many frozen and canned items she made to last for several months. We all miss them, and our Italian language has improved a lot...LOL

Since I attempted to make my last dish, which was the Cayman Fish, I must say I have not cooked anything, because every day my son comes over to the beach to go surfing at lunch time, before he goes to his classes at the local University, working for his Masters degree.

He brings me so much food, all ready to be re-heated, that's all I have to do...literally.
My ankle is improving tremendously, I don't even have to use the walker any more...it's folded up, and will be donated to Goodwill. My diagnosis is all good...no blood clots, no vascular problems...just had to see my chiropractor, because my back, my shoulders, my neck was all "out of line"...a few cracks of the ribs, and everything is back to normal...but I'm still just "tippy toeing" on that foot, yet...in time, all will heal!

Getting back to the Quiche, which is part of the Easter tradition, whether it's in a pie form, filled with meats, or just vegetarian, and most of the time, filled with generous amount of grated cheese of your choice. Different regions of Italy, have different traditions, but they all agree that the use of the eggs are the real purpose, for the use of the Easter Pie...Pastiera...or Quiche, even pizza is considered as part of the tradition, especially, in Naples. Teresa made this beautiful Zucchini Quiche, also 2 kinds of pastas, one vegetarian, and a mostaccioli with little meat balls, mozzarella cheese, chopped hard boiled eggs, and with her homemade tomato sauce...amazing.

I want to share my recipe to the quiche which was quite similar to this quiche...the only difference is that this quiche was made with puff pastry dough, but my recipe which I use...and "tried and true" every time, is a Mark Bittman's recipe, for both the Quiche, and the crust!

Egg Salad in Pita Pocket.... and a Winner!

With all the activities and preparations for my daughter Lora's upcoming surgery on Thursday, I've been in a "daze" and have not been able to concentrate on making anything that would be worthwhile to post about. Although, I did make a huge pot of simple fresh vegetable soup yesterday, and literally cleaning out my refrigerator of all the veggies I have, that included cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, celery onions and garlic cloves, parsley, and I just chopped up everything and sauteed it, and added vegetable broth in the pot, seasoned it brought it to a boil and just simmered till it was a gorgeous vegetable soup. Oh, I even added a can of corn I had in my cupboard. Also added home made spaetzle to the soup. Took the entire pot, wrapped the pot up in a large towel, placed it in a small laundry basket and took it over to my daughter's.

Nothing like a nice, light, comforting soup. (No photo of it)...didn't think of it. In the meantime, while the soup was cooking, I made myself a simple egg salad. What do you do when you have extra eggs left over? Well, you can make a nice frittata, or a batch of eggs salad, which I did with 8 leftover eggs. The best part is, if you have one of those cute little plastic "egg slicer" gadgets, that slices and chops eggs perfectly. You just place the hard boiled eggs in the slicer, slice it, then turn it around making sure not to mess up the slice, and press the blades down again and it will dice your egg.

Egg Salad
my recipe

8 hard boiled eggs chopped coarsely
1 Tbsp. Hellman's mayonnaise
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
salt and pepper to taste


Cook eggs for approximately 13 minutes for perfect hard boiled eggs. (the best way to cook is to place the eggs in water, bring it to a boil, shut the heat off, cover than pot, and leave it on the stove. Time it for 13 min. and take it off the stove, run cold water and keep running water, while you are peeling the eggs. Will not stick, comes out clean
every time.)
In a medium bowl, chop the eggs coarse, lightly mix mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. You can add chopped onions, chopped celery, and chopped pickles if you like, but simple is the best. Serve all those additions on the side.
I personally like mini dill gherkins, sliced jalapeno, tomatoes, and lettuce, and of course chopped onions, that I mix in the salad just for my own serving. Serves 4. Yumm

I'm linking this to: Full Plate Thursday, @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage