MacGyver Night: Let Him Eat Quiche

When I plan the monthly menu not only do I account for when we have activities that will have us out of the house, or nights we pre-determine for dinner out, I also factor in nights my husband will not be home for dinner. Usually it’s only 2 nights month, the nights he volunteers for the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad and is on duty from 6PM to 6AM. This month he had an out of town trip for work so I planned for two nights of meals for just me and my son. I will be honest in that nine times out of ten I take advantage of the opportunity just to take my little guy to a local fast food chain because we do it rarely and sees it as a special treat when Daddy isn’t home. Every once in a while I have the ability to leave work a little early and do something fun like make pizzas:

Now back to the nights I thought my husband was out of town. Turns out the second night he was coming home and with traffic and such he’d be home by 7PM and was not stopping for dinner. I realize this at4:00PM. I am home. I am not going back out to store. He is not going to be happy with the meal of cheese and crackers I had planned for myself. Sounds like a MacGyver night right?

I look in my fridge and realize I have 8 cans of Reduced Fat Pillsbury Crescent rolls. Let me explain the crescent roll surplus by adding the only thing that I like more than couponing is getting bonus Box Tops…crazy obsession I know but I find it fun! Anyway, crescent rolls in hand I decide using them to make a crust would be quick and easy…and make a great base for a quiche! I cannot explain how my brain leapt to quiche other than to say that next to 6 said cans of crescents were a dozen eggs and a half of block of Gruyere cheese. I also knew there was prosciutto and scallions in the house….sounds like everything I needed for a quiche to me!

Being I never made quiche with crescent rolls I looked for some quick tips and found 2 ideas from cooks.com : Zucchini Crescent Quiche and Chicken Quiche. I didn’t have heavy cream or even half and half on hand but I did have reduced fat buttermilk on hand. I did use fresh ground pepper and dried mustard. I also prebaked the crescent rolls like one of the recipes suggested. I will say I had a little more difficulty rolling it into one piece of dough than I thought I would but I was finally able to get it into dish like I liked it.

My mixture for the filling:
2 eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
6 ounces of freshly shredded Gruyere cheese
½ cup of green onion tops and bottoms
2 teaspoons of dried mustard
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 ounces of sliced prosciutto (I cut into bits using kitchen shears)

I poured it into the prepared crust and baked for 20 minutes.

 

It as extremely flavorful! The cheese, prosciutto and onion went very well together and the crust had a nice lightness to it. I think it will be easy to experiment with different combinations of ingredients. I mean, I DO have 7 more cans of crescent rolls after all!

And yes, real men DO in fact eat quiche!

Friday Night Bites: MacGyver Night Recipe

Last night was MacGyver night at my house…no, not a DVD marathon (although I secretly wouldn’t mine owning the whole series!) but a night in which I simply put “pork” on the menu and I needed to come up with something. I have discussed my MacGyvering before and how it has become a big part of how I prepare dishes and end up coming up with new recipes. On this night, I am little late with the grocery shopping so my “fresh” options were severely limited but since I had thawed from the freezer about a 2 pound package of boneless pork chops due to the menu, I had that as my main protein.

A quick review of the cabinets and freezer and a dish was born. Say hello to pan fried teriyaki chops with jasmine rice and sautéed garlic spinach!

It took on half bottle of Lawry’s 30-minute marinade (teriyaki flavor), flour, olive oil, 2 table spoons of butter, 2 cloves of garlic, half a bag of frozen chopped spinach and 1 package of Uncle Ben’s 90 second rice.


For the record going forward if I am ever preparing a simple side dish of spinach, I will now ALWAYS prepare it sautéed in a pan! In this case, after I fried the pork, I used the reserved  hot oil, added the butter and garlic and then cooked the spinach until hot. Added a little salt and pepper and I could have sworn it was like the same dish I prepare using fresh leaves!

Have you had a MacGyver moment? Share with The Cook Crook!

Hey There MacGyver

Thank you to a Cook Crook follower for sharing this!!

MacGyver Night

I will admit that I loved MacGyver and never missed an episode (we won't talk about the pictures of Richard Dean Anderson in my locker) but who would have thought that the word "MacGyver" would become a part of our slang? If you have never seen an episode (or never owned a TV), MacGyver could escape a Turkish prison with a paper clip, some chewing gum and a shoe lace. To "MacGyver" is to take what you ordinarily have on hand and make something new.

So tonight, was my MacGyver night and usually, like tonight, it is the night my husband isn't home and experimentation doesn't affect anyone but me! So, I took a look in the fridge and cabinets. In the fridge I found leftover cooked whole wheat rotini pasta, fresh spinach, chopped bacon, and leftover diced onion. In the cabinet I found a jar of light Alfredo sauce I keep meaning to try. So I sauteed that bacon and onion in a little olive oil and then wilted that spinach in the mixture. I heated up a 3/4 cup of the sauce with the pasta in a small pot and then added the other ingredients. Add a salad on the side from the Romaine hearts I always have on hand, and Voila, dinner is served. Not a rocket ship out of a paper towel tube and hairspray, but it was delicious!