The Kamikaze Cook #25 Easy Quiche

Many, many, MANY years ago there was a recipe for "Impossible Cheeseburger Pie" on the side of a Bisquick box which I cut out and have been using as a base for a variety of different flavors since. The recipe basics are simple and you probably have them at home right now but you can add any kind of meat and cheese and spices and vegetables it's really an endless list of possible outcomes!

Actual recipe:
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 t salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup bisquick*
1 cup milk*
2 eggs*
Heat oven 400 degrees. Cook beef and onions. Drain fat. Stir in salt. Spread in greased pan, sprinkle with cheese. Stir remaining ingredients in separate bowl with fork until blended then pour over meat and cheese mixture. Bake 25 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Now, do you see where I'm going with this. If you leave off the beef and onion, you can use any kind of meat like ham, salami, pepperoni, chicken, turkey, sausage, etc. You can also use any kind of cheese like mozzarella, provalone, muenster, monterey jack, pepper jack, etc. I've added lightly steamed broccoli, fully cooked carrots, steamed green beans and more. You can put in Mexican spices, or Asian spices, or BBQ spices. This is probably the most versitile recipe I have in my little secret box! Another great thing about this is that it's easy to "half" the recipe which I often do as a single person. The only thing is that you must make sure the main three ingredients* are measured accurately because if you put too much bisquick, then it becomes more biscuit like instead of fluffy and eggy. Try something out and let me know how you like it!

The Kamikaze Cook #24 Gordita Breakfast Sandwich

The 99cents only store has this fluffy bread called "Gorditas" which is really yummy. I decided to make a breakfast sandwich with them.

Put gordita bread on micro safe plate, sprinkle grated muenster or mozzarella cheese. Heat skillet and whisk egg. Add a bit of butter to the skillet then add egg to cook quickly (scrambled). Meanwhile, put bread with cheese in micro for 30-40 seconds or until melted. Put cooked egg on half of bread and fold over. Mmm Mmm Good. You could even add salsa if you wanted (not my choice, but we're all different.)

The Kamikaze Cook #23 Polish Sausage and Corn Mush

If you haven't had the corn mush from El Torrito (Mexican Restaurant), you don't know what you're missing. The great news is that you can buy the pre-packaged stuff to make it at any grocery store now- I found it in the "International" isle. This was a wonderful, easy lunch.

Prepare and bake corn mush. (Hint- I made some last night so all I had to do was reheat it.) Meanwhile, slice polish sausage diagonally (like you would bread for bruchetta) and brown in a pan. Vwallah...lunch in 5 minutes flat!

The Kamikaze Cook #22 Hawaiian Chicken

I made pineapple upsidedown cake the other day (which was divine if you haven't had it) and I had leftover pineapple so I decided to do something similar to Hawaiian Meatballs which I used to make for my family when I was a kid.

Marinate chicken overnight in pineapple juice and brown sugar. Cook white or brown rice as you normally would. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, put some pineapple juice, brown sugar and a teaspoon or so of butter. Bring to boil then lower to simmer. While those two things are cooking, heat skillet and spray with cooking spray. Slice marinated chicken into medium sized strips and once ready, place in skillet. Cook thoroughly. When the chicken is fully cooked and both sides brown, add rice to skillet and stir. To the pineapple/brown sugar mixture, add a bit of corn starch to thicken then pour over rice and chicken. Simmer for ten minutes. You can add water if there is not enough moisture. Meanwhile, make salad or steam some green beans in the micro for about 1:10 min. Enjoy!

The Kamikaze Cook #21 Is it a dessert or a breakfast? You be the judge...

I had an idea for something so decadent, so deviously creamy and amazing...but it will probably cost about ten dollars to make. (I'm cheap so yes, it matters.) Will it be worth it? I sure hope so...

Turn oven on to 350. Combine a softened block of cream cheese and jar of marshmallow fluff (thank you Lorraine for this recipe). Spread onto premade crepes and roll into tubes. (I found crepes in the produce section of the grocery store by the shortcakes). Line stuffed crepes in buttered dish seamside down and put in oven while preparing ganache. For ganache, chop blocks of bittersweet or use semi-sweet chocolate chips and put into large bowl. Bring 1 cup heavy cream just to a boil over medium heat (watch the cream every second). Once at "just boiling" stage, pour into bowl over chocolate. Stir to combine. Once combined, pull crepes out of oven, and pour ganache over top or put in dish for individuals to serve themselves. I can't WAIT to try this!!!

The Kamikaze Cook- Smoothies Are Easy and Inexpensive to make at home!

I've been making smoothies at home for years. The basic ingredients of the smoothies are 99% always the same in my version. This is a more liquid way to do it and less heavy than ones from a "chain":

Plain, low-fat yogurt
Milk
Ice cubes

The version of the smoothie is limited only by your imagination! I've made the following and am always looking for new ideas:

strawberry
strawberry and banana
strawberry, mango, blueberry
peanut butter, banana, (chocolate chips)
pineapple and coconut
vanilla extract and sugar (I add sugar because there is no fruit to naturally add it)
...and I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any right now.

You CAN use frozen yogurt as the base instead of refridgerated yogurt. I believe this is what they use in the chain for that really thick style.

I'm actually going to attempt something new- something I've never attemped before. Kids, you MAY want to wait until after I've tried it before moving forward with this. Instead of yogurt as the base, I'm going to use.....pudding. That's right, I'm going to try Butterscotch pudding, milk, ice cubes and chocolate chips to see how it turns out. It could be dangerous. It could be disasterous but I'm willing to try it...for YOU, followers of this blog. Ok, not really...I'm trying it for me, but if it's good, you'll benefit, right?

The Kamikaze Cook- A Kamikazeism

IF all celebrations include food, THEN it stands to reason that FOOD = HAPPINESS.