Thursday, June 23, 2011

Bridal Party Breakfast - Muffins, Simple Quiche, Fruit

My daughter was in a wedding over the weekend.  She was a bridesmaid!  They were going to get ready at the bride's house - doing hair, makeup, etc. and my daughter wanted to take some breakfast over to the wedding party.  She had to be at the reception hall decorating until 1AM and so I got up early to give her a good start on breakfast.  (I never sleep much anyway).  She was going to make muffins (two kinds) and make a fruit tray.  She had wanted a breakfast casserole but we didn't have quite the ingredients to make the breakfast casserole and she would have had to have gone to the store after decorating (at the all-night supercenter) and then made it (we had no bread), but that morning I discovered I did have enough ingredients to make a little pie crust and a simple quiche.  I made the muffins (chocolate chip and blueberry) using the Plain Muffin recipe from http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ , the quiche from a favorite cookbook in my cabinet.  Once my daughter got up she got the fruit tray ready.  They had a feast and instead of eating at a drive-thru these girls had a terrific start to their day!  They even took the leftover muffins to the church for the flower girls to have as a snack.  It was an awesome day!


Here are the recipes for the BRIDAL PARTY BREAKFAST







HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHIP OR BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder (NOT baking soda)
2 cups all purpose flour (unbleached is best!)
1 to 1 ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or frozen blueberries


In a large bowl combine the oil, egg, milk, sugar and salt. Mix it very well with a fork so that the egg is completely incorporated. Add in the baking powder and the flour. Mix again until all of the dough particles are moistened. Do not over mix. Add in 1 to 1 ½ cup chocolate chips or blueberries. The whole thing should take about 20 to 30 strokes total. Spoon the batter into a dozen well oiled or sprayed muffin cups (just about full) (I do not use cupcake papers). Bake in a preheated 400° oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing from the pan.


(This is a very versatile recipe. I sometimes substitute 1 cup of the flour with 1 cup oats, and have added 1 grated apple and some cinnamon which makes a terrific muffin!)




SIMPLE HAM & CHEESE QUICHE

1 pie crust placed in pie pan, edges crimped - or 1 unbaked pie shell
3 slices sandwich ham, cut into 1" squares
1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
3 large eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cup milk
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon onion powder (optional)


Sprinkle ham and cheese in pie crust. In separate dish, combine eggs, milk, salt, pepper, & onion powder. Whip well to fully incorporate eggs / milk, etc. Pour into pie shell (over ham & cheese). Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 40 minutes or until top is browning a little bit. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving.


* You could also add some veges, such as mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, etc. OR even pepperoni, etc. to the cheese and ham layered in the crust before you dump on the egg mixture. I just wasn’t sure how picky the girls were so I used basic ham & cheese.