Quiche and Cookies

You may have read that I got a KitchenAid Stand Mixer for Christmas.  Yep, I did.  It's amazing.  If I have a new toy, especially something as fantastic as the KASM, I'm going to use it.

My first meal was a homemade quiche.  I've always heard how easy they are to make so I wanted to give it at shot.  At first I wasn't even thinking about using the Mixer, then I realized I could easily beat the eggs using it.  My first spin with the Mixer was eggs, you gotta start somewhere.  I'll agree, quiche is easy to make - and delicious!  I made a spinach, zucchini and mushroom quiche with some cheddar cheese.

7 eggs - beat in mixer with 3/4 cup of half n half
chop veggies, add to egg mixture
defrost frozen spinach package, drain well, add to egg mixture
add 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, mix together
pour the mixture into pie crust.  I used a frozen crust and it worked great.

Place on a baking sheet and put in an oven preheated to 375.  The baking sheet is important in case some of the egg mixture spills over the edge, it did with mine.  Bake for about 45 min.  Start checking it around 35 minutes.  A knife inserted into the middle should come out clean when it's finished.  Let it sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving.  ENJOY!

Now onto the good stuff: Cookies.  Who doesn't love cookies!?

I started with a basic, but delicious, sugar cookie.  I'm tired of the store bought cookies being too flat after they're cooked. The recipe was in the book of recipes that came with the mixer which was nice because it told you what speeds to use and when to scrape the bowl.  Things that are important to figure out when you're first learning how to use the Mixer.

The dough was so easy to make!  We had all of the ingredients at home.  I have a feeling we'll never be buying the tear and bake type cookie dough again.

The dough sits in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours after it's mixed.  Then it was time to roll it out and make our Christmas cookie shapes!  So much fun.  For years I decorated Christmas cookies at my friend's house, and we had SO many cookies.  I never knew Mrs. Myerson was in the kitchen making dough for so long.  I appreciate all of her hard work so much now.

While the sugar cookie dough was cooling I made some Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  Just as easy and no need to take a 2-hour break while the dough cools.  I'll call them the instant-gratification-cookies.  While the raisins were mixing, Stephen added some mini-chocolate chips to the dough, perfect!

MMMM.  The recipe should have made 48 cookies, we got about 24.  We're tall, we can handle big cookies.  

Then it was time to decorate the cookies!  That meant making Buttercream Icing.  Not as easy as the cookie dough.  It didn't go on as smoothly as I wanted it to and the sprinkles didn't stick like I wanted them to, but we had fun.

I've been packing us salads and cookies for lunch everyday.  That's a great balance, I think.  Next time I make cookies, I'll try a different icing recipe, and add some color - fancy!

Christmas Came Early!

Do you have that one thing you've been looking at in store windows for years?  That one, single thing that you know would make your life better with just it's presence in your house?  Me too.  It's the KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  I've been lusting after the mixer since college.  Every apartment or house I've lived in I can picture exactly where I'd put it.

Here she is - my dream baby

I've never hidden this desire, this dream.  Every time I pass by one of the stand mixers in a store, I stop to pay my respects and say a little prayer.  I mean, how can you NOT want one?  There are so many colors, so many things to bake and so many parts to buy!  It's an appliance with so many purposes.  

Then I met Stephen.  The one man who listens when I talk and pays attention to things I want.  He doesn't spoil me, in any way, but pays attention to the key things that he knows will make me sublimely happy.  For example, since I moved to Atlanta I've wanted to be taken on a date to Wisteria.  It was nearly 8 years before that happened, and Stephen was the one to do it.  He paid attention.  

This is our first Christmas together.  Based on how well he knows me I knew he'd find away to blow me away with his present.  I wasn't disappointed.  Last night, under the Christmas tree I opened a box that read "KitchenAid Stand Mixer".  Cue jumping up and down and hugging.

I've read the entire manual, including the recipes that came with it.  It's so beautiful in the kitchen, next to the window where it gets good, natural light.  She's my baby.  She's the biggest and baddest machine KitchenAid makes.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have a boyfriend who makes me this happy.  Don't get me wrong, it's not the material things, it's that he listens to me and knows what will make me happy.  I can't wait for all of the dinners, desserts and good memories to be made from and around this mixer.