Turkey, Cheese and Potato Quiche

I made my mom's hash brown quiche for my friend Kelly's baby shower. I made a few tweeks to make it a little healthier :)

Ham (Turkey), Cheese and Potato Quiche

24 oz package of frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
1/4 c. melted butter
6 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
3 c. small cubed ham or turkey ham
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. Monterey Jack Cheese (or swiss cheese)

Mix hash browns and melted butter. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9x13 pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 min. Mix eggs, half and half, and salt. Mix ham (or turkey) and cheeses together and put on top of the cooked potatoes. Pour egg mixture over ham and cheese. Bake for 40 min.

Rebecca (just had a baby 4 months ago!), Kelly (prego with twins and looks this good) and me (the shirt makes me look more pregnant than I actually am!

Bun in the Oven

Interested in pregnancy? Read about being

10 weeks pregnant, 20 weeks pregnant,

30 weeks pregnant and 40 weeks pregnant.

Vegetable Minestrone with Buckwheat (or quinoa)

I had this recipe hanging on my fridge for about 2 months and finally was in the mood to make it! Nothing like a good down pour of rain to put you in the mood for soup :)
As always, I made some changes to the original recipe from Clean Eating. I wrote in the changes I made, but I am sure either way will be delicious!

Ingredients

I added Napa Cabbage and zuchinni to the veggies in the soup
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2" dice (about 1 cup)1 1 cup fennel
1 cup red onion, diced
2 lrg cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 bay leaves (I didn't use these, just used an italian herb blend instead of the herbs here)
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped (skipped)
1/4 tsp fennel seeds, crushed (skipped)
1 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained
2 cups fresh plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced ( I used canned organic tomatoes that had garlic and basil in them)
1/3 cup uncooked quinoa ( I actually didn't have quinoa and used buckwheat kernals instead. It will be good with either)
kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 cup fresh spinach, cut chiffonade
tbsp basil, thinly sliced
2 oz. Parmesan cheese, finely grated (abt 1/2 cup), optional

Directions

In a lrg heavy bottomed pot, heat oil over medium heat.
Add carrots, cabbage, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and fennel seeds, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes.
Add 6 cups water, beans, tomatoes and quinoa.
Heat to boiling then reduce heat to low and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.
Stir spinach and basil into soup just before serving in bowls.
Garnish each with 1 tbsp cheese, if desired.

Number of Servings: 8

It's a...

BOY!

Oh Christmas Tree

We might not have hot water or even be sleeping here, but we have our Christmas Tree!

I just had to get it up, so Haws and I went and picked out a fresh tree, had it chopped down and took it home. I love real Christmas Tree's. I know they can be a hassle, but I love the smell. I don't think I can ever own a fake one. Just my personal preference.

Why I Haven't been blogging

The weekend after Thanksgiving we started our move from our cozy little apartment into our new house!
It has been a crazy few weeks, but we finally got everything out of the apt today and handed over the keys. That felt good. Now we are just waiting until we can actually sleep at our new place! Our water heater hasn't been working, so we have been trying to figure out the problem and get someone out to fix it. This is harder than one would think... but I think we may actually be able to be staying there next week :) Thank goodness my parents have been kind enough to have us stay with them while we wait for hot water.

This is the apt as we were moving... what a mess!

Thank you guys for coming and helping out! We couldn't have done it with out your help.

This was just one of many trips. How did we fit so much into that 2 bedroom apt???

The new place... still trying to get settled in.

And another reason I haven't been blogging is because of this little one!

It is crazy how such a small thing can make such a huge impact on how you feel. I have just not felt like myself... tired, sick and eating things I thought I would never touch! I never thought I would be so grateful for Del Taco :)
So I am 11 1/2 weeks pregnant. We couldn't be more excited! This has been something we have been trying for for a long time and we are so happy everything is going so well. I had a miscarriage right before this, so I was a little nervous at first, but now I am just excited! The best part is seeing the ultrasounds and seeing the baby move around. It's crazy to think that is inside of me! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and being so positive. It really helped.
Baby Hexberg is coming near the end of June.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

Taeler and Dana welcomed their baby girl Raegan Elarie into the world on Nov 14th.
She was 7lbs 4oz and 20 inches and beautiful!

I wish I had a picture of the fam, but Taeler would have killed me.

Once they all got home, me and the girls took dinner over. I made my mom's tater tot casserole and I promised to give everyone the recipe. So here it is!
I made it again for us, with out the corn. So the pictures are minus the corn.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

1lb extra lean ground beef
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom (or celery) soup
1 (10-12oz) frozen bag of corn
1 bag of tater tots
1 c. grated cheese

Brown beef and drain. Add in soup mix, soups and corn. Stir until warm. Layer half of tater tots into a 9x13 pan. Pour in meat mixture and cover with the rest of tater tots. Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbling and tater tots are crispy.