Back from the Crash and Inspired

It's been more than a year since I've written here. I have many reasons - I've been busy, uninspired, etc - but more than anything, I've been grieving. It got a little too hard to keep up the association with a business that I loved and lost, and I didn't have much to say. I also have had a run of bad computer luck - 3 computers killed by either hardware failures or viruses in 3 months. I lost everything about the Now We're Cooking business, including 3 years' of recipes. I had everything backed up on a backup drive, but we lost that in the move. Sigh.

However, last week I found a USB drive that has everything on it, and I've now saved all the recipes in 10 different places. I've also been doing some reading recently that has me re-inspired.

What's gotten me fired up in Michael Pollan's ""In Defense of Food" and ""Food Rules: An Eater's Manual". "In Defense of Food" helped me see the absurdity of some of what I've been eating - like low-fat yogurt and double-fiber bread. I haven't made it all the way through the book yet, but what I've read inspired me enough to grab "Food Rules". It took less that 30 entertaining minutes to read the 64 common-sense food rules. They also struck me as an inspiring challenge - what would my life be like if I ate this way? How would I feel physically? Would I lose weight? Would I have more energy? Would I become insufferably superior about my eating habits?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but it seems like fun to find out. So from now through next April, I am going to try to live according to these food rules. We'll see what happens.

I did manage to put together a very tasty Easter Brunch that complied with the rules. We had Broccoli and Gorgonzola Crustless Quiche, green salad, and fresh strawberries, followed by homemade Tollhouse Cookies. The only cheats were the salad dressing (I love some bottled dressings, but I'll write about that challenge later) and the chips in the cookies - they contain one ingredient my first grader couldn't pronounce (soy-based lecithin). But that seemed like a pretty good start to me.

Broccoli and Gorgonzola Crustless Quiche

5 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 lb broccoli, steamed until almost tender, chopped

1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 375 degreees. Spray a pie pan with Pam or other cooking spray. (If you want to be pure with the rules, just coat it with butter).
2. Sprinkle the chopped broccoli evenly across the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle all but a little bit of gorgonzola over it.
3. Whisk together the eggs, milk. salt, and pepper. Pour over the broccoli and cheese.
4. Sprinkle the top with the remaining gorgonzola.
5. Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 40-45 minutes, until quiche is firm and top is golden brown.
6. Let stand for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Serves 4-6 people.

This basic quiche recipe works with many flavor combinations. Don't like gorgonzola? Use cheddar. No broccoli? Use asparagus or spinach. Add a little pancetta, bacon, or ham for a bit of additional flavor. The key proportions need to remain the same: about 1 cup "filling", 1/2 cup cheese, 5 eggs and 1 1/2 cups milk.