In The Kitchen With Anna – Peach Cobbler

Summer in a bowl!

While my dear cousin Anna was here we cooked up a storm!  Last night we had the quintessential summer dinner of pesto made with basil from our patio served over linguine and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

When it comes to desserts I go bonkers for fruity dishes like crisps, crumbles and cobblers.  I was so excited when Anna and my folks returned from a day trip to Fredericksburg with two baskets of farm stand peaches.  I made a plum raspberry cobbler for Fathers Day that was unremarkable and not “blog worthy”, so for this cobbler we decided to try a different recipe.  We consulted the queen of cobbler herself, Ms. Paula Deen!

In The Kitchen With Anna – Quiche Lorraine

So my delightful cousin Anna is visiting us for a few days while she’s on summer break.  We’re having a blast staying up till all hours of the night talking and catching up.

Is she not the most precious thing ever?

Anna is going to be a senior at Alabama this year, and she is so mature and worldly beyond her 21 years.  It’s been such a delight to spend some time with her and get to know her as an adult.

My parents recently visited with both Anna & her sister, my beloved cousin Sarah while they vacationed in Europe.  I didn’t get to come along because I had to work and my graduate school schedule didn’t allow me the time away.  Oh well.  Europe will still be there.  Anna and I are now plotting a Foley gals reunion in Europe next summer – Get ready Sarah & Jean, we’re a commin’!

Anna requested that while she is here we all cook together and make some family favorites.  This is the first of several posts in my series, “In The Kitchen With Anna”.

The Waspy Momma coaching Anna as she whisks something into submission.

The first thing we worked on was a quiche lorraine.  Quiche is one of the most flexible dishes, great for entertaining or for a casual meal at home.  You can serve quiche for breakfast, brunch or as a light dinner with a side salad.  With yummy Gruyere cheese we thought it was an appropriate homage to our new Swiss relatives.

Gorgeous and rustic in this earthenware pie dish.

We used a basic pie crust recipe from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book.  You can find my post about the perils of pie pastry, and the recipe here.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients:

1 9 inch pie crust

8 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup Gruyere, grated
4 large eggs
1 egg white
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
dash of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush the pie crust (already placed in a 9 inch pie tin) with the beaten egg white and bake for 5-8 minutes.

Lower oven temperature to 425 degrees. Fry bacon until crisp, drain onto a paper towel, reserve the bacon grease. Saute onion in the same pan with they yummy bacon grease until translucent, drain.

Fill pie shell with crumbled bacon, onions and grated gruyere. Combine beaten eggs with half-and-half, salt, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Pour over bacon and cheese. Place quiche on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until firm but jiggly in the center. Let quiche cool before serving.

Water Your Body Part 2: How Do You Manage Stress?

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light.

When BlogHer and Crystal Light asked me to share with my readers how I handle stress in my life, I couldn’t help but giggle.  Unfortunately the answer to that question for me is – not very well!  But I’m working on it.

My problem isn’t so much that I don’t handle stress well when stress occurs, but more that I can’t seem to say no -like almost ever.  I’m always taking on more than I should, so my stress cycles are consistent rather than sporadic and isolated incidents.  I work a full time job, I attend graduate school full time in the evenings, I try to volunteer in my community, I’m learning to navigate my life through lots of recent changes.  Not to mention that I try to update the blog regularly – bottom line, I just can’t do it all.

I know the first step for me in handling stress needs to be TAKE ON LESS. That is my new mantra.  I will chant this quietly at my desk a few times a day, and I will say this to myself before I go to bed every night.  TAKE ON LESS!

Am I alone here?  Do any of you find yourself taking on too much?  If so – say it with me… TAKE ON LESS!

I’ve read in self help resources that some good strategies for managing stress include:

• making lists and prioritizing tasks
• focusing on taking deep breaths several times a day
• getting plenty of exercise (hooray for those endorphins)
• eating right and getting enough sleep each night

and of course….

• watering your body!

Crystal Light helps me keep well hydrated and these “on the go” packets couldn’t make it easier.  I keep a stash in my desk at work, another stash in my backpack, and yet another stash on my bedside table.

Hydration is probably the only one of the aforementioned stress management strategies I am successful with.  I’m curious – do you have any tips for managing stress?  I would love to hear them in your comments on this post!

And last but not least, because Crystal Light, BlogHer and I love you readers so much, I’m hosting a give away for a $100 Visa gift card. To enter to win, leave a comment on this post or any of my Water Your Body posts I’ll share throughout the month.  You can read the official contest rules here.

Be sure to visit these other bloggers to read about how they’re watering their bodies and for additional chances to enter to win the $100 Visa gift card.

To Hold Over Your Appetite…

So I haven’t posted in nearly a week… it’s because I’ve been barely surviving my last week of grad school for the summer.  The good news is, I’m done.  The bad news is that I’m exhausted, burned out and I haven’t cooked anything in like ages to share with you guys.  So here… enjoy this cute puppy.

Charlie Gibson – The Waspy Terrier

Charlie is my parent’s dog.  They adopted him from a rescue organization 2 years ago.  Isn’t he the cutest?

He was a willing subject for my first few test shots with my new camera.

This week my new Canon Rebel T1i arrived.  Squeeee!  I can’t wait to really have some time to use it and learn more about the various functions.  I’ll be out of town all weekend at my best friend’s wedding – so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post new recipes on here.  But now that I’ve got a decent camera, the posts will no longer be accompanied by iphone photos.  Yay.

I’m going to nap now.

Water Your Body Part 1: The Hydration Challenge

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light.

We all have read that keeping hydrated is important for our general health and well-being. I try to drink 64ish oz of water a day. Sometimes when I’m really busy at work or studying hard for an upcoming exam, I can get distracted from my hydration goals and lose track of how much water I’m drinking. Often I’ll look at the clock on my computer and realize that it’s 2pm and I haven’t had anything to drink since before lunch. Yikes. Turns out that once you realize you’re thirsty, you’ve probably been dehydrated for a while.

Being the competitive little freak that I am, I’ve created a game about keeping track of how much water I drink. I use a 32 oz reusable water bottle to make it easy to keep track of my intake.

Water bottles like these are available at grocery stores, super stores like Target & Wal Mart as well as at sporting goods stores.

I try to challenge myself to drink one 32oz bottle of water while I’m at work, and another while I’m at home in the evening. The measurements on the side of the bottle make it easy for me to keep track of how I’m doing. I guess it’s not really a game, because I’m only competing against myself – so we’ll call it the Hydration Challenge!

I find that the Hydration Challenge is more exciting if my water is kicked up with some Crystal Light!

Because Crystal Light, BlogHer and I love you readers so much, I’m hosting a give away for a $100 Visa gift card. To enter to win, leave a comment on this post – if you like, you can also let me know in your comment if you have any tips for keeping track of how much water you’re drinking. You can read the official contest rules here.

Be sure to visit these other bloggers to read about how they’re watering their bodies and for additional chances to enter to win the $100 Visa gift card.