christmas eve 2011, potato crust quiche and pecan empanadas

As I approach the end of the year I realize a big part of my life has always been centered around food,   when I was a child it seemed like food was in a necessary evil I didn't enjoy it. I never remember being really hungry, except when I was out camping in northern minnesota, then even fish cooked over an open fire seemed delicious and a pancake on a cold tin plate tasted good.   I eat out too much and unfortunately, the food is poorly prepared.  The cost could feed a family for a week.   Through this process, the process of writing a blog, I hope to learn to prepare small meals that are gourmet tasting and lovingly prepared, at a cost anyone could afford, meals for 1 or 2 that are not leftovers let's see what the day brings I'm hoping for individual peacan pie empanada and a small two person quiche.

The quiche is has a potato crust, which was lovely and not too difficult.   The filling consisted of a few eggs and cheese, some chopped red pepper and onions.   All baked at my favorite temp 350 F, for 40 to 60 minutes.   Great comfort food.

I also made the pecan pie empanada with one of my new crust recipes, the same one I used for the mini berry pies for Christmas, the crust was not impressive so I won't record it here, and by the time the empanada had cooked all the ingredients had evaporated, so it was basically crust imbedded with pecans, tasty but dry.