Steak and Pepper Omelet

I love to play around with different omelet fillings. Often I’ll use up whatever is around. With some red sweet peppers on hand and some leftover steak I got the idea for a steak and pepper omelet. It was wonderful.

Steak and Pepper Omelet

oil

1 small onion, sliced

1 small red pepper, seeded and sliced

1 c. cubed cooked steak

3-4 eggs

2 oz. cheese- cut in small pieces or shredded*

salt and pepper to taste

dash hot pepper sauce

Heat oil in skillet and cook onion until golden. Add a little salt to the onions while they are cooking. Add pepper and cook until tender-crisp. Remove from pan and set aside. Heat same pan adding more oil, if needed. Beat eggs in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper and hot sauce to your taste. Pour eggs into hot skillet and swirl to coat bottom of skillet. Using a spatula lift eggs a little and tip pan to allow uncooked egg to get to surface of the pan. Once omelet is almost set place some of the pepper mixture on one half. Top with the steak and cheese. Using a spatula gently fold the empty half of the omelet over the fillings. Allow to cook one more minute and slide onto a serving plate.  Top with the remaining pepper mixture. Serves 2.

* I used Pepper Jack cheese because that is what I happened to have. Use any cheese you like.

Ready to fold over

Lambsquarters Quiche

I was going to title this one Weed Quiche- but decided against it. I could already imagine the comments that would get!! I made 2 quiches yesterday- one baked conventionally and one baked in my crock pot. Both worked out great and both had one special ingredient- lambsquarters. Lambsquarters are a common plant- found almost anywhere soil has been turned. Most consider it a weed but I almost hate to call it that. Rather, I’ll borrow a term I got from Dr. Peter Gail and call it instead a volunteer vegetable. When cooked it tastes just like spinach. I love it for its flavor but also because long after summer heat has cooked the spinach in the garden lambsquarters continue to grow and thrive. There is a picture of them at the end of this post so you will know what they look like. If you don’t have them you can sub out with a 10 oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry or about a pound of fresh spinach, cooked, chopped and drained well. Here is the recipe, as promised.

Lambsquarters Quiche

1 unbaked pie crust

3 c. shredded cheese, divided

2 T. flour

1 leek, white part only, sliced and sauteed in oil until tender

4-5 cups lambsquarters leaves, washed and steamed until wilted

3 eggs

1 c. milk or half and half

salt and pepper to taste

hot sauce to taste

For conventional cooking preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place crust in a 9-inch deep dish pie pan. Toss 2 cups of the cheese with the flour and place in pie crust. Add the leeks and lambsquarters. Combine eggs with milk and seasonings, beat until smooth  and pour over the ingredients in the pie crust. Top with remaining cheese.  Place on a baking sheet and bake 45 minutes to an hour. Check quiche for doneness by inserting a knife off center. If it is clean quiche is done. Serve 4-5.

Crock pot directions: I started by spraying the inside of the crock pot with non- stick baking spray. I am sure I could have oiled it instead or maybe rubbed it with butter. Then I placed the pie crust in- trying to fit it as best I could. It was pretty easy. I added the fillings like I normally would, put on the lid and set it on high. I let the quiche bake for 2 hours. Leave it in longer if the crust is not brown enough.

Crock Pot Quiche

Lambsquarters