Asparagus and Leek Quiche

Ezra helped with this recipe by breaking the asparagus into pieces (while eating most of the tips),  spreading the cheese into the pie pan (while breaking off pieces of the crust to eat) and cutting the butter (and eating it, then cutting again, and eating it, and then finally cutting one last piece for the recipe). 

Maybe I should have fed him before we started.

I experimented with putting the eggs and milk in a jar so he could shake instead of stir.  (I'm not willing to see my precious backyard chicken eggs splattered all over the kitchen.)  His chubby toddler arms didn't really have the strength to blend the eggs, but it was fun.

Asparagus and Leek Quiche

1 tablespoon butter
1 leek, trimmed and chopped
1 cup of chopped asparagus
1 cup shredded cheese (I mixed gouda and parmesan)
4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
black pepper
1 pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Heat the butter in a skillet, then saute the leeks and asparagus until the asparagus is al dente. 

Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and black pepper.

Spread the cheese in the bottom of the crust, then add the asparagus and leeks.  Pour the egg mixture over the top. 

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is set.

Strawberry and Banana Smoothie: Ezra joins the team at I Heart Kale!

Is anyone still reading?  If so, are you wondering where we've been for the last three years? 

Sorry to throw you under the bus, Ezra, but we blame our blog silence on the arrival of a certain family member who blah blah didn't have the motor skills for making Indian food from scratch.  Today, at two and a half, he finally stepped up and made his own afternoon snack for the first time, so we're ready to get back into blogging and start sharing Ezra's kitchen adventures.  To introduce our newest sous chef, here's what we got up to in the kitchen this afternoon:

Strawberry and Banana Smoothie  
with Ezra and Phoebe

1 banana
4 strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast

Ezra helped to peel the banana, then we held a butter knife together and chopped the banana and strawberries.  I thought the knife work would be difficult, but he's been watching us cook long enough that I only needed to steady the knife while he did the rest of the work.  He put the chopped fruit into our Magic Bullet mini-blender. 

I measured out some milk, which he poured into the blender... and on the table... and himself... and the floor.  Then he got out a rag and mopped up the spill.  He sprinkled some nutritional yeast into the blender and scooped in yogurt with a big spoon.

We screwed on the blender base together and I did the pureeing. 

It took about five times as long to make our smoothie as a team, but we're laying the groundwork for Ezra to whip up four-course tasting menus for us in our old age!