Thursday, March 22, 2012

Mj to Mt 1yr birthday and Winter Squash Quiche with Spinach & Proscuitto

Mason Jars to Muffin Tins blog turns one year old today! This blog was borne from a desire to share my love of food along with "anything" you can put in a jar! Thanks go out to everyone who has taken the time to read it this past year!
My experience is limited to using Goggles blog tools, but so far I'm pretty happy! They have built in statistics functionality to show the blogger interesting reader data.  Listed below are some of my blogs highlights over the past year: 
 
Total Page view History: 2,275 (6 views per day average)

Page views by country: (in order from high to low)
  1. US
  2. Canada
  3. UK
  4. Germany
  5. Australia
  6. Russia
  7. Netherlands
  8. France
  9. South Korea
  10. Malaysia
Top 3 referring sites:
  1. google.com
  2. facebook.com
  3. google.ca (Canada)
Top 3 Posts viewed:
  1. DIY Cold Brew Coffee 256 views
  2. Helme's Railroad Mills Amber Jar 130 views
  3. Strawberry Rhubarb Jam with Vanilla Bean & Bergamot 73 views
In honor of Mason Jar's 1yr birthday, I have "gifted" the blog and it's readers with added functionality...Printing capabilities and a Pinit button for Pinterest. I'm more than a little jazzed about this, not gonna lie!! This would not have been possible without the great web design services from Devan over at Desani Designs. Trust me when I say "this would not have been possible"...I consider myself pretty computer savvy, and yes, I attempted to do this myself. Only to come to the realization that programming is not my forte! With that said, check out Devan's site if you need any web development..fast, efficient & friendly! So, check it out folks...at the bottom of every post are "printer friendly" and "Pinit" buttons..wahoo!!

I'd also like to give a special shout out to Jenessa over at And That's Beautiful To Me. She gave me gentle nudging along with the final push to get this baby off the ground!
 
Here is a recipe for a great breakfast treat. I made this to take to our last day of a ten week class held at the Red Lodge Clay Center. This particular class was taught by artist in residence Andrew Gilliatt. His work has a finesse that is jaw-dropping to say the least..."♥" it Andrew!

Winter Squash Quiche with Spinach & Prosciutto

makes one 9" deep dish quiche 6-8 servings (or 4 if you're really hungry!)

Inspiration for my recipe came from a recipe for Savory Pumpkin Quiche over at babble.com. I didn't get a picture taken of the full size version, but here is a picture of the individual quiches I made...enjoy!


1 pie crust of your choice, blind baked in a deep 9" pie pan
2 c heavy cream (or any combination of cream, half & half or whole milk)
4 eggs
2 c oven roasted butternut squash*
1/2 cup julienned prosciutto
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1/2 red onion, small dice (any onion will do...red is what I had on hand)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp chopped parsley
kosher salt & fresh cracked pepper
1 1/2-2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese

*Toss 1" cubes of peeled and seeded squash lightly with olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until tender.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Follow the link for blind baking your crust. Good Housekeeping provides perfection instruction!  In a medium bowl, whisk heavy cream eggs, garlic, parsley and a pinch of kosher salt & fresh cracked pepper. Spread half the shredded cheese over the pie crust. Repeat process with squash, prosciutto, spinach and onion followed by remaining cheese. Pour egg mixture over the top. Bake 35-40 minutes or until custard is set. Let cool 5-10 minutes before slicing.