Mini Quiche

So I decided to make some mini quiches the other day. My pie crust mini-muffin shells had gone over so well at the previous party, and I was having some breakfast parties coming up, so mini quiches seemed to be the perfect project. I wanted to let people try a variety of things in the party, so I decided to make two different kinds. One with cheddar, ham, bell peppers and onions, and the other with spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella. So the first step was to rehydrated everything. I just put a scoop of the Ham TVP, and all the veggies in their own separate tupperwares, added hot water, and put the lids on. I didn't really measure anything, just eyeballed it.

The cheese was a different story. I've tried letting it soak in cold water before, and it rehydrates well, but doesn't keep its individual shreds separate as well as I've heard the spray bottle method does. So I tried the spray bottle method. I laid a paper towel down on a cookie sheet, put a thin layer of each cheese on it, and generously squirted water on the individual strands of cheese. After a few minutes I went back to check and it wasn't fully rehydrated. I squirted it some more, and repeated this process probably 4-5 times. I don't know how long it will take normally. I went about my day and each time I passed by, I checked it and squirted it again. It did a great job of keeping the shreds separate, but it was a little more work. So I probably will stick to soaking in cold water for any recipe that is just going to melt the cheese anyway.

Meanwhile, I made my pie crust and put it in the mini muffin tin. Sorry the picture is sideways, I couldn't get it to load right.

Once the cheese was hydrated, I mixed up two bowls, each with 3 Tbsp of Egg powder and 6 Tbsp of water. Then I eyeballed the amounts of cheese, TVP or veggies I put in each. It only took a small spoonful to fill each pie crust. I baked them at about 350-375 for 15-20 minutes. And here's the results. They were so YUMMY!

Ham and Pineapple Pizza

We had the chance to have dinner with some old friends last night, and decided to do pizza. My friend provided the crust and cheese, and told her I'd bring all the sauce and toppings using my THRIVE ingredients. I know I've already done a review on pizza before, but being on vacation, I don't have too much time for lots of new recipes. And we did a different combination this time: Ham and Pineapple!

So the Ham TVP was easily rehydrated - pour some hot water on (not too much, to prevent losing flavor in drain off water) put on a lid, let it sit for for 3-5 minutes, add a little more hot water if its too chewy, and when all the water is absorbed, it's done. 

Hydrating the pineapple is a little more tricky. I used cold water, but after 5-10 minutes, the big chunks of pineapple were still far from being hydrated. 15 minutes - still not enough. Thankfully, in a can on FD pineapple, there are large chunks, and small crumb type bits. Those small bits rehydrated beautifully, and this was the perfect way to use up the smaller pieces, saving the bigger pieces for snacking on (FD Pineapple is the yummiest snack straight from the can!) So I used the smaller bits on the pizza and left the larger pieces in their rehydrating container and stuck them in the fridge. This morning, they were rehydrated wonderfully.

So with pineapple, small pieces will rehydrate in cold water in 5-10 minutes. The large chunks are best left in cold water to rehydrate in the fridge overnight.

As for the pizza, my friends said the sauce was great (tomato powder reconstituted with water to desired consistency, then seasoned with garlic salt and italian seasoning). The toppings were pretty good. As an every day replacement of ham and pineapple pizza, they gave it a 5. But as an emergency food, they said it was easily an 8 or 9.