One Teaspoon From Disaster

Our June theme, which is also in line with our ongoing "recession recipes" theme, is eggs!

Skip the butcher and grab eggs, which don't have to be just for breakfast, you know. Why are eggs considered primarily a breakfast food anyway? Odd.

For quick meals, all of which can be made a day or two in advance and then cooked or assembled just prior to dinnertime, try quiche, egg burritos or egg salad sandwiches.

Easy, cheap, delicious. My only suggestion: maybe don't eat all three in one week. I'm just sayin'.

Aztec quiche
Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1/2 C. cheddar cheese, shredded
2 frozen pie shells (each just a few inches deep)
1, 4-ounce can diced green chilies
1 C. fat free half-and-half
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. cumin
Directions:
Sprinkle the cheeses on the bottoms of the pie crusts. Top with the green chilies (don't drain). In a bowl, stir together eggs, half-and-half and seasonings. Pour mixture into each pie crust. Bake uncovered at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until cooked through.

Pan-baked egg burritos
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¾ C. flour
9 eggs, beaten
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 ½ pounds cubed Monterey jack cheese
8 ounces cubed cream cheese
1 ½ C. small curd cottage cheese
1, 12-ounce can Rotel, drained
flour tortillas, medium-sized
Ingredients:
Sift baking powder and flour. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, salt, sugar and cayenne. Add cheeses and butter, and then flour mixture. Mix well. Add green chilies. Bake in a 9- by 13-inch pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cut into little cubes or rectangles and place in the middle of warm tortillas. Top with salsa and sour cream.

Egg salad sandwiches
Ingredients:
4 or 5 eggs, hard boiled and chops into small pieces
1/2 C. mayo
1 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 Tbsp. dill
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Directions:
Mix ingredients, adding eggs last. Can be kept in refrigerator overnight. (Yields 2 to 3 large sandwiches)

Looking for a quick sidedish that's not a garden salad but definitely meets one of your required daily servings of veggies ?

Here's a super fast recipe that's really nothing more than a nice blend of fresh baby spinach, tangy lemon, crunchy walnut and essential minced garlic.

This recipe is easy. My only suggestion is to make this last -- it only takes 10 minutes and is best served hot off the stove.

Walnut spinach sidedish
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. fresh baby spinach
2 tsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. walnuts, finely chopped
Directions:
Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add spinach; drizzle with lemon juice (add salt and pepper, if desired). Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Sprinkle in nuts for last minute of cooking. Serve immediately.

We haven't had a treat in awhile (depending on your definition of awhile; my definition idicates this is long overdue), so here is one of the most delicious cookie recipes I have ever made and three reasons why I love it.

Why chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies are wonderful:
1. soft yet firm chocolatey cookies remind me of ice cream sandwiches, which I think are billiant
2. fluffy peanut butter icing (speaks for itself)
3. these are esay to assemble yet look beautiful

Be sure to wet your hands when rolling the dough into little balls. It will also help if you've refrigerated the dough for at least several hour prior to balling it.

The baking time is just long enough to whip up your peanut butter icing, just be sure to let the cookies cool completely before icing them. Remember to ice the flat sides and obviously press them together flat-on-flat to make cute rounded sandwich cookies.

Chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 C. shortening
3/4 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. flour
1/2 unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
sandwhich filling (combine and mix well until fluffy):
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1/2 C. peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
Mix until smooth the shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Refrigerate dough for a couple hours before baking. With damp hands, roll dough into balls about the size of a ping pong ball. Place on lightly sprayed cookie sheets, or a top parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees until cookies are firm but not crispy, about 10 to 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before adding the peanut butter icing (on the flat sides and pressing together to form sandwiches).