It was fitting that this month's What's Baking theme was peppermint. I had Peppermint Meringues on my holiday baking list. My original plan was to make candy cane meringues, but come game time I didn't have red food coloring (note to self: must get red coloring before February!). I forged on anyway.

These are a welcome addition to any holiday tray. They're a light treat with just a hint of peppermint flavor, that perfect bite of something sweet to satisfy my must have something sweet after dinner craving.

Now what to do with 6 egg yolks...

This month's What's Baking was hosted by Carrie's Sweet Life. Head on over soon to check out this month's roundup of peppermint treats.


Here is what you'll need:

• 6 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Preheat oven to 250F degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Using stand mixer, beat egg whites on medium-high until foaming.

In a small bowl, combine cream of tartar, salt and sugar. Gradually add to egg whites and continue beating. Beat until stiff peaks form, or when the bowl is turned upside down nothing moves. This could be anywhere from 10-20 minutes, mine took about 17 minutes.

Fit a piping tip into a pastry bag (or large ziplock bag) and fill bag with meringue. Pipe meringue onto lined baking sheets.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, meringues should easily lift from parchment paper. Turn oven off and leave meringues in the oven while it cools. Once cool, store in an airtight container. Makes 8 dozen 1 1/2-2 inch meringues.

Source: The Penny Whistle Christmas Party Book

This post was meant for November's What's Baking. I guess it's obvious now that I didn't make the deadline. Actually, the pie was made, it's just the post that didn't make it. Oh well! I'll have a December post for sure!

Toasted Coconut Custard Pie has become a traditional pie for our family since after I began dating JR. I wanted to take something to his parent's house for Thanksgiving. Dessert is usually my domain when it comes to his family's celebrations since very few people in his family bake. Since my family sticks to pies on Thanksgiving, my mind was on bringing pies for his family as well.

Coconut is favorite flavor with his family, so I knew this Toasted Coconut Custard Pie would be well received. It was, and so the tradition began of taking this pie every year. I can't remember now if I made one for my family that first year as well or not, if not it was very soon after that this pie made it's way to my family's Thanksgiving table as well.

Here is what you'll need:

2 deep dish pie crusts (I use frozen)
4 extra large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut, divided
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425F degrees.

To partially bake pie shells:

Place a piece of aluminum foil in each pie shell. Fill each pie shell with dried beans to weigh down the foil. Place pie shells in oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove pie shells from oven and remove beans and foil. Place pie shells back in the oven and bake for 4 minutes. Remove pie shells from oven and set aside.

Reduce oven to 325F degrees.

To make pie filling:

Using a stand mixer, beat eggs on high for about 5 minutes until they become thick and light yellow.

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a small bowl. Beat this mixutre into the eggs until well combined. 

Reduce mixer to medium speed. Add cream, milk and vanilla to egg mixture. Beat for about 3 minutes until light and frothy. Gently stir in 1 1/4 cup coconut.

Evenly divide filling between 2 pie shells. Place pies on a baking sheet. Dot tops of pies with butter pieces and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Place pies in oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove pies from oven and sprinkle with remaining coconut. Place pies back in oven and bake 20-30 minutes more. The pies are done when the center slightly jiggles when the pie is moved, and the coconut is toasted. A knife inserted into the middle of the pie will also come out clean.

Remove pie from oven and cool on wire racks for 1 hour. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Makes 2 - 9 in. deep dish pies.

Source: TheRecipeLink.com

I was initially looking for a meat-free dinner option, and almost made this Eggplant Zucchini Bolognese (minus the meat), but I just couldn't get into the mood for making it this week. I was really craving breakfast type foods, but JR isn't a believer in breakfast for dinner. When I came across this Potato Crust Quiche, I was pretty sure we could have breakfast for dinner without complaints. I was right! He ate it for dinner, and lunch the next day!

While there is nothing like the buttery crust of a quiche, this was a nice alternative and definitely satisfied my breakfast cravings. I went ahead and subbed ham and spinach, where Nicole used bacon and broccoli. This is one of the reasons I love quiche so much, you can make so many variations.

I mentioned early in this post that it has been a while since I participated in the swaps and in that time a few improvements were made. At the bottom of this post you will find a linkup of the recipes made during this swap.

I hope you'll give this quiche a try. This would be perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner this upcoming weekend.

Here is what you'll need:

For the Crust:

• 3 cups coarsely shredded uncooked potatoes (I used frozen ones, defrosted)
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 10-inch cheesecake pan or pie plate and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine crust ingredients. Press into prepared cheesecake pan or pie plate. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven. Reduce heat to 350F.

For the Filling:

• 3 oz cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 oz. ham, diced (or other meat of your choice)
• 1 box frozen spinach, defrosted and strained (or other vegetable or your choice)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup fat-free half-and-half
• 1/2 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• dash ground nutmeg

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serves 6 for a breakfast or with side (we had 4 dinner servings with no sides).

Source: Adapted from Prevention RD

Bacon, it's everywhere in the blogosphere, but it's not a trend I gravitated toward. That is until I saw this fun play on Bacon and Eggs on Oprah.com, Bacon and Egg Salad Sandwiches. Genius! I'm pretty sure that's what my guests were thinking as they quickly gobbled these up. I will definitely be making these again, and I'm looking for an excuse to make them soon (excess Easter eggs, anyone?!)!

I mixed the egg salad the night before and assembled the sandwiches a few hours before the party. I opted to place cooked bacon on top in order to avoid it getting soggy. I suppose I could have just crumbled the bacon and given the salad a stir before assembling too.

Here is what you'll need:

• 6 hard-boiled eggs , chopped
• 6 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 8 strips bacon, cut in thirds and cooked until crisp
• 12 mini rolls, sliced (I used potato rolls)

Add the eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper to a mixing bowl and combine well. Scoop a heaping tablespoon of egg salad onto each roll.

Place 2 pieces of bacon on each sandwich. Makes 12 mini sandwiches.

Our niece stayed with us recently and for Saturday morning breakfast I knew I wanted to make a quiche.  Quiche is one of those great breakfast treats that you can make ahead and eat anytime, whether it's breakfast, lunch or even dinner.  This proved to be really useful as we had drop-in guests come by and I had something on hand to serve them.

This isn't my first quiche post, I've made this vegetable one before.  I followed that same basic recipe, but decided to change up the flavors based on what I had in the refrigerator, which happened to include two of my favorite ingredients - mushrooms and goat cheese.  I really wasn't sure how the goat cheese was going to work in this, but I'm glad I took the risk.  It provided a nice slightly tart flavor and creamy texture.

I also included a new ingredient to my kitchen, garlic scapes.  If you've never used them, you should try them.  It may be too late to get them this year, they have a short season, but you can look for them at your farmer's market next year.  They added the perfect light, garlicky flavor and slightly crunchy texture to this dish.

This was definitely a winner with only one piece left after I served it and that piece was gone quickly the next morning.  You certainly don't need to wait for guests to make this, in fact I think you should make this as a breakfast treat for yourself soon!

Here is what you'll need:

• 4 oz. pancetta, diced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 10 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 3 garlic scapes, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup 2% cottage cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 
• 1/4 cup 2% milk
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped
• 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake crust for 10 minutes.

While crust is baking, in a large saute pan on high heat, add pancetta to pan and cook until starting to brown.

Turn pan down to medium-high heat and add oil.  Add mushrooms and cook until partially browned, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic scapes, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until browned and softened, stirring occasionally.  Once done, remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.

In a bowl combine eggs, cheeses, milk, mustard, chives and flour stir until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon mushroom mixture into bottom of pie crust, then layer egg mixture on top of mushroom.  

Place in oven and bake 45-50 minutes until knife inserted come out clean.  Allow to set for 10 minutes before cutting.  Serves 8.

I love quiche, but it is not a very healthy meal option.  Remember when I was talking about Chicken Pot Pie, I told you how the crust was my favorite part, but I managed to do away with a traditional crust for that recipe.  Well, I just couldn't do away with a crust for this quiche so I had to figure out another way to lighten it up.  I used my trusty cookbook to help me with ratios and then I took it from there.

I figured out that I can cut out the half and half by replacing it with a combination of low fat cottage cheese and milk, use reduced fat vs. regular cheese, cut back the quantity of cheese and bulk up on vegetables.

It took me several tries to get a consistency I liked, and I was very pleased with this one.  You can definitely play around with the flavor combination here, even add meat if you'd like, but I love to stick with a simpler vegetable and cheese version.

I know there are a lot of cottage cheese haters, but this doesn't taste or feel "cottage cheesy" at all.  Plus I'll let you in on a little secret, if you've eaten my lasagna, it's in there too.  Yep, you didn't know, and you live to speak of it!

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried minced garlic
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup chive and toasted onion cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup 1% milk
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 pie crust
• 1 Tbsp all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place crust in oven and bake for 10 minutes.

While crust is baking, add oil to a nonstick skillet and heat to medium high.  Add mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring occasionally.  Add peppers, onions and garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until softened, stirring occasionally.  Once done, remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.

In a bowl combine eggs, cottage cheese, milk, and dried mustard and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon vegetables into bottom of pie crust, layer cheese on top of vegetables, and layer egg mixture on top of the cheese.  Sprinkle flour over the top of egg mixture.

Place in oven and bake 45-50 minutes until knife inserted come out clean.  Allow to set for 10 minutes before cutting.  Serves 8.

I knew our weekend was going to be jammed packed, so I wanted to be sure we started our days off with a good breakfast.  JR suggested we stop for breakfast on our way out of town, but I really wanted to eat at home since I knew we'd be eating lunch out.  I remembered making overnight french toast before and decided that would be a perfect start to our day!

Ellie Krieger's Peach French Toast Bake is both easy to put together the night before and healthy.  I've made this with other fruits, and it has always come out delicious! And bonus, I now have breakfast ready, with just a little warming needed, for a few work days this week!  This is one of the most filling breakfasts I've eaten in a while. I'm finding a serving of this with 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt keeps me satisfied until lunch.

I noted the changes I made to the recipe here:

• Cooking spray
• 1 large whole-wheat baguette, about 8 oz (I used 8 oz day old ciabatta)
• 4 whole eggs
• 4 egg whites (I used 3/4 cup egg whites from the carton)
• 1 cup low fat milk(I use 15)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups sliced peaches, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 lemon, juiced about 1 1/2 Tbsp
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar (I used 4 Tbsp)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1/2 tsp)

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Slice the baguette into 1/2-inch slices and arrange the slices in a single layer in the baking pan.  Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan.

In a medium bowl, toss peaches with the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar. Scatter the peach slices evenly on top of the bread. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake for 40 minutes.  Serves 8.