my first quiche, sniff sniff, i grow up so fast.

Now i don't claim this to be a cooking blog (and that is definitely not my photo,) not in the least, but man oh man if i am not proud as can be about the dinner i made last night.

you may slowly get snippets of my new year's resolutions.

and by "new year's resolutions," i actually mean "new year's to-do list."

turns out, i don't know how to cook.

i can't remember learning anything in any nutrition class EVER, and my family has long been a fan of easy meals to make in large portions.

obvs not the healthiest.

food journeys begin years before ever even coming close to any kind of victory.

at this point in my life, i've known for four years that i had no grasp on proper eating/nutrition, or wellness.

and i've been constantly trying to change that.

so, for the new year, as a re-claimed vegetarian, 

i decided to learn to cook my favorite dishes.

in the past, 

i have spent wayyy too much money on eating out.

i love it, sure, but, well....it's eating out. my money could be better put elsewhere.

and i've tried eating in, before, unsuccessfully.

i didn't really know how to cook, so, instead of making things i actually wanted to eat,

i made a bunch of carb-loaded pastas, cuz, well, it's simple, and can be made in large quantities, and man oh man if that wasn't easy.

but i was blind.

and i never choose blindness.

i choose to see, i choose to live, i choose to learn!

i choose to learn to cook!

living with dan and elizabeth the past six months was undoubtedly a HUGE help.

elizabeth cooks.

she cooks a LOT.

and she cooks EVERYTHING.

so i quietly and slowly became familiar with the joys of making food.

granted, she never made anything COMPLICATED....

....but it's amazing how uncomplicated food can be.

and since moving into "ye olde new apartment"

i've done a lot of ye olde settling in.

the most important, of course:

GROCERIES.

i stocked my basket full of fruits and veggies.

new ones, in fact, some i had never even ventured to try.

is it that hard to believe that a 23-yr-old American has never bought fresh spinach and brussel sprouts?

honestly?

no. of course i hadn't.

but NOW I HAVE

because not-buying-vegetables 

is not-the-life i want to lead.

i had it in my head that a quiche would be yummy.

filling, for the BLUSTERING, FREEZING winter.

staying-power, for the rest of the week/weekend

chock-full of delicious power-foods.

i did some research,

consulted some blogs,

browsed through some vegetarian cookbooks

and through together a recipe that went like this:

 six eggs

1 cup evaporated milk (what the hell IS evaporated milk? i could have just as easily have used soy milk, but i had already bought the damn stuff, so i tossed it in. sounds like i'm needing to do a google search on this one.)

whisk 'em up!

cook up 10 oz, or one package, of frozen broccoli, and toss in with eggs/evaporated milk.

grab a bunch of fresh spinach, shredded, yum yum yum, and by "a bunch," i mean, A LOT, because it is totally tasty. just do it, trust me. 

so then i tossed the spinach in the egg/evap. milk/broccoli concoction, making it an eggs + evap. milk + broccoli + spinach concoction, and added 1.5 cups of cheese, methinks, a colby jack. i would have preferred a swiss, but meh, did not have it. DID have a  cheddar, but well, cheddar sounded a little too robust last night.

poured the whole danged mixture into a 9" pie tray lined with a pie crust (which, sadly, i DID buy. i decided to make my life easy,) and then topped it off by slicing up a tomato and arranging on top. AND THEN, because basil has been on my mind, i ripped up some basil and sprinkled it on top.

AND WOW.

i made my first quiche', sniff sniff, i'm so proud.

mikayla stanley, my pal and blogger at what-is-the-bomb.blogspot.com, has been making quiches her whole life, practically. she is my idol.

turns out it was tasty and surprisingly full of flavor!

methinks i need some more seasonings next time, perhaps a bit more salt, or something a little wilder. for some reason, i'm thinking lemon juice could be quite delicious. 

i paired an 1/8 of my quiche plate with a GIANT HEAPING HELPING of brussel sprouts, which, also, i was making for the first time ever.

easy.

brussels.

cut in half.

put water and butter in pan.

basically steam and move around sometimes.

try not to eat them piping hot or they WILL burn your mouth (i've totally just learned from experience.)

ALSO.

this new year's resolve goes hand-in-hand with my rephrasing of a normal dietary weight-loss goal.

instead of "losing ten pounds for the new year," (which i'm totally doing, duh,)

i'm FOCUSING ON HEATH AND WELLNESS.

this is important, y'all!