weekend review: the shortening saga

 Figure 1. Saturday night's dinner: crispy herbed shrimp with chive aioli, roasted asparagus and tomatoes, and rice pilaf. Fried shrimp are one of my favorite things in life. This lightened-up version paired with a creamy Greek yogurt-based tarter sauce substitute was amazing.

For the roasted asparagus and tomatoes (Cooking Light): Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine 1 pound trimmed asparagus, 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, 1/3 cup sliced shallots, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet. Coat lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. 

Figure 2. Sunday morning baking: cinnamon raisin bran muffins.

 Figure 3. In preparation: quiche crust for Sunday night's dinner. I rarely use shortening (right!?), but it was an essential ingredient in tonight's homemade quiche crust. Well, friends, here's a tip. If you can't remember buying that mysterious tub of shortening in the back of your pantry, and it is yellow, and has a funny odor to it that makes you slightly nauseated, don't make dough out of it. Only after I made the first batch of dough did I realize that shortening expired in 2006. Yikes. One new tub of (white and odorless) shortening later, and I had a beautiful quiche crust ready for filling.

 Figure 4. Out of the oven: summer squash, bacon, and mozzarella quiche.

Figure 5. Sunday night's dinner: summer squash, bacon, and mozzarella quiche with Dijon, thyme, and pine nut broccoli. And, just in case there was any confusion, I always go back for seconds.