Tomato Salad Topped Baked Spinach Frittata

This tomato salad topped baked spinach frittata is a delicious combination of richness from the eggs, ham and cheese and the sharp sweetness of the tomatoes with herbs. It makes a wonderful brunch, lunch or dinner dish!

Frittatas can be made on your stovetop in a skillet or baked in the oven. I created this one a while back when we were trying a low carb diet. I was craving quiche but crust was, of course, not on the plan. This frittata is basically a crustless quiche with a fancy Italian name.

You can adapt this recipe to use different cooked veggies or meat instead of the spinach and ham. Or change up the cheddar for your favorite semi-hard flavorful cheese. It’s all good.

Here’s a question for you: Am I the only one who buys ham that the family eats for two or three days and then abandons it? What do you do with it? I pop it in the freezer when it’s still in date and, while you cannot thaw it and still make decent sandwiches, it is perfect for quiche or omelets.

Tomato Salad Topped Baked Spinach Frittata

This recipe was inspired by a photo I saw in delicious.uk magazine for a ricotta tart. The mixed tomato salad that topped the tart was so pretty! Mine doesn’t have the green tomatoes because I couldn’t find any but I’m sure it is just as tasty.

Ingredients
For the frittata:
3 ounces or 85g sliced ham
2 ounces or 55g frozen spinach
4 large eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml cream
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
4 1/2 ounces or 125g sharp cheddar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
several good grinds of black pepper

To butter the baking dish or pan:
1 tablespoon butter

For baked topping:
2 oz or 57g sharp cheddar
Small handful green onion tops, chopped

For the herby salad:
1 lb or 450g mixed tomatoes, ripe but firm
Herbs of your choice  - I used a mix of flat-leaf parsley, tarragon and basil
Drizzle extra virgin olive oil
Drizzle white balsamic
Good pinch flaky sea salt
Few generous grinds of black pepper

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and liberally butter your 9 in or 23cm quiche pan or baking dish.

Fry the chopped ham in a nonstick pan until it dries out a little and gets some browned crispy place. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

Thaw your spinach, then drain it and squeeze it as dry as possible.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream and milk. Stir in spinach and chopped basil.

 Next add the grated cheese, ham, sea salt and black pepper. Stir until well combined.

Pour the mixture into your buttered pan or dish.

Put it in the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350°F. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until it is almost set.

Remove the frittata from the oven and sprinkle on the topping cheese and green onions.

Return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is browning and the frittata is set.

Meanwhile, slice your large tomato and set the slices on a paper towel to dry them a little. Halve the smaller tomatoes and mix them with the other salad ingredients.

When the frittata is baked, remove it from the oven and leave to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before topping it first with the sliced tomatoes.

 Finally, top with the dressed tomato salad.

Slice to serve. Enjoy!

This month my Baking Blogger friends are sharing recipes with herbs. Check out the delicious recipes below! Many thanks to our group organizer and host, Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of her behind-the-scenes work.

• Baked Spaghetti with Sausage and Meatballs from Palatable Pastime
• Ham and Herbed Potatoes Au Gratin from Making Miracles
• Herb Roasted Chickpeas from Cook with Renu
• Herbed Chicken with Charred Romaine Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• No Knead Herb Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Oven-Braised Rabbit with Herbed Dumplings from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Quiche Lorraine with Herbs from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Sage and Caramelized Onion Sourdough Bread from Caroline's Cooking
• Rosemary & Garlic Baked Potato With Sour Cream from Sneha's Recipe
• Tomato Salad Topped Baked Spinach Frittata from Food Lust People Love

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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T.R.'s Mulled Cider Martini

Celebrate fall with a spicy seasonal mulled cider martini. Like all good martinis, it’s made 007-style, shaken not stirred.

This week my Sunday Supper family is honoring one of our own, T.R. of Gluten Free Crumbly, who lost his battle with cancer this year, not long after winning Blogger of the Year at the Food Wine Conference in May. We are sharing gluten free recipes, some from T.R.’s own blog so make sure to scroll down and check out the list.

T.R. was an absolute hoot, quick to dance and joke, and I honestly believe that he never met a stranger. His infectious laugh would get us all going. I wanted to share one of his recipes today so I started watching his YouTube videos and couldn’t stop laughing, even through my tears. We all miss T.R. so much.

T.R.’s mulled cider 007 martini, or double-o-tini, as he liked to call it, requires two steps if you don’t have mulled cider already. If you do, feel free to skip straight to shaking your martini!

Ingredients
For the mulled cider:
4 1/4 cups or 1L apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons or 12g whole allspice
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons or 14g whole cloves
1/4 cup dark rum
You can read T.R.’s original post on the Wayback Machine.

Method
To make the mulled cider, put the apple cider in a large pot with the cinnamon sticks and spices.

Measure out the dark rum and add it to the cider.

Use a sharp knife to remove the peel from the orange, trying to get as little of the white pith as you can manage. Add the orange peel to the cider as well.
Cover the pot and put it on a low fire to simmer for an hour. Strain to remove the spices and orange peel. This can now be served warm or leave the mulled apple cider to cool then chill to make the double-o-tini.

T.R.’s Mulled Cider Martini

Ingredients
For the mulled cider martini:
Several cubes ice
1 1/2 oz or 45ml cold mulled cider
1 oz or 30ml vodka

Laugh along with T.R. as he shakes his double-o-tini. Written instructions follow.



Method
Add ice to your shaker, along with the mulled cider and vodka. Shake till it gets too cold to hold.  This must be shaken, not stirred! That’s where the 007 comes in.

Pour into a martini glass and garnish, if desired, with a cinnamon stick. (I also added a little orange peel because, why not?)

Enjoy!

Check out all of the gluten free holiday recipes we have for you today!

Sleigh Ride Starters

• Pepperoni Soft Pretzels by Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Pumpkin Bread with Maple Walnut Glaze by My Life Cookbook
• Savory Chickpea Banana Pepper Fritters by Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
• T.R.’s Mulled Cider Martini by Food Lust People Love

Seasons Greetings Sides

• Balsamic Braised Red Cabbage by Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Gluten Free Au Gratin Potatoes by Sunday Supper Movement
• Gluten Free Turkey Gravy by Jersey Girl Cooks
• Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Stuffing or Dressing by Palatable Pastime
• Roasted Beets and Butternut Squash by Cooking Chat
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts And Squash With Cranberry Cider Glaze by The Crumby Kitchen
• T.R.’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce by Hardly A Goddess

Making Things Merry Main Dish

• Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap by Life Tastes Good
• Easy Mexican Chicken Bowl by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Pork Fried Rice by The Freshman Cook
• Turkey Ham Scalloped Potatoes and Kale by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Vietnamese Chicken Salad by Caroline’s Cooking

Decking the Halls Desserts

• Chickpea Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Flourless Chocolate Cookies by Pies and Plots
• Gluten Free Fudge by Our Good Life
• Grandma’s Peanut Butter Balls by Cricket’s Confections
• No Bake Gluten Free Fudgy Brownies by Simple and Savory
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies by Desserts Required
• The Worlds Best Gluten Free Sweet Potato Brownies by Bites of Wellness
• White Chocolate Crème Brûlée by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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Almond Joy Coconut Macaroons #CreativeCookieExchange

Almond Joy Coconut Macaroons are sweet and chewy and just the slightest bit salty, with loads of flakey coconut, chopped almonds and dark chocolate. You will not be able to resist them! P.S. They are naturally gluten free.

Probably my second favorite candy bar in the whole wide world, right behind the Butterfinger, is an Almond Joy. Unlike its poor relative, the Mounds bar, an Almond Joy has almonds perched atop the sweet coconut before it is coated in chocolate.

Why anyone would want a Mounds when they could have an Almond Joy is beyond me but the Mounds does have one thing going for it. Dark Chocolate. Almond Joy bars are covered with milk chocolate. So, taking the best of both, I’ve made these Almond Joy Coconut Macaroons with dark chocolate and almonds.

Ingredients – to make 3 dozen
2/3 cup or 110g almonds, plus 36 extra (about 45g) for garnish, if desired
Pinch of salt
1 14 oz or 396g bag sweetened flaked coconut
10 oz or 283g bag dark chocolate morsels (or sub chocolate chips)
1 (14 oz or 397g) can sweetened condensed milk

Method
Preheat your oven to 325°F or 163°C and prepare your cookie sheets by lining them with baking parchment.

Toast your almonds in a dry skillet over a medium heat, stirring or tossing regularly to make sure they don’t scorch. They should start to smell nutty as they toast and you will see the natural oils come to the surface making the almonds slightly shiny. Lightly sprinkle them with the pinch of salt, stir, then pour them out onto a large cutting board and leave to cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, toss together your coconut and dark chocolate morsels.

Set aside 36 almonds to use as garnish, if using, and then chop the rest roughly with a sharp knife.

Add the chopped nuts to the coconut and chocolate and mix. Pour in the condensed milk and mix till fully combined.

Use a tablespoon or a cookie scoop to create 36 almond coconut macaroons, placing 12 at a time of your prepared cookie sheet or sheets. Press one reserved almond in the top of each macaroon.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the coconut starts to brown. (I like mine well toasted so I left these in for 17 minutes.)

Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes and then remove the macaroons to a wire rack to cool completely.

After they have cooled, keep the macaroons in an airtight container. These freeze particularly well, also in an airtight container.

True confessions: I have eaten a number of them straight from the freezer. Don’t judge me.

Enjoy!

This month my Creative Cookie Exchange group is sharing our favorite gluten free cookies and these Almond Joy Coconut Macaroons fit the bill. They just happen to be naturally gluten free so they are perfect to feed your whole crowd. (Well, the ones without the nut allergies. Entertaining is a challenge these days, isn’t it?)

Check out the link list below:

• Almond Joy Coconut Macaroons from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Flourless Chocolate Cookies from Flours & Frostings
• Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cream and Butter Blog
• Fudgy Cookie Bites from What Smells so Good?
• Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies from The Spiced Life
• Hazelnut Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles from 2 Cookin’ Mamas

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

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Almond Blueberry Banana Bread #BreadBakers

Almond flour is the secret ingredient that adds richness and extra flavor to this almond blueberry banana bread, making it buttery, without any butter. As a bonus to many, it's also gluten free!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about friendship and what it is that creates those bonds. Sometimes it’s a hobby or interest in common that brings us together. Other times it’s weathering a storm or difficult circumstances or even living in a challenging place at the same time. As expats in far-flung locations, we come to depend on each other, become like family, because we have no one else who understands us, who gets what we are going through.

The blogging world is like that too. I can’t compare starting my food blog with moving to places like Balikpapan, Indonesia or Macaé, Brazil, but back in 2011, typing up words and sending out a recipe for possibly no one to read and comment on felt equally as solitary at the beginning. (Six years ago this very month!)

Like moving to a new city and country, finding friends in the food blogging corner of cyberspace takes time. My first blog, started in 2007, was set to private. I didn’t see it as a way to connect with anyone but family. I told stories of our holidays and posted photos of our girls. But with the public food blog, all that changed. I was a nervous wreck the first time I actually shared a post link on Facebook with friends. What would they think? Would anyone read it? Worse, would they laugh?

My confidence grew as I made blogger friends, joined the Food Bloggers Network group on Facebook, exchanged tips and comments on cooking and recipe writing and photography and social media. I learned the meaning of foreign terms like SEO and white balance and bounce rates, including the mysterious ways of Google analytics. I began participating in themed group events, like Sunday Supper and Bundt-a-Month and Muffin Mondays.

I might never have believed it before, but my online friends, my fellow bloggers, became real friends. We chat privately, in twos and in groups. We commiserate with each other. We support each other. We laugh and we vent. We are a community drawn together by our like interests, our love of cooking, our frustration with changing social media algorithms and learning new technology, and the profound knowledge that we are understood.

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This month my Bread Bakers group is using nut flours to bake our breads at the instigation of our host Cindy of Cindy’s Recipes and Writings. I’ve been enamored of using almond flour in baked goods since I first read Nigella Lawson’s languorous description in her How To Eat of the clementine cake she makes every Christmastime.

While the gluten free flour mix in this recipe can be easily substituted with all-purpose flour, I chose to make a gluten free recipe today to honor my friend and fellow blogger, T.R. Crumbley of Gluten Free Crumbley, one of our community who left us too soon, not even 30 years old.

As a member of the Sunday Supper, Movement, I got to know T.R. through our group events. He was a sweetheart, quick to volunteer his help, the first to crack a joke and at our annual Food Wine Conference, the life of the party. I’m so sorry that he was too sick to join us in person this year where he was honored as Bloggers' Choice Blogger of the Year. He’d have been in his element at the Strawberry Bash on Saturday night. He accepted his award by Skype so he did get to hear the cheers and applause of the crowd.

As managing editor of Sunday Supper, I corresponded from time to time with T.R. over the last year. He graciously gave me permission to expand the Weekday Supper posts that he had contributed over the years, to include the full recipe. His only request was that I let him know when I was going to republish one, so that he could be sure to share it again on social media. That was T.R. all over.

If you or someone you know eats gluten free, please check out Gluten Free Crumbley. T.R.’s family plans to keep his blog going both as a tribute and because it would be a shame to let all of his hard work go to waste. He loved to cook for family and friends. He especially loved sharing his recipes. I like to think he'd enjoy this almond blueberry banana bread. I hope he knows how much we miss him.

Ingredients
3 medium ripe bananas
1 large egg
3/4 cup (180 ml) milk
3 tablespoons or 45ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for pan if not lining with parchment
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup or 120g almond flour
1 1/4 cup or 200g gluten free bread flour blend (I used Dove Farms.)
1 1/4 cup or 120g quick cooking oats
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup or 140g fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw first, if using frozen)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease a 9x5in or 23 x 13cm pan or line it with baking parchment.

Use a whisk to mash your bananas in a bowl and then add in the egg, oil vanilla and milk. Whisk to combine.

In another large bowl, add all of your dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add in the blueberries and stir to coat.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry and use a wooden spoon to mix well until the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined with the dry. Unlike in quick breads made with all-purpose flour, gluten free flour batters need to be completely wet before baking.

Pour the thick batter into your prepared pan.

Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until the internal temperature of your Almond Blueberry Banana Bread reaches 210°F or 99°C on an instant read thermometer. Cover the loaf with foil if it is getting too browned before it is cooked inside.

Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

Do you love baking with nut flours too? You might enjoy making my White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies, Staffordshire Yeomanry Pudding, Almond Raspberry Cake or Passover Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars as well.

And check out this creative nut flour recipe list from my fellow Bread Bakers. Many thanks to our host Cindy of Cindy’s Recipes and Writings for all of her hard work behind the scenes.

• Almond Blueberry Banana Bread by Stacy at Food Lust People Love.
• Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins by Pavani at Cook's Hideout.
• Almond Flour Bread by Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story.
• Almond Flour Sandwich Buns by Gayathri at Gayathri’s Cook Spot.
• Almond Pear Bread by Cindy at Cindy’s Recipes and Writings.
• Carrot Nut Bread by Mayuri at Mayuri's Jakoni
• Citrus Bread with Macadamia Nuts by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm.
• Fig and Walnut Bread by Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories.
• Fig Date Walnut Bread by Sneha at Sneha's Recipe.
• Mixed Berry Almond Loaf by Namita at Ambrosia.
• Peanut Brittle Ring Bread by Sharanya at Sara’s Tasty Buds.
• Peanut Butter Breakfast Loaf by Sue at Palatable Pastime.
• Quick Almond Bread by Kalyani at Sizzling Tastebuds.
• Whole Grain Date Walnut Bread by Sona at Spill the Spices.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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