Hurricane Irene: My poor eggs!!

Well, we have done all we can. The yard is tied down, free of flying grills and picnic tables (we hope). We have plenty of water, flashlights, batteries. The list goes on and on. Rick has enough water to survive a nuclear invasion now that I think of it.

I was just about to settle in on the cozy couch and wait the night out like the rest of the East coast, when baby girl declares she is hungry and wants a waffle. Umm, you had 3 for breakfast. I think we need to add some color to your day.. Before I groan and moan, as I just sat down, I realized it was actually lunch time. Ok, fair enough.

Of course, this brings me to my fridge. As I started to dig for lunch ideas, I got a bit distracted and started to shift my food around. I pulled out any food that needed to be thrown out anyway and started noting food we should probably eat sooner rather than later, in case the power does go. "At risk" I like to call it.
I threw things like cheese, milk, bread, in the freezer. These will keep for later in the week, depending on  need and severity of the outages.

MOM!!! oh yeah, she's still hungry..

But what to do about the eggs? I'm a bit over cupcakes and whoopie pies at the moment. What can I make with all these egsg?  OOH, quiche.

Simplest recipe ever. Eggs, cream, pie shell, and left overs. In my case, broccoli and some of that cheddar I just put in the freezer. Back out you go little orange man.


If you have left overs like this, go for it. Now is the time, before the storm digs in, and even if we don't lose power, who wants to cook? I am sure you will be up late tonight too.

Karma Quiche

Ingredients

• 4 eggs (or eggs substitute)
• 1 cup cream (preferably heavy, but whole milk or even a low fat version of fat free evaporated milk works) 
• 1 frozen pie shell 
• 1 cup chopped left over broccoli (bacon, potatoes, or mixed veggies also works)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 small to medium onion minced (1 teaspoon onion powder works too)

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Crack and mix the eggs, cream and salt and pepper, cheese and onions to a bowl
• Mix well until all is incorporated
• Line bottom of pie shell with broccoli or left over of choice
• Pour the egg mixture into shell
• Carefully place in center rack of oven and bake for 45 mins or until the top is lightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean from center when tested.

Enjoy and good luck

Weekend Warrior Series- How to prep for Hurricane Irene

Settling in to my slumber last night, my husband leans over and says…. So do we have a plan for this upcoming hurricane? My eyes pop back open and I chuckle a bit to myself. Of all the sweet nothings I have thought about hearing at those moments that was never one of them.

My only response was- I am an Upstate girl, we don’t get hurricanes. What kind of plan were you thinking? Should I make Irene themed cupcakes? He wasn’t really laughing. He was serious.

Living on Long Island these last 18 years, I have seen many threats that our tiny island would get hit, but we never actually have. I guess my reaction came from the media hyped desensitized reaction I now tend to get with any weather threat.

In Upstate NY, the only weather disasters we ever really faced were blizzards. So a hurricane warning is kind of the thing we only hear about on the nightly news.

Rick was serious. And I agree, seeing the devastation that a hurricane could bring, that I need to take it a bit more serious too.

This got me to thinking, well funny girl, what did you do in a blizzard? How did you prepare?

I think everyone knows the basic stuff. Water, flashlights, batteries... etc.

(For real preparation tips see this)

What if the power does go out? What if none of my usually cooking resources work? Conveniently our gas grill just died, so I can’t rely on that. What we eat? It’s not like we live in the boon docks, but we are not in the mindset to travel all over town and eat out either.

I thought about creating a menu of options for everyone on breakfast ideas, lunch/dinner and snacks that are counter friendly, and won’t require refrigeration.

So my weekend menu warriors, here are some yummies to prep on Friday Night or Saturday in prep for Hurricane Irene. Come On Irene!!!! We are ready

Beverages:

• Water, water and more water... Freeze a few bottles now if you can. So you could use as a cooler icy or just to have cold water.

• Juice boxes. You could freeze these too for the same reasons.

Breakfasts:

• Muffins or quick breads- Check out the Banana Bread recipe from earlier this year

• Bagels (add butter, jam peanut butter or nut butters. All counter friendly for a few days)

Snacks

• Fresh Fruit- will keep without the fridge for quite a bit

• Raisins

• Nuts

• Pretzels

• Goldfish

• Crackers

• Chick pea crunchies (great snack and full of protein and fiber so you can stay full longer, oh! Low fat too)

• Granola bars

• Fig Newton’s or cereal bars

• Graham crackers- personal household favorite

Lunches/Dinner

• Good ol’ PB and J sandwiches

• Zucchini Flat Bread Pizza

• 3 Bean Pasta Salad (click to get recipe)

• Foccacia Bread with:

• Grilled veggies

• Tomato sauce and parmesan cheese

• Cooked spinach

• Greek style- black olives, chopped fresh tomato, basil, feta crumbles, red onion slices.

Most of this is premade items, so very little baking or cooking required. A lot of it will keep post storm so if you don’t lose power, it’s not wasted.

If you have more ideas for counter friendly foods or general storm survival tips, please do share.

**What is the weekend warrior menu?

It’s a new Good Karma series presented every Thursday. Readers get menu ideas and shopping lists for the weekend. Shop Friday, cook Sat morning, and eat like a king all weekend...

Look out for more weekend warrior tips in future posts.