Surfside QGuild Brunch for SCCQG 07-10-10

Table set with flowers from member Joan Mauri and many plates set out for guests to pick up.

Plate with banana bread, quiche, Florentine bar and parfait. Delicious!

The Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds (SCCQG) meets four times a year with the meeting place and brunch provided by one of the 90+ guilds that are members of the organization. Surfside Quilters Guild is only a year old, but with the volunteer participation of the membership this was a great event for all concerned. Once a year SCCQG presents "Meet the Teachers" where 25 teachers/lecturers give a three minute presentation about their techniques, styles and teaching experience. The meeting always draws a high attendence and this year there were 170 attendees - this also includes the Surfside QGuild volunteers. The chair of the food arrangements and preparations was our member LeAnn Goettel, who put together an amazing and delicious brunch.

Brunch Menu (serving 150 people):

Fruit Parfaits
Crustless Quiche
Banana Bread
Florentine Bars
Coffee, Tea, Orange Juice

Yogurt—I planned on 28 quarts of yogurt (14 people/2 quarts each). I figured ½ cup serving. We only used 19 quarts of yogurt to feed 160 people—that’s how many cups I had.

Granola—I made the granola. 5 batches—8 cups/batch. Each parfait got ¼ cup granola.

Berries: blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries. Purchased through Costco and Henry’s. People donated $5. I bought $100 worth of berries. We had ¼ leftover.

Quiche: 7 pans 9x13” cut into 4x6 squares. I would have preferred 3x6 which would have required another quiche but I didn’t have the helpers.

Banana Bread: 11 people, 2 loaves each. Pre-sliced into twelve pieces/loaf.

Kitchen help: 11 people signed up plus others stayed who were dropping off food. Almost too many people. It could have been easily been done with 8.

Crustless Vegetable Quiche - LeAnn Goettel 07-10-10

Crustless Vegetable Quiche

2 T. butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (2 – 8 oz. packages)
2 cups fresh asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into ½” pieces
½ t. salt
½ t. cayenne pepper
12 eggs
1 C. milk
2 C. shredded pizza cheese (cheddar and mozzarella combination)

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the onion and cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper, mushrooms and the asparagus. Continue cooking 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in salt and cayenne pepper.

Beat the eggs and milk together in a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer. Stir in the vegetable mixture.

Spray a 9” x 13” disposable foil pan with Pam spray. Pour the egg and vegetable mixture into the pan. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 35 minutes or until eggs are set.

Crustless Bacon and Cheese Quiche LeAnn Goettel 07-10-10

Crustless Bacon and Cheese Quiche

2 bunches green onion, sliced
3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 lb. bacon, diced small but not tiny
1 – 8 oz. package mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
12 eggs
1/3 C. sour cream
1 C. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 C. Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cook bacon (crispy but not overdone) in a large skillet. Remove from fat and drain on paper towel. Discard all but 1 T. of bacon drippings. Using reserve bacon drippings, sauté mushrooms for 2 minutes. Add bacon to mushrooms along with tomatoes and onion and sauté for an additional 2 minutes.

Beat eggs and sour cream together with an electric mixer. Pour into a greased (Pam spray) 9” x 13” disposable foil baking dish. Top with bacon mixture and cheeses.

Bake at 325 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until eggs are set (when I did this, it took 35 minutes to bake.)

Sausage & Pepper Crustless Quiche - LeAnn Goettel 07-10-10

Sausage and Pepper Crustless Quiche

12 eggs
2 C. heavy cream
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 white onion, chopped
1 lb. Italian (mild) sausage (in a roll)
½ t. black pepper
1 t. salt
2 T. fresh basil

Sauté sausage, peppers, and onion in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat until sausage is cooked and peppers and onions are soft. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, cream and spices with an electric hand mixer. Combine the sausage, peppers and onions with the egg mixture. Pour into a greased (Pam spray) 9” x 13” disposable foil pan. Bake 350 degrees F. for 30 – 35 minutes or until eggs are set.

Florentine Bars - Candy Martin 07-10-10

Candy Martin’s FLORENTINE BARS

1 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 ½ cups cake flour

½ cup plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
12 ounces sliced almonds
½ cup raisins, finely chopped
½ cup tart dried apricots, finely chopped
½ cup tart dried cherries, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375’. Cream salted butter and ½ cup sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add egg and yolk, beat.
3. Add flour, mix well. Dough will be soft.
4. Cut parchment paper to fit bottom of jelly roll pan. Roll dough to size of parchment paper. Transfer paper and dough to jelly roll pan.
5. Bake 12 minutes until golden brown; remove to cool, leaving oven on.

6. In a medium saucepan over medium heat put unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cups sugar, honey and cream. Cook, stirring frequently until mixture reaches 250’ on candy thermometer.
7. Remove pan from heat and stir in almonds, raisins, apricots and cherries.
8. Spread warm topping over shortbread.
9. Bake until top is caramelized and lightly browned (about 10 minutes).
10. Cool and cut into bars.

Notes: We cut the bars into 48 pieces (6x8 on the jelly roll pan.) The fruit and nuts may be purchased at Trader Joes, Henrys, or Whole Foods. Costco carries the fruit. Dried fruit can be chopped by pulsing in a food processor.

Fruit Parfaits - LeAnn Goettel 07-10-10

Fruit Parfaits

9 oz. cup
¼ cup granola
½ cup Yoplait strawberry flavored yogurt
Fresh berries (we used blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries)
Mint for garnish

Assemble in order. Serve.

Granola - LeAnn Goettels 07-10-10

Granola

4 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups grated sweetened coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
¼ cup honey
½ cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Toss the oats, coconut and almonds together in a large mixing bowl. Pour the oil and honey over the mixture and mix well until fully incorporated. Spread the mixture onto a jelly roll pan. Bake for 20 minutes and pull from oven and stir the granola and redistribute on the cookie sheet. Bake another 10 minutes.

Hint: if the mixture isn’t stirred 20 minutes into the baking, you’ll end up with really toasted (burnt) granola.