my whole life there have been two essential easter recipes served at our brunch: my mother’s mushroom crust quiche and her easter buns. they are both a little trashy… the quiche has smashed up saltines in the crust and the buns are made with the dough that comes in a can you bang on the counter to pop open. but they are both delicious. the quiche (or KWEE-CHEE as theo used to call it) LOOKS a little more elegant, but the buns are never pretty. the filling always squirts out and the jam slides around so they are just a mess. i have tried and tried to clean them up to no avail. when new people come for easter, they usually bypass them on the buffet and i have to force them to try one… no one has ever been disappointed. AND they are both still yummy, cold, the next morning as leftovers. happy, happy easter all! x0xx

(theo reaching past my buns for a cupcake - only because he hadn’t yet tried them - he would never do that now!)

MUSHROOM CRUST QUICHE

5 T butter

1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped

1/2 C crushed saltine crackers

3/4 C chopped green onions

2 C (8 oz) shredded jack or swiss cheese

1 C cottage cheese

3 eggs

1/4 t cayenne

paprika sprinkled on top

* i always double this recipe and make two quiches since chopping all those mushrooms is already a pain in the popper… i think i use more than 1/2 lb of mushrooms per quiche also.

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

in a large saute pan melt 3 T of butter over medium heat. add the chopped mushrooms and cook until limp. stir in crackers and then press into a 9" pie pan.

in same pan melt remaining 2 T of butter. add onions and cook until they are also limp. spread the onions over the bottom of the mushroom crust and sprinkle the cheese on top.

use a hand mixer to combine eggs, cottage cheese and cayenne until smooth. pour egg mixture over the cheese and zig zag with paprika.

bake at 350 for about 40 minutes until quiche is browned. let stand 10 to15 minutes before serving. ENJOY!

(the prettiest bun of the batch)

EASTER BUNS

8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 C sugar

1 T lemon juice

2 (8 oz) cans of crescent dinner rolls

1 or 2 jars of jam

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

mix cream cheese, lemon juice and sugar until smooth.

separate crescent dough into 8 rectangles, firmly pressing perforations together. spread 2-3 T cream cheese mixture on each rectangle. starting from the longer side, roll up and press edges to seal. stretch rolled up dough and cut in half. you end up with 16 filled dough rolls.