Spring Begins - First Sunburn of the Year

The Northwest has seen some serious swings in weather in the last two weeks. One Friday, the entire city of Missoula shuts down due to a blizzard, a week later, the snow is basically gone, the sun is shining, and the Chacos emerge from the closet. In a last minute decision to go skiing Saturday, I decided to bring out my shell instead of my mid-winter jacket. Risky decision.

However, within minutes of sitting on the chairlift. We had our gloves off, arm and leg vents open, and our beers were starting to warm up. I was nervous that the heat wave was going to ruin all of the snow on the steep back side of Discovery. I was pleasantly surprised. My friend Lindsey and I were able to find fresh snow for the first half of the day that hadn't turned to ice or mashed potatoes. Success.

At lunch we headed to the car to shed some layers. You would have thought it was May by the way everyone was hanging out, grilling in the parking lot, and wearing t-shirts.

The second half of the day we had to work a little harder to complete turns. Given we had a time constraint, we decided to head home a little early to visit the Philipsburg Brewing Company which neither of us had been to. After a Rye Ale and a Double Red (which were both great) we made our way back to Missoula. Spring is upon us.

Sunday morning I decided to have a gathering at my house with some girlfriends for breakfast. I'm heading out of town this week and there's no better way to decrease the food in the fridge and catch up with your friends. Besides, I had a Costco sized bottle of champagne that wasn't going to drink itself.

Sometimes the easiest thing to make when you have a kitchen sink of ingredients is a quiche. My dad always gives me homemade breakfast sausage that I have trouble using up given that I live alone, but it's so flavorful and lean that this was a perfect opportunity to use it. So here you have it:

Crustless Sausage Quiche:
Ingredients:
1 cup sausage cooked and crumbled (any type, give or take 1 cup)
1 cup red peppers (roasted)
1 clove roasted, minced garlic (optional)
5 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used sharp white cheddar and some herbed goat cheese)
1 tsp basil, oregano, or Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to season
Cooking spray

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
Grease deep dish pie pan with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs and milk together. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs of choice. Layer the sausage, cheese, red pepper, and garlic in the pie pan and pour the milk and egg mixture on top. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the center is firm. Remove from the oven and let the quiche set for 5 minutes. There may be some residual liquid from the peppers in the bottom of the dish, don't worry. Drain the best you can and serve.

Overall it was a great weekend with great people, all of which made the "spring ahead" loss of an hour all the more tolerable.