What's cookin' good lookin'?

Remember back a few weeks ago when I told you I couldn't stop pinning recipes even though it was pointless since I didn't even have a kitchen to cook them in? Well, now that I am all moved into my apartment and have my very own kitchen again, you should know all those pins have not gone to waste.

In fact, last Saturday I whipped up a Paula Deen hash brown quiche and Sunday night I delved into my first Pioneer Woman recipe: chili for Frito Pie. To this day it still baffles me that not every single one of you grew-up indulging the Texas delicacy of Frito Pie. Check out this vintage BB post if you don't know what I'm talking about.

I would have blogged about my culinary adventures last week, but my life got crazy busy yet again and now it's 2 pm on a Saturday afternoon here on the west coast and I'm sitting in a bustling "hipster" coffee shop called Sambalatte using their wifi since I am waiting for a modem to be delivered to me. It's a long story that's neither here nor there, but I don't have Internet in my apartment at the moment.

So here I am in this coffee shop with live music and lots of people a lot cooler than me and one of my dreams just came true: I got a cappuccino with one of those "fancy" designs.

That's actually my second cup in the picture above. I drank my first one before I took a pic:

I realize this makes me seem like a stereotypical uncultured southerner, but I can assure you I'm not that uncultured. It has just always been my routine to drive through a Starbucks and order my regular.

But with the start of a new beginning comes lots of new firsts; like spending my Saturday afternoon in a hipster coffee shop complete with a live Latin songstress. In line after ordering, I also struck up convo with a stranger who, as it turns out, also just moved here two months ago for a job and knows virtually no one. We exchanged numbers and promised to hang out soon. See what I mean about firsts? In Texas I would have never spent my Saturday in a coffee shop and I would have never made a potential new friend.

Enough about the new introspective me. I started this post to share two recipes: a quiche and chili. Both are easy, I promise. If the list of ingredients and directions look daunting, I'm out on that. Basically if I can do it, then so can you.

Don't think for one second I'd miss an opportunity to drink out of my Paula Deen coffee mug while whipping up a Paula Deen quiche.

Got this mug at her restaurant when I visited Savannah this past summer.

The evolution of the quiche.

First, brown your hash browns, which forms the crust for your quiche:

I really like fresh ground pepper.

While your crust is browning you whisk eggs with half and half, ham, cheese and green onions. Next time I think I'll cut out the green onions altogether, but that's based on personal preference. I found them to be a bit overwhelming.

Poor egg mixture over your hashbrown crust, bake and you're done. It's easy as quiche ... I mean, pie.

For the complete quiche recipe and directions, click here.

And last but not least, I present to you the best chili recipe for frito pie. It's the best because its super thick so it doesn't make your fritos soggy. Pioneer Woman's secret? Masa. Go here for the recipe. It was easy to make, made plenty for me to freeze and tasted really good. A win-win.

Ok, the Latin songstress is now belting out Stand By Me. I'm in heaven and officially declare this coffee shop my new favorite place. As Paula Deen (and I) would say, enjoy the rest of your weekend, y'all.