Bacon Broccoli Frittata

Broccoli Bacon Frittata

6 – 8 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces

Small onion, sliced/chopped thinly

5 eggs (or 3 eggs with 1/3 cup Liquid Egg Whites)

1/2 cup Bisquick or Pamela’s GF Baking Mix

2 – 3 cups of cheese (Swiss, Cheddar, shaved Parmesan, etc.)

1/3 cup half-and-half

1 cup whole milk

2 – 3 cups raw broccoli (or your favorite vegetables)

Seasonings (salt, pepper, paprika, seasoning mix)*


Add eggs, half-and-half, milk, Bisquick and seasoning into a blender/food processor and mix well. Set aside.

Begin by frying the bacon in a pan for about 5 minutes on a low-medium stove. I used a large cast iron pan since I would be able to put the completed quiche into the oven.

Add in onions. Continue to stir and cook the bacon and onions until the onions are tender and translucent (about another 5 minutes).

Add in the broccoli, which I have cut into smallish pieces. Cook the mixture for 3 minutes, stirring to evenly cook the vegetables.**

If you are using a cast iron pan, move the pan from heat and prepare to mix rest of ingredients into the pan. Or, switch to a large pie or tart stoneware or casserole dish.

Add the cheese into the bacon-broccoli-onion mixture; mix well. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the ingredients in pan/casserole dish.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden and a knife comes out cleanly from the center. The preheated cast iron pan will cook faster; my quiche took 35 minutes.

*I used 1 tsp paprika and 1 tbs of Strawberry Tree Farm’s Giddya Up Ranch

** If using raw spinach or mushrooms, don’t cook them; instead, remove the pan from heat and stir vegetables into the bacon mixture.

Humming and Buzzing

 Summer in the Estes Park, Colorado, can be marked by the arrival and departure of the exquisite hummingbird.  

In the height of the summer, hummingbirds can be heard trilling and whistling on the drive up Hwy. 34 from the lowlands of Loveland to the mountains of Estes Park. 

As the temperature drops 10 to 12 degrees on the trip up the mountain, it's enjoyable to roll down the car windows in order to hear the buzzing of these bright and wondrous creatures.

At our condo in Estes Park, we keep fresh feeders going for these always-hungry visitors. They are rarely shy, and they are happy to pose for photos, with sweet nectar their only pay.

These photos were taken from our balcony, near Marys Lake in Estes Park. Enjoy! 

Hummingbirds fly to the cool mountains to mate and nest. The acrobatics of male hummingbirds is amazing to watch, especially when they perform vertical dives from dizzying heights as a way to impress the females. 

These little birds' summer time in the mountains is fleeting. Many have already left the mountains for the lowlands of Loveland and Fort Collins. And soon, their long flight southwards will begin, and summer will sweep away as the leaves color and fall from the trees. 

Pineapple Express

Today's snow in Loveland was of the more unfriendly variety. Usually, we have powdery stuff that's easy to plow and move. This time, we had chinook winds blow through a couple of days ago and the warm winds melted the previous snow, causing the ground to warm and water to be left on the pavements and roads.

As we went back down into the 20s and teens last night, all that moisture froze, and then wet snow layered on top of it. Not great for drivers heading to work or school. This Pineapple Express came from the Pacific and was laden with moisture. As it crosses over the Rockies, it's expected to drop 2 to 4 feet of snow in the mountains (great for skiers; and also 'good' for avalanche potential! Yikes). We won't be getting that much -- 5 to 6 inches this morning and maybe a bit more this evening.

I usually head out to shovel first thing in the morning, but after I saw the ice at the bottom of the snow and felt the heaviness of the snow, I came back inside, brewed a cup of tea, put my feet up, and sent a text to my trusty landscaper to come with his snow plow!

Lovely Loveland in the snow

This morning, I awoke to lots of chirping birds and a white hazy sky, which meant the snow had arrived. The birds were sheltering and nibbling on food from the hanging feeders on our balcony. 

We are expecting snow all day. The house finches, juncos, flickers and chickadees were making themselves right at home under our covered balcony. 

This is my first time to be in our Loveland home through January, so I've been interested in what the weather would bring. I think the snow totals vary quite a bit from year to year. 

Today, it's been lovely to watch the snow as it comes down throughout the day. So many of the snow events seem to happen overnight, and I miss all the action! More photos are located on my Teawife Facebook site.

Sunset on the golf course

A couple of evenings ago, I got a call from our neighbor that there was a family of elk lounging in the Mariana Butte Golf Course. Lately, I had been so inundated with moving boxes, unpacking, and finding cubby holes for all our stuff that I had not done much walking or found my camera to take photos. I thought that grabbing the camera and having a wee walk in the neighborhood would be some much needed therapy. As I was walking toward the elk family, I also caught some amazing cloud play with the sunset. I think I need to get out more often!

Proud Robin

We've had so many robins, which are normally very territorial, diving into our bird feeders for suet pellets and sunflower seeds. They wait for us in the morning to fill the feeder. They will even come up to the kitchen window and look in if we are running late. Then they practically fly on top of us as we come out with the goodies.

Black Fox, White Snow

Although Easter is just around the corner and it's officially spring, we had a snow storm and about 8 inches of the white stuff. Looking out yesterday morning on the expanse of white on our lawn, I saw a magnificent black fox run across the property. Unfortunately, it was too quick for me to grab my camera. This morning, after the snow had stopped, I decided to walk down to the nearby golf course to snap some shots of the snow-capped mountains. As it turned out, they were well-hidden behind the mist and clouds; only the foothills were showing. As I was snapping some photos, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. It was the gorgeous black fox with its thick rich winter coat. 

The snowy conditions also were also encouraging the birds to grab some grub at our neighbors' feeder, which they have attached to their upstairs balcony. The red-breasted house finch is especially pretty!