Melt-in-your-Mouth Quiche

Today I want to share my recipe for a melt-in-your-mouth quiche that is a proven family favorite at our house.  My handsome husband - who could not stand quiche previously- requests mine any time we have a carton of eggs in the fridge. I love making it because it's versatile and relatively easy. The kids love it too, and I love that they are getting plenty of good veggies every time they eat it!  

My recipe was adapted from the "Joy of Cooking" cookbook.  The version I made is gluten-free, but made with regular all-purpose flour it's delicious. 


The Crust: 

"Pat in the Pan-Cheddar/Parmesan Crust"
1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Toss the following ingredients together in a bowl:
      - 1/2 cup lightly packed extra sharp cheddar cheese (or 3/4 cup if omitting         
        parmesan cheese)
      - 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
      - 2/3 cup gluten-free or all purpose flour 
      - 1/2 teaspoon of salt (I use kosher salt)
      - 6 Tbl (3/4 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/4inch pieces
3.. Cut butter into ingredients until mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs
4. Press and pat dough directly into pan, lining bottom and sides. Thoroughly        
    prick bottom of crust with fork.
5. Bake in oven at 425 for 18-22minutes - until golden brown, then remove and    
    paint with uncooked egg-yolk & pinch of salt, covering evenly. Return to   
    oven with this glaze for 1-2 minutes to set. 

Select Your Ingredients:

      This time I used fresh Roma tomatoes, spicy turkey breakfast sausage, fresh    (minced) green onions, fresh minced spinach, Fresh minced basil, cheddar cheese, and bacon crumbles. 

      I usually see what I have and improvise based on what's available. Feta cheese is a favorite of mine, but I didn't have any this time!  

      I also chose to incorporate the egg-white into my recipe that was left from the egg yolk I separated to use on the crust. Using more yolks makes the quiche a bit richer, but the extra egg white added a fluffiness that I appreciated.

Making the Quiche filling:
      1. Remove prepared crust from oven.
      2. Preheat oven to 375. 
      3. After selecting and preparing ingredients by mincing, whisk together the          
         following: 
            1 cup milk
            1 cup Half & Half or Cream
                  (You can use just milk, but the more cream you use, the richer the   
                   quiche will be.)
                  3 eggs (plus remaining egg white/optional)  
            1/8 teaspoon black pepper
            1 pinch of ground/grated nutmeg
            1/4 teaspoon of salt if salty meats are not used in quiche (I omitted this)
        4. Whisk in minced vegetables (spinach, basil, green onions)
        5. Sprinkle the base of the crust with selected meats (bacon and sausage)  
            and heavy vegetable items like tomatoes
        6. Cover with 1/4 cup of cheddar or parmesan cheese
        7. Pour the custard-like mixture over the meat, into the crust

Return to oven to bake for 35-40 minutes until top is golden brown, and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Slice with spatula and Enjoy!!!! 

Week 2 Menu - GF

Menu: Week 2 ;)

1. Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes the Cheesecake Factory Copycat

(minus the white flour)

                                       Photo by roxy0316 on February 28, 2011

2. Parmesan Crusted Tilapia w/ Asparagus

3. Panera CopyCat (but better) Broccoli Cheese Soup

4. Curried Rice w/ Shrimp

5. Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken

This week's meals were a BIG hit. Having tried several of them...I highly recommend recipes from Real Simple. If you've never attempted one of their recipes, give it a whirl and let me know what you think!

I've also been finding a lot of meal inspiration on Pinterest.  If you are a Pinterest user, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but if not - you are definitely missing out!!

This week I have my FINAL final.....maybe, ever! I graduate on Saturday, and am starting Grad school the way I started it.....expecting! ;)


We didn't make it to every recipe on our list, but those we did try were fantastic!  I should have been better about taking pictures, but....I was too busy enjoying the delicious food!  We tried 4 of the 6 recipes we listed, and this week plan to make the existing two.  The chicken with white beans and tomatoes was delicious. The beans ended up taking on a smokey roasted garlic flavor, and were good as leftovers as well! The skirt steak with chick peas, tomatoes and feta was one of our favorites. It was also VERY easy. This meal will be on repeat.  The gyro meat with tzatziki sauce was delicious, but sadly, wasn't 100% gluten free. It was nice for a quick meal though. The sauce was slightly labor-intensive, but my family LOVED it.

Last, but not least-  the cauliflower parmesan crust pizza. My family devoured the pure deliciousness. It wasn't as crisp as we normally like our crust, but it was every bit as tasty! Another family favorite - with some extra veggies snuck in. You can't beat that!!  I DID manage to get a few pictures of that delicious meal before it was devoured. Our toppings were organic pasta sauce with garlic, roma tomatoes, spicy breakfast turkey sausage, mozzarella cheese and fresh arugala. It was FANTASTIC! We followed the directions, but next time I might make a double batch - knowing how quickly it disappeared!

Have a good evening! Bon apetite!