Bacon & Caramelized Onion Quiche

I love quiche.  It's delicious and is a great holding vessel for all types of wonderful things. I love quiche for breakfast and lunch.  It makes me feel fancy.

Since I love bacon and had an onion laying around I decided to make a quiche with those.  I cooked the onions low and slow until they were nice and caramelized to add a nice sweet flavor to the quiche.

Bacon & Caramelized Onion Quiche:

1 pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 teaspoon corn starch
3 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 red onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup swiss cheese
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 large tablespoon greek yogurt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter.  Add the onion and let slowly cook until it is translucent and a caramel color.  It'll take a decent amount of time, I think mine cooked about 15 minutes... but I should have let them go for 20.

Fry the bacon and hold the cooked bacon off to the side until the onions are finished and the custard it finished.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place your pie crust in a pie pan.

In a bowl beat the eggs.  Stir the corn starch into the half and half, making sure it is incorporated well, and add that to the eggs along with the greek yogurt, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Mix well and add the cheese, bacon, and onions.

Pour the egg mixture in the pie shell and make sure the bacon and onions are spread around evenly.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top of the quiche starts to turn golden brown.

Mini Spinach Quiche

Quiche is so tasty and everyone seems to love it.  Making a mini version is just as easy as the large one and the tiny size is perfect for appetizers.

I like to go ahead and make them a day or two early and just reheat them quickly before it's time to serve. (A toaster oven works great)

Mini Spinach Quiche:

2 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1 tablespoon corn starch, blended with the half and half
salt and pepper
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
pie crust, store bought is fine

In a bowl blend the eggs, half and half, salt, pepper, and mayonnaise together.  Add the spinach and swiss cheese, mix well.

Take the pie crust, roll it out, and cut small circles out (I used a shot glass).  Spray a mini muffin pan with some non stick spray and place the circles of pie crust into the muffin tins.  Fill each little pie crust with the quiche mixture and bake at 350 until nice and golden, 20-30 minutes.

Crustless Spinach Bacon Quiche

I took a step out of my comfort zone the other day.  I made a quiche without the pie crust.  I love bread and carbs... however I don't need to eat a ton of them all the time so i'm trying to find simple ways to cut back on them, like using wraps instead of bread, cauliflower instead of potatoes, and trying out this crustless version of a classic.

Crustless Spinach Bacon Quiche:
(inspired by Joy the Baker)

1/2 bag of spinach leaves, stems trimmed
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
3 large eggs
1 cup half and half
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
3 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a pie pan.


In a saucepan cook the spinach and garlic over medium heat.  Cook until the spinach is wilted.  Take the spinach and garlic and squeeze dry.  Let sit for a minute and squeeze again.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs until they are a light color, add the half and half.  Add the spinach, garlic, bacon, cheese, and salt and pepper.  Stir together with a spoon and pour the mixture into the buttered pie pan.

Bake the quiche for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Meringue Cookies

I made some Key Lime Pie the other day and had some left over egg whites.  I decided that this was the time to try to make something new.  That something was meringue cookies.  They're easy to make and turn out to be really light and airy.  They almost melt in your mouth.   They also store fantastically.

Meringue recipes call for superfine sugar.  I'm sure it's something you can buy but I just poured it into my food processor and let it whirl.

Here is one more thing to think about when making these.  While they sit in the oven and dry out it's important not to forget that they are in there and turn the oven up to 400* to make some garlic toast.  It will cause them to burn and you'll have the throw the entire batch of lovely meringues that you just spent hours making into the trash. 

I just wanted to throw that out there (not that I would do something like that... i'm just saying)

Meringue Cookies: 

(Joy of Baking)

3 large egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup (150 grams) superfine sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat, on medium-high speed, until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. 

<- It should look like this.




















Beat in the vanilla extract.   

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You can either use a piping bag or use two spoons to make mounds of meringue.

 

Bake the meringues for approximately 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, rotating the baking sheet from front to back (about half way through) to ensure even baking. The meringues are done when they are pale in color and fairly crisp. (The meringues will release easily from the parchment paper.) Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, and leave the meringues in the oven to finish drying several hours or overnight. 

The meringues can be covered and stored at room temperature for several days.

Easy Eggs Florentine

I'm trying to clean out our refrigerator before we move at the end of the month.  I really don't want to have to move tons of food.  I made this for supper tonight using what we already had in the house.

Easy Eggs Florentine:

2 eggs
1/3 package of frozen spinach
1-2 tablespoons cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt & Pepper

Thaw out the spinach and squeeze it dry.  In a bowl beat the eggs and mix in the spinach, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  Spray a skillet that was warmed over medium-low heat with some non-stick spray.  Pour in the egg/spinach mixture and slowly mix in the pan until the eggs start to cook.  Add the cream cheese and mix into the eggs.  Cook until the cream cheese has melted and mixed in with the eggs.