Quiche Fest!

by Barbara Job Packham

The recipes below, and the instructions and explanation, are from my friend Barbara Job Packham.

Barb is a foodie, like me, with tons of experience cooking and baking and a natural talent in the kitchen. In her “real life,” Barb is a banker, which means she is accustomed to exactness (great for cooking), but she also has a background as an artist, which means she can make food pretty, too. These quiches would be great for dinner — or a weekend breakfast.

From Barb:

Ingredients: The instructions below show you how to make several different quiches. Print out the recipe and gather the ingredients you need for the type you choose to make. Preheat the oven preliminarily to 425 degrees. When you do the baking, you’re actually going to have the quiche in at 425 for half an hour, then lower the temperature to 350 for the next half hour.

• One sheet pie crust fitted into a pie pan
• 1 can evaporated milk (I use the low fat generic most often)
• 4 eggs
• Shredded cheese of choice – at least 2 cups
• Veggies of choice (see details below)
• Optional – bacon or whatever other meat/sausage fits your flavor

First, for those who are trying to do low carb or go gluten-free, I skip the crust and just pour the egg mixture into an individual corelle dish.

Get out all of your ingredients. Each of the recipes involves the following steps: l) Layer cheese/veggies/cheese. 2) Whisk eggs. Add evaporated milk to eggs with any seasonings. I like to make more than one kind, so there is variety!

When using watery veggies like spinach, you want to pre-cook them and squeeze out every last drop of water than you can. You could just put it/them on a clean towel and press the water out. My secret for getting all the water out of the spinach after you lightly steam it…a salad spinner!

This shows the baked versions of two of my quiches; a quiche Lorraine with spinach, mushrooms, bacon & swiss cheese AND, my own invention, a Mexican quiche made with cheddar, taco meat, seeded and finely chopped tomato and green peppers.

Ready to bake! Lorraine: Spinach, mushrooms, crumbled bacon and shredded swiss. This shows the quiche Lorraine after the custard is poured on.

Mexican quiche all layered up waiting for the custard to be poured – custard is a can of evaporated milk with four eggs whisked in, salt & pepper to taste This Mexican quich is my creation to entice finicky grandgirls to try it! Finely chopped sweet pepper, fresh tomato and green onion – add taco seasoning to egg and milk.

The finished products! An hour later, VOILA! (Bake the first 1/2 hour at 425, then lower the temp to 350 degrees and bake for the remaining half hour.) The oval dish on the right (above) is a gluten free quiche for my daughter made by layering and putting custard over a simple crust I made from gluten free Bisquick. The sky’s the limit on combinations. Have fun experimenting!

THANKS, BARB!