Crustless Quiche

If you’re on a diet that restricts your ability to have flour, starches, potatoes, pasta, and other carbohydrate filled foods, it can be difficult to find a dinner that the whole family will enjoy. This crustless quiche is not only delicious but easy to make. Additionally, you can make it ahead and freeze it to thaw and bake later. This is practically a dump and bake it recipe.

There are many variations of this that can be made. Be sure to pay attention to the tips and tricks to see the different variations which may reduce the cost of this meal considerably. This meal can be made ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator to use when convenient.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 eggs
• 1 Cup of 2% milk, whole milk, half and half, or heavy cream
• 1 package of frozen spinach 10 to 12 ounces thawed
• 4 ounces of diced ham
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Squeeze and dry the spinach.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Spray a pie plate or quiche dish with nonstick cooking spray or use butter to grease the sides of the pie pan.
4. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper and set aside.
5. Layer spinach, ham, and cheese at the bottom of the greased dish.
6. Pour the egg mixture over it.
7. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 to 45 minutes.
8. If it isn’t finished after 45 minutes, place back into the oven for an additional 5 minutes.
9. When finished, remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.
10. Slice into wedges and serve.

TIPS:

• Mix the egg mixture ahead of time and freeze in zip lock bags or vacuum sealed bags to make crustless quiche at any time without much preparation at all.
• Substitute 8 ounces of cottage cheese for feta cheese to reduce the cost of this meal considerably.
• Add a vegetable side to create a complete meal.
• Remove the ham entirely from the meal to reduce the cost. You can also substitute the ham with deli ham slices very thinly diced. This will reduce the overall ham in the dish while still giving the flavor of it. Sometimes deli ham is cheaper than regular ham as well.
• Vegetables that can be used include shredded carrot, scallions, shallots, then shreds of leak, artichoke fully prepared, and chard.
• This can be served alone but it pairs well with sour cream and mariposa cheese.
• Use your entire oven to save on energy costs by making two or three of these crustless quiches at once. The additional quiches can be saved in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week to use as a quick meal.
• After Easter there is typically sales on ham and eggs. If you purchase a large amount of both during this time, you can pre-make the mixture for crustless quiche and save it for later in your freezer. If you wanted to have this dish once a month for a family of four, you would need a total of 12 packages put back in your freezer. This would be easy to do at those times of year when ham and eggs are on sale.