Quiche

Last night, I decided to make quiche for dinner as I had just stocked up on eggs. I have never made quiche, so I looked up the highest rated quiche recipe on allrecipes.com (one that included bacon and spinach because I had them on hand). It turned out to be absolutely delicious! Here is my variation on Clark's Quiche (allrecipes.com).

• 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 8 oz. sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked (deep dish) pie crusts (I like to buy Pillsbury pie crusts when they are on sale and I have a coupon, then I freeze them to save for things like this)
• 1/2 pound thick sliced bacon
• 3/4 cup finely diced smoked ham
• 3/4 cup sausage, browned
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or bacon drippings)
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, finely diced
• 1 cup Mexican Blend shredded cheese
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 8 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• salt (optional) and pepper to taste (I found that the combination of meats made it unnecessary for the salt to be included)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. Cook spinach in skillet with a teaspoon of bacon grease over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Allow to cool, then set aside.

2. Heat olive oil (or bacon grease) in skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Stir in mushrooms, and cook for 2 minutes, or until soft. Stir in ham, browned sausage, and cooked bacon. Remove from heat.

3. In a large bowl, combine spinach, sour cream, salt and pepper. Divide, and spread into pie crusts. Layer with meat mixture. Mix together cheeses, and sprinkle over pies. Whisk together eggs, half-and-half and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, and pour over pies.

4. Place pies on middle shelf in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes. The top will be puffed and golden brown. Remove from oven, and let stand for 10 minutes.

One quiche easily feeds 4-6 people (if you have a side dish, I do homemade "American Fries").

This recipe makes 2 (9 inch) pies of quiche. Trust me, you'll want the extra pie for breakfast the next morning:)

You can also make the quiche in a 9x9x2 baking dish if you don't have more than one deep dish pie plate on hand.


Other Crust Options:
If you don't want to take the time to make a pie crust, you can also use

• Crescent Roll Dough
• Biscuit Dough (rolled very thin)
• Hash Brown or Bread/Cracker Crumb Crust