Let's Eat Quiche!

Up until recently I was a bit intimidated by the thought of cooking a quiche.  I loved eating quiche, but I always thought it was a very involved recipe that called for dozens of eggs and such.  I had pie shells in the freezer that I wanted to use, so I decided to be brave and look up a recipe for quiche.  I then felt silly.  Quiche take a little bit of time, but it's supremely easy. 

Basic Quiche - The Essentials
Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup cream or milk
• 1 9 inch deep dish pie shell
• 1/2 cup cheese of your choice
• Your favorite seasonings

So that's the essentials for the quiche.  The cheese itself may even be considered optional if that's not your thing.  The following are suggestions for ingredients you can add to give your quiche more flavor and to make it more hearty.  Of course this isn't the end all of what you can add!  I didn't mention hamburger under the meat section, but you can easily make a cheeseburger quiche if you wanted.  You could avoid meat, and just bulk up on veggies.  The great thing about quiche is that you can make it to be breakfast or lunch/dinner.

Advanced Quiche  aka "More than just eggs & cheese"
Optional Ingredients:

•    Meat!
• 4 to 6 slices of lean, cooked bacon crumbled
• 2 slices of lean ham
• 1 to 2 links of bratwurst style sausage
• 1/2 pound smoked sausage
• 1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
• Veggies!
• 1 mushroom of your choosing, sliced or diced
• 2 to 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 small bell pepper, diced
• 1 small hot pepper of any sort, diced, seeds included
• Sun dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup zucchini

 I have my ingredients... let's cook this!
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place your pie shell on a cookie sheet to make it easier to handle, and also to help with cleanup in case it bubbles up.
2. Whisk the eggs, cream, cheese, and seasonings together in a bowl and put to the side.
3. Add the meat and/or veggies you chose to the pie shell.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the pie shell ensuring to cover everything.
5. Sprinkle a bit of cheese over the top if desired.
6. Cook for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. Cook for 35 minutes until the top is nicely browned.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
8. The quiche refrigerates nicely (be sure to cover it), and can be reheated in the microwave for about 2 minutes.

Serves 4