From the Kitchen: Easy Quiche

This easy quiche is one of my go-tos for an easy breakfast, lunch, or dinner; I frequently bring it to new moms when I'm delivering dinner as a bonus breakfast item (since I thought breakfast was the hardest meal to pull off after C was born).  It's nothing special since hardly any part of it is homemade - but it takes less than 10 minutes to assemble and pop in the oven, and less than an hour later, you have a finished quiche on your hands!

The recipe is super flexible in that you can use whatever cheese, meat, and/or vegetables you prefer (or, if you're like me, have on hand and need to get rid of).  It is a great way to use up leftovers, especially since eggs and milk are almost always on hand!  Except for the eggs and milk, the specifics and the quantity of the other ingredients (cheese, meat, vegetables) is flexible!  My go-to is to use frozen chopped spinach, which I microwave to thaw it and then squeeze out the extra water, along with turkey breakfast sausage.  When in a pinch, I use the Jimmy Dean precooked turkey sausage crumbles, which you can find with the packaged lunch meat and hot dogs at the grocery store.

I use frozen deep-dish pie crusts if I'm taking the quiche to someone else, just for the convenience of the disposable pie pan that they come in; if I'm making it for my own family, I usually use a refrigerated pie crust in a deep dish pie plate.  I find that regular-depth pie plates come too close to overflowing!

Easy Quiche

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pie crust (frozen deep-dish pie crust or refrigerated pie crust)
3/4 cup (more or less) grated cheese (my go-to is cheddar, but anything works!)
(optional) 1 cup (more or less) chopped meat (e.g., ham, bacon, breakfast sausage)
(optional) 1/2 cup (more or less) chopped vegetables (e.g., spinach, mushrooms, bell pepper, green onion; thaw and drain excess water if using frozen)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If using a refrigerated pie crust, press into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate.  If using a frozen deep dish pie crust, no need to thaw.  Evenly spread the chopped meat and/or vegetables around the bottom of the pie crust.  Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the meat and/or vegetables.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together the 4 eggs, milk, and salt and pepper until well blended; pour into the pie crust on top of the meat, vegetables, and cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until no longer liquid in the center (it will still appear slightly jiggly but should be firm when pressed).  Let cool at least 5 minutes before cutting into 6-8 slices.