My Masterquiche

This post is named after the master piece that I came up with yesterday, hereby known as the Masterquiche. I had a ton of veggies about to go bad, 2 dozen eggs, and a bunch of cheese. The first one was so good that Adam and I ate it and I made another one for today. You can prep a bunch of the veggies and throw this together in about 5 minutes if you want a few fresh out of the oven, but they also taste great cold. I didn't really have a recipe, but I'll try and recreate this as best as I can... Store leftover veggies for an omelet or additional quiche.

Masterquiche
makes one

1/2 Sweet Onion diced
1/3 Red Onion diced
3 Scallions finely chopped
1/3 Red Bell Pepper chopped
1/3 Yellow Bell Pepper chopped
1/3 Orange or Green Bell Pepper chopped
4-5 Baby Bella Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 TBS Minced Garlic
1 Small crown of Broccoli finely chopped
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar loosely packed
2/3 Cup Swiss or Gruyere loosely packed
1/2 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan
4-5 eggs (depending on size)
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep work is the key in this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, make your crust, chop all vegetables. A food processor is helpful for the onions, but I would suggest doing the rest by hand to avoid veggie mush. Beat eggs until fluffy, grate all the cheeses, and set aside. Par bake your crust for 10 min, but I suggest omitting the honey. I think it comes out better for a savory dish without it. A food processor works great for this too.

Place broccoli on a foiled cookie sheet and sprinkle/toss in olive oil and salt. Roast for 15 min. While the broccoli is roasting, saute sweet onion and mushrooms over medium heat in olive oil until they have given off their liquid and are a caramel color. Add garlic, brown a little more, and transfer to a bowl. By this time the broccoli should be done, add it to the bowl.

Now saute the bell peppers the same way as the mushrooms until slightly brown, transfer to the bowl. I cook them in this order because different types of vegetables cook at different rates, so if I did the peppers with the mushrooms they would burn before the onions were caramelized. It's possible to do them all in the same pan, but the flavor isn't as great in my opinion. I use a lot of salt, but you can choose how much you'd like when cooking everything. No need to cook the scallions or red onion. When you're done you should have a couple little bowls of prepped veggies.
At this point you should have all your cheese, crust, veggies and eggs ready to go in front of you. Place a thin layer of cheddar and swiss at the bottom of crust. Spread an evenly mixed layer of all the veggies, and cover that with a bit of the egg. Use a spoon to smear the egg over the whole top if needed. Repeat this process until you are out of everything except the Parmesan. After you have done your top layer of egg, cover with parm and fresh cracked pepper. I also dusted with a little garlic and salt. Bake for 40-45 min until egg is set, and you will have a masterquiche!

Kabobs, Quiche & Pancakes! Oh my?

I know it's been WAY too long since my last post. Since I work for a publication with monthly deadlines, it gets super busy the second week of the month and I have no time for cooking or blogging. It's one of the reasons this diet is so difficult. I've been living on mangos and lara bars for quite a while. Anywho... I have a few new offerings for my SCD friends today, and anyone else who is interested in yummy healthy food.

First up we have a low carb grain free pancake. Now, you're going to think I'm crazy but trust me on this one, it tastes amazing:

Peanut butter banana pancake

1 Jumbo Egg
1 Very Ripe Banana w spots
2 TBS Butter
Honey and Peanut butter to taste

Mash banana into liquid, beat in egg until smooth. Fry in a non-stick pan on medium heat with butter. Top with melted peanut butter and honey, serve with almond milk.

Frying/flipping this can be a bit tricky. I had to reshape it into a pancake after I screwed it up, but it doesn't affect the flavor. You can also add some vanilla and a bit of almond flour for a more pancake-like consistency, but I like this one just the way it is. Good late night treat too.

Next up: Kabobs! Why is it that they seem so simple and yet they never turn out quite right? I.e., one veggie cooks more than the other, they fall apart, etc. I did manage to make some wonderful kabobs anyway, and even grilled some tofu ones for my sweetie. No recipe, but here's the basics:

Eggplant
Zucchini
Bell Peppers
Onion
Mushroom
Scallops
Tofu

I marinated the scallops in garlic and Marsala wine for 5 hours first, and bathed the veggies in olive oil, garlic, and sea salt. I also dipped the tofu in balsamic and pan fried them before skewering, but I couldn't taste them as I'm not allowed soy or balsamic. I've been told it was the best tofu ever though :)

I grilled them over charcoal until slightly burnt, keeping the scallops on separate sticks since meat and veggies cook differently. Here is the result:

Also, the tofu ones:


Finally, last night I had a bit of time to cook. Problem was, I hadn't had time to go to the store and had no meat. What's a girl to do without meat??? (Keep the comments to a minimum gentlemen.)

I noticed some broccoli and a few sad pieces of cheese when it hit me... Quiche! It turned out great, and I ate half of it in one sitting.

Broccoli Cheese Quiche with Almond Flour Crust

Crust:
1 1/2 cups Almond Flour or Meal
3 TBS Cold Butter
1 TBS Honey
1/8 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Large Egg

Put almond flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl with butter. Use a pastry cutter or a large fork to mix. Make a well in the center, add egg and honey. Mix well. Using gloves or buttered hand, press into a 9" pie plate. It's more like smearing than pressing with the dough, since it is very wet. Par bake at 325 for 15 min.

Filling:
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Grated Cheddar
1 Cup Grated Swiss
2 Mashed Garlic Cloves
2 TBS Home Made Yogurt
1TBS Olive Oil
1 Small Broccoli Crown, chopped very small
1/2 Onion chopped

Toss broccoli in olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet and brown it at 400 for about 15 min until tender. Reduce oven to 325. In a skillet brown onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent and slightly brown. Remove broccoli from oven and mix all ingredients in large bowl. Pour into par baked crust. Cover the edges with foil and continue to bake for 30-40min at 325 until eggs are set.


Also tastes great cold. Ate a slice for breakfast in the car this morning! More yummy stuff to come... I'm working on desserts this week. After a moment of weakness Sunday (involved pizza and wings) and severe punishment from my body on Monday, I've decided that I absolutely must NOT run out of yummy prepared food again. Lesson learned, moving ahead!