Simple Quiche

This recipe is so easy it almost doesn't deserve a post - but I decided to anyway because who doesn't love a quick, easy meal?   It's another recipe that was inspired by the Real Simple cookbook (I promise, I'll start to switch it up soon!) and was super easy and light.  I had all of the ingredients on hand, including half and half, which I never usually have, but it was leftover from Christmas.

Quiche is something I've never really made before - I've always enjoyed it at brunches when someone else has made it, but have just never had the urge to go for it in my own kitchen.  Maybe because I don't love brunch - I'd rather eat something light and healthy for breakfast, (greek yogurt and granola, oatmeal, a smoothie, or toast with almond butter are my usual rotations).  I just hate feeling stuffed all day, which is the feeling I associate with brunch.   I do, however, love eggs.  So I solved this problem by making quiche for dinner and was very satisfied!

There are so many ways you could change up this recipe.  You could a combo of any of the following ingredients that come to mind: bacon, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, spinach, olives, etc...you get the picture.  I threw in some chopped orange bell pepper because that's what we had!  I served this with a simple arugula salad with a lemon vinaigrette (just olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, s & p).  The recipe says it serves 6, but if you eat like we do, it'll serve 4 just fine, thank you!

Simple Quiche

Recipe Source: Adapted From Real Simple's Easy, Delicious, Meals

Ingredients:

1 9-inch refrigerated pie crust (I used a Pillsbury deep dish frozen crust)

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

salt and pepper

1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

4 large organic eggs

3/4 cup half and half

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped

8 oz Mozzarella, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Remove pie crust from freezer and sit on counter to defrost while you are prepping everything else.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper and cook until the onion becomes tender and opaque, about 5 - 7 minutes.  Stir in parsley.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half and half, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Stir in the onion mixture and the cheese.

Pour the egg mixture into the crust.  Bake for about 45 minutes (my oven is slow - the cookbook said to bake for 35 - 40 minutes, but that wasn't enough).  Let the quiche sit for 5 minutes.  Cut, serve, and enjoy!