Mini Quiches, New Layouts - August 24, 2011

A while ago I wrote about my new technique of making large meals, and then freezing a portion to keep as an easy meal in a few weeks, instead of eating leftovers in a few days.  One of our favorite meals is a broccoli & cauliflower quiche.  It's delicious, but the leftovers usually don't get eaten, which is a real shame because the recipe makes a lot of filling:  it fills a big 10 inch deep-dish pie plate.

So, I thought it would be great if I could work out a better end for this quiche by freezing it in small portions before the final cooking step.  It worked!   Instead of making one large quiche, I can make 6 small ones.  I use 5-inch pie tins.  I fill them with crust then spread the filling between them all, and then slip 4 of the pies, uncooked, into the freezer.  I cook the other two right away for dinner that night.  Here's a picture:

How do the frozen ones taste?  Pretty darn good.  I would have to say that they are not quite as awesome as the freshly baked ones, but the difference is minimal.  Since I can make 6 (possibly even 7) small pies out of this recipe, that means I can get THREE meals out of this one!  ... Until Miller starts eating quiche.  But even then, I'll still get two meals out of one prep.

Here is my recipe.

To fill the 6 small pie plates, I use 1.5X the recipe for a single pie crust.

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 4 Cups total broccoli & cauliflower (2 cups each), chopped small
• 3-4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 oz. cheddar cheese (1/2 of a block)
• 6 oz. mozzarella cheese (1/2 of a block)
• 4 eggs, beaten well
• 1 Cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or less)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Melt butter in a pot then cook the veggies in it until soft-ish, stirring once in a while.  While that is going ... Shred the cheese. Beat the eggs and then add to them the milk, salt and pepper and mix well.  Get the pie crusts all ready. (I would have made the crust earlier and just need to roll them out.)  By now the veggies are ready, so distribute them among the pies (about 1/3 Cup each), then top with cheese, then pour on the egg mixture (about 1/3 C each). Bake at 425 for about 25-30 minutes.

The mozzarella cheese in this recipe really is good.  When I first found the recipe, I thought it was weird to have mozzarella cheese in it, so I substituted cheddar.  But then one day I tried a mix of both, and discovered that the firmness and chewy-ness of the mozzarella was really quite nice.  The original recipe also had more milk, and I found that the filling was often too wet.  I've made enough substitutions that I think I can call this recipe my own.  It's one of our favorites.

Here are some more layouts. This first one is about a trip to a local amusement park with  my mom's group. The funny thing about this day was Miller's outfit. He couldn't let me be prettier than him, so we were both wearing necklaces when we left the house.  Plus, he had on some REALLY baggy pants.

Postage Frames by Amy Martin
Boy, Oh Boy by Designs by Lili and Leora Sanford

Just a little summary of the preschool summer camp Miller went to.

Froggys Cardstock and Stitched Alpha by Gina Miller
Stand Tall Alpha by C.D. Muckosky; Template freebie by Miss Tiina

This is a Project: Love, Me page about a relaxing activity I would like to start doing: gardening.

Sketched Frames by Scrapping with Liz; Froggys Cardstock by Gina Miller
Vingtage Vogue Elements by Sahlin Studio; Unique by Designs by Anita

That's all for now! I'm itching to organize some templates while Miller and the scientist are at the park.