This morning I went to the gym and started The Fitnessista's Winter Shape Up plan over again. She designed it to be a 4 week program and suggested doing it twice to extend it. Each week there is a new combination of strength-training and cardio moves to be performed 3 times on non-consecutive days. Since I already took a weight-lifting class this week, I decided that I would just do the week 1 plan twice this week, and because I did weights on Monday, I did cardio yesterday and then did the week 1 plan today. (It's important to give your muscles at least a day to repair after strength-training; this is when they have a chance to re-build and you'll start to see definition.)
Last night I had a pretty tasty dinner. Normally I do not like "whipping up" meals - I really prefer following recipes. However, I've found that if I make a dish a few times, I start to get more comfortable tweaking the ingredients. Quiche is something I've made quite a few times so I'm more willing to play around with it, depending on what ingredients I have on hand. I had mushrooms and spinach and wanted to incorporate them into my main meal, so this quiche was born. See below for the recipe.
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| Whole wheat rosemary crust, topped with freshly grated parmesan. |
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| Seasonings added: nutritional yeast (from the bulk bins), garlic powder, oregano, basil, sage, onion powder. |
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| Misto filled with olive oiil, used to spray the pan for sauteeing mushrooms and spinach. I just got this for Christmas and I LOVE it - you can add your preferred oil and spray away, no need for preservatives or anything else! |
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| Sauteed mushrooms and spinach. |
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| The egg mixture poured into the unbaked crust, before baking. |
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| Finished product! |
Whole wheat rosemary crust:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, sliced
- 5 tablespoons almond milk (or milk of choice)
- about 1/2 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
Preheat oven to 425*. Put whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, salt, butter, and rosemary into food processor and turn the food processor on. Once the mixture is evenly distributed and starts to clump up, add the almond milk 1 tablespoon at a time while the food processor is running. Turn off the food processor when the mixture has formed a ball. Roll the ball of dough out into a circle and place into a 9" pie pan.
Sauteed mushroom and spinach filling:
- about 3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese (or preferred cheese; can increase amount if desired)
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon basil
- 1/4 teaspoon sage
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- sauteed mushrooms
- sauteed spinach
Spray a pan with olive oil. First, saute the mushrooms over medium heat, then add the spinach when the mushrooms are almost done and saute just until the spinach wilts. While the mushrooms are cooking, sprinkle cheese on top of unbaked pie crust. Whisk together eggs, milk, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, oregano, basil, sage, and onion powder in a bowl. Pour egg mixture over cheese. Gently spoon the sauteed mushrooms and spinach on top of the egg mixture (they will sink - this is fine). Bake at 425* for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375* and bake for an additional 35 minutes or until egg mixture is set. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
A couple notes - I really don't like cheese, so I used a very small amount that I had leftover from another recipe; feel free to increase the amount if you would like to. Also, this quiche is very light and fluffy, not as rich and dense as a traditional quiche. If you substituted the almond milk for something heavier like 2% or whole milk, you will get a richer, denser quiche. I eyeballed the amounts of the mushrooms and spinach I sauteed - feel free to do the same, or add whatever is in your fridge!
For dessert, I had a "baked" pear. I microwaved a pear, topped with a small slice of butter and lots of cinnamon, for 2.5 minutes on high, stirred, and microwaved another 2.5 minutes. I topped that with a dollop of Greek yogurt, some fresh blueberries, and some oats. Very satisfying and a great blend of flavors! And super quick and easy.
What are your favorite quiche variations?
PS I keep meaning to say that I took the background picture of the snow and the creek at my parents' house in January - that's the view out of my bedroom window! We really haven't had snow covering the ground for an extended amount of time this winter, but I wanted to snap some pictures of the house in a fresh blanket of snow while I could. Now I'm ready for spring!
Song of the day:
"Tongue Tied" by Grouplove. You probably heard this on a recent iPod Touch commercial like I did, but I thought it was so infectious that I had to get it for myself. It was a great addition to my current workout playlist - very high energy.
That quiche looks incredible!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Jolene! And thanks for reading :)
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