Quiches sound old school but they’re a great breakfast meal-prep recipe and also a great way of using up any extra veggies you have around. Make them crustless to keep your carbs low!
I’ve seen two attitudes among my friends as we’ve tiptoed our way into 2021. One is just that – let’s tiptoe in, don’t touch anything, no sudden movements, don’t attract attention. 2020 can still see you if you move too quickly. The other is – damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, we can still have goals and I’m going to accomplish something this year, dammit!
I feel like I’ve got a foot in both attitudes. As much as we felt like yelling “Jumanji!” reaching the end of 2020, the challenges we faced last year – and wow, is that an understatement – didn’t miraculously dissipate the moment they struck the arrival of a new calendar year. It feels like the world still has plenty of challenges in store for us.
But still, having worked my way through several deployments and disaster relief crisis responses, I know your mental and emotional health can be boosted in a big way by setting goals, making a routine, and grabbing normalcy where you can find it! I’ve also seen how much my mental and emotional health are driven by my physical health, which makes it essential to me that even in a very different environment that I find time to exercise and pay attention to diet.
Just take a look at this article about how food affects your mental health. Food is an essential part of fitness – you just can’t build a good training foundation on bad nutrition – but keeping all those little gut bacteria happy is an essential part of mental fitness, too.
So what does all this have to do with quiche and cooking, you ask?
I’m no expert, but prior to having my son, I probably spent about ten years creating plans and coaching for strength training. I’ve coached all the way from beginners and amateur athletes to collegiate athletes, and put myself through the paces as well. And then, when I was pregnant with my son, I fell off the wagon. In my defense, when you have a high risk pregnancy that puts you on bedrest more often than not, it’s hard to think about meal plans, fitness plans, and lifting. But still, my kiddo is two now. Time to get back on the ball!
Again, you ask, how does quiche fit into this? Especially crustless quiche? Well, because it’s a really convenient breakfast option that cooks quickly, makes use of your extra vegetables, and stores and reheats well to feed you and your family for a couple days at least. Make a few tweaks and modifications to traditional recipes and it can get you a great morning boost of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals!
What are the biggest nutritional drawbacks of traditional quiche? That crust and all the cheese. Most traditional quiche crusts will hit you with refined grains, sugars, and saturated fat. So to increase the nutritional benefits you get from a quiche, just lose the crust. As far as the cheese goes, that’s part of the fun, but you can reduce the amount in the quiche or just sprinkle it on top. And shred your own, don’t use pre-shredded – did you know pre-shredded cheese is tossed in flour? Add in lean meats and load up on veggies, and you’re good to go!
Around here, we’re loving this quiche recipe. I load it up with veggies and just enough shredded Monterey Jack cheese, add a little bacon for flavor, throw it in the oven for about 35-45 minutes, and then breakfast is served – for at least a couple days!
Crustless Broccoli Bacon Jack Cheese Quiche
Equipment
- 10-inch pie dish
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup low-fat milk
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese grated
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese grated
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- salt + pepper to taste
- 1/2 yellow pepper diced
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup broccoli cooked + chopped
- 2 slices bacon cooked + crumbled
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease or spray a large pie dish and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until slightly frothy. Whisk in the milk, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste until well combined.
- Chop the pepper and onion. Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat until the oil shimmers. Sauté the onion and pepper until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Whisk the pepper, onion, chopped broccoli, and crumbled bacon into the egg and cheese mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the pie dish.
- Bake uncovered at 350F for 35-45 minutes, depending on the depth of your pie dish. The edges should be golden brown and the center of the quiche should be set, not jiggly.
- Serve and enjoy - preferably with a few slices of avocado!
Nutrition
Serve this up with extra bacon and a simple breakfast side salad of spinach and chopped grape tomatoes, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Yum!
However you’re tackling this new year, it’s never a bad time to tackle nutrition and fitness goals, and we’re definitely going to try getting back on the nutrition wagon over here. You’ll still see some off-the-wagon recipes pop up {because hey, cheat day} but for the most part, I’m really going to work on leaning and lightening things out. You might see me going back and updating some of our existing recipes, too, both for nutritional content and because I have a nice new recipe format and nutrition calculator I’m rolling out!
What do you guys think of this recipe? I’d love to hear from you!
Delicious, and very adaptable! My goal was to use up some of the assorted post-holiday odds ‘n ends in my fridge, so I used about a cup of chopped good ham (instead of the bacon), whole milk (because it’s what I had), and a cup of mixed Monterey and cheddar shredded cheeses (ditto). Oh, and no broccoli in the quiche, because IMO it overwhelms all other flavors. So I blew the calorie and nutrition counts — sorry! — but had a tasty and thrifty dinner. At the table, some of us added a splash of tabasco, some used jezebel sauce as a condiment. 3 notes: The diced pepper sautéed with the onions is a really nice touch. The nutmeg and turmeric — ingredients I wouldn’t have expected — made a wonderful difference too. No need to do the sauté in 2 T of oil, as 1 T is enough,
Hi Vivian! I’m SO glad it worked out for you and it was easy to adapt to your tastes! I’m sorry about the overwhelming taste of the broccoli (I like broccoli so I didn’t really notice) and I love the idea of the addition of the tabasco for some added zip – and I’ll try dialing back the oil next time I cook it. I have a heavy hand with olive oil sometimes! Thanks for your comment and feedback!