Crustless "Leftover Supreme" Quiche

A site I used to frequent introduced me to the term, "C.O.R.N.", which means "Clean Out Refrigerator Night". It's as good a term as any, and everybody does it. Especially after a holiday dinner, when you've bought some things that are not normally in your rotation and most of them come in a quantity or size bigger than what you need for a particular recipe.

You know what's perfect for those nights? Quiche. Stir-fry also works, but I tend to gravitate toward quiche because it's really low in carbs and appeals to my generally lazy nature. I had some debate in my head about what to call this one, and finally settled on the title above.

Some of this, some of that... it makes writing the recipe in such a way that I can get nutrition information something of a challenge, but it makes for a tasty dinner. Bacon, cauliflower, Hungarian sweet pepper, mushrooms, mozzarella, eggs, buttermilk, flat-leaf parsley, and some Great Lakes blend herb mix from Spice Merchants. There is no paprika in the picture because I didn't decide to sprinkle some on top until after it was about to go in the oven, but I used some of that, too.

I diced six strips of bacon and fried them until crisp, then removed it to paper towel to drain. Then I poured most of the bacon grease into my jar for later use, leaving something like a tablespoon in the skillet.

I then added the cauliflower, pepper, and some parsley to the skillet and quickly stir-fried it until everything started to soften (but not brown) just to take the edge off it and provide more of that delicious bacon flavour I love so well.

Next I added the bacon and the drained mushrooms to the pan to heat through, along with about a teaspoon of the Great Lakes blend. I stir-fried that for just a couple of minutes, enough to take the edge off and guarantee that no excess moisture remained.

Into my trusty glass 9-inch deep dish pie plate it went, spread out flat but not compressed, leaving plenty of nooks and crannies for the egg mixture to seep into so it would all hold together for serving later.

Then the cheese. I used about 2/3 of a package of mozzarella, so I'm calling that 5 ounces. Basically it was enough cheese to form a pretty solid layer about 1/4 inch thick.

After beating four eggs thoroughly, I poured in some buttermilk and beat it together until it was mixed well. I think it ended up being about 1/3 cup, so that's what I'm writing. It was about the consistency of instant pudding before you beat it for the mandatory 2 minutes, if that helps at all.

The egg mixture then got poured over the entire pan, and I moved it around with the back of a spoon until everything was soaked and it was relatively flat on top. Then I decided it didn't look pretty so I sprinkled on some paprika. I have no idea how much, but I'm guessing it was about 1/2 teaspoon.

Into the oven with you!

Probably I could have stood to cover it with some foil since it got a little more browned than I would like, but whatever. It wasn't burned, just browned. And, miracle of miracles (at least in my world), there was no excess liquid!

It came out of the pan in beautiful pieces, with almost no falling apart, and it was amazing. I cannot recommend that Great Lakes blend enough... in fact, here: Great Lakes Blend. It's particularly suited to eggs and vegetables, but I've never used it in anything where it hasn't worked well.

*I don't work for them. They don't pay me to promote their stuff. I just love it.

Crustless "Leftover Supreme" Quiche

Serves 6

1/4 pound bacon, diced

1/2 Hungarian sweet pepper, diced

1 cup cauliflower, cut into small florets

1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, rough chopped

1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained

1 teaspoon dried herb blend (I use Great Lakes blend from Spice Merchants)

5 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

4 large eggs

2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 9-inch deep dish glass pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

Fry bacon until crisp, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove to paper towels and pour off all but about a tablespoon of grease.

Add pepper, cauliflower, and parsley to skillet; stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until starting to soften but not brown.

Add bacon back to skillet along with mushrooms and seasoning blend; continue to stir-fry a couple of minutes more to heat through. Pour mixture into prepared pie plate and level without compressing.

Spread mozzarella evenly on top of bacon and cauliflower mixture, making sure to cover the entire top.

In a bowl, beat eggs thoroughly, then add buttermilk and beat again until well-combined. Pour mixture over cheese, making sure to let it flow all the way to the bottom and spreading it around with a spoon to ensure all the cheese is covered. Sprinkle top with paprika.

Bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes, until completely set and starting to brown. If it starts getting too browned too quickly, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top without sealing it to the pie plate.

Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes, and serve.

Serving Size: 142g

Calories: 238

Calories from Fat: 142

Total Fat: 15.8g

Saturated Fat: 6.3g

Trans Fat: 0.0g

Cholesterol: 159mg

Sodium: 662mg

Total Carbohydrates: 4.5g

Dietary Fiber: 0.7g

Sugars: 2.3g

Protein: 19.8g