Do you sometimes look in your refrigerator at meal time and all you find are bits of things left from other meals?
Maybe you find a cup of spinach, four mushrooms, and the end of a block of cheese. What would you do with these?
This is the point where my creative juices begin flowing. I love to take random ingredients, even actual leftovers and turn these into a meal.
A few nights ago, I did find those ingredients listed above languishing in the bottom drawer of our refrigerator while I was trying to decide what to fix for supper. (Yes, it’s supper in this part of Illinois.) My synapses began to fire.
I typically keep homemade pie crust in the freezer portioned in single pie crust size. It will thaw in one minute on 40% power in the microwave. Eggs and milk are staples in this house so I had all the ingredients for a quiche.
Here’s the basic quiche recipe, including pie crust from my book “Simply Delicious”. For even more recipes like this, get your copy here.
For a 9 inch quiche
- 1 pie crust (can either be home made or store bought)
- 5 large eggs
- 1-1/2 cups half and half
- 1 to 2 cups of vegetables, meat and/or cheese, finely diced
- salt and pepper to taste
Pie crust is simply made by mixing 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Cut in 1/3 cup shortening. Add water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together into a ball cleaning the sides of the bowl. Handle as little as possible, kneading only 2 or 3 times to make a smooth ball. Roll into a circle larger than the pie pan and transfer the crust into the pan. Prick the crust or use pie weights to keep the crust from puffing and pre-bake for 10 minutes in 375º oven.
Evenly distribute vegetables, meat and cheese over bottom of crust using a maximum of 2 cups of filling. Mix eggs, half and half, salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the fillings being careful not to overflow the crust. Bake at 375º for 30 to 40 minutes until the eggs are set. Let cool slightly and slice into wedges for serving.
What’s in your fridge?
If you have random bits of leftovers in your refrigerator or pantry and would like to know what I would create, just email, message or tweet and I’ll give you some ideas.
Until next time…