Healthier Crustless Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

I made the New Year's Resolution that I was cutting out cheese for at least the month of January, after gorging on it during the Thanksgiving to Christmas period. Well, I made it one day. That's sort-of an improvement right? I found a recipe online for a crustless spinach quiche and then tweaked it. I came up with the idea for making the quiche yesterday after I also decided that I was cutting out unnecessary sugar and bread. And I pretty much knew from then on that my resolution to give up all cheese for the month was never going to cut it. The thought of a cheese-free quiche after I was already removing the crust just seemed too much like a diet. But hey, I used feta, and that's a good for you cheese. It comes from goats, and they seem way healthier than cows. They are so much thinner. That must mean their milk products are healthier...

While I'm discussing New Year's Resolutions, I should say for the record that I made the resolution that this year will be the last year I make the Resolution to lose weight. That being said, I made the resolution this year to lose weight. But I swear, it's the last time. My goal is to lose 30 pounds, and I'm going to keep this blog updated with how that's going as well. So far I'm down 1.6 pounds. Sweet!

So, here are the ingredients that I used for the quiche: (Anything following in parentheses are my notes-to-self, and are not needed in the recipe.)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I realized as I was pouring that I don't actually own any measuring devices smaller than a quarter cup. What I poured into the pan was hopefully about a tablespoon, but who really knows. Good thing I'm not planning on doing any baking for a while.)

10 oz frozen spinach - thawed (I only had a 16 oz package, so I kindof eye-balled it)

3/4 package of fresh mushrooms (I'm such a spaz. Maybe when I get good at cooking, I'll remember that mushrooms cook down a lot and not to be fooled by their initial size. I think I may use the whole package next time. I was really worried that the quiche was going to overflow my pie pan at the time. It did end up being a tight fit.)

1 chopped up onion (I don't own a single sharp knife or this step would have been far easier, and I don't think I would have cried quite so much.)

1 small bunch of scallions (These were left over in my fridge from my holiday party - see first post - for a dip that I didn't end up even making after I couldn't find the recipe I wanted to use. I don't think they were key to the recipe, but not bad to add.)

6 oz container of pre-crumbled feta cheese (The 8 oz block of feta was the same price at Target last night, but I figured that I would then eat the difference, so it was actually not a savings to me... they aren't as diligent in their crumbling of feta efforts as I would have been though. There were still some pretty large chunks in there if you ask me.)

5 whole large eggs + 2 egg whites (I thought I'd cut down on the cholesterol while boosting overall protein with the 2 egg whites replacing what could have been a whole egg. Or maybe I just like separating eggs. I can barely cook, but I can separate eggs. That makes me way better than a true beginner, right?)

Garlic (I added it in the powder form. I would have used fresh, as I now have learned how to prepare garlic, but I was so tired of slicing mushrooms by this point - they were cheaper at Target than the pre-sliced ones - and my cooking skills thus far are poor enough that I don't know the difference yet, that powder was what was used.)

Salt/Pepper (In honor of Mom, I didn't use any :-) )

Overall, this recipe wasn't hard at all. And I'm really excited how it turned out. And, even better, I was able to use my beautiful pie plate that has been sitting collecting dust and randomly being used to hold fruit and other odds and ends for the three and a half years that I have owned it. Overall today I was marveling at just how many pots and pans I own. For someone who doesn't cook, I've done pretty well for myself. I have a complete kitchen set and more. I think that when I purchased them it was with the "If I buy it, I will cook," attitude. Well, aside from having an apartment with lots of storage for all of my kitchen pots and pans and plates and platters, that's been about it.

The oven needs to be pre-heated to 350 degrees F. I am also making the personal note here to remember to thaw the spinach toward the beginning of the preparation. I forgot until I was ready to add it, and was none too pleased with myself for forgetting. Way to think ahead Susie...

1. Cook the onion in the tablespoon of oil and add the mushrooms as soon as you have finished slicing them all. Then add the scallions. (I actually ended up adding a quarter cup of vegetable broth after the onion soaked up all of the oil. I was trying to be healthy, and I think it worked out pretty well, adding a bit of flavor as well.) Let everything cook through before moving on to step two. I think this took me between 10 and 15 minutes.

2. Add the THAWED spinach and let it cook until all of the excess liquid is gone.

3. While the this spinach mixture is losing it's water content, beat the eggs together in a separate bowl, and then add the feta to the egg.

4. Mix the egg mixture into the vegetable concoction, and then add all that to a pie plate. Try to make it as smooth and pretty as possible for best visual effect. (The recipe I referenced before straying from it called for spraying the pie plate with Pam before adding the mixture. I'm not sure how important that step actually was because the finished quiche didn't seem to stick to the pie plate at all. But then, I did spray the pie plate with Pam. I had wanted to stay away from spray-on oils ever since sitting through a Dr. Oz episode last week that mentioned them, but a few sprays can't hurt, right?)

5. I added a tiny bit of Parmesan cheese to the top to make it look nicer. Totally optional, but it was also leftover in my fridge from the holiday party and the recipe that was never made.

6. Allow about 45 minutes for the quiche to cook. I used a fork to test for when it was done.

This pie makes 6 good sized servings, and each has no more than 250 calories from what I could tell with the nutritional calculator I used online. All in all, it was crammed with veggies and was delicious. I could have added additional cheese, but am satisfied with the result and am equally excited for leftover lunches this week at work. And even better, I'm excited to make this whole recipe again in the future.

I actually took out all of my cook books earlier this week from their hiding spot in my kitchen and looked through them all for new recipe ideas. I haven't done that since at least last year (I purchase my cook books with the same gusto with which I seem to purchase cooking supplies. Sadly, the knowledge contained in them doesn't seem to seep into my brain through osmosis as I had wanted).

The smell of actually having something cooking in my apartment, and not just heating up a can of soup for dinner has been great. I am bummed that my MBA program is starting up again next week and all of my free time to be domestic will be gone. Oh, well, at least I'll still have at least one new recipe each week for the blog.

Happy New Year!