Quiche, Comfort, and Saturday Mornings

One weekly occurrence in my life I've grown in appreciation for is Saturday morning. Growing up in my Granny's home, Saturday mornings were designated for house cleaning. At the stroke of  "15 'til 9," she'd knock on my bedroom door and bellow, "get up, let's go, we have things to do!" Oh, all those mornings I wanted to grasp onto my pillow and never let go. I remember saying once as slumbering stumble, "when I grow up, I'm sleeping in every Saturday morning." 

Dream come to reality, that rarely happens. There's always a task, chore, or errand to see despite my many attempts to designate Saturday for myself. 

But once in awhile, a ray of sunlight beams down from the clouds, and there I am with a whole Saturday, just for me.

On these Saturdays, I love making a hearty breakfast, a meal I can carry with me all day. My Granny saved these meals for Sunday, but cooking is the last thing I want to do after an early morning and half day of church. 

My Saturday meals are reminiscent of the "good ole' days." Not as I remember them but as I was told by family and friends from older generations. Imagine a table adorned farm fresh eggs, biscuits, salted meats, and gravies. 

One of my favorite Saturday morning and any time dishes is quiche with eggs, veggies, and cheese all in one bite. And what a beautiful presentation they bring topped with ripened tomatoes and Parmesan. 

This quiche is straight up comfort food without the displeasure of extra calories and fat. Now, I love full fat recipes for company, but when it's simply me, I lighten up the ingredients without any sacrifice of flavor. I've perfected my recipe to use mostly egg whites and few yolks. There is still a wonderfully fluffy texture and buttery taste in every bite. The quiche slices clean and comes out beautifully. Did I mention there's no crust? Check out my other post coming soon with Quiche with Coconut Crust. 

Spinach-Carrot Quiche, makes 8 servings

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Bake Time: 30-35 Minutes 

2 Large Eggs

11 Large Egg Whites

1 Box Frozen Spinach, drained

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese- I use Mexican Blend

1 Medium Carrot, shredded

1/2 Cup 2% Milk

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan Cheese

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Black Pepper

Pinch of Parsley

15-20 Cherry Tomatoes, halved

Preheat over to 350 degrees

Spray a 9 inch glass pie pan with non-stick cooking spray

In large bowl, beat together whole eggs, egg whites, and milk. Add in spinach, carrot, shredded cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper until combined. Pour into greased pie dish. Arrange halved tomatoes around the top edge of the quiche. Add any extra to the middle of the dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until center is cooked through. The center will not jiggle when moved. 

Let cool on wire rack. Quiche can be sliced into 8 pieces. Enjoy! 

Also tastes fantastic cold!

(I did a calorie count on MyFitnessPal recently. Approximate calories are 90 calories per 1/8 slice)

Really Love Your Peaches, Want to Shake Your Tree

This upcoming Wednesday is one of our parishioner's birthdays, Mary. With my super busy schedule of packing for our big move, working, personal appointments, etc, I wasn't quite sure what I could rustle up for her quickly yet still make it special. I spotted peaches on sale at Aldi this week and was craving a succulent peach cobbler but only she could do justice to my craving. Mary is one of the best bakers at our church and makes the BEST peach cobbler. My next thought, peach upside down cake. I've seen a couple pictures of these on Pinterest done in a cast-iron skillet with a shortbread recipe. My grandmother used to make pineapple upside down cake with Duncan Hines cake mix with a special pan with the molds make for the pineapple rings. It was our special time each Christmas baking about a dozen of those babies. I figured a peach cake shouldn't be anymore less different. Little brown sugar, butter, peaches, topped with my own from scratch yellow cake mix. I abhor cake mixes. You will rarely see a cake mix on here. Once in a blue moon, ya'll, once in a blue moon. 

I decided to do mine in a 9inch wilton round cake pan. 

Peach Upside Down Cake

Makes 2-9inch Cakes

For the topping

3/4 cup brown sugar (each pan)

1/4 cup unsalted butter (each pan)

6 fresh peaches, peeled, sliced, (3 peaches per pan)

Preheat over to 350 degrees, put required brown sugar and butter in each pan and place in over long enough to melt butter. Take pans out and stir melted butter into brown sugar. Arrange sliced peaches around the edges and then into the middle. (do make sure to overlap to get all the peaches in the pan. as you can see, some of my peaches are backwards, I want yours to look prettier than mine, ha!)

Spray the sides of the pans with a little cooking spray to prevent sticking. 

Divide cake batter(see recipe below) evenly among two pans and smooth tops. Bake for 35 mins

Let cool on wire rack for 10 mins. Place plate on top of pan and flip over. Lift and see the beautiful creation you made! Spectacular right!

For the cake~

1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)

2 cups white sugar

5 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups milk

1. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy for about 5 mins on med speed. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla scraping bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt and sift. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk ending with flour. Scrap down side and mix for additional 30 secs. 
3. Pour evenly into two 9inch round pans

Until next time! Enjoy!

~Buffy