Quiche

I love quiche. It's one of the most versatile dishes out there. You can literally put almost anything in a quiche, whatever you're in the mood for goes. Not to mention the endless combinations of different cheeses. It's also excellent (possibly even better) leftover, and is an easy thing to pack for lunch at work.

These are two that I make pretty frequently. The kids like the one with the bacon better, which works for me, because I get to take the spinach mushroom one for lunch :) I usually make 2 quiches at a time, which easily serves 6 with leftovers. This can also be a very budget conscious meal, depending on the type of cheese you use, you could easily make 2 quiches for around $10.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

1 deep dish pie shell, frozen
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half
10 oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 oz white mushrooms, sliced
4 oz grated gruyere cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Saute mushrooms and onions in a small amount of olive oil, until soft. Drain on paper towels to remove excess moisture.

Beat together eggs and cream, mix in the remaining ingredients and pour into frozen pie shell.

Bake on a baking sheet at 350º for 40-50 minutes.

Bacon and Cheddar Quiche

1 deep dish pie shell, frozen
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half
12 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
(optional - 4 oz can of chopped green chiles)

Preheat oven to 350º.

Saute onions in a little bit of olive oil until soft. Drain on paper towels.

Beat together eggs and cream. Mix in remeaining ingredients and pour into pie shell.

Bake on baking sheet at 350º for 40-50 minutes.

Ultimate Scalloped Potatoes

Potatoes, butter, garlic, cheese, heavy cream... is there ANYTHING better? This is one of those dishes I treat myself to only once in a while. Not only is it a little time consuming (although not TOO bad if you have a halfway decent mandolin), it's also full of fat and calories, which I guess is why it's SOOO good.

Last week I picked up a spiral sliced ham on sale for easter, but ended up making leg of lamb instead. I saved the ham for today and couldn't think of a better side dish to go with it, besides, I already had the fontina and gruyere cheeses in the fridge needing to be used up.

Ultimate Scalloped Potatoes

1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tbs butter
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup milk
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into 1/8" thick rounds
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere cheese
1 cup coarsely grated Fontina cheese
1 Tbs flour
4 green onions chopped (white and green parts, optional)
salt to taste

Saute garlic and shallots in butter in medium saucepan for 1 minute. Add cream, milk and black pepper, heath through but do not boil.

Mix grated cheeses and flour in medium bowl, until cheese is well coated.

Layer half of potatoes in lightly buttered 2 qt shallow casserole dish. Pour half of cream mixture over potatoes, sprinkle with salt, half of the cheeses and half of the chopped green onion. Repeat layers.

Bake in 350º oven 60 to 70 minutes until top is a deep brown and potatoes are tender.

Note: A Mandolin comes in very handy for this type of dish. If you don't have one, you can certainly use a sharp knife, but you can pick up an inexpensive mandolin for around $20 that will do the trick, there's no need to have the fancy $100 versions.