I have sought, for years, to eat a low-glycemic diet.  It comes and goes, but my goal is to have it be the majority of what I eat.  Trim Healthy Mama has been my inspiration.

I love quiche – the creaminess of eggs and cheese…being able to use whatever you have as a filling.  Quiche is so versatile!

Ten days ago, I hosted a Grace Gathering to share with ladies in my community about Saving Grace – a non-profit that provides life-changing opportunities for young ladies.  When I host brunches, as I am wont to do, things aren’t fancy.  I’m happy to have clean countertops and a recently vaccuumed house.  I would love to have flowers and china to share with the ladies, perhaps a little gift…*sigh*…at my season of life – four kiddos under 11 that are present all.the.time and several home businesses, it just isn’t in my repertoire.

What is in my repertoire, though, is FOOD.  Food, glorious food!  My Mama always used to say, “If you leave hungry, it’s your own fault!”  *smile*  I learned to cook and to entertain from her, so I operate off of the same principle.  There is always plenty of yummy, yummy food!

Back to my brunch.  I had eight lovely ladies that joined for the brunch.  The guest list included one who was gluten free and one who was diabetic.  This worked out well – Trim Healthy Mama is primarily sugar free and gluten free.  Easy- peasy!

I had already planned on having two types of crustless quiche – green chile *swoon* and caramelized onion, browned mushroom and spinach *mmhmm*.  I found a recipe for a sugar free, gluten free pumpkin coffee cake (?).  It was ok.  The next time that I make it, I’ll make some serious adjustments to it.  I also have a go to cinnamon roll coffee cake that my family adores, so I made that, too – obviously, neither gluten free, nor sugar free.  A dear friend brought some grapes and oranges.  Add in a hot tea bar and French Press coffee, and the brunch fare was well round out.

There was a request for the caramelized onion, browned mushroom and spinach quiche recipe, so here you are, Renee!

I love this quiche because the base can be made up the night before.  It is so easy!  (To keep it low carb/low glycemic, I use heavy whipping cream and almond milk.  If you don’t care about that, you can just use “regular” milk.)  I use the shaker bottles that you can make protein shakes in – they are large enough to contain the milk/cream and eggs and to get them all mixed up.

Base Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. almond milk
(These together should equal about 2 cups.)
Salt – 1/2 tsp (ish)
Pepper -1/4 tsp (ish)
Place these in a shaker bottle and shake til well mixed.

Filling:
Butter (FLAVOR, Baby!  You can use olive oil, but it’s not quite the same.)
One yellow onion cut in half and THINLY slice
Baby Portobello Mushrooms – 4oz thickly sliced
Olive oil – 1 T
Baby Spinach – 8oz chopped
Mozzarella Cheese – 1/2-1 c grated
Smoked Gouda – 1/2 c grated
Sharp Cheddar – 1/4c grated
Place about 1T butter in a large skillet on medium and melt.  When it’s foamy, add in the onion separating the slices.  DO NOT SALT – when you add salt, it causes the release of liquid and prohibits browning.  What we want is for the natural  sugars in the onion to caramelize.  This takes time.  (While this is going on is a great time to clean & slice your mushrooms and chop your spinach.)  Stir the onions occasionally and make sure that they are in as close to a single layer as possible while they caramelize.  When they are a lovely brown, remove them from the skillet, then add in more butter.  Hallelujah! When it’s foamy, lay the mushrooms out in a single layer.  These take time, too, but it.is.so.worth.it!  (Now’s a great time to grate your cheeses and grease your 9-inch pie plate.)  After they have browned on one side (6-10 minutes-ish? – I use a non-stick skillet, so I never put the heat level above medium; if you use stainless steel, you might have your heat up higher and have it take less time.), flip them over to brown on the other side.  If you have room on your stovetop and another skillet available, throw your spinach in with a tablespoon of olive oil and get it wilting.  I put my olive oil in first, throw in my spinach, and then use tongs to toss it around to get EVOO on everything.  I salt it generously as well – we want that moisture out of there!  Once it’s wilted, place it in a bowl where you can press it into the side of the bowl to remove the excess moisture.  I pour that off, then tilt the bowl with a hot pad and place a folded paper towel in the open space to catch the moisture that comes off.

Assembly:
Mix your cheeses together, then place them evenly across the bottom of your greased pie plate, layer the mushrooms, onions and spinach, then pour over the egg mixture.  Place it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  When it is set, it is ready to be pulled out of the oven.  Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe is so “ish!”  You can change up your cheeses and your fillings to whatever you enjoy – you just want them to be pretty dry.  When I made the green chile quiche, I used two small cans of chopped green chiles and a mix of cheddar and mozzarella cheeses – placed the cheeses on the bottom, the green chiles in the middle and then poured the egg mixture over it all.  My green chiles were still pretty wet when I put them in, so the quiche was a little wet in the middle.  I’m usually not a fan of wet eggs, but it was fully cooked; it was tasty; and I greatly enjoyed it!

I have no photos.  I know.  It’s the cardinal blogging sin.  I’ll post this now, but when I make it next, I will take photos and add them in.

What is your favorite type of quiche?  Post it in the comments.  Anything in particular I should try?  I <3 quiche!