Thanks to a recent reader suggestion, here is a new feature I’m introducing to the food blog. One reader writes: I have such a hard time coming up with something quick enough to make in the middle of the week. Do you have any ideas?
One trick to planning a healthy and complete meal in the middle of the week is planning ahead. You have to have your pantry well stocked, your meals planned, and your prep work done. However, it is possible! To help you, and others, work on your endeavor, I am going to write one blog per week as a complete menu. This week, I am featuring breakfast foods, but rest assured this makes a fantastic mid-week dinner meal.
Quiche is a great dinner recipe because it is quick. It only takes about 30 minutes to cook and the prep work is not hard. While traditionally, quiche is made with cream or half and half and does not use cheese, I’ve changed the rules in my family friendly version. I use whole milk (you really can’t get away with 2% or less without changing the texture too much), and I also add cheese to suit our family’s taste. You can also make the egg batter, pour into individuated large muffin cups and let each family member make his own. I’ve also ditched the crust to cut down on the prep work.
The Night Before
First prep your fillings. We are partial to bacon and cheese quiche but really you can use just about anything. Bacon has to be cooked first and crumbled, and cheese should be coated lightly with flour. Most fresh vegetables should be sautéed first and I often add a clove of garlic to the sautee to make it tastier. For this quiche recipe, you can have about a cup of add-ins. Try the following:
Bacon and cheese
Spinach and mushrooms
Tomatoes, onions, green peppers and cottage cheese
Second, you can actually make the quiche the night before. Take 4 large eggs and whisk them together, breaking the yolks. Add 1 1/2 cups whole milk. Whisk together until the mixture is slightly frothy. Add seasonings of your choice. Add fillings to your custard. Pour mixture into a pie dish, cover and refrigerate.
Prep your vegetables for the home fries. Use one potato per family member and dice into large squares, leaving the skins on. Cut up one small yellow onion. You can also add bell peppers if you like. Put potatoes in one baggie and the vegetables in another and leave in the refrigerator.
That Night for Dinner
Preheat oven to 400. You may need to give the quiche a little stir to make sure the fillings haven’t all sunk to the bottom. Place quiche in center of pre-heated oven and cook until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (About 30 minutes.) While quiche is in the oven place potatoes in a large frying pan. Cover raw potatoes with water and set on medium-high heat. Add a package of sazon. (Sazon can be found in the Spanish food aisle of your grocery store.) If you cannot find sazon, you can use a seasoning blend like Accent or anything similar to add extra spice to your potatoes. You can leave them alone until the liquid is reduced. Once the liquid is reduced most of the way, add the vegetables and a little butter and cook until the vegetables are soft.
While the quiche is cooking and the potatoes are boiling. . .
Make your pineapple muri sonando. “Muri Sonando” is a Spanish drink that generally includes sugar, ice, vanilla, orange juice and milk. It means literally “Die while dreaming.” In any case, my version is a cross between a smoothie and this traditional drink.
Blend together:
1 fresh pineapple cut up in chunks.
1 cup of yogurt.
1 1/2 cups of milk. (You can add more yogurt and less milk or vice versa to achieve a desired consistency.)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 can of orange juice concentrate
(I did not add sugar as the orange juice concentrate is to serve as a sweetener. However, if you need to add sugar do so by adding a tablespoon at a time and tasting afterwards.)
This meal can be ready in 30 minutes after starting. Prep work takes about 30 minutes the night before!