Five-Ingredient Spinach Dip Quiche

This dish is so easy to make and it looked good, so I tried it. I would say adjust the cooking temperature up to 350 degrees and go the full 35 minutes cooking time. Also be sure to use a deep dish pie crust (not specified in the recipe). I ended up making two smaller quiches in regular pie crusts.

Results? I was slightly underwhelmed with the taste. It is surprisingly salty. Perhaps because I used a spinach artichoke dip as well as regular spinach dip. (I swear that is what Jeff Mauro said to use on TV) It did help me power through a kettle bell class this morning, but I don't know if I'll make it again. If I do I will probably just use regular spinach dip and see what happens.

Frankly, if I'm going to the trouble to make quiche I am going to make my favorite Sausage and Apple Quiche.

Five-Ingredient Spinach Dip Quiche
Recipe courtesy of Jeff Mauro

Total Time: 55 min

Prep: 5 min
Inactive: 15 min
Cook: 35 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Level: Easy

Ingredients
5 large eggs
1 cup store-bought spinach dip
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 store-bought frozen pie crust

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in the spinach dip, half-and-half, cheese, salt and pepper.
Fill the pie crust with the egg mixture and bake until golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes to set, then cut and serve.

Big Mike's Sausage Gravy

I've grown to have high expectations when I go out to eat because, frankly, I can usually cook something as good or better myself if I stay home. This is really true of breakfast. When I ask for my hash browns to be well done, I know what I'm expecting - nice crispy hash brown potatoes- not greasy grill tasting frozen potatoes. Omelets - don't get me started!

The last time I went out for breakfast I asked for well done hash browns and biscuits and gravy. Pleh, it was awful. More often than not, restaurant hash browns taste like burnt grease to me, but how can you screw up biscuits and gravy?

My recipe is simple and it makes the bomb gravy. I confess, I use store bought biscuits, like Pillsbury Grands or Grands Jr. I'm still working on my baking skills.

Ingredients
1 pound breakfast sausage (I use Bob Evans original)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (Lowry's is fine)
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, more to taste (I like lots)
Biscuits, fresh out of the oven, for serving

Directions
1- Break the sausage into small pieces and add them in a single layer to a large heavy skillet. Brown the sausage over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
2- Sprinkle on half the flour and let it soak into the sausage and cook. Add the rest little by little. Stir it around and cook it for another minute or so, then pour in the milk slowly, stirring constantly.
3- Cook the gravy, stirring frequently, until it thickens. This may take about 10 minutes.
4- Sprinkle in the seasoned salt and pepper and continue cooking until very thick and luscious. If it gets too thick too soon, just splash in another 1/2 cup of milk or more if needed.
5- Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Spoon the sausage gravy over warm biscuits and serve immediately!

Makes 4-6 servings

Sausage and Apple Quiche

This is the best thing I've ever made. I saw this recipe in an expensive cookbook twenty years ago and had to have it, so I bought the book.

Ingredients
1 (9”) pastry shell
(I use the pre-made frozen ones, mostly thawed out at prep time.)
1/2lb. spicy pork sausage (I like the savory sage, I think it’s Bob Evans)
½ cup chopped onion
¾ cup peeled shredded green apples (lotsa work, but worth the effort)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 eggs
1 ½ cups half and half
¼ teaspoon salt
ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F.
1. Crumble sausage into large skillet; add onion. Cook over medium heat until meat is browed and onion is tender. Spoon off and discard pan drippings.
2. Add apple, lemon juice, sugar, and red pepper. Cook on medium-high, stirring constantly, 4 minutes or until apple is just tender and all liquid is evaporated. Let cool. (If you get impatient, the hot stuff melts the piecrust. Wait…have a Mimosa or something)
3. Spoon sausage mixture into pastry shell; top with cheese. Whisk eggs, half and half, salt, and a dash of black pepper in medium bowl. Pour over sausage mixture. (Go slow and let it settle down in the mixture, displacing the air pockets.)
4. Bake 35-45 minutes or until filling is puffed and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it stand 10 minutes, if you can, before cutting.

Makes 6 servings if you have company, 4 if it’s just the two of you!
I usually make two since the frozen pie crusts come in pairs. Then you have breakfast for days.