Gluten-Free Sausage Mushroom Quiche with Hashbrown Crust

I've decided to stop doing ingredient lists and to just cut to the chase with instructions, putting ingredients in bold. This recipe does not use many ingredients (though, of course, you can add as much meat or veggies as you want to the egg mixture).

Here's the How-To:

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Shred/grate potatoes, enough to line a pie pan. I had small red potatoes, so I needed about 10. If you had big Idaho or Russet potatoes, you probably just need 2, maybe 3. I don't like to peel my potatoes, so I didn't but you certainly could.

3. Mix potatoes with 2-3 tablespoons melted better and line pie-pan with hashbrowns. (You could also use frozen hashbrowns, just make sure you thaw them first).

4. Put in oven and crisp the hashbrown crust (probably about 25 minutes).

5. While hashbrown crust is in the oven, cook breakfast sausage (I cooked one roll of sausage and probably put 1/2-3/4 of it in with my egg mixture later). In a separate pan, cook sliced mushrooms (1 package).

6. Beat 6 eggs. Add freshly ground pepper (a few twists), a dash of milk (if you prefer, probably 1/4 cup) and cheese (I put in shredded parmesan, probably 1/4 cup - I just finished off what I had left in the fridge). I recommend using a decent parmesan, not the grated Kraft stuff that does not need to be refrigerated.

7. Mix eggs, sausage and mushrooms together and pour over hashbrown crust (once crust is crisp, but not overdone).

8. Reduce oven to 350 and cook for 30-45 minutes (use a toothpick to check for the eggs to be done).


Of course, you can use whatever veggies or meats (or no meat) or cheeses (or no cheese) with your egg filling. Sausage and mushroom just happens to be one of my favorite combos for omelettes, so I thought they would be good in the quiche, and they were. I think this would be a great recipe for using up veggies you have in the fridge.

My husband and I both really loved this quiche.

Five Ingredients or Less (Not Counting S&P)

1. Oats and Eggs (rolled oats, runny egg, avocado, shredded parmesan, pepper)

This recipe is for a single serving, so you can always make more. I am a person who loves oats, but does not like oatmeal. I keep rolled oats on hand for granola, granola bars, pancakes, breads, muffins and cookies. But, the exception is a savory egg-y oatmeal that I really, really love.

It's simple - cook 1/4 cup of oats in about 1 cup of water (I don't feel my cup all the way because I like mine really thick). Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes (or less) until oatmeal is done.

When you're oatmeal is almost done, heat a pan with cooking spray and drop one egg in it. When the white starts to get cooked, flip over and cook for a little longer (only a 1-2 minutes more because this is best with a runny egg).

Put the oatmeal in a bowl, top with the egg and some shredded parmesan, fresh cracked pepper and diced avocado (1/2 of an avocado is all I use). It is so good!!

2. Banana Nut Muffins (bananas, sesame seeds, sugar, flour, butter - NO EGGS!! So, this could be vegan if you used margarine instead of butter and is a great muffin recipe for people with egg allergies).

I had 2 very ripe bananas and no eggs, so I cruised the web, read some recipes and then made these muffins. This recipe makes 4-6 muffins, depending on size.

Preheat oven to 350.

Mash two ripe bananas and combine in a bowl with 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1-2 tbs melted butter. Mix well and add sunflower seeds, per your discretion.

Put in muffin tins and bake for 12-15 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean).

3. Brown Rice Mushroom Pilaf (brown rice, baby bella mushrooms, parmesan, chicken or veggie stock, grill spice)

This rice turned out really well on Christmas and complimented the steaks we made. I always cook my rice (1 cup) in a rice cooker - so much easier. To have the rice really stand up to the steak, I cooked it in chicken stock instead of water. (You could always use veggie stock, if you prefer or are vegetarian).

When your rice is almost done, begin to sautee the already sliced mushrooms (1 package) in your oil of choice. I added the same grill spice that we're using on the steaks. It's really nice to add the spices you are using for your main dish to the mushrooms to tie it together.

I think baby bella are the best mushroom for this recipe. When they are almost done, break them up into smaller pieces (I just do this right in the pan with the wooden spatula I'm cooking with), then add the rice. Toss together really well and add the shredded parmesan.

4. Herbed Mashed Potatoes

Chop 4 idaho potatoes (peel or no peel is up to you. I like skins in mine, so I rarely peel them). Cover with water and bring to boil (you can use vegetable or chicken broth in place of water).

While you're potatoes are boiling, prep your herbs. I wanted to do a Southwest style mashed potatoes, so I was using cilantro and used about half of the bundle from the store. I pulled the leaves off of the stems and then threw the cilantro in the food processor to save me the chopping hassle.

Once the potatoes are soft (typically 20-25 minutes), reserve about 1/2-3/4 cup of the starchy water (especially if used broth) and drain the rest. Mash the potatoes (in the pot you cooked in, now that the water is drained off) and add the chopped up herbs and the reserved water. I also recommended adding the cheese of your choice. I added about 1/2 a bag of a shredded colby/pepper jack cheese blend because I thought it would go nicely with the cilantro. I also added about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (since I didn't have any sour cream) to make the potatoes more creamy and couple of pats of margarine. Mix it all up and enjoy. (I prefer to mash my potatoes by hand with a potato masher, but I know a lot of people use a mixer, which is great too. (Heavy cream or milk could be used to make the potatoes creamy as well, just add in small amounts because you don't want soupy potatoes - yikes).

You can mix up your herb and cheese combinations based on what you have. I had cilantro left from a different recipe, so I went in the direction of Mexican/Southwestern for these potatoes, but basil with parmesan cheese would be great too -- that is actually the herbs and cheese the Ina Garten recipe that inspired these potatoes called for.

5. Pita Pizza (Pita, Cheese, Radicchio-or whatever other veggie you choose, Mushroom, Oil)

When I have pita leftover, I often use it to make easy pizzas. A really, great and simple option is to use the pita for pizzas when you have veggies to use up. I always love mushrooms on pizza, so that tends to be always in the mix. This time, I added radicchio - the two veggies balanced well, but I also recommend spinach or wilted arugula (a good idea when you have either of those greens that are about to go bad).

How I assembled my radicchio-mushroom pita pizza. I tossed the radicchio in olive oil and salt and pepper and broiled it for about 7 minutes.

While that was broiling, I sauteed the mushroom (in olive oil - you can add balsamic vinegar as well, if you want). I don't like to have the mushrooms cook only on the pizza, but like to sautee them ahead. If you are doing spinach or arugula, you just add them in with the mushrooms (after the mushrooms have been going for a few minutes).

Once the radicchio was done, I put my pitas in the oven. I spray my pitas with whatever oil spray I have, then put the shredded mozzarella on it. Put it in the oven (I just used the end of the broil cycle on my oven) and watch them -- only put them in long enough to melt the cheese.

Remove from oven, top with warm veggies and enjoy. Simple, but good. (You can always load on more veggies if you want).

Avoiding Food Waste and Making Soup

According to some studies, on average, homes generate 474 pounds of food waste each year in America. That's a lot when people are starving here in America and in other countries.

I find that taking stock of the fridge, not going crazy at the grocery store, and cooking with what you have make a big difference. (My blog recipes are definitely based on what I have and I will make the same dish in different varieties based on what I need to use up). Sharing is also a great idea. I used to have a huge problem with produce going bad, but now I just share my produce if I think I won't be able to use it up. I've also discovered that when it comes to using up ingredients - soups are your best friend.

Here's my latest two soups both inspired by the contents of my fridge. Also, you don't have to eat all of the soup once you make it. You can freeze some for later, which I often do.

Soup #1 - Taco Soup

I had lots of leftovers from a taco bar we did at work, and I was leaving town and couldn't eat another taco, so I made taco soup using:

• Ground Turkey (seasoned with taco seasoning) - probably had 1/2 a package of cooked ground turkey left
• Black beans (seasoned with taco seasoning) - probably had 1/2 a can left
• Diced tomatoes (probably 1/2 cup)
• Frozen corn (between 1/2 and 1 full cup)
  
• Frozen tri-colored bell peppers (probably 1/2 cup)
• Canned tomatoes (with sauce) -- I diced them myself (I had used half of one large can of tomatoes in a soup the week before and the other half was in the fridge)
• 1/4 of a jar of salsa
• Vegetable stock (as needed to get the soup consistency that you want) - you could use water, if you don't have vegetable stock (if you use water, you may want to add more seasoning, though mine was seasoned perfectly with the taco seasoning that was on the beans and meat and the salsa)

Note: Of course you can omit meat and add more beans for a vegetarian version

The preparation was very simple -- aside from chopping the tomatoes, all I did was dump all of the leftovers into the crock pot along with the frozen items and turn the crock pot to high, stirring upon occasion. Perfect cooking style for someone with a 5 month old.

When you serve it, you can add shredded cheese, crushed chips, sour cream or avocado/guac if you have any left from your Mexican/Taco Fiesta.

This soup kicked ass! It was definitely one of my favorites. I didn't end up freezing any because I liked it so much that I ate it all before I left town. Thus, I avoided food waste and saved my self some money. Win. Win.

Soup #2 - "Miso" (sort of)

I made this soup this morning. I have a great miso paste that a friend gave me and I had some vegetable stock (that I had previously made) in the fridge, as well as some other veggies that were just taking up too much space, so I consolidated and my miso had:

• Tofu (about 1/4 of a package browned in a pan with peanut oil and soy sauce)
• Edamame (1/4 cup)
  
• Mushrooms (1/4 cup previously cooked with olive oil and garlic)
• Broccoli (I only had about 6 pieces of broccoli left and it was raw)

That's it. If I had green onion, I definitely would have added it. The mistake was adding the edamame -- it didn't really work out so well. The mushrooms were great, though.

Preparation -- again, simple. I put the veg stock in a pot and dumped in all of the vegetables and add in two solid tablespoons of miso paste. While I was bringing that up to a boil, I browned the tofu, dumped it in and let everything simmer. Then, I enjoyed the soup for lunch.

With both soups, these are suggestions -- see what you need to use up and create your own soup. Let me know how it goes!