Individual Quiches

First of all, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We didn't make the empty tomb cookies this year but we had a weekend full of good church and family time.  I promise that I will post some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses soon!

My mom dyed Easter eggs with the girls and they had a great time.  I applaud her bravery and am amazed at how clean they & my house were when I got home :)  We just polished off a dozen hard-boiled eggs by eating lots of egg salad sandwiches.  My cooking idea today is about eggs, but fresh ones.

I love a good egg casserole or quiche.  They tend to come together quickly and it's usually a good way to either serve protein when you don't want to cook meat, or use up all the extra produce you have laying around.  I made these little individual quiches inspired by a recipe on Baked Bree for some girlfriends a couple of weeks ago and I'm going to make them again soon.  While many egg recipes are easily gluten-free, this one isn't (but I think you could easily leave the bread out).  I used bacon but for you vegetarians out there, you can just skip that part too.  Feel free to use a different cheese or vegetable to suit your taste.

A good thing about the individual quiches is that they bake a lot quicker than putting if you were making a big pan (or even pie pan) of quiche.  And, they're just so cute!  I made a dozen and 3 per person seemed like a good serving size for brunch.  They are light with only 4 eggs in the whole recipe (1/person).

Individual Spinach & Swiss Cheese Quiches (serves 4)

Cooking spray
6 slices of sandwich bread (I used whole wheat)
4 eggs
appx 1.5 cups half and half
2 cups baby spinach
1 small red onion (or 2 shallots), diced
4 oz. cremini mushrooms
1/2 cup cooked crumbled bacon
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute the onion and mushrooms in a little olive oil until soft, about 8 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the spinach and stir until just wilted.  Set aside.

With a biscuit cutter, cut 2 rounds out of each piece of sandwich bread (you want them to fit in the bottom of your muffin tins).  Spray your muffin tin really well with cooking spray (I use olive oil spray). Put one bread round into the bottom of each muffin cup and press down.  Divide the spinach mixture evenly among the muffin tins.  Top with cheese and bacon.

Put your 4 eggs in a blender.  Add some more salt and pepper, any other spices (I used a bit of dried thyme), and add enough half and half to make 2 cups.  Blend well.  The custard will be foamy and light.

Evenly pour custard into each muffin cup over the spinach and cheese.  If you have time, I like to let these set for 15 minutes or so to let the bread soak up the custard, but you can bake them right away too.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffy and golden brown.  They will fall a little when they cool.  Serve immediately.