Thursday, December 28, 2006

Graham Cracker Quiche

I love the sweet savory of this idea. I once ran out of regular pie crusts, and all I had left were those store-bought graham cracker crusts.

Quiche base:
Use a lighter cheeses for this crust, use heavier cheeses for a regular crusted pie shell
5-6 eggs (if really large, use 4)
1 cup grated swiss cheese
1 cup grated jalapeno cheese
1/2 cup light cheddar cheese

Quiche filling ingredients:
1/2 cup jalapeno peppers, diced and sauted
1 tightly-packed cup diced, shrimp, stir-fried in lime, cumin and coconut oil
1 cup finely diced shallots in sesame oil, sauted slowly to translucency
1 cup finely diced mushrooms, lightly cooked to remove moisture
1 cup finely chopped chard sauteed with coriander to remove moisture

Note: Cool the sauteed ingredients before adding them or the eggs will cook. I often mix these together so their flavors combine prior to adding them. Taste and adjust.

Method:
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup regular milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 t to 1 t cayenne
1/2 tsp Nutmeg

Beat eggs, mix in milks, add spices.
Make sure sauteed ingredients are cooled before adding them or the eggs will cook.
Add the fillings.
Stir gently.
Pour into two 9" pies or one deep dish 10 incher.

Baking:
First or last 15 mins at 425 degF
375 for 30 minutes.

Cool for a good half hour.
Pies freeze extremely well.

Note:
The graham cracker pie shells I had on hand contained a bit of high fructose corn syrup. It had crept in during one of our monthly shopping marathons.

Here's my philosophy - don't be a Food Nazi!. If graham cracker crust with some of those bad ingredients is the only thing around, then for godsakes USE IT, and figure out a way to stock better. There are priorities in life, and eating on a regular schedule suited to your constitution is, by far, the MOST important. Having frozen food assets around with kick-ass healthy ingredients is the way I personally ensure my family can keep to a schedule.

Another priority is treating food items as a sacred trust between you and the planet that sustains you. Don't waste food, it's IS a sin. That is a far, far bigger philosophy than good "food rules" in the hands of "fascist food-twits" in such vogue these days.

If you have a grip on using taste to maintain body balance, you'll know if and when to periodically adjust your diet to cleanse bad stuff that may accumulate.

All that being said, my Buddhist, Ayurvedic Cat refuses to touch anything past 30 minutes of "opened" or "cooked" much less refrigerated, and he is the one exception we allow. After all, he IS the Buddha, never failing by his example to remind us the stretch goal for optimal health.

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