DeLightful Quiche

Until I was about 25 or so, I regularly committed the dietary sin of skipping breakfast. I would skip breakfast and then much later, I would ravenously consume whatever I could get my hands on.  At my old job, there were always cookies and donuts laying around, so as you can imagine, this didn't work out really well.  When I started eating better, this was one of my hardest areas to get into shape.

This is where eggs come in really handy.  They are the breakfast powerhouse.  I usually just boil up 10-12 of them on the weekend, peel them, and stick them in the fridge.   They are the ultimate portable breakfast, good afternoon snack, salad topper, etc.  They also come in handy if I have, say a random snow day and need to feed children who are stuck at home, thankfully my kids love egg salad sandwiches.

Every once in a while though, I need some variation in my life, and I will turn to omelettes, quiches, and maybe even baked egg in a ham cup.  I pulled this quiche from pinterest, and have done some tweaking.  Regardless of whether or not you use the low fat cheese (I don't) or low fat cottage cheese (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't) this recipe divided into 6 servings comes in under 200 calories per serving.  I also like to try and keep this as simple as possible with the clean up, and I oftentimes just mix it right in the baking dish.

4 large eggs
4 large egg whites, optional
1 Cup Shredded Cheese, I usually use Cheddar
1 Cup Cottage Cheese, Low Fat or Regular
1 tsp. Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
10 oz Frozen Spinach, thawed and squeezed as dry as you can get it
1 large (12-14oz) can of mushroom pieces
1/2 Cup Diced Onion

Optional:  Artichoke Hearts drained and cut up, diced bell pepper, diced jalapeno pepper, diced onion, diced ham or sausage, etc.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a regular sized pie plate or 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray.

Combing your eggs, and egg whites, if using, in the baking dish and beat them a little just to get them mixed up.

Add all your other ingredients, and any other vegetables that you would like to add.  Stir with a spatula to combine them together.   Once combined, bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until golden and set.

Remove from the oven and serve.

Now, this quiche is good in its own right, but it is pretty light, and I usually have to have some fruit on the side to help it out, because, and I'm just being honest here, sometimes it just isn't enough for me.  So one morning, as I peered at my little container of quiche, I spied some tostada shells sitting on the counter, and the angels sang!  Breakfast tostadas were born.  I simply place a slice of the quiche on a tostada, top with some salsa.

The option here are pretty endless really, tortillas, Flat Outs, toast, english muffins, etc.  You are really only limited by what you have on hand, and what calorie budget you are trying to hit.