Spinach-Bacon Quiche from a vegetarian cookbook

I'm always wary about putting something as beautiful as the above quiche in the oven, because I know it's simply not going to look as good when I take it out. The crust never stays quite fluted enough, and the brown is never quite perfectly even enough.

But after we dig in, it really doesn't matter anymore.

Although once upon a time I used "The Ananda Cookbook" I permanently borrowed from Mom to make the vegetarian foods that fill its pages, those days are gone and now it folds directly to the quiche recipes that I have adapted into omnivore dishes. Honestly, the Mushroom-Spinach Quiche that I base the following recipe on is good ... but it's so much better with bacon in it!

Actually, I think my first adaptation of the recipe was with leftover Easter ham, which was probably why Bryan was mad I wasn't making a ham this year. But bacon does the trick as well.

Spinach-Bacon Quiche
Single pie crust
6 strips bacon, chopped
1 c. yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry with cheesecloth
4 eggs
1-3/4 c. heavy whipping cream or half-and-half*
1-1/2 c. grated Swiss cheese (or gruyere)
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cayenne
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
3 T. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Paprika for garnish

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare pie crust, which means, if you're using a store-bought crust, remove it from the fridge so it has some time to come to room temperature, then set it in a pie pan and make it look pretty.

Cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels and set aside.

Cook onion in bacon grease until soft, about 4 minutes, then add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add spinach and stir until it's heated, about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs in a medium-sized bowl, then add the cream or half-and-half (*I actually used fat-free half-and-half, which as far as I'm concerned is the most fabulous invention ever), Swiss cheese and spices. Add the spinach mixture and bacon, stir well, then pour gently into the pie crust.

Sprinkle the Parmesan and paprika evenly over the quiche, then bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Substitutions:

To use ham instead, you can use 4 T. butter to saute the onions in, then add about 1 c. of chopped ham to the egg and cream mixture in the end.

If you'd like to make Mushroom-Spinach Quiche, instead of bacon and a yellow onion, you'll want to start by sauteing in 4 T. butter the garlic along with 5 chopped green onions and 3/4 lb. sliced mushrooms for about 5 minutes before adding the spinach.

And you can even make Mushroom-Spinach-Bacon Quiche: Use 4 strips bacon, and substitute the yellow onion with 5 green onions.

Happy adapting!