Mini-quiches: the perfect breakfast

I LOVE these mini-quiches. The recipe is adapted from one in Cooking Light magazine; often I find their recipes don't go far enough to make something low-cal (though I do appreciate that they don't go the fake-sugar route). But this recipe was an epiphany! Using low-fat cottage cheese in the quiche gives it a creamy, cheesy taste and texture without adding a ton of high-fat cheese. It's brilliant. And I don't often say that in reference to something I didn't myself come up with ;).


Ham, Swiss and Spinach Mini-Quiches

200g cubed low-fat ham (about 1.5C)
1/2C chopped onion
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
75g reduced-fat swiss cheese, shredded (scant 3/4C)
1C fresh baby spinach leaves
1C low-fat cottage cheese (1%m.f.)
1/2C 1% milk
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/4C flour (any flour, but ideally garbonzo bean flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1T finely grated parmesan cheese

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat with cooking spray and add ham, onions, and pepper. Saute until ham and onions are slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray and sprinkle a bit of the grated swiss cheese in each cup, using 1/4C in total. Divide ham mixture between cups. Top with spinach leaves.

Combine remaining swiss cheese, cottage cheese, milk, eggs, flour, and baking powder in a large bowl and whisk until your arm is sore. Unless you have guns like Sheila, in which case just beat for a minute or so. Divide mixture amongst cups. The spinach leaves will not want to let the mixture underneath; do not oblige them. Poke them down as you go, be firm with them as they like to misbehave and if you have too much spinach sticking out of the egg mixture it will dry up in the oven and get all crunchy. This seems like an unnecessarily laborious step but trust me, the results are way better than if you just chop the spinach up small and mix it in. Once you have poked all the spinach and mixture into submission, top with a sprinkling of parmesan and cook in a 350F oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

One of these little beauties is just 86 calories, 3g fat, 11g protein, 4g carbs and 325mg sodium. No fibre of note but hey you can't have everything. Eat a banana or better yet, a kiwi with the skin on. That's right!
Sherylyn's tip of the day is kiwi skin has loads of excellent fibre so wash your kiwi thoroughly, slice thin and eat it down. It's actually really yummy!

Vegetarian Option: Replace the ham with some chopped mushrooms and/ or bell peppers and sauté with the onions. Sauté well to get the moisture out, otherwise you will risk a soggy quiche!