(Sort of) Spinach Quiche

The summer after my first year of college, I decided to stay home instead of working at summer camp as I had the past couple of summers. Mom had just started the Fat Flush Diet, so her presence in the kitchen mainly consisted of blending all natural cranberry juice smoothies. Eww. Mom was afraid if she cooked for us, she’d eat what she was making and since my dad isn’t much of a chef, meal responsibilities often fell to me.

Although I really enjoyed entertaining the idea of being a good cook, I hadn’t had much practice yet and it showed. Some culinary endeavors failed miserably. I spent most of one day making a few loaves of from-scratch, whole wheat bread, which tasted fine but were heavy enough to use as bricks (shot puts, blunt weapons, etc). I also spent about 4 hours on an authentic curry sauce that smelled like heaven and tasted like dirt (maybe worse).

Fortunately, there were successes as well. Mom pulled out a recipe card one afternoon for a good old-fashioned quiche. Spinach and Swiss cheese were the main components along with a basic egg mixture to hold everything together. I made the crust myself (“easy as pie” is such a stupid thing to say), and the end results were pretty good. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big egg fan. I loved the melty cheese with the green hearty spinach, but I wondered if I could get away with fewer than the three eggs the recipe called for.

Quiche sounds complicated, but it’s actually very easy. The crust is the most difficult part, but you can buy one premade or just skip it all together and make a crustless quiche. Plus, you can use almost anything for a filling. Here’s what I whipped together the other day.


(Sort of) Spinach Quiche
4-5 servings

1 package of baby spinach leaves
1 c. sliced baby Portobello mushrooms
½ c. finely chopped red onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 c. mozzarella cheese
1 c. crumbled feta
½ c. shredded parmesan
1 egg
1/3 c. milk or cream
1 tsp. dill
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed black pepper
1 package of phillo dough, thawed
1 stick of butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter or margarine. Use basting brush to spread butter on 8 sheets of phillo dough while layering in pie pan. Trim overhanging edges.

Combine spinach, mushrooms, red onion, garlic and cheeses and place inside phillo dough.


Mix together the egg, milk, dill, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over mixture in pan.

Cover the filling with several more layers of buttered phillo and trim edges.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a fork inserted comes out clean.

Tips: If you want a fluffier quiche, you can use up to three eggs, but increase the milk or cream proportionately too. Be sure to thaw out the phillo dough completely since it’s very fragile when frozen, but like I said before, you could put the filling straight into the pan and skip a crust altogether. If you want larger pieces of onions, be sure to sauté them first so they aren’t crunchy. Also, feel free to experiment with different veggies and cheeses. Just about anything works.

Roasted Vegetables

The recent arrival of cold weather to Yosemite has put me in the mood for warm food night after night. Eating a bowl of soup by the wood-burning stove does make for a ridiculously cozy (and excessively warm) evening. However, I was starting to feel like I was stuck in a soup rut, so I looked up a roasted vegetable recipe I tried once before. The original recipe, which I found on Eatingwell.com, actually calls for a winter vegetable mix of butternut squash, cauliflower and onions, but I decided to use several different veggies instead.

There are a few things I love about roasting vegetables. First of all, you can use them as a side dish or pair them with a grain and serve them as the main course. Secondly, you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand as long as you remember to keep the vegetable pieces close to the same size so they cook more evenly and are easier to eat. In addition, it’s easy-peasy, healthy, beautiful (the colors can look amazing depending on your selection), and chances are good, it’s different from what you’ve been eating lately. Here's what I did last night, but you should feel free to vary the ingredients to your liking.


Roasted Vegetables

2 medium red potatoes, cubed
2 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup summer squash, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped
2 cups of baby portabellas (halved or left whole depending on size)
olive oil
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. basil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Toss vegetables in a large bowl with enough olive oil to coat everything. Add salt, pepper, garlic and basil and toss again.

Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring once.


The roasted veggies are great on rice, couscous, polenta, etc.

Tip: With some add-ins like corn or peas (peas are yuck in my opinion), you may want to use a frozen version or wait 10-15 minutes before adding them to the rest of the mix so they don’t burn. Also, I used basil to season the blend, but rosemary, oregano, thyme (etc.), would also be delicious and smell super good.