Pizza Quiche

I LOVE quiche. Almost any kind of quiche. I love the eggy goodness and cheesy yumminess. Unfortunately, no one else in my family likes quiche. Usually I will make one and eat on it by myself for a week. I really wanted to find some way to convince my kids to actually try a bite, because I just couldn't conceive of them not liking it once they tried it.

Well, I used to play an online game called Neopets. Some of you may have heard of it, but even if not, they have this omelette that you can get to feed your pet. They have all kinds of crazy flavors--cheese, BBQ, broccoli, peas and carrots, sausage, pepperoni, even rotten! Anyway, it got me thinking. I can put anything that I want in my quiche too! What do my kids really like? PIZZA! So, I pulled out the sausage and pepperoni and left out the onion (well, I did use dried onion because they don't notice those and I get the flavor) and they all tried it. My oldest actually really like it, except for the pie crust. How weird is that? I'm hoping the others will like it better as time goes on.

Pizza Quiche and Homemade Biscuits

* Frozen pie crust
* 3 beaten eggs (egg substitute will make this healthier)
* 1 1/2 cups skim milk
* 1/4 cup sliced green onion (I have used yellow onion as well as dried onion)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* Dash ground nutmeg
* 3/4 cup chopped pepperoni and cooked sausage (I used my Jimmy Dean precooked Turkey sausage to save time.)
* 1 1/2 cups shredded cheeses (any variety or mix of cheeses you like)
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1. Spread the pie crust in a pan and line with a double thickness of foil. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 5 minutes more or until the pastry is nearly done. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees.

2. While the crust is baking, mix the eggs, milk, onion, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the pepperoni and sausage.

3. In a separate bowl, toss the cheese with the flour. Add to the egg mixture and mix well.

4. Pour the mixture into the HOT pastry shell. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or till a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (tip: the top will not look "gooey" or "wet") If necessary, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent over-browning. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving to "firm" up.

***From the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, page 154. (the sausage and pepperoni are my personal additions.) 406 calories (yes, not good), 24g fat (even worse!)181mg cholesterol, 331mg sodium. But it tastes sooooo good! This is for 6 servings, I get more because I cut them smaller and have something else with it, so the nutrition info would look a tiny bit better.****

Sunrise Biscuits

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup unsalted butter or margarine, cut into pieces
* 1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a nonstick baking sheet and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. (I use a fork, but if you have a pastry blender, lucky you!). Stir in buttermilk until a soft dough forms. (It is going to be sticky and moist, not looking like a "dough", resist the urge to add more flour!)

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. (you want it to stay soft in order to have lighter biscuits). Cut out the biscuits and place on baking sheet. Re-roll trimmings and cut again. (Try to get the most out of each roll because the more you mix and re-roll the heavier the biscuits will get)

4. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly before serving.