Last updated on March 30th, 2014
Howdy, folks! We returned from our trip to Texas (more on that in the next post), did a few loads of laundry, and quickly headed out again. Lucas to China and I to my parents’ house for a couple of weeks to write a dissertation proposal and work on wedding crafts. In the week leading up to our trip to The South, we planned only super healthy meals in preparation for the pounds of hot links and beef brisket doused in sweet spicy BBQ sauce we’d surely devour in Houston. We had to earn our Texas barbecue. Well, at least I had to; Lucas’s Sunday marathon entitled him to as much pulled pork as his heart desired. Before the trip, this vegetable quiche made our taste buds sing and our waistlines happy.
When we first got engaged back in August, our landlords had us for dinner to toast the occasion and served up a quiche so fresh and fluffy that no one could refuse seconds…or thirds. Naturally, I snatched up Cordula’s recipe and have made various adaptations of it as a quick weeknight meal many times since (even in little muffin trays for a bite-sized version). Now, the buttery crust I used to make, while crazy addicting, does not jive with my pre-wedding health goals. I adapted the recipe by using a whole wheat olive oil pastry crust that gives the buttery favorite a run for its money.
After watching him scarf down two in a row, I told Lucas that these individual quiches were healthy, and he naively responded, “yeah, except for the tons of butter in the crust.” He was shocked to find out this rendition of the recipe used no butter at all! Zip! Zilch! Nada! The outer pastry is so rich and flakey you’ll fool yourself into thinking you’re indulging while actually consuming only ¼ the saturated fat of a regular crust. For a gluten-free version, try pressing thinly sliced potatoes into the bottom and sides of your pan and pre-baking them until slightly crispy before pouring in the filling.
Congratulations to Dena from Oh! You Cook! for winning the chocolate balsamic and local olive oil giveaway from last week. Please check your e-mail for instructions on how to claim your prize!
Healthy whole wheat vegetable quiche
Makes four to five 5-inch mini quiches (in small tart pans) or one 9.5-inch quiche (in glass pie pan)
Whole wheat crust**
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup ice water
- Mix the flour and salt together in a food processor.
- Add the olive oil and pulse until completely combined.
- In a steady stream, slowly add the water and pulse until the mixture sticks together when pinched.
- Roll the crust into a ball, flatten it, and cut it into 4 equal pieces (leave it as one piece if making 1 big quiche in a pie pan).
- Roll out each piece of pastry dough between two pieces of parchment paper until big enough to fill your tart pans and press the dough into the non-stick mini tart-pan. Repeat with all four pieces.
Filling
- 2-3 cups of cremini and shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced thin
- 4-5 cups of spinach, stems removed
- ¾ cup of non-fat milk
- 5 eggs
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour**
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
- 8-10 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Quickly sauté the mushrooms and spinach with salt & pepper over medium heat in a large skillet. Set aside.
- Whisk together the milk, eggs, and flour. Add salt & pepper, depending on your taste preference.
- Divide the cooked spinach and mushrooms among the crust-lined tart pans.
- Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of parmesan on top of each tart.
- Divide the egg mixture among the tart pans, pouring it over the vegetables.
- Sprinkle a bit of fresh basil on top and layer each tart with sliced cherry tomatoes.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and completely set.
- Let cool in the tart pans for 5 minutes before serving.
**for a gluten-free version, replace the crust with thinly sliced potatoes and use corn starch instead of flour.
Tina -
This looks awesome! I love quiche, and am totally stealing this recipe :D
Veronica -
Oh my Gosh! What a beautiful recipe! My friend will love the gluten- free tip! Thank you!
Sher -
The crust on this looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
Mushrooms Canada -
What a wonderfully healthy recipe! I’m blown away at the no-butter crust and the combination of both crimini and shiitake mushrooms in this recipe. Perfect!!
-Shannon
Sarah Menanix -
Thank you! No butter, no guilt:)
KickassCooking -
Quiche is one of my favorite ways to use leftovers..though I have to admit I use ready made crust. But could not find one I like since I moved to London, so I will definitely try this one now!
Sarah Menanix -
Thanks! Yes, the ready-made crust is definitely tempting, but once you try this super easy crust, you won’t look back.
KickassCooking -
I made the crust yesterday for a mushroom/cheddar/mustard quiche. Heaven in my mouth, and the gorilla of the house loved it too! I made it witout processor and since I made individual quiches (and felt lazy) I just pressed down the dough in the tart pans without rolling. It worked perfectly! Thanks for sharing the recipe, it’s on my list of favourites!
Emily -
Snix, this looks delicious! Is it possible to make the crust without a food processor?
Sarah Menanix -
Yes, of course! You can just use a fork to combine the dry & wet ingredients. Then once it starts to get combined (so there aren’t huge spots of water/oil that’ll make your hands all sticky), use your hands to knead until it forms a ball! xo – miss you!
Allie @ The Nutritional Epiphany -
It was so fun being featured next to you in the Greatist.com article! Yay eggs :)
Katie M -
Did this for dinner tonight… So yum! Didn’t have mushroom but added spinach, leftover roast pumpkin, onion and capsicum. Base was amazing…also stirred 2 Tbs of ricotta into egg mix before pouring. Yum…was a great hit :) pinned and recommended!
Melissa -
Thanks for this great recipe! Made it tonight for the second time, but using kale instead of spinach. Hope it’s just as good.
Stacy Coldman -
Fantastic recipe! quiche is beautiful, will try it myself this evening. Thanks
Be Healthy Recipes -
Absolutely great! thanks for the recipe
Sarah Menanix -
Glad you liked it! Thanks so much for sharing:)
Mary -
I had trouble with the crust being very under done despite the fact that I pre-baked it for 10 minutes.
Sarah Menanix -
What a big bummer! Before turning gluten-free recently, this was my go-to crust and I never had any problems with it. I’m going to make it again for a friend in a couple of weeks, so I’ll be sure to check it carefully. In the meantime, here are my suggestions: 1. Since I measure my ingredients by volume, rather than weight, there’s room for difference in the ways people measure out their flour (up to a half a cup!). If your initial crust dough was a bit more moist than usual, I recommend adding a tiny bit more flour – when I measure my flour, I scoop each cup from the back at once and then level it off by scraping with a knife. 2. I use a 9.5″ pyrex pie dish when I bake my full-sized quiche; the size of the pan and type of material can make a big difference in baking time/temperature. I’ll be sure to update that on my recipe. 3. My final suggestion would be to pre-bake the crust with an egg wash for about 20 minutes before adding the filling. The egg wash will help keep the crust from becoming too moist from the filling. Hope this helps! Thanks for your feedback:)
Val -
Don’t you have to cook the crust first?
Sarah Menanix -
For many of my crusts, I do par-bake, but for this one, I do not. I wanted an easy recipe that could be thrown together quickly. I think perhaps because of how thin the tart pan is, the egg filling cooks up fast so the bottom still crisps up nicely!
Uma gupta -
Do I need to bake the crust before adding the filling? Thnx
Sarah Menanix -
It’s not required that you par-bake the crust before adding the filling! For small tarts like this, the crust bakes up just fine as the filling bakes, but if you want, you can also par-bake it for 5-10 minutes before adding the filling to ensure extra crispy crust:)
Jen -
How long do you bake in a full sized tart pan?