baking · cooking · Dinner · Lunch

Artichoke and Chicken Quiche

Kirk was talking about quiche this past weekend and I realized something – I had never made one. I have eaten many of them but I guess I always ranked making one as ‘too fussy’ or something. Not sure why either!

So today I started poking around for ideas and checking out how to make one. After looking at most of the recipes and gasping over the fat content (tons of cheese, bacon, heavy cream, eggs) I got thinking that I should be able to make one a little bit healthier. So I used Egg Beaters® for the eggs, cut the cheese in half and used fat free half and half. We still got the texture but without as much fat – and I added chicken to give more protein (though it would have been fine without). I have to say….I liked it with the egg replacement! It was much lighter in texture and not heavy sitting in the stomach.

For the pie crust I grabbed a frozen 9″ deep dish from the grocery store. The Safeway brand ones work well and have a great taste – while you can use refrigerated ones, I do not recommend that route. The frozen ones have a very short list of ingredients (flour, water, salt and fat basically) where the refrigerated ones have fake colors, texture additives and preservatives. Read carefully! And of course if one has time and talent, make it yourself. (I don’t! I can bake nearly anything but pie crust and me? We don’t dance well together. I gave up that dream years ago..lol!)

quiche

Artichoke and Chicken Quiche

Ingredients:

1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 tsp diced dried garlic or 2 fresh cloves
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Egg Beaters® or 4 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1 12-ounce can chicken, drained
1 9-inch  pie crust (in a pie pan)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. If using a frozen pie crust, take it out of the freezer and gently poke dots in the bottom a couple times with a small fork. Place the pie pan on a cookie and set aside.
Chop artichoke hearts in a large dice. In a small non stick pan over low heat, add oil and saute artichoke hearts and garlic until they start to smell yummy. Take the pan off the stove and let the artichokes cool.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the eggs and half and half, add in the cheeses and pepper, mixing well.
Add the cooled artichokes and chicken to the egg mixture, mix well. Spread mixture into pie crust.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until filling is set and is turning golden brown. Let sit for 10 minutes to cool a bit before slicing.
Makes 1 9″ pie.

I served it with an Asian inspired salad full of dried cherries and Mandarin oranges. Yum!

~Sarah

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