Sausage and Mushroom Quiche

This morning, my husband declared that quiche is his favorite breakfast food. I'd have to agree with him.  All of the ingredients of an omelet, baked into a pie. What's not to love?
 Like an omelet, a quiche is wonderfully versatile. This recipe calls for mozzarella, sausage, and mushroom. But you why not ham, swiss and asparagus? What about bacon? spinach? cheddar? It's blank canvas. Experiment with the ingredients you love... or the ones that you happen to find in your fridge.

Here is my most recent interpretation and the one my husband was raving over this morning.

Sausage and Mushroom Quiche:


1 9-inch deep dish pie crust, unbaked
6 ounces bulk breakfast sausage
1/2 yellow onion, diced
5 or 6 white or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
4 large eggs
1 cup milk (1% or 2% works great)
1/4 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 TBS all purpose flour
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.
Pierce pie crust several times with a fork to prevent bubbling during pre-baking. Bake for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, crumble and begin browning the sausage over medium-high heat. Half way through cooking the sausage, add the onion and mushrooms. Cook until sausage is no longer pink and the onion and mushroom are softened. With a slotted spoon, transfer mixture from the skillet to a paper towel covered plate to drain.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, salt and thyme. Add the sausage mixture and stir.
In a separate bowl, combine the shredded cheese and flour. Stir cheese mixture into the egg mixture.
Pour into the hot pie crust.

Bake 40-45 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and middle is set.
Cool 5 minutes before cutting. Serve warm.

Maple-Bourbon Pecan Pie

 Dessert is my favorite part of the traditional American Thanksgiving meal. After all the turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and cranberry relish, nothing hits the spot like a slice (or two) of pie. This pie made it's debut at our Thanksgiving table this year. It was an instant favorite. Unbelievably easy to make, this holiday-worthy dessert is loaded with maple flavor and given complexity with a touch of bourbon.  You've never tasted a pecan pie so good!

Maple-Bourbon Pecan Pie

1 9-inch pie crust
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 TBS all purpose flour
1 cup pure grade B maple syrup
3 large eggs
3 TBS melted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 TBS bourbon whiskey
1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, white sugar, and flour. Whisk in maple syrup, eggs, melted butter, vanilla and bourbon.
Spread pecans evenly over the bottom of the unbaked pie crust. Pour liquid mixture over the pecans.
Bake for 45-60 minutes or until the middle is set. Cool completely before serving.
Serve with whipped cream. 
  
(recipe adapted from Harvest Market, Bon Appetit Dec 2000)