Moomy's Cheese-less Quiche

For years now, I've always wanted to take a bite out of a beautiful slice of quiche. 

I thought quiches are beautiful, savory pies; their golden crust perfectly formed, their filling golden brown and just so inviting!

The name itself sounds so exciting and exotic! Quiche. Quiche. Quiche!!

The only reason why I have never eaten a quiche before is because most quiches are cheese-based. 

And I do not eat cheese.

Well, except for mozzarella, of course. The shredded kind on pizzas. What's a pizza without the mozza, right?

Anyhoo, I sat down one day and started to look online for a vegan quiche. With all the possibilities and recipes and the determination to make a pie crust from scratch, I might just be able to pull this off:

You'll never know until you try it out ...

I started out by making the crust, Martha Stewart's way:

The pastry itself seems pretty easy to handle. 

 My pie plate was 10-inches round. This was my first try at making and rolling out a pie crust - did you see the edges I had crimped? Hehehe not that bad, I think! *winks*

My lil Aidan giving me a hand at … well, checking the quality of my pie plate ...

… and helping me to roll out the INVISIBLE pie crust! LOL he worked so hard at this that he began to develop a flour mustache! Hehehe :D

While waiting for the pie crust to cool down for a bit (I left it sitting in the garage. I'm beginning to enjoy the advantages of winter here - it turns our garage into a walk-in fridge!), I worked on the quiche filling. This was what I did:

Veg, veggy, veggies!! I thought this was a wonderful recipe to incorporate different types and colors of vegetables into your meal :D:D:D

Heat up 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a frying wok over medium-high heat. Once the oil has melted and warmed up, I added 1finely diced yellow onion, 1 diced red pepper, 3 garlic cloves (finely minced) and a good handful of cremini mushrooms (sliced).

Because I have roughly chopped up 1 HUGE bundle of fresh spinach, I tossed in the crunchier stem-bits into the wok. I thought by sautéing it together with the onions and other ingredients, it will give the quiche a wonderful flavor.

So sauté the above mixture for about 5 minutes or so, till the onions are translucent and the spinach stems a wee bit softened. Remove the wok from heat.

Shame that one yolk popped ...

Into a big bowl went 6 eggs and 3 tablespoons of finely ground almond (basically a handful of almonds before it got blitzed up in my trusty Bullet). I whisked the eggs and almond meal quickly into a pretty froth before adding these: half a teaspoon of baking powder, three-quarters teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon each of paprika and dried thyme, and one-eighth of a teaspoon each of cayenne powder and black pepper.

Once you whisked it together, the smell was pretty delightful :D

Whisk the mixture again and then stir in the sautéed vegetables and freshly chopped spinach. Stir well until everything's nicely incorporated.

Pour this eggy-veggy mixture into the prepared pie plate, and bake it for 45-50 minutes in a preheated 350degF oven, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove your pie from the oven and let it set on the counter for about 5 minutes before you slice and serve your quiche.

All that green-ness! I might have used a tad too much spinach but hey, 'tis all good! Me, the quiche rookie, remember? *winks*

I was happy with how this cheese-less quiche turned out. Chock-ful of vegetables and the taste was fantastic :D:D:D

Equally delish that evening and even more fantastic as a leftover the next day :D:D:D

My darling hubby commented that it was "very good … even for a cheese-less quiche". LOL! Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, alright … 

And I found that I truly enjoyed this vegan* vegetarian-style quiche. I am going to make this again and try different vegetables too. Asparagus, broccoli, leeks … and perhaps even throw in a handful or so of shredded chicken meat or something …

And a big chunk of cheese on the side just to please my darling hubby's need of a cheesy quiche hahaha

Have a wonderful day, everybody :D:D:D

*Updated on 5 Dec 2014: My darling MiL reminded me to check on the "vegan" status of my quiche. Because I had used eggs, its really not vegan … so vegetarian it is now :D:D:D