It’s going to be an interesting week full of night shifts for one of us, day shifts for the other. For me, that means trying to make good, healthy food to get us through our respective challenges. That also means that if I feel the need to eat a candy bar at work, I’m getting enough vitamins and protein in my meals to make candy bar consumption okay. Sometimes you need a candy bar in the middle of a hard week. (Yeah yeah, stress eating, whatever.)
Most of our menu choices this week are from a new-to-me cookbook, Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. Thanks to the library, this new book was on the house (for 21 to 28 days, anyway). It’s a pretty serious cookbook. It walks you through the theories behind the paleo diet. Why it’s awesome and why you should try it, how the diet can potentially help you through various health issues and how to tweek it for specific dietary needs.
I’ll admit that I’m not entirely on board with the paleo diet. I have friends who have tried it and loved it, but I’m not ready to give up all mainstream bread and cheese products. That said, I do love the “eat lots of protein and veggies” aspects of the diet. I’m totally on board with that plus a sprinkle of cheese on my salad. Mmm. And maybe some cake on the side.
Anyway, our first recipe out of the cookbook is a big winner. The ingredients are easy to find, the only real prep was grating a few vegetables, and it only added about three dishes to our dirty dish collection. My kind of recipe!
This is what it’s supposed to look like in its basic recipe state:
We made a larger batch (which goes with the ingredients list below), and we took a recomendation from the recipe intro and added some mild Italian sausage to the mix. I do think that the Italian sausage made all the difference. It added lots of flavor and made the recipe a bit heartier.
Crustless Quiche (that may or may not swirl for you, but will definitely taste delicious)
Cook time: 45 minutes
Yields: 5-6 servings
Ingredients
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1 large zucchini (or 2 medium zucchini)
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2 large carrots (or 4 medium… why couldn’t I find any large veggies at the store?)
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12 eggs
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1 lb. any kind of Italian sausage
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1 Tbs. butter, bacon fat, coconut oil, or a thin layer of cooking spray
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Salt, dried rosemary, dried thyme (about 1 teaspoon of salt, a half teaspoon of each herb)
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13″ baking dish with your greasing agent of choice. We went with some cooking spray, because I was feeling lazy. Butter or bacon grease would probably make this even more delicious.
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Grate the zucchini. Strain the zucchini with a cheese cloth or strainer bag (or a thin kitchen towel). You just want to get the excess water out of the zucchini. Grate the carrots.
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Mix the zucchini, carrots, and eggs in a large bowl. Add a bit of salt, dried thyme, and dried rosemary. Throw in the Italian sausage, breaking it up with a spoon or your hands. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. For a swirled effect, use a fork to create a circular pattern on top of the quiche before baking. (I think the addition of the sausage makes the circular pattern nearly impossible, but if you’re making the non-sausage version, it’s really pretty!)
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Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is moving towards golden brown. Voila!
Small, but valuable. 