I honestly try to be healthy.  Really, I do.  But sometimes you try a million (or maybe actually only 6) really healthy recipes, then try one slightly less healthy recipe, and the one with heavy cream is just remarkably tastier.  Remarkably.

That’s my quiche story.  We have 8 chickens, and thus we have 5-6 eggs a day fresh from the yard.  It’s a tasty problem.  Sometimes breakfast consumption almost does the trick (with some sharing added in).  Sometimes we end up with 40 eggs in the fridge.  Sometimes we use a dozen eggs for a potluck, eat 4 for breakfast, and we still have 40 eggs in the fridge.

It is safe to say that I’ve tried out a whole bunch of egg-centric recipes in the past several months.  Most of them were tasty.  Most of them also included kale and tomatoes and olives and all things healthy.  Then I tried this recipe.

This recipe has spinach, and plenty of it (yay!).  It also has heavy cream and bacon and cheese.  It is so much my favorite that I didn’t wait a day to post it on the blog.

Okay, that’s not entirely true.  I made it once a few weeks ago, and I didn’t really follow the recipe that closely.  It was delicious, but I could see why the recipe should be followed more closely.  Today I tried it with more integrity of recipe and a few more adventurous options, and it was glorious.  The eggs are fluffy and rich, the spinach and bacon and cheese are spinach-bacon-cheesy.  Yum is all you really need to know.

And who doesn’t eat a little bit of heavy cream every once in a while?

The original recipe can be found here, and thank you to the creator, Paula Deen.  Here’s my slightly tweaked version (but not tweaked so much that it’s missing important steps like the first time I tried it):

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs (or you can squeeze in 8 if you’re trying to use up your 40 eggs like I am)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach, packed
• 1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheese, more or less (cheesiness is important, but not as important as that heavy cream, in my opinion)–I used cheddar the first time, mozzarella the second (because it was available), Monterrey Jack would be delicious, just pick a favorite that seems right to you
• 1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust, fitted to a 9-inch glass pie plate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  When you think you’re about 5 minutes away from putting the quiche in the oven, pop the pie crust into the oven (in the pan) so that it can pre-bake a tiny bit.  I don’t know what the pros say about this step, but I do know that I didn’t do it the first time, and the crust was kind of soggy.  Did it the second time, and the crust was perfect.

Combine the eggs, cream, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender.  Don’t skip this step because “whisking seems like a good substitute.”  I think at least 1/2 of the wonderful texture of the end result has to do with the blending step.  Layer the spinach*, bacon**, and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust, then pour the egg mixture on top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the egg mixture is set. Cut and serve.***

*Chopping the spinach is so important.  Didn’t chop the first time, and I only got a tiny bit of spinach in the crust before it was full.  I missed the extra spinach later.  I really did.  Chop chop!  Sometimes laziness pays off in the kitchen.  Sometimes it doesn’t.

**I usually cook bacon on the stovetop, but I went with the instructions here and ye ol’ oven this time.  It worked like a charm (read: crispy, perfectly done bacon), and I didn’t smell like bacon for the rest of the day.  That could be a bonus or a negative.  Use the info as you will.

***Sorry about the excessive notes.  The original recipe is so short.  I feel like I took advantage of that freedom the first time I made this.  It was tasty, but there was room for so much extra tastiness.  Chop and bake and yum!  Or do it any old way you want.  I won’t ever know.