Christmas Quiche

It's been a tradition for the last 14 years or so that I make a quiche for Christmas breakfast. Usually, I make the classic Quiche Lorraine with bacon and swiss, but I've been known to throw in a curveball every now and then with a quick quiche (using Bisquick in the filling) or a hash brown quiche. This year, Kara has specifically requested Lorraine, but since we've got a lot of ham left from a few days ago I figured I'd also make a ham and cheese quiche too.

Here are the recipes I plan to use, both culled from AllRecipes.com, one of my favorite idea spots.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
• 12 slices bacon
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/3 cup minced onion
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups light cream
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Place bacon in a large skillet, and fry over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then chop coarsely. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion into pastry shell.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, sugar and cayenne pepper. Pour mixture into pastry shell.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Allow quiche to sit 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Ham and Cheese Quiche

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 3 eggs
• 2 slices Swiss cheese
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup canned mushrooms
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can ham, flaked
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
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Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Beat together flour, salt, half-and-half and eggs in a medium bowl.

Place Swiss cheese flat in the pie crust. Arrange spinach evenly over Swiss cheese, then cover with mushrooms. Pour the flour and egg mixture over mushrooms. Cover with flaked ham and top with Cheddar cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven 45 to 55 minutes, until surface is golden brown.