Completely gluten-free and low-carb is this healthy and delicious SPINACH QUICHE CUPS that everyone will enjoy. You can tweak the recipe to add your favorite vegetables!
A friend of mine is a distributor of Demarle products (Silpat, Flexipan and Silform non-stick bakeware made of fiberglass and food grade silicone from France). This week she kindly lent me some of her wares so I could try them at home and learn how to use them, or sort of put them to the test.
One of the products I borrowed was her flexi-muffin tray. Since it is supposed to be non-stick, I thought the perfect dish to try would be my crustless spinach quiche cups (inspired by South Beach Diet's Vegetable Quiche Cups), my favorite breakfast treat when I am in the mood for a low-carb and gluten-free diet. I love these mini-quiches but when I bake them without using liners, it can be painful to clean up the pan afterwards. That's despite the claim that they are non-stick and that I even used some oil spray on them. So, I am really looking for a product that I can use for this recipe - one that will truly work and would also provide hassle-free cleaning.
Wow, I am amazed at the result! One look at the photo above and you can already see that it was an astounding success. Look at these beautiful quiches, how they stand up so well, perfectly shaped, didn't look like half of them were left in the muffin pan (that usually happens before I used this wonderful product). I also tried baking raspberry muffins in the flexi-tray and they came out beautiful as well.
And, because it's truly non-stick I did not use any muffin liners nor did I ever need to grease the pan. How's that for convenience? However, if you don't have this pan, don't fret, either just use muffin liners or grease your muffin pan.
Here's the recipe for the spinach quiche which is truly a healthy low-carb and gluten-free breakfast. Try it!
Ingredients
A little olive oil (for cooking the mushrooms)
1 (10 oz) package fresh spinach (I used the baby ones) --- about 284 grams
4 eggs (if the yolks are quite small I use 5 eggs)
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I use mozzarella or the Italian Blend)
1 (8 oz package) mini-bella mushrooms, chopped
1-2 Tbsp, heavy cream or half-and-half (optional)
Salt and Pepper, to
taste
*Variation - If you don't fancy mushrooms, try asparagus or bell peppers with the spinach. Also, add some onions to the mix. I add some when I do not use mushrooms.
Procedure
Preheat the oven to 375F or 190C.
Heat a little oil in a large skillet. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Set Aside.
Place the spinach in a deep pan or in the skillet that you used for the mushrooms. Add a little water, 1/4 cup should do it. Using medium heat, cook the spinach just until wilted, about 3-4 mins. Use either your hand or a spatula to pack in the spinach. Drain the excess water really well (especially if you decide to use frozen spinach instead).
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Add the cooked mushrooms, spinach, cheeses and cream (if using) to the eggs. Mix well. Season to taste.
Divide evenly among the
12 muffin cups. The muffin tray was slightly bigger than usual so I only filled about 10 cups.
Bake for about 20-23 minutes, or until it's well set and a tester/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave in the pan for a few minutes or just until it's cool enough to handle. It was so easy to remove them from the pan! They practically pop-out!
Sprinkle with a little more cheese on top, if desired. Mark enjoys them with rice on the side!
