Updated Crustless Mini Quiches

As you may have concluded from seeing that this recipe contains egg whites and cheese, I must no longer be eating a vegan diet. You’re right! Why? Because the results I got from eating a vegan diet were too good!

From January 1 to mid-March, I was eating vegan only and as a result I lost about 10 pounds – which was more than I wanted to lose. I always thought it would be nice to lose 5 pounds or so – around my mid-section. Well, those 5 pounds slid off and that’s great! But so did another 5 pounds  - and that’s not so great for me. I concluded that for me personally vegan is a bit too extreme. So I am now adding a little eggs (mostly egg whites), and dairy foods, as well as fish (but not meat) to my diet.

With the added eggs, dairy foods, and fish, it’s easy for me to get more protein than I was getting with my vegan diet. Why is protein so important? For me it’s critically important because I want a diet that’s optimal for bone health – plenty of calcium, vitamin D, and enough protein for maintaining and regenerating bone – which is part protein. And protein also helps keep muscles from wasting — and that’s important because strong muscles, especially those that help with balance, mean you are not as likely to fall!

So…that explains why I am now offering on this blog a recipe for Crustless Mini Quiches —  an updated version (easier and faster) of my earlier recipe for Spinach and Onion Crustless Quiches. This new recipe has lots of veggies, just like the former recipe, and a bit more protein than in the former recipe! In fact, per Crustless Mini Quiche you get about 7 grams of protein (4 grams from the egg whites + 2 grams from the Parmesan cheese mixture + 1 gram from the nutritional yeast).

For more on an optimal plant-based diet, including the latest information about the amount and kind of protein we need at different ages, see Happy, Healthy Long Life blog, 9 April 2011.

Crustless Mini Quiches

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Ingredients per recipe (makes 12)
1, 16-ounce bag frozen organic chopped spinach
or
1, 16-ounce bag frozen broccoli pieces

1, 16 ounce container of liquid egg whites

Ingredients per Crustless Mini Quiche (1 of 12 mini quiches)

1 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional)
+The nutritional yeast adds flavor – some would say it’s a cheesy flavor, but to me it seems like it adds just a little more depth of flavor.
+ Available at Whole Foods, in the supplement section; sold in cans. Some people use nutritional yeast as an amino acid supplement, but in this recipe it just adds a little high quality protein to each quiche.

a sprinkling of onion powder
a sprinkling of garlic powder
a little freshly grated nutmeg
+I like to use a microplane to grate whole nutmeg. Here’s a video showing a microplane being used to grate whole nutmeg.

2 teaspoons grated Parmesan  cheese or Parmesan and Romano cheeses

Directions
If using spinach….
Place frozen spinach in a large microwaveable container and heat in the microwave, uncovered, on high, until fully cooked — and then two minutes more. This will evaporate some of the moisture from the spinach and that’s good in this case. Divide the cooked spinach into the 12 cups of a non-stick muffin pan. Leave the spinach loose, not packed down.

If using broccoli…
Defrost broccoli in the microwave and then let it cool. Place cooled broccoli into work bowl of food processor and process until it’s finely chopped. Divide the broccoli into the 12 cups of a non-stick muffin pan; do not pack down.

Sprinkle the nutritional yeast over the spinach (or broccoli).

Spinach with nutritional yeast

Into each muffin cup, add onion powder, garlic powder, a little freshly grated nutmeg and the Parmesan cheese.

Pour the liquid egg whites into each muffin cup, filling almost  to the top. Gently mix the contents with a fork.

Bake for about 25 minutes in pre-heated 375 F-oven, or until quiches just start to brown on top.

Baked!

Allow baked quiches to cool slightly and then remove the mini quiches from muffin cups. (They slip right out!)

Enjoy and be healthy!
~Leni