One of the most exciting things about 2021 (aside from the birth of my daughter of course!) was the fact that my sister and I were pregnant at the same time, our babies due 6 months apart. It was something we had talked about after we both got married, how fun it would be if we were pregnant at the same time, our kids getting the chance to grow up together. They are now 7 months and 1 month old, and so far my girl Emmie cries whenever he cries, and likes to just sit and stare at him. They don’t understand quite yet, but I look forward to the days when they are old enough to play together and hopefully be each others’ best friend!
With COVID still being a concern, and my sister being 7 months pregnant in the middle of summer, it only made sense to host a small intimate shower at my house, aka she wanted to spend the day floating in the pool. She wanted a casual, relaxing day with her closest girlfriends, and a theme of “zebra, but not really zebra.” Luckily I speak her language!
One of the things I wanted to do was elevate was the menu. My brother-in-law joked with me once about how everything I make is in a casserole dish, so I knew I couldn’t serve my usual scrambled egg bake. Initially I looked for some frozen quiche to serve, because I was a little intimidated at the idea of making a quiche myself. They always look so beautiful and fancy and delicious, and I wasn’t too sure I could pull them off. The thought of 15 people tasting homemade ones and saying “…..oh, this is….different” terrified me and gave me such anxiety. However, I couldn’t find anything, so I accepted the task of making 6 of them, and turns out they were really, really good!
I’ve tweaked the recipe a little bit since the shower, and I think I’ve come up with something that is easy enough to make but also delicious. You can make these ahead of time and freeze them, which is what I did for my sister when she came home from the hospital. They taste just as good out of the freezer as they do freshly made!
Ham and Cheddar Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust
- 4-5 eggs, depending on the egg size
- 1 cup heavy cream (you can whole milk or any kind of milk, I just like the flavor/consistency with heavy cream)
- 1 cup cooked diced ham
- 4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
- Everything But the Bagel seasoning
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Pre-cook the pie-crust for 6-10 minutes, or until the crust is a little golden. I use a frozen 9″ pie crust and defrost first. Poke holes in the crust with a fork before putting it in the oven, and lightly poke holes in the dough as its cooking to release any bubbles. Once the crust is golden, remove from the oven and set aside.
- While the crust is baking, dice up the ham. I use a pre-cooked ham steak, but if you have extra ham around the holidays to use in this, that would probably taste even better.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper.
- Layer the bottom of the pie crust with the ham and half of the cheddar cheese.
- Pour in egg/cream mixture, and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, checking periodically to make sure you don’t overcook. The cheese should be melted on top, with the center slightly jiggly when you poke it with a knife.
- Once you take it out of the oven, sprinkle Everything But the Bagel seasoning on top, slice and serve
To freeze these, let the quiche sit out and cool on a baking rack. Once it’s room temperature, wrap in saran wrap, and then tin foil. When ready to cook, take out of the freezer and defrost for about 20 minutess, and then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until hot.
You can change up the ingredients to basically anything you like in your eggs. Bacon, peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes….any breakfast combo will work!
