Crustless vegetable quiche

The other day, desperate for a change for dinner from our usual rotation of spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, rice and beans, and stir fry, I found this recipe online and adapted it for what we had on hand and to accommodate my intense hatred of mushrooms. (I tend to think that they have the texture of a slug - not that I have ever eaten a slug but I've seen enough of them to get a rough idea of their probable texture.) I got rid of the mushrooms entirely and replaced broccoli for the asparagus originally called for. I also used a slightly smaller zucchini than was stated in the original recipe because, although I am a vegetarian, I tend not to like vegetables. My general opinion on the categorization of fruits and vegetables is this: if it tastes good, it is a fruit; if it tastes bad it's clearly a vegetable. All in all, although this recipe is full of veggies, it wasn't bad. I would even go so far as to call it quite good. And if you dice the vegetables small enough you might even get a picky eater (such as myself) to eat their greens. 

The prep time is about 20 minutes, depending upon how meticulous you are with your dicing, and the cook time is about an hour. Additionally, even though we ate this for dinner I'm sure it would make a good breakfast or brunch dish as well.

8 egg whites
4 whole eggs
1/2 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
16 oz fat free cottage cheese
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese, divided
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
2 cups broccoli, diced
1 - 2 tomatoes, diced, seeds removed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and spray a 3 quart casserole dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites and eggs until fluffy. Add in the cottage cheese, 3/4 cup shredded cheddar, 3/4 cup shredded monterey jack, milk, flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, oregano, thyme, and pepper. In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute the onion, zucchini, and broccoli with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the cooked vegetables and the diced tomato to the egg mixture and fold everything together. Pour into the casserole dish and top it with the remaining shredded cheese. Place it in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees then lower the temperature to 350 degrees (leaving the quiche inside the oven) and bake for another 45-55 minutes or until it is set and lightly browned. 

Chocolate chip zucchini bread

It is summer and time for fresh vegetables, which means that we have an abundance of zucchini and we need to find something to do with it all. My mom likes to roast it and eat it seasoned with other vegetables but that doesn't work for me as I do not actually like zucchini unless I can't taste it. Enter zucchini bread. But even that is too healthy for me so I added chocolate chips to the recipe and it turned out pretty good - edible, even. In case you are also suffering from a glut of zucchini here is the recipe to try out.

2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups of peeled, shredded zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla together until well blended. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder and mix well. Slowly beat the dry mixture into the wet mixture until the dry mixture is well incorporated. Stir in the zucchini and the chocolate chips. Grease two 8x4 inch loaf pans and split the batter between the two loaf pans, filling them approximately half way. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaves cool for 10 minutes and then turn the loaves out onto racks to cool completely. If you want to bake mini loaves, try cutting the baking time down to about half an hour.

This produces a loaf in which you can't really taste the zucchini and you get little bits of sweetness from the chocolate chips throughout the loaf. Enjoy!