Cottage Ham and Cheddar Apple Quiche

I think I should call this a pie instead of a quiche. You can let me know. I bought the wrong biscuits, yup I made a boo-boo. I was hoping to buy their Flaky Layers Reduced Fat Original Biscuits but picked up a Reduced Fat Original (no flaky layers) Biscuit. A prize if you understood any of that.

I ended up with a yeasted crust instead of a thin flat crust. It's OK though, as soon as it came out of the oven I placed a cast iron pan on top and it pressed the warm dough. That's called improvising and I refuse to stress about perfect dishes because in my book, if it looks pretty but tastes crappy, might as well just give it to the dog.

There is something we all know to be true about quiche. One piece with a nice salad or roasted vegetable makes a substantial brunch or dinner. This version with the ham and apples is a nice counterpart to the eggs and cheese. Salty ham with the sweet apples and the tang from the cottage cheese is a nice combination and adding fruit is not usually expected in a quiche. Think about making individual ones in muffin tins for a really different Easter Brunch Buffet or a great light lunch.

You would not think this was healthy and lite, as it had all the usual components for a very creamy and cheesy quiche. I had trepidations about the cottage cheese in this recipe (I do not eat cottage cheese) but when you have limited dairy to work with it made perfectly good sense and a good choice that fit into the plan.

As soon as I cut a wedge, I could see the curds had melted into the egg/milk mixture and it was smooth and light. I'm willing to bow down to the cooked cottage cheese gods but I probably will never stare into a cheese filled stuffed melon, blah
Recommended serving was one quarter of an 8" quiche, but with the addition of the broccoli, we were satisfied with a 6th of a slice. I know The Nudge will have a great lunch today.
I will most definitely make this again as a great summer dinner but switch out the ham for prosciutto and figs for the apples and Fontina for the cheddar.

And I promise I will buy the right biscuits.

Cottage Ham and Cheddar Apple Quiche

Inspired from an old WW cookbook

* 4 ready to bake refrigerated buttermilk flaky biscuits (1 oz. each)
* 1/2 lb. apples, cored, pared and thinly sliced
* 2 oz. boiled ham, diced
* 1/2 c. chopped leeks, white part only
* 2 oz. 50% reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded (I used Cabot Creamery)
* 2/3 c. 1% cottage cheese
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 c. fat free evaporated milk
* 1/8 dash ground nutmeg
* Dash white pepper
* 1 tablespoon grated Romano cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Carefully separate each biscuit into 4 thin layers of dough. (Do this as soon as you take it from the refrigerator.) In an 8 inch pie plate (I used a tart pan), arrange biscuits with edges touching, in concentric circles over bottom and up sides of plate, using fingers, spread to form crust, pressing edges of biscuits together to seal. Place sheet of foil over bottom of dough and fill with uncooked dry beans, bake for 5 minutes. Remove beans and foil; set crust aside. 

2. In a microwave safe glass bowl add apples, ham and onion. Cover and cook on high for 3 minutes. Spoon apple mixture into crust and sprinkle with shredded cheese; set aside. 

3. In blender container, combine cottage cheese, eggs, milk and seasonings and process until smooth, scraping down sides of container as necessary; pour into pie plate. Set pie plate on baking sheet and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. (Until top is puffed and lightly browned and a knife, inserted in center, comes out clean.) Remove from oven, and keeping warm, let stand for 10 minutes.

First day nutrition label.
The wine for dinner was not added into this equation, so if included in yours, just add 100 calories.

Menu Update: Tomorrow's dinner will be changed to the Cobb Salad due to the unplanned advanced ripening of an avocado that I thought would need two more days (hey, it's my first time). The Nudge was happy to hear this, he just loves him a Cobb Salad.
For updated plan, click here.