Heart Healthy Quiche Lorraine

While the meal planner says pork chops with roasted apples and leeks, my head is shaking "NO" as I take out the eggs, bacon and cheese for a quiche. How does that happen? I mean, pork and apples sounds really comforting as the thermometer needle hits below that God awful 20 mark and roasting the whole thing in one pan in one shot in under 45-minutes does make it soooo doable.

A quiche isn't anything to sneeze about either. Cheesy, creamy, salty, come on, it's got it all. Slightly more work but there is always a crust in my freezer.

So, as yet, once again, I change the line-up from what was planned to what I am craving, I thought that maybe I should find out why we crave certain foods at certain times. So to WebMD I clicked.

One popular myth is that people crave certain foods to fill a nutritional deficiency.
Does this sound familiar "Gee, I'm craving potato chips. I must need the salt"? Really, how many of us -- aside from runners in hot weather -- are deficient in salt?
The other avenue of thought heads down the ole Pavlov's Dog theory of classic conditioning.
If you have a cookie every day after school, just walking into the house cues you to have a cookie and if you don't get that cookie right away, your mind obsesses about it and turns it into a craving.

Nice but no dice. So, let's try another.

Gender, men for example, were more likely to crave pizza, pasta, and soup over cakes and cookies. Why? Reminds them of mommy giving them attention "I made your favorite food for dinner".
Women, on the other hand, associate those foods with preparation and cleanup, so they tend to want hassle-free snacks, such as candy, cookies, ice cream, and chocolate.

Are you buying that?

How about moods? A bad mood can become a conditioned cue for eating but test show that happy moods might be even more likely culprits. Studies have shown that 86% of people craved comfort foods when they were happy, and 74% had cravings when they wanted to celebrate or reward themselves. Sad or bored barely broke the 50% mark.

While they all sound doable, none of them applies here. I think that I will simply chalk this one up to my craving for dairy or maybe, it's simply because I just didn't feel like chewing. Oh dear, now I will wonder about the psychology of food cravings being established in the womb.

Time to put the research away and start the quiche. To make it slightly heart healthy, I lighten it up a bit, I used a neuchatel cream cheese. It is a French cheese, so they won't get upset, too much.
I also used 2 whole eggs and 1/2 cup Egg Beaters. If I used turkey bacon The Nudge would have my head, so I did both, he will never know that I simmered the turkey bacon in the milk to infuse it with flavor and added two slices of real bacon for the texture.

There is one thing that I do have to insist on in a quiche but less of a good ingredient is all you need. For the nutty flavor that is Gruyere, I halved that by adding miso to the mixture. You could also use nutritional yeast (basic Vegan sub) but I like to use that as I would a finishing Parmesan.

One more thing. I added caramelized onions for the sweet to balance out the tart cream cheese.
While the calories are all around the 400 level, did you know that one slice of a traditional Quiche Lorraine can have up to 75% fat per slice? Not if I can help it.
My slice weighs in at 232 calories and 26% fat. Not bad, huh? Oh, and for an added bonus, some chia seeds for a burst of Omega 3's!

The only thing left to do is eat!!!
Yay

Low Fat Quiche Lorraine
makes one 8" deep dish quiche
* 3 slices turkey bacon
* 2 slices regular bacon
* 1/2 sweet onion, sliced thin
* 3 whole large eggs + 2 yolks
* 6 ounces unsweetened almond milk
* 4 ounces neuchatel cream cheese or low fat
* salt & pepper
* 2 teaspoons sriracha
* 8 ounces whole milk
* 1 teaspoon white miso
* 1 tablespoon chia seeds
* 1 crust, packaged or homemade
* 6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

1. Slice both bacon's into 1/4" slices, crosswise. In a skillet with a teaspoon of olive oil, saute the bacon until the fat renders. Add the onions, lower the heat, cover the skillet and cook for 15 minutes.
2. Add the almond milk to the skillet and simmer until the liquid is half. Add the cream cheese and whisk until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps. Add the cream cheese mixture to a bowl with a spout and add the whole milk until you have 2 cups.
3. Add the miso, sriracha and the eggs. Whisk until incorporated and season with salt & pepper.
4. Press the crust evenly into an 8" spring form pan or a 2" high cake pan. 
5. Preheat the oven to 350° and dock the bottom with a fork. Line the pan with parchment paper or foil and then with pie weights (I use beans). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove and lift off the weights and paper and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle the crust with a handful of cheese and reset the oven to 325°.
6. Pour the milk/egg mixture into the crust and sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over.
7. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the quiche from the oven and allow it to cool to room temperature.

I served this with a salad of baby Italian salad greens, sliced pears, walnuts, blue cheese, olives and crispy shallots. I found a very good Pomegranate Vinaigrette that I am addicted too.