Quiche of the week: Sausage, onions, mushrooms, & cheese

This week's quiche came about because I had leftover sausage from a meal of biscuits and gravy, leftover mushrooms from a dish of chicken and noodles that never materialized, leftover Monterey Jack from a batch of quesadillas, and half an onion in the fridge. I love that about quiche! I also love that it's possible to make a quiche pretty much one-handed. With one hand I sift together the lard and flour, clump it into a ball, and press it into a pan for baking. With one hand I can crack and beat the eggs together with the milk, saute the vegetables (OK, chopping takes two), and combine them all. This makes it an excellent meal to make when Eden is in the sling or the Ergo and I need to have one hand at least on standby to make sure she doesn't lurch out of it, or topple out when I bend down. So in addition to being healthy, tasty, easy, and cheap--one more reason it's on the menu every week!

To make this quiche, I utilized our standard quiche formula (though with only 1.5 cups of milk and 5 eggs, since we were low on milk) and threw in a handful of mushrooms, diced onions, and cooked sausage that I sauteed together in a little lard. I put the cheese (about a cup) directly on top of the crust since I've heard that keeps it from getting soggy.

Then I added the eggs and milk, and baked the whole thing for about 20 minutes at 425, enough to firm it up but not cook it all the way through because I'm actually planning for us to cook and eat it tomorrow. But Eden's extra-long nap in the Ergo this morning was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I made it ahead today. Just another thing to love about quiche!