Lightened Up Classic Quiche Lorraine

Lightened Up Classic Quiche Lorraine. All the flavor without all the fat and calories.

Last week, I had to come up with a recipe for mini quiches for my son's French class.  I searched my cookbooks and the internet, to find a recipe that was as authentic French as possible.

As you can guess...many of the recipes called for copious amounts of butter and/or heavy cream and whole milk resulting in total fat amounts near 30 grams per serving!  Yikes!  I tweaked several recipes I found, and came up with a wonderful tasting lower fat and calorie version that got thumbs up from a class full of 14 year old teenagers and their French teacher!

So today, I decided to make full sized ones for our Sunday family breakfast/brunch. The best part of this recipe is that it makes two quiches. You can eat one the day you make it, and then freeze the other for another day!  I was able to get the points+ value down to 7pp for a nice sized serving (1/6th of one quiche), and then focused on zero point foods for the rest of the meal.  We had strawberries and blueberries and I made a spinach salad with organic baby spinach, red onion, and sliced mushrooms dressed with just a bit of low fat balsamic dressing. It was really a nice and filling meal!

I used frozen Pillsbury Pet-Ritz deep dish pie shells. This was my first time using them. They were nice and flaky with a taste similar to homemade.  You could certainly make a homemade crust or use refrigerated dough, if you like. ( may affect point+ values)  I also used precooked bacon, Oscar Mayer brand.

The Swiss cheese I used was full fat, you could substitute a reduced fat version, but I found it didn't make a difference in the point+ value per serving when I compared the full fat and the reduced fat products in the recipe builder, which to be honest, surprised me a bit...so it's your choice as to what fat content of Swiss cheese you use.

Although I tried to keep the ingredients as close to an authentic Quiche Lorraine as possible, you could really veg this dish up with some chopped spinach or some sauteed mushrooms or whatever veg combo you think sounds good!

Lightened Up Classic Quiche Lorraine

Yields - 2 quiches   Servings - 12 ( 6 per quiche)  Serving size - 1/6th of one quiche  PP per svg - 7 points+

Calories - 260.4   Total Fat - 15.4g,   Carb. - 19.7g,   Protein - 11.8g,   Fiber - 0.3g

Ingredients: 

2 frozen deep dish pie crusts, prebaked according to package directions ( I used Pillsbury Pet-Ritz brand) 

1 TBS. unsalted butter

1 cup chopped onion

9 slices precooked bacon, chopped ( Oscar Mayer Ready to Serve )

1/4 tsp dried thyme

5 large eggs

2 egg whites

1 cup fat free half and half 

1 cup skim milk

1 TBSP all purpose flour

1/2 tsp dried tarragon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

pinch of nutmeg

1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions: 

1.  Position empty prebaked pie shells on a baking sheet.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In a small nonstick skillet, on med heat, melt 1 TBS unsalted butter.  Saute the onion until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the bacon and the thyme.  Cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.  Turn off heat and set aside.  

3. In large bowl, combine the eggs, egg whites, fat free half and half, skim milk, flour, tarragon, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Whisk until eggs mixture is frothy. In another bowl, combine the cheeses.

4.  Take 1/4th of the onion/bacon mixture and spread on the bottom of each pie shell.  Top each shell with 1/4th of the cheese mixture.  Pour enough egg mixture to go up half the side of the shells.  Repeat layering with the rest of the onion/bacon mixture, followed by the rest of the cheese and then topped off with the rest of the egg mixture.  

5.  Place in oven and bake until the middle of each quiche is set, approx. 40 - 45 minutes. If crust begin to get too brown, cover the edges in foil.   Remove from oven and allow to sit on wire rack for another 10 minutes before cutting.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  

6. You can freeze the second quiche, once it has cooled by covering in foil and placing inside a gallon sized freezer bag.  Write on the bag what it is, the date, and the points+ per serving along with the reheating instructions...which are:  once thawed, reheat quiche in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until warm. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

I love to remake high calorie foods so that they can be a part of my diet.  It helps me feel like I am not depriving myself and helps me not feel guilty for indulging.  What traditionally high calorie, fat laden recipes would you like to see made lighter?