Summer Veggie, Bacon & Mozzarella Quiche

I like that quiches are versatile enough that they work well paired with fruit salad for a nice brunch or with a green salad for an equally acceptable dinner. Breakfast foods rock, in my opinion, and I love to break them out for dinner every once in a while.

This particular quiche is chock full of good for you summer vegetables, such as summer squash and zucchini. If you have a garden, it's a great way to use up your overstock of fresh zucchini or squash. Although it's tasty, one can only eat so much zucchini bread before you need to find other uses for this summer time vegetable!

While the original recipe includes directions for making your own homemade pie crust, I omitted this since we're trying to serve up good meals that won't require us to be in the kitchen for hours on end! A store bought crust works well, especially if you're short on time. I had a frozen pie crust on hand way too long, which is the reason why I chose to make this recipe. My hubby reminded me that I had promised to make him a pie with that crust...oops! Oh well. He got a key lime pie on graham cracker crust instead so don't feel bad for him ladies and gentlemen ;)

Serves: 8 (supposedly - if you want to serve 8 I recommend making 2).

Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hr 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablesppon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups (1/8 inch thick) slices yellow squash
2 cups (1/8 inch thick) slices zucchini
1/4 cup chopped shallots (I used onions since I didn't have these on hand)
1 tablesppon chopped fresh thyme (I used one teaspoon of dried instead)
1 cup 2% reduced fat-milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used more - probably 6 slices, since bacon is one of man's best friends, at least according to the man in my household)
3 large egg whites
3 large eggs
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add squash, zucchini, shallots and thyme. Sauté for 5 minutes or until squash and zucchini are tender, stirring frequently. Cool slightly.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1 cup reduced fat milk and the next 5 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Arrange squash mixture evenly over crust and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until filling is set. Cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack.

Nutrition information for 1/8 of quiche: 265 calories, 14 grams fat, 11 grams protein, 22 grams carbs, 1.2 grams fiber