Perfect Brunch Quiche with Pillsbury Deep Dish Pie Crust

Growing up, I remember my mom making a quiche every so often. From a large quiche to cute little mini ones, and they were always a favorite of mine. We typically had them for dinner, or the little ones could be considered an appetizer. I, however, love to make it for my family for a breakfast or hearty brunch.
A quiche is even a great breakfast for either Thanksgiving or Christmas morning. It’s also great to have ready for house guests served with a warm cup of coffee. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a special occasion in order to serve this. If you’ve never had a quiche, think of it as an omelette in a pie. There’s many different fillings you can make for it, as well as many cheeses. This time I made it with some zucchini I had gotten from a friend who had a ton in their garden. I’ve been finding ways and dishes to sneak it into, and that’s what’s great about a dish like quiche. You can customize it based on what you have on hand, and what season it is. I typically make it just how I did here, but I replace ham with the turkey sausage, and instead of broccoli and zucchini I use spinach. I will share with you what I used to create the quiche pictured here, but I will also share with you how to customize it so it will be fool proof no matter what fillings you use! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Deep dish pie crust, I use the Pillsbury ones, they come with 2 in the package and you can find them in the freezer aisle at your grocery store
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste
Herbs of choice, for this I used a little Parsley and a little Basil, just a few shakes. Also I added some ground ginger to the meat mixture.
1 cup grated cheese, I used 1/2 Monterey Jack, and 1/2 Mild Cheddar
Filling ingredients of choice, should equal about a cup worth. I used the following:
3 slices of thick cut bacon
a little less than 1/4 cup uncooked turkey breakfast sausage
1/3 cup of chopped yellow onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small jar of diced pimentos
1/2 a small can of mushroom slices
3 sliced of zucchini, chopped
5 broccoli florets, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Take out the Pie crust to thaw in the metal tin for about 15 minutes.
Start cooking your bacon.

While the bacon is cooking, prick the pie shell generously with a fork. Then line with parchment paper, wax paper, or foil and place dried beans or pie weights inside. Bake in oven for about 11 minutes. (the beans or pie weights prevent the pie from bubbling on the inside and losing it’s shape.

Now the crust has a nice golden color. Remove the wax paper, remove the beans, place the crust on a cookie sheet and lower your oven to 350 degrees and set the crust aside while you prepare the filling.

Cook the bacon till it has a nice brown color, but not to crispy. You want it a little tender.
Remove bacon from pan, and add the onion, garlic and pimentos to the bacon grease and saute.

Add the breakfast sausage and cook until browned. This is where I added a few shakes of ground ginger.

Once the sausage is browned, turn off the heat. While still in pan, add zucchini and broccoli and break up the bacon into little bits and add. Stir well.
Once mixed, add all the filling to the crust.

Now add your cheese.

Next, break the 4 eggs into a bowl. Add the Heavy whipping cream and whisk together well. Add your salt and pepper and whatever herbs you desire. I just shake them in with not much measuring. I used Parsley and Basil. Once blended well, pour the egg mixture over the cheese.

Here’s my little secret how to get perfect pie crust every time. These are pie crust savers. If you’ve ever made a pie, you know that the crust tends to get crunchy and black. You pick up these babies and put them on for most of the cooking time, remove about 15 minutes before your pie is done and you have perfectly flaky, delicious pie crust. If you can’t find these you can wrap the crust edges carefully with foil.

Place your pie in the oven and bake for about 40-50 minutes, until the egg mixture sets. You can stick a toothpick about an inch from the crust edge and if it comes out clean it’s done. Make sure you remove your crust savers 15 minutes before the timer goes off!