Animal, Nature, and Travel: Taste-bud Journey: Bell Pepper Quiche with Cauliflower Rice & Bread Crumb Crust

During the pandemic, I am taking taste-bud journeys as I self-isolate rather than physical journeys. Here is my adapted recipe for a Bell Pepper Quiche with Cauliflower Rice & Bread Crumb Crust. Instead of using egg to bind the crust together, I used a combined chia seeds and ground flax egg. This recipe was inspired by watching a number of videos of what one could do with leftover bread plus another one about making a pizza crust using cauliflower rice. It was also inspired by watching some videos on how to make a ground flax egg and how to make a chia egg as an egg-substitute. After much thought, I finally decided to try this cooking experiment.

Conclusion: This recipe made four mini quiches; however, it could have made one large-size quiche. As long as I did not expect the crust to taste like a normal quiche crust or for this to taste like a traditional quiche, it was somewhat tasty. It was not the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. Nevertheless, in the interest in keeping my diet varied and interesting, I definitely accomplished my goal. I even have one leftover pie for the next day or two and two frozen mini quiches for the future.

In case you're interested, these are the links to the blogs about the recipe for the homemade no-knead white sandwich bread, how to make a ground flax and chia egg, and the miniature pie forms that I bought at the online Hobby Lobby store.

These links will open in a new window.

Taste-bud Journey: No-Knead Sandwich Bread with Instant Yeast

Taste-bud Journey: Chia & Ground Flax Egg Recipe FYI - This blog includes details about the many health benefits of both chia seeds and ground flax.

Mini Round Pan from online Hobby Lobby store

Recipe

4 slices of bread - cubed and transformed into bread crumbs
2 tbsp ground flax
2 tbsp chia seeds
6 tbsp of water plus 4 more tbsp of water to be added later
1/2 cup of cauliflower rice ground up
1/4 cup of green bell peppers
1/2 cup of red and yellow bell peppers
1/4 cup of pearl onions
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup Egg Beaters or 3 eggs
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
Olive oil to sauté the bell peppers and pearl onions
Cooking oil to season the pie pans

Procedure

Step 1: Take out the frozen vegetables and allow them to thaw a bit. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2: Cube four slices of leftover bread. Then, a few at a time, place them in a food processor and transform all of this into bread crumbs. This should make about 1 cup of bread crumbs altogether.

Step 3: Place the cauliflower rice into the food processor and grind them up, as well.

Step 4: Make your chia and ground flax egg-substitute by placing 2 tablespoons of ground flax and 2 tablespoons of chia seeds and 6 tablespoons of water combined in a small prep bowl or measuring cup. Stir. Set your timer for 10 minutes to give this egg-substitute the time it needs to gel together.

Step 5: Place the thawed bell peppers and pearl onions in the food processor and shred them, also. Then, add some olive oil (or cooking oil of your choice) and sauté them for about five minutes. Remove them from the heat and allow them to cool.

Step 6: Grease one large pie plate or four miniature pie plates with cooking oil.

Step 7: Combine the bread crumbs, cauliflower rice, and ground flax and chia egg together into a large measuring cup or medium-size bowl. Add up to 4 tablespoons of water if the mixture appears to be too dry.

Step 8: Then, spoon this mixture into the pie plate or plates - evenly distributed. Press it down until the dough covers all surfaces of the pie plate or plates.

Step 9: Place the pie plate(s) into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Afterward, prick the dough with a fork in several locations on the bottom of the dough form.

Step 10: Now, add your Bell Pepper and Onion mixture into the bottom of the pie form. Next, add a liberal amount of shredded cheese of your choice. I used Colby Jack cheese.

Step 11: Mix together 3/4 of a cup of Egg Beaters or three eggs, 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Pour that mixture into the pie form(s).

Step 12: Bake the quiche for 40 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the toothpick comes out clean. After taking it out of the oven, allow the quiche to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Please note: The following day, I decided to apply some changes to the second leftover quiche. I placed some cooking oil in a frying pan, added some spices (onion flakes, celery flakes, and Italian Seasoning flakes and sautéed this along with the smashed-up quiche for about 5 minutes. Then, I added a liberal amount of Mexican Cream to the mixture that has a mild cheese-flavor. After stirring this in and cooking for about a minute, I took all of this off the heat, plated it, and ate the results.

Please also note: My conclusion that although this somewhat improved the recipe, it was not the most delicious thing I have ever tried. However, it was definitely full of fiber and other nutrients thanks to the original addition of ground flax and chia seeds. Of course, healthy and delicious do not always meet up. Lol! I did eat every bite as I am endeavoring to not waste food; plus, I wanted to enjoy any health and nutrition benefits that might result.

I think, when the time comes for me to take the third and then the fourth mini quiche out of the freezer to eat, I will experiment a bit more. For example, I think it would have tasted even better if I had also added quite a bit more of the shredded Colby Jack cheese. When that time comes, I will likely update this blog.

Cooking Sites that have inspired me:

Books written by Debbie Dunn:

Here is the Amazon Link to all anti-bullying curriculum books plus all children’s books written by Debbie Dunn (both paperback and Kindle). It will open up in a new window.