"Crustless quiche" or "veggie egg bake"

Think of this as a crustless quiche or as a large baked veggie omlette, or as a frittata.

Basically you’re going to bake an egg-and-cottage-cheese custard around veggies and rice. When done it should be a little brown around the edges, and a knife should come out nearly clean. It will firm up when chilled.


INGREDIENTS for BASIC RECIPE
1 bag frozen chopped spinach (about 12-16 oz)
1 bag frozen broccoli florettes (about 12-16 oz)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 tomato coarsely chopped
1.5 cups of COOKED brown rice
16 oz of egg product
16 oz of Non-Fat Cottage Cheese

Seasoning to taste.
This week I used a bit of Trader Joe’s Thai Red curry sauce, other times I just use garlic, salt pepper. Next week I might use Indian spices like Masala, or go southwestern with green chilis. Or you could use fresh basil and oregano – that would be lovely with the tomato.

DIRECTIONS
Thaw the frozen veggies. Squeeze the water out of the spinach. Mix the spinach, broccoli, onion, tomato and rice, and spread loosely in a lightly oiled 9x13 pan.

Blend the non-fat cottage cheese, egg product and seasonings. Pour over the veggie mix, and let it seep into the nooks and crannies.

Bake at 350 degrees until it starts to brown around the edges – about 30-45 minutes depending on the liquid/solid ratio. Keep an eye on it.

Cool, and cut into individual servings. Base serving size on the nutritional content

NUTRITIONAL CONTENT: for the rice, cottage cheese and egg product (so, not counting the veggies): CALS = 820, carbs = 84g, protein = 112 g.

VARIATIONS use whatever veggies you want to, so long as it adds up to about the same volume. Over the years, I’ve made this with tomatoes, okra and onions for a “gumbo” bake, and with green chilis, onion, tomato and corn for a southwestern bake. I’ve also used drained marinated artichoke hearts – though that will add residual fat to the bake. Asparagus and tomato is a good combination. INVENT!