For the last few weeks, it's been very hot and humid, which poses a challenge when trying to come up with a dinner menu that :
a.) Doesn't involve using the oven.
b.) Consists of something that all three of us will eat.
c.) Consists of something that all three of us will eat, and none of us ate that something for lunch that day.
d.) Consists of something that all three of us will eat that's not the same something that we had for dinner within the past three days.
Needless to say, the options are limited. Since we usually have an over abundance of eggs, quiche is a good way to use them up, but I haven't been able to make one because of the heat. So it occurred to me that there must be a way to make it on the stovetop.
And sure enough,
skillet quiche is a thing!
In order to make this quiche, I had to overcome my fear of using our Lodge cast iron skillet. Many years ago, probably before we were even married, Mark's late Uncle John bestowed upon us a brand new Lodge cast iron skillet that he got for free by turning in UPC codes from his cigarette packs. At the time, I was committed to the non-stick wonder known as T-Fal, so the whole cast iron concept was foreign to me. Not to mention it was so heavy that I could barely hold the pan without getting an arm cramp. Somehow, the cast iron skillet survived a couple of moves as well as a few garage sales, and remained unused in our basement. It wasn't until last year when we were planning our Girl Scout troop camping trip that I decided to remove the Lodge label and cure it. It had accumulated a little bit of rust from sitting in a damp basement for years, but it wasn't anything that a Brillo pad couldn't handle. However as fate would have it, it rained the weekend that we went camping, so I didn't get to use it after all. Since then, it's been sitting in our basement packed away with our camping equipment.
So today I gave it a try-out, and I can say, hide no more Lodge cast iron skillet, for you have now earned a spot in among my other pots and pans!
Now I realize that my my quiche doesn't look anything like the one in the recipe. I used too much spinach (a whole package of frozen) and no bacon. I also should have used more eggs than the recipe specified. Our chickens' eggs are closer to medium sized, while I think most recipes expect you to use large or even extra large. I also felt that the hash browns could have used more seasoning, and they were a little soggy because I obsessively keeping the heat low so that the crust wouldn't burn.
I also decided that it was time to break out my new mini waffle iron that I got on clearance at Crate and Barrel a few months ago. It makes four inch waffles - so cute, and just as tasty as the ones that are as big as your plate.
Another lesson that I learned today is that I am not cut out to be a food blogger. I was literally sweating just trying to make sure that I didn't burn the waffles and the quiche, well enough trying stage these photos properly with fancy accessories!
