August 25, 2009

Have you ever bought the little frozen mini quiches for a party when you're in a real pinch for an appetizer and don't have any time to make them from scratch? Actually, I've had to do that a couple of times, but I would much rather serve homemade appetizers. I guess I could compare myself to a baking from scratch snob that doesn't like cake mixes; I don't really like store bought appetizers.

If I think back to my childhood days, I may love appetizers as much as I do because SisMama and D always had cheese, crackers, and sardines or chips and dip out for us to snack on before dinner. I always loved that and still do! SirHoney's mother doesn't believe in appetizers before dinner because it could spoil your appetite. (Party Pooper!) You might even get your hand slapped if you try to steal an olive off of the relish tray before you sit down to dinner.

To this day, I prefer to go out and share a couple of appetizers for dinner versus ordering a full entree. And, I'd much rather host an Cocktail & Hors D'Oeuvres Party instead of a sit-down dinner party.

For some reason, I've never made mini quiches myself.  Yesterday, I was in the mood to do something a little different, plus I was hungry and didn't want to wait almost an hour for a full size quiche to bake, so I decided to make these. And, I always make my quiche crustless, so the mini cups were also crustless.

Since I wanted these quiche cups to be bite size, I used the mini muffin pan instead of the regular size muffin pan. I browsed the Internet a little bit to peek at some recipes, but I didn't find anything that ‘blew my socks off', so I ended up just throwing this together. I saw that a lot of the quiche cup recipes used muffin baking cups but I didn't see a reason to use those. I just wanted to pop them in my mouth right out of the tin instead of having to remove them from a baking cup.

And, since I was hungry, I got in too big of a hurry and forgot the Frank's Red Hot that I had intended on adding. (I even had it sitting out on the counter.) I was also going to add some cracked pepper and maybe some shallot pepper but I totally spaced and forgot that too.  🙁

You could vary these ingredients and add ham, bacon bits, spinach or broccoli instead of asparagus, onions, chives, basil, etc.  This is EXACTLY the kind of recipe that I LOVE! You can make it your own and use whatever you happen to be in the mood for that day without worrying that you'll screw it up! The quantities are not exact and luckily, it doesn't matter!

These got the ‘thumbs up' from BigT and HayHay, who both happened to be standing by waiting for them to come out of the oven! You could actually pop the whole little cup in your mouth, but if you happened to bite it in half, here's what you would find!

Mini Asparagus Tomato Quiche Cups

3 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
12 stalks grilled asparagus (tips cut off and the stalks chopped)
1/4 c. or so of chopped leftover sauteed mushrooms
Pam Cooking Spray

Spray the muffin tin with Pam. Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add the cheese, tomato, chopped asparagus and mushrooms. Stir until blended well. Ladle the quiche into the muffin tins. (I used an ice cream scoop to prevent a mess.) This quantity perfectly filled up the 12 mini cups. Place an asparagus tip on top of each filled cup. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

It doesn't get much easier than that, does it?

~LilSis