Butternut Squash as a Grain Free Crust? YES!

Cara over at Health, Home, and Happiness inspired me to really think outside of the box and use sliced butternut squash in place of your standard quiche crust. You can certainly go crustless when baking a basic veggie quiche, but once you taste the delicately sweet flavor of the squash, you'll never want to make it any other way. Cara baked a Jalapeno Cheddar Quiche, which looks amazing. However, we are dairy free so I tinkered a bit with her idea.

First I used my finger eating mandoline (yeah, you read that right) to evenly sliced the neck end of a butternut squash. When I know I'm making this dish I specifically buy a squash with a big neck and a small body. I save the rest of the squash in the refrigerator for another meal. Often I'll grate it with apples, saute and serve as a side dish. But that's another post. Next I cook up some bacon, drain, and slice into thin bits. I save the grease in a small mason jar in the refrigerator to cook with later or for giving to the outside birds during the cold, winter days. Sprinkle the bacon on top of the layered squash. Using the bacon pan with a little of the left over bacon fat I sauteed onions, tomatoes, garlic and kale. Once they are mostly cooked, I layer them on the squash. For the size pan I used I beat 18 eggs. I added some coconut milk* and poured it over the squash, bacon, and veggies. I ground some black pepper on top and baked at 375 degrees for 35-45 min. I covered the pan with foil after about 25 min in the oven.

*I like this brand of Coconut Milk because it's the only brand as far as I know that uses BPA free cans!

You can omit the bacon for a totally veggie quiche. I find this dish is wonderful for cleaning out those odd vegetables hanging out in your veggie bin. It would be equally as tasty if you used mushrooms, yellow squash, green peppers, spinach, etc. Heck, I'd even try it with sauteed, grated cabbage!

If you're craving a different type of meat (though why someone would want to use anything but bacon is beyond me), a nice diced sausage would be lovely.

Sorry the photos are a bit dark, this ended up being a later dinner tonight.





This recipe makes enough for us to have dinner and a full left over lunch another day. Yes, it is delish re-heated. It also packs well for a lunch on the go.

~Mars