Trying to Eat Cheap: Spinach-Bacon Quiche

Frozen pie crusts are on sale this month: two for $2.99. And they're whole wheat! Here's a quiche recipe that I invented, with help from a couple cookbooks. I'll also add prices as I've been doing all month in search of the key to cheap-o dining. I used turkey bacon as an experiment, and liked it, but regular bacon would be fine too.


Ingredients

• 1 frozen pie shell ($1.50)
• 4 slices turkey bacon ($2.00)
• 1 10 oz. pkg frozen spinach ($1.99)
• 1 cup grated cheddar ($1.75)
• 3 eggs ($1.26)
• 1/2 cup milk (.50)
• 1 T flour (.10)
• paprika, dill, salt, pepper, thyme (.25)

Assembly

1. Heat the oven to 425˚.
2. Fry the turkey bacon until it is browned. I didn't use any oil, but you could put a bit of cooking spray in if you're using a non-non-stick pan. (Would that be a "stick pan"?) When cool, slice it up into very small pieces. (I used kitchen shears for this.)
3. Prepare the spinach according to the package. Mine said to boil the spinach in its plastic bag for 18 minutes. Then I squeezed it out in a fine-mesh sieve to get it as dry as possible.
4. Place the frozen pie crust in the oven (still in its foil pan) for 5 minutes. Take it out and poke some holes in the bottom with a fork, then bake it for another 5 minutes until it's no longer doughy. Turn the oven down to 350˚.
   
5. Beat the 3 eggs together and add enough milk to make 1.5 cups of liquid. Add salt and pepper to the mixture.
6. Toss the grated cheese together with the flour. (I believe this makes the quiche "gel" better and not be runny.)
   
7. Spread the spinach in a layer all over the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle on a tiny bit of thyme and a tiny bit of dill. Then, spread on the cheese and put the bacon pieces on top of that.
8. Pour the egg-milk mixture evenly over all. Sprinkle all over with paprika. Bake for about 35 minutes--until a bit browned on top.
9. Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
   

This cost $9.35! For some reason it reminds me of that great Beatrix Potter story The Pie and the Patty Pan, where the little dog made herself a ham pie when she went to tea at the cat's house, because she didn't want to eat mouse pie. Pie mixups and hilarity ensue. Gammon!