Individual Crustless Tomato Quiche

The past two weeks have been a delicious spree of baking my favorite Easter dishes, trying new recipes and indulging in old favorites.  Basically, it was a test to see exactly how much food our fridge could hold (it passed, but barely).  So now it's slowly shedding all that leftover weight...into us.  But it's ok because a) it's delicious and b) we tend to have healthy foods lying around (with a few notable exceptions).  One such leftover were fat free refried beans from chilaquiles one morning.  So I decided to bust out one of my favorite savory egg dishes and serve it up with a little Mexican flair.

If you were a leftover in our fridge, you would be jealous of our eggs.  Others may linger, by eggs fly off the shelf at a break-neck pace.  We go through at least a flat a week between the two of us...that's an average of 2 and a half eggs a day.  Yee-haw!  Granted, a lot of the yolks go to waste as I'm a runny-yolk-or-no-yolk kind of gal, but that's still quite a few.  Typically my weekday eggs are enjoyed hard boiled, scrambled and in omelets, but I also love fresh baked eggs in a crustless quiche.  Just whip a couple eggs, throw in a few other ingredients, pop in the oven and finish getting ready.  Twenty minutes later, you look fabulous and have a hot meal ready to be eaten.

One of my favorite quick and healthy quiches is tomato.  If you think that sounds boring, you obviously have never tried one.  They are phenomenal.  Hot fluffy eggs, soft juicy tomatoes, savory cheese and flavorful herbs are a wonderful way to start a day.  Now the hubs and I happen to love refried beans.  When we went to Mazatlan, we felt right at home eating them three times a day (since we do that anyway in the states).  So one of our favorite tomato quiches is the Mexi-quiche.  I used fresh cilantro as my herb of choice as its bold and bright flavor is perfect here.  But if you're the kind of guy or gal who flees at the mere thought of cilantro, fresh basil or rosemary are also delish.  You can also use whatever cheese you have on hand - parmesan, sharp cheddar, pepper jack and feta are a few of my favorites.

Best of all, this recipe is individual-sized to help you use up any leftovers rather than create more.  Throw in that bit of ham, wilting spinach, day-old sausage or remnant of cooked broccoli (tomatoes and eggs play well with others).  And if you're making for more than one, just multiply the ingredients by the number of eaters and voila! - breakfast for 2/5/10/whatever.  Just enjoy your eggs, use up your leftovers and have a hot breakfast on me.

Individual Crustless Tomato Quiche (single serving)

• 2 eggs (or 3 whites)
• 1 tsp fat free milk
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste (but not really....they're raw eggs!)
• 1/2 tomato, seeded and diced
• 1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped
• 2-3 tbs shredded parmesan or cheddar cheese
• a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until slightly frothy.  Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Add the tomatoes, cilantro and cheese and mix together until combined (any other mix-ins can be added at this point, too).  

Set an individual-sized baking dish or ramekin on a cookie sheet and spray generously with non-stick.  You could also use an oversized muffin tin.  Pour the eggs into the prepared dish and slide tray into the oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until the eggs are puffed up and set.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before eating.  Serve with refried beans on toast or a side of fresh fruit.