Quiche

This recipe is mainly for the crust.  Once you have this part down you can make any kind of quiche imaginable.  In fact, you can take all of the savory elements out of the crust recipe and replace them with sweet ones to make the perfect crust for a tart!

*UPDATE - I have made this crust many times for sweet and savory dishes having omitted the ground flax seed. It works just as well with 3 cups of almond flour or 2 cups almond flour and 1 of coconut flour. This should simplify things a bit on the supply end of things. I also use this for pies and anything that needs a crust.

Quiche crust

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1 1/2 cups fresh ground golden flax seed 

10 or more roasted garlic cloves (I roast my own)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup cold water

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp of seasoning of your choice (I used a little cayenne, onion powder, and an organic mixed seasoning)

1/2 tsp arrowroot or tapioca starch

*If you eat dairy, definitely throw some parmesan cheese in there!

**If you are making tart crust use 2 to 1 ratio almond to coconut flour.  Use lard or coconut oil instead of olive oil; sweeten with stevia extract or xylitol (both is better); cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and vanilla extract to season; lower the amount of salt to a pinch or two.

Directions

Mix all of your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl with a whisk to make sure it is evenly distributed.  Crush or chop the garlic cloves and add to the dry mix with the olive oil and water.  Use a pastry dough blender (a food processor works just as well) to mix the ingredients until you have an evenly moist pile of crumbles.  Dump the crumbles into a pre-greased baking dish and begin kneading them down into an even layer all the way up the sides.  I usually bake it for about 5 minutes before I fill it.

And there is your crust!

Now for filling the quiche.  I use bacon almost every time because I can sauté all of my veggies in the bacon grease to really get the flavor in everything.  I did this with red onion, spinach and fresh parsley this time and if I were eating dairy right now you can bet there would be cheese!

Once all of your veggies and extras are spread evenly around in the crust, you can pour an egg mixture over the entire thing almost up to the top of the sides. For this size quiche I used 1 1/2 dozen eggs, however, if I were eating dairy I would have used a dozen eggs, a cup or so of organic heavy cream and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.  Cream cheese or goat cheese is definitely a wise choice. 

Don't forget to season this egg mixture too!  Use about 1/2 tsp or more of sea salt and maybe a pinch of some of the seasonings you used in your crust.

Once the egg mixture is poured over everything it will go in the oven until everything has a little brown color on it and a toothpick comes out clean.  I usually bake on or around 400 degrees because I have no patience.  Just remember, I am baking at 10,000 feet and I am constantly checking the progress of what I am cooking.  Generally, when you start to smell what you are baking, it is time for it to come out of the oven or pretty close to it.

Coconut coffee creamer

The hardest part of making the transition to a primal diet is cutting out dairy. I still eat cheese but I am trying to cut dairy out entirely.  So, now I need to find a substitute for milk/cream in my coffee.  I drink a ton of coffee and I have tried many times using almond milk, hazelnut milk and coconut creamer.  Unfortunately, nothing sticks.  I just can't get the right creaminess with nut milk and though the coconut creamer at the store is very close to half'n'half, it has sugar in it and still has too strong of a coconut taste.
Well, I may have finally figured it out.  It is very simple but it gets the job done without added sugar or an overly strong coconut flavor.  I use about 3 spoonfuls to get the color above.

Coconut coffee creamer
1 can organic coconut milk/cream (never light)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
sweeten with stevia extract to taste


Empty the entire can of coconut milk/cream into a blender or bullet and whip it all together with your vanilla and stevia extract.  Store in a container (in the fridge) that you can spoon the creamer out of; otherwise it will solidify in a pourable container and you will not be able to pour it out.

Milk products

I love milk.  Like most children I was not allowed to leave the dinner table until I finished my milk.  I probably didn't love it as much then as I did later. When I became a little older and was outside terrorizing the neighborhood with my childhood friends I would often take a break and come inside the house to chug down some milk (if no one was looking, from the carton).  It was what I drank to quench my thirst.  I will say, to this day, that if anyone ever wanted to go head-to-head in a milk challenge I would win hands-down.  Even now, I can't force myself to put down a latte and pick up a glass of water.
As we grew up the milk began to get thinner and thinner until we were drinking what seemed like white water.  Everything became "skinny", non-fat, skim,... whatever.  I wish some of those women that order "skinny" anything could see me now.  I drink full-fat milk, half and half, heavy cream and milk so thick it has milk chunks and it tastes so good that I want to bathe in it (great for the skin, by the way).  Not only is the milk full fat but it is as minimally processed as possible.  If I could get it straight from the udder, I would.  Raw milk is truly the best kind of milk you can buy, if it is available.  Unfortunately, there are laws against selling raw dairy products in some states.  It is so illegal that a swat team will literally break into your store and destroy your establishment at gun-point (no joke).
A brand that I am lucky to have available to me is Kalona SuperNatural.  The dairy farmers (many of which are Amish and Mennonite) do not use chemicals, chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.  Their milk products come from grass-fed cows, are totally organic with no added hormones and are non-homogenized (a process which mixes the milk and ruins the flavor and quality).  The products are also Grade A and have way more nutrients than what you generally get at the store probably because the milk is pasteurized (the legal requirement making it not raw) at the lowest heat allowed.  Industrial-scale milk producers heat their milk up to as much as 265-300 degrees in their pasteurization process while Kalona SuperNatural heats it to 145 degrees.  Read more about their processing methods on their site.
Hopefully the Natural Grocers near me will carry more of their products soon but as of now I drink the whole milk and use their buttermilk for making crème fraiche and adding to my baking. 

Crème fraiche

I generally don't follow recipes exactly when I am experimenting in the kitchen which causes problems if I want to recreate something again later. It also makes it a little more difficult for me to get things written down to share with others. Then again, that is another purpose for this blog. Needless to say, I can't exactly remember where I read about making your own Crème fraiche. But between a magazine article and some different recipes found online I gathered that if I just put 4 tablespoons of high quality organic cultured buttermilk into a mason jar with a pint of organic heavy cream, let it sit covered (with a paper towel) on a countertop until the same time the next day, lo and behold... I have crème fraiche.
I told a friend of mine that I made my own hollandaise with my homemade crème fraiche and she asked "What is crème fraiche?" I said "fresh cream." This made her feel a little stupid because she thought it was something more elaborate and fancy than that. I told her that it is fancy and that's all there is to it because I don't really know what all the hubbub is about, except that it is expensive, hard to find and tastes amazingly fancy!