Veggie Quiche with Hashbrown Crust

Here is part 2 of the breakfast quiche experiment from Friday. While I'd rather have my breakfast casseroles full of pork products and cheese, I recognize that not everybody I work with eats pork. So I made a very similar recipe with a few changes.

Ingredients

• 3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawed
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped into 1/2" pieces
• 1/2 cup diced sweet onions
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and chopped finely
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch casserole dish or pie pan, toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown..

Sautee the onions and peppers until they start to soften and caramelize, then remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients with the cooked veggies. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.