Somewhere between a quiche and a brunch casserole, this uses a layer of zucchini in lieu of a pie crust. Not bad, but my food processor couldn’t grind the almonds finely enough. May try again with a mill.
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 can sliced mushrooms, drained
- 3 oz Cheddar Cheese, shredded
- 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp low-fat Ricotta Cheese
- 1/8 tsp paprika
- 1/4 cup low-carb bake mix (or bisquick)
- 4 Italian Sausage links, sliced (Optional)
- 4 oz Zucchini slices
Layer a pie pan, quiche pan or casserole dish with zucchini slices and warm in the oven to dry out. Cover zucchini with ground almonds and dust with a few pinches of bake mix. Whisk eggs. Mix milk and cream, then heat. Add milk to eggs slowly, whisking briskly. Whisk in cheese, mushrooms, paprika and remaining bake mix. Chill filling while cooking sausage and preheating oven. Arrange sausage slices in pie pan. Pour filling over sausages. Cook 1 hour at 400.
Serves 6. Approximately 570 calories per serving (350 without the sausage). When made with the low-carb bake mix described below, 6 grams of carbohydrates, of which 2 are fiber.
Low-carbiness is achieved by using a low-carb bake mix. Here’s the one I used. I’m still fine-tuning the proportions. As mentioned above, you really need to mill the almonds.
- 2 part whey protein
- 4 parts finely ground almonds
- 1 parts flax meal
- 1 part wheat gluten
- 1 tsp baking powder per 2 cups mix
Note that bisquick has shortening in it as well, so you’ll need to add that for baking.
I originally tried this will more flax meal substituting for the almonds in a couple of popovers. It worked out okay when mixed 50-50 with flour, but using it straight, the mix broke down during cooking, and it basically ended up cooking into a muffin sitting atop a fritatta.
The tricky thing about this mix is that there’s a vast density disparity between flax, almonds and whey, so you pretty much have to mix the heck out of this until the moment it goes into the oven, and then cross your fingers and hope it sets before it separates.