“Remoted” Day 307 (Sunday)

Quiche!

The domestic urge kicked in again today with multiple loads of laundry and oven work. The recent cheese purchase triggered a quiche versus mac and cheese debate. Quiche won, because quiche is delicious and also because some of the eggs and the milk were bumping up on their use by dates. The mac and cheese may be a Monday holiday project. 

The quiche involves the same dilemma every time which I forget about once the dish goes into the oven. The recipe is crustless and uses Bisquick, which forms a thin crust. The recipe calls for a 9” x 9” baking dish, which is where it gets tricky every time. My baking dishes include two 8”x 8” dishes, one 9” x 7,” one 8” x 11.5,” and one 9” x 13.” There are exactly zero 9” x 9” baking dishes. Then the math kicks in with square inch calculations. I don’t know why there is no 9” x 9” in my baking dish collection, or why I never remember to look for one when in a store.

The ingredients list calls for “one bar of Cracker Barrel cheese, grated.” The recipe is from the 1980s or 90s, so I don’t know the weight of a bar of Cracker Barrel cheese when it was written. If it’s anything like ice cream or candy bars, it was probably larger than it is today. I usually use the grocery store brand shredded cheese anyway, and use “some,” which varies by what is on hand. No matter how much is used, it’s never enough anyway. Today, sharp cheddar went into the recipe, followed by a debate about adding other cheeses. In the end, the “other cheeses” were saved for a potential Monday mac and cheese.

Sliced mushrooms, chopped onion, and diced roasted butternut squash were neatly arranged in the bottom of the 9” x 7” baking dish and the cheese was layered on top of it. The recipe calls for mixing the cheese with the eggs, milk, and Bisquick, but years of making this recipe have shown that the cheese always settles at the bottom of the mixing bowl and when pouring the mixture into the baking dish, the cheese lands in a big clump in one spot.

Chowing cheddar.

In the “clean up as you go” method learned many, many moons ago in junior high Home Economics cooking class, measuring tools and utensils were put into the dishwasher and the hand wash items shifted off the counter and into the sink. The remaining sliced mushrooms and butternut squash were put into the freezer. The rest of the onion was put in a small container in the refrigerator. The cheese bag was sealed. 

While walking the few steps to the refrigerator to return the cheese to the deli drawer, I shook the bag to redistribute the bulk so it would fit flat in the drawer. A geyser of sharp cheddar cheese shreds arced out of the bag. The dogs, startled by the sudden shower of cheese, pounced upon their good fortune. It turns out the so-called resealable bags for Hannaford store brand cheese don’t actually seal, which I remembered being a problem after the cheese shower had already hit the floor. I tried three or four more times to seal the bag before giving up, folding the bag over and slipping it into a Ziploc bag that actually seals.

Sunday brunch of quiche
 and roasted beets.

The wasted cheese on the floor, as Mom used to say, “really frosted my cookies,” but on the bright side, while Moose and Winston were occupied with the cleanup operation, they weren’t under my feet. The eggs were beaten with the Bisquick, tarragon was added like Mummu always did with egg dishes, and the recipe finished.

An hour after going into the oven, the baked quiche emerged. Plated with diced roasted beets, it made a nice Sunday brunch. Because the boys had already indulged in an indeterminate amount of cheese, I didn’t feel as guilty for denying them quiche. It’s loaded with onion, which is bad for dogs, but those are not words they understand.