Chew on This | Hash Brown Crust Quiche

Our first holiday together as a married couple, The Husband and I went to a local tree farm and cut down a beautiful Frasier fir for our Christmas tree. It was so magnificent, portly, and just a bit too tall. As we hoisted that baby upright the top scraped the ceiling, leaving a lovely  large green mark. Trying to wipe, clean, and scour the mark away didn't help. In fact, it made it look worse. With no paint handy to cover up my cleaning mistake, I left it as is for the time being and focused on decorating our oversized tree.

The bedecked tree looked beautiful and the smell of pine was intoxicating. And as the afternoon turned to evening, the twinkling lights on the tree mesmerized us and we completely ignored could no longer see the green mark on the ceiling. That's the great thing about day-light savings - the sun sets so early I can no longer see the dust, fingerprints, or green marks that need cleaning around the house. 

After the holidays were over, decoration removal took place. Things were going smoothly. Precious baubles and ornaments were wrapped and carefully returned to boxes. Wreaths and garlands were taken down from doors and windows. All we had left to do was take down our tree. As happens, our lovely first tree had become a bit poky and ouchy - having been up and watered, though naturally drying out over the four weeks we had it up. So we were trying to take great care to not gouge ourselves, however, this issue became moot as we started to tip the tree sideways to carry it out. Possibly forgetting that our tree was so tall (?) we re-scraped the ceiling with another gorgeous mark. This one was a nice brown color. And, we regretfully did not remove the base from the tree and weeks of sappy, gross tree water spilled all over the carpet. As well, the poky pine needles decided to release themselves from the tree like a huge explosion, scattering everywhere. 

At that moment the words that came flying out of our mouths would have startled even the most surly of sailors. The Husband had reached his limit. He banged the front door open and in one movement he hurled that dastardly tree out. Branches snapped. More needles dropped. Many more sassy words were spoken. It took a professional carpet cleaning company to remove the sappy stain from the carpet. Re-painting the entire ceiling had to happen to cover the scrape marks properly. And it took many weeks to find and clean every jabby, foot attacking pine needle our precious first Christmas tree left behind.

This, my friends, is why we do not have a fresh tree for Christmas. The end.

Cares

Here's our recipe:


A stress-free quiche that packs a hearty punch. Hash browns, sausage, and eggs will keep your energy high when putting up (or taking down) your holiday decorations. Enjoy!

Hash Brown Crust Quiche

(recipe slightly edited from Paula Deen)

3 C hash browns, shredded, thawed, and drained

4 T butter, melted

3 eggs

1/2 C milk

1/2 C heavy cream

1/2 pound sausage, casings removed, cooked and crumbled

1 C shredded cheddar cheese

2 T chives, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425℉.

In a 9" pie pan, coat your hash browns with the melted butter. Press the hash browns into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan. Place the pan into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the hash browns are crisp and just turing a golden brown color.

While the hash brown crust is baking, combine the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir to incorporate completely. When the hash brown crust is ready, remove from the oven and pour your sausage mixture over the crust. **Reduce the oven temperature to 350℉.** Now, place the quiche back into the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until middle of the quiche is set (not jiggly). Enjoy!!