{get in my belly}- broccoli ham quiche

Remember the AMAZING six week Free* journey that I went on?  & that I will continue to persue my entire life?  & that was an AMAZING journey?  Well, for our last small group meeting we decided to meet at Keyta's house for brunch.  I am a big fan of cooking but almost never do any... which is just dumb, really.  Oy, what I wouldn't give for an extra 4 hours in the day.  I'm getting a little off course.  ANYWAY, we met for brunch at Dr. L-Bell's house for our last get together & I thought that it would be a wonderful opportunity to test my culinary skills & make a quiche I'd never made before!  I found this recipe on the Food Network's website & doctored it up a bit.  Here's my take on the recipe:

Ingredients

• A head of broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 1 tbsp of olive oil- you really don't even need this if you'd rather not use it or have run out
• 1 cup of chopped onion- any kind will do, I used a white onion
• 2 tbsps of parsley
• 8 oz of ham cut into small cubes- I bought a package from the packaged lunchmeat section of the grocery store that was already cut & worked great
• 2 tbsp butter- this is to grease the pie pan; next time I'll definitely just use Pam instead so that the quiche doesn't stick
• 2 tbsp of Parmesan cheese from the little green can
• 2 cups half & half
• 2 large eggs PLUS 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp of flour
• Kosher salt- I have the kind that you grind & I gave it 10 turns, next time I would give it 6-7 turns
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 8 oz of grated Swiss cheese

Directions
1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Bring a pot of water to a boil & cook broccoli for no more than 1-2 minutes.

3.  Over medium heat, warm up olive oil in a large skillet (if you decide to use it- otherwise just spray Pam so that nothing sticks to the skillet).  Add ham & onions until they are slightly brown, this will take around 10 minutes.  Add the broccoli & parsley & cook for 3-5  minutes.  Set aside to cool.

4.  Grease a pie pan w/ the tbsp of butter (or Pam, if you'd rather).  Sprinkle the bottom of the pan w/ 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese.

5.  Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, half & half, salt & pepper.

6. Spread half of the broccoli, onion & ham into the pie pan & sprinkle w/ half of the Swiss cheese.  Spread the rest of the broccoli, onion & ham into the pie pan & sprinkle the rest of the Swiss cheese on top.  Pour the mixture from step 5 into the pan.

7.  Cook on 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Result?  A whole lot of wonderful for your taste buds & a great addition to any brunch.

Even Buddy Joe liked it.  :)

I was really excited about this recipe because it is SO versitile!  As long as you remember how to make the soupy mixture of eggs & half & half, you can add anything else to make a completely different quiche.  I think next time I will make a southwest version w/ green, red & yellow peppers, red pepper instead of black, tomatoes, monterey jack cheese & a spicier meat- maybe sausage?  Yum... :)