Healthy Breakfast: Easy Low-Fat Egg Bake And Cheese

Like many recipes, this one was concocted on the fly. My family was coming over for brunch that day, and I was attempting to make cheesy mashed potatoes for them. However, I left the potatoes for too long in the food processor and they quickly turned into a paste (yuck!) -- and then became so thick that they broke the processor blade.

Needless to say, I wasn't about to serve my parents and in-laws goopy potato paste chock full of mashed-up blade goodness, so I had to think quickly on my feet. I looked in our fridge and saw that we had some cartons of EggBeaters and a bag of veggies. Out of desperation, I just dumped both into a pan, added some cheese and some baconm because everything's good with bacon, right? I then stuck this creation in the oven and prayed.

And you know what? My quick "quiche" came out good! Not only that, it was healthy! So now I could present my healthy egg bake without embarrassment, and my family enjoyed it. I cut it into slices and served it frittata-style on a nice plate, so it looked all fancy and not like I threw a bunch of ingredients into a pan at the last minute. They never knew!

Since then, I've made this low-fat quiche several times, and have gotten a lot of positive feedback. It's about as easy as you can get; there's no chopping or cutting, and it takes about five minutes to prepare. Then you just let it bake in the oven. I like to make it low-fat and use an egg substitute and low-fat cheese, but you can use regular eggs and cheese instead of Egg Beaters. Figure it's about one egg per person, or about eight servings. I tried making it with egg whites once, but it didn't come out as well. You might want to try a two-white, half-yolk ratio for each serving instead because it needs a little bit of the yolk to bake well.

I like to slow bake this so it doesn't burn and it cooks evenly. Also, when preparing, I like to arrange it in layers so the eggs and cheese spread out evenly over the veggies.

This is also good cold, but to heat up, simply place a slice in the microwave for 30 seconds. It makes a great breakfast, snack or even appetizer, if you cut and serve in smaller slices.

1. Fry bacon until crisp; set aside.

2. Spray deep casserole pan with cooking spray.

3. Pour in vegetables and spread so that they cover the bottom of the pan evenly. If you're using frozen veggies, let thaw first, but don't heat up or else they'll be overcooked.

4. Pour in half of the EggBeaters or eggs and half of the cheese, making sure to completely cover the veggies.

5. Crumble in one slice bacon, sprinkling evenly.

6. Pour in the remaining egg mixture and cheese, coating evenly.

7. Add other slice of bacon.

8. Cover casserole with foil; bake in an oven for 1 hour at 250 degress until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. The top of the egg bake should be lightly golden, but not burnt; otherwise, it'll be too dry.

Serve with salsa on the side, if you desire.

Makes 8 servings.