Bento for 2.11.09, breakfast thoughts, and quiche recipe!

One thing I have a tendency of doing, especially of late, is making breakfast bentos. I honestly have been making these more often than I do lunch bentos (mainly because my husband and son have been bringing me lunches he's gathered for "workday picnics"). Here, you can see some of the quick breakfast items I will make while getting ready for work.

Top tier: halved red grapes.
Bottom tier: personal pan crustless onion-mozzarella quiched (halved and stacked), 2 slices pan-fried mushroom-onion polenta (stacked).
Lid: Prenatal Multivitamin (not pregnant; breastfeeding)

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of the breakfast sushi rolls I made earlier this week. They consisted of a seasoned flat omlette (sliced, seasoned with a little rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and salt), bread and butter pickle slices, and sushi rice wrapped in nori. Very tasty and filling!

My breakfast food choices can sometimes be described as eccentric, but I feel it's just more interesting and possibly healthier that way. There's nothing wrong with putting eggs on top of rice with some pickled veggies and eating that for your first meal. I've also been known to eat smoked fish with a side of a quick avocado-salsa mix. Honestly, I don't see why that's all that strange. :-)

So here's a quick recipe for personal sized crustless onion-mozzarella quiches.

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk (we used skim)
shredded mozzarella cheese
sliced onion
a couple tsps butter
cooking oil (olive oil or veggie oil)

Directions
Preheat toaster oven to 425° F.

Heat pan with butter. Toss in onion sliced and cook until somewhat soft and translucent. Set aside. Take mini pie pans and coat lightly with oil to reduce sticking. Place onions in the mini pie pans, filling them about 1/2 way. Add cheese to 1/2 remaining space (or slightly more, leave room at top of mini pan for expansion). Do not press down to pack tightly.

Beat the eggs and mix with the milk/cream. Pour over the cheese in the mini pie pans until it is just a little higher than the bulk of the cheese surface.

Place pans in toaster oven and cook until the tops start turning a light golden color (check after 5 minutes, and every 5 minutes after that... this doesn't take long). Turn down the heat to 350° F and cook another 15 to 25 minutes until done (check every 5 minutes after the first 15, but remember to keep watch as all toaster ovens are different). If toothpick is poked in the center and comes out clean without liquid filling the hole it left, than the quiche is done. Remove from toaster over, let cool slightly, remove from pan and serve (or put into bento!).

Like I said, I can make these while getting ready for work, and it only gets faster the more practice you get. Also, you can use muffin tins, which has sped up the cooking time for me in the past. I just love mini quiches!!!