I feel like the past 4 years time has slowly been speeding up and I’m not sure how exactly. Anyone else? So once we hit June Hobby Lobby is all decked out for Christmas, then October hits and its basically New Years Eve. For me, soooo much happens this last quarter – football season, Halloween, wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and whatever else may pop up. That being said I try to slow down by changing my workout routine to incorporate more yoga, have hot tea before bed to mentally slow my mind (because at work I’m already working on Valentines), say an extra prayer in the day, eat all the seasonal produce and not jump ahead into peppermint everything, andddd I think you get the picture. So in an effort to stay present and not skip too far ahead here is a super seasonal pumpkin quiche that I also made into mini frittatas!

INGREDIENTS

• 8 strips of bacon
• 1 pie crust
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 bulb fennel
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp dried sage
• Pinch of cayenne 
• Pinch of pumpkin pie spice
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 6 whole eggs
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil 
• 1 Tbsp. Chardonnay vinegar 
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 4 cups arugula 
• Parmesan for garnish
• Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Bake bacon using The Defined Dish’s Method  (it’s perfect I swear)
2. Bake frozen crust as instructed
3. Dice onion, slice fennel, and mince garlic
4. Melt 1 Tbsp in a pan and add onion to caramelize, around 15 minutes
5. Add fennel and garlic to cook for additional 5 minutes
6. Add sage, cayenne, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and pepper as needed
7. You’re oven should still be hot from cooking the bacon and pie crust. Go ahead and set it to 350 if it isn’t already
8. Whisk together pumpkin puree and eggs
9. Add onion mixture and crumbled bacon to egg mixture and pour into pie crust
10. Bake for 45-55 minutes. Check at 30-35 minutes depending how “wet” you like your quiches as I like mine a little more done
11. Combine arugula, olive oil, lemon, vinegar, pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper
12. Once quiche is cooled, top with salad and grate parmesan over top to liking

Now, if you are going to make the mini frittatas no need for the pie crust, just be sure to spray a muffin pan with avocado or olive oil and cook for about 15-25 minutes or until they are set in the middle, again depending on how wet you like your quiche. I really liked having them this way for breakfast on the go options on a Thomas Lite English Muffin (hello 8 extra grams of fiber!).

Recipe adapted from Food Network