Sausage & Green Chili Quiche with Butternut Squash Crust

by Angela Gallardo in Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes

4 comments

One of my favorite breakfasts of all time is a quiche.  Seriously, does not matter what you put in it.  I dream of flaky, buttery crusts with fluffy, cheesy bites.  Alas, flaky buttery crusts are not on the menu these days.  But I do have three butternut squash from my CSA chilling on the counter, just daring me to be creative with them.

With my our latest Whole30 endeavors combined with recent IgG food allergy results, breakfasts have become less breakfast-y.  And half the time, I’m eating what you might call dinner for breakfast.  So here in the Gallardo house, we’ve basically thrown the notion of breakfast out the window.  Low carb, nutrient dense, and sometimes that means meat and veggies at 8AM.

I’m lucky because I really enjoy protein, namely meat.  I’ve never been a bagels or cereal type of girl.  But breakfasts still require a bit of creativity, especially when it comes to eating one of the last breakfast foods I’ve got:  eggs.

Butternut squash is a really great dense, low-glycemic and fiber-packed carb source.  It’s slightly sweet, a bit like a carrot, and pairs amazingly well with the green chilis in the egg mixture.  You won’t get the flaky-crust-effect you’d get from a pastry crust but you don’t get the ill-effects of the pastry either.

The squash gets soft and melts together with the egg a bit.  I could easily eat half (or maybe ALL) of this quiche.  To get a bit more of a crunch from the butternut squash crust, you might try cooking it in a cast iron skillet.  Which is what I’m going to try the next time I make it.

What are your favorite low-carb breakfasts?  I could use some ideas!

Sausage & Green Chili Quiche with Butternut Squash Crust

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 2 Tbsp. 100% avocado oil
• 4 pastured eggs
• 2 oz pasture-raised sausage
• 1/4 c. full-fat coconut milk (or milk of choice)
• 1/4 c. filtered water
• 1/2 c. diced green chilis (canned hatch chilis or even green chili salsa works)
• 1 scallion, diced
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• pinch freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/2 c. grass-fed cheddar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Heat a large skillet to medium heat.  Break sausage into half-inch pieces and cook until browned.  Move to a paper towel to cool.
3. Peel butternut squash with a vegetable peeler.  Cut in half and scrape the seeds from the core.  Cut into large chunks and feed into a large food processor with the shredder attachment affixed.
4. Move 3 cups of the shredded squash to a large bowl (store the rest in the fridge, use raw on salads or in a breakfast hash) and mix with avocado oil.  Press squash into the shape of a crust in a 9-inch pie pan or cast iron skillet.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut milk, water, green chilis, scallion, salt, pepper, nutmeg.  Whisk well until mixture is light and fluffy, then mix in the sausage and cheese (if using).
6. Pour over the butternut squash and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until top is golden brown.  Serve immediately.

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