Sunday Brunch -- Egg Pie with Extras.

Okay, this might be called a quiche, but because I don't want to turn off any potential real men, let's just call it "Egg Pie with Extras".

I'm not a big fan of eggs, or breakfast, but I had some left over from my holiday baking projects, and I do like pie.

Here's the list of ingredients, and as always everything is from the Dollar Stores (99 Cent Only Store, usually, as they have more groceries) --

pie crust

eggs

sausage

onions

mushrooms

garlic

butter or margarine

picante sauce

cheddar cheese

black pepper

sour cream (optional, for garnish)

Now, this is what I had in the fridge, and what I like, but you can put damn near anything as an extra in your egg pie, and not screw it up. Maybe you like peppers (they make me burp), and not onions, and have some hamburger or ham. Maybe you don't want to use a crust, and make a frittata, or maybe you just want to scramble this stuff up and put it in a tortilla for a breakfast (I mean brunch) burrito.

I used the Land 'O Lakes pie crust recipe, which is very simple -- but if you have a ready made pie crust hanging around, that will save some time.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup cold butter

4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Combine flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened.

Divide dough in half; shape each half into ball. Flatten slightly. Wrap 1 ball in plastic food wrap; refrigerate.

For 1-crust pie, roll out 1 ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into 9-inch pie pan; unfold dough, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pan. Crimp or flute edge. Fill and bake according to pie recipe directions.

For 2-crust pie, roll out remaining ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold dough into quarters. Place dough over filling; unfold. Trim, seal and crimp or flute edge. Cut 5 or 6 large slits in crust. Bake according to pie recipe directions.

Now I didn't bother to read the fine print, so I wasn't really aware that I was making a single crust from a double crust recipe. Silly me.

So I made my crust, and started on my other ingredients.

First I chopped up some onions (half a small onion), and about six mushrooms, and put them in a pan on medium heats with about a teaspoon of garlic and a teaspoon of butter to cook a little. Then I added my sausage, which was two links of Lite Brown 'n Serve, microwaved about a minute and crumbled. Then I added some picante sauce (about 2 tablespoons), half a teaspoon black pepper (I like pepper), and took the pan off the heat.

I had 8 eggs, but to reduce the fat, I used 2 whole eggs and 6 egg whites. I beat these by hand for awhile, and then added them to the mixture in the pan.

Lastly I shredded about 2 ounces of cheddar cheese into the mix, swirled it around, and poured it into my pie crust.

Into a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, and Voila! Quiche, I mean Egg Pie with Extras. Enjoy hot or cold. Refrigerate extra. It might even freeze, I'll try that if I have extra extra.

It probaby would have behooved me to take more care with the crust, as it is dense as opposed to light and flaky, and my filling rose and then fell and condensed as well. More eggs, and more beating of the eggs would have helped -- still delicious as is, though.

Okay, now it is time to whip up some cocktails.