Would you still be fit if you didn’t have to be?
While you ponder that question, have a slice of quiche…. or 2 or 3.
One of the nice things about using a rice, rather than a pastry crust, is one can eat more without guilt (or extra fat or calories).
I just think of it as presenting the normal components for dinner (meat, rice, vegetables) in a different format.
Sausage and Goat Cheese Quiche
Total time: 65 minutes
Ingredients:
- Crust:
- 1/2 cup quick-cooking brown or Basmati rice
- 1 cup chicken stock to yield
1 1/2 cups cooked rice - 1/4 cup (1oz, 30gr) shredded cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Filling
- 8oz (250gr) sausage, any flavor, mine were ‘Duck and White Wine’
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 4oz (120gr) aged goat cheese, sliced
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup (2oz, 60gr) Greek or plain yogurt
- 3/4 cup (6oz, 120ml) cup milk
Instructions:
- The rice:
- Cook the rice in stock.
- If doing in advance, refrigerate until needed.
- If doing now, spread the rice on a plate to cool for 5 minutes before making crust.
- The crust:
- Lightly whisk 1 egg.
- Mix cooked rice, cheese and egg.
- Pat into a lightly oiled quiche or 10″ (25cm) pie plate, working it up the sides a bit for the edges.
- Bake in 400F (200C) oven for 10 minutes.
- The filling:
- Fry sausages.
- When done, remove and cut into 1/2″ slices.
- Sauté onions in olive oil until starting to brown.
- Add pepper and continue cooking until onions are well browned.
- Whisk 3 eggs, yogurt and milk together.
- To assemble:
- When crust is done, remove from oven.
- Spread the onions and peppers evenly over the crust.
- Top with goat cheese and sausages.
- Pour egg mixture over all and bake, 30 minutes, 400F (200C). When done the center should be firm or with a very slight jiggle.
- Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before cutting.
Note: I usually put the quiche dish on a baking sheet to make it easier to handle – it gets kind of full.
Back to the question….
The other day, as I was doing my first set of sit-ups in a month, I started wondering if I would be doing sit-ups if I was naturally thin.
I only know a few people who, blessed with the metabolism of a hummingbird, are naturally thin. They eat like marathoners and never gain an ounce.
They also don’t appear to exercise.
Are they fit? Or just thin?
Am I actually better off because I have to struggle to keep my weight in check?
Struggle might be laying it on a bit thick… But I am conscious, everyday, of my ‘weight’.
Not in an obsessive way, and I’m not particularly worried about the scale, but I do pay attention to what I eat and I almost always do a combination of aerobic exercise and weight-training.
I have done this for years.
I used to be one of the ‘naturally thin’. In high school I weighed 95 lbs soaking wet and ate like a horse. Summers, when I worked in a restaurant, my favorite mid-morning snack was a big bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy…. and sometimes I skipped the potatoes and just ate a big bowl of gravy.
Well, things change.
I grew-up and joined the multitudes in fighting creeping weight gain.
I decided early on that I didn’t like to diet, so I started exercising.
Then I discovered that I was ‘Fat in France‘.
And now, I wonder….
I’m relatively fit (4 hour hilly walks after Christmas aside). I walk in the mountains, ride my bike, haul wood and work in the garden easily.
Would I be this fit if I was naturally thin?
Am I blessed, rather than cursed, that I have to mind my weight?
What do you think?
Yes the rice crust is a winner.
That is an interesting question, Katie. My impulse is to say yes. No, wait. No. No, wait again… yes. Errrrm, what was the question?
Like you, I was naturally thin (let’s call it what it was – insanely skinny) until hitting 40. Then I turned into naturally thin-ish. Luckily I like to bike. I loathe dieting. Now, the only way that I can manage to do up my belt easily is through exercise.
Your quiche sounds wonderful.
I have never been thin, have fought the Battle of the Bulge all my life. Like you, I find that exercise is the best answer, even though it doesn’t do the whole job for me. Once I’m “in shape,” the exercise becomes addictive and I am restless and crabby if I don’t do it. I think it’s healthier to be overweight and “fit” than skinny and unfit.
I love the rice crust – works well with quinoa, too!
I think naturally skinny types don’t feel as much pressure to exercise or watch what they eat – Lucky them. Often really overweight people are fit under the flab as their heart works extra hard but sometimes gets pushed to the limit and heart disease ensues. Best be middling like you, all things in moderation !!
Val, and so much easier (for me)
Elizabeth, I love to bike, too – and really want to get back on the one that goes places LOL. Maybe this summer. We biked all over when we lived in the US… Not in Andorra, lots in the Vendee and not yet here… Sigh. Exercise is so much better than diets…
Zoomie, I agree that fit counts for a lot more than weight. Now, if I could give up the wine and chocolate….
Margarita, I never thought of doing it with quinoa – next time! Thanks!
manningroad, I know skinny people who never do any exercise… drive around looking for the closest parking space type. I think I would even if I no longer had to – I miss it when I don’t and feel better when I do.
I’m blessed like you 🙂 The creepers have started and I have to be more careful about what I eat and make sure I exercise.
Yes, do get back on your bike! The biking in your area of the world is fantastic.