It’s the holiday season, people, and with T-minus two days to go before the festivities begin in earnest (Christmas Eve is a huge deal in our family, what with the smorgasbord and all), I’m keeping things as easy as possible.  I’m also all about trying to clean out the fridge before the big glut of Christmas food is upon us.

Hence this week’s meal plan, which was designed to offer few leftovers and to allow for a little space to use up odds and ends as we go.  I changed the order of things a bit from the original plan and did breakfast for dinner last night, saving the slow cooker meal for tonight.  When I don’t have rehearsals on Tuesday evenings, we can play a bit fast and loose with things, and it seemed to me that I’d want more time this evening for Christmas preparations.  (Plus, the allure of leftover pancakes to be made into sandwiches for the kids’ lunches today was too strong to resist.)

Breakfast for dinner is a much-loved institution in our house, and pancakes are practically mandatory as far as the kids are concerned — though if I get the waffle iron I asked Santa for, we may be tweaking that slightly.  But alongside the traditional stuff, I’m always looking to incorporate fruits and veggies as well; it might be a fun meal, but it still needs to pass some sort of nutritional muster with Mommy.  In the fall and winter, one of the go-to solutions is a quick fruit crumble with oatmeal (like this Cranberry-Raspberry Crumble); it may be borderline dessert, but it still has some of the good stuff I’m looking for.  As for veggies, we generally whip up a frittata or an interesting salad of some kind, but last night, I was looking for adventure.  I was also looking for a way to use up the last bit of pastry dough that was sitting in the fridge after making a pumpkin pie to bring to G. and P.’s house last weekend.

For the record, I’ve never in my life made an actual quiche, but I figured it couldn’t be SO difficult — after all, it’s basically a crust, which I already had, filled with some sort of vegetables, and topped off with an egg custard mixture.  So I cast caution to the wind and grabbed some bits and bobs (as my British friend, B.W., might say), and got to work.  Naturally, I was thinking about making my quiche slightly healthier than the usual cream-laden delights; so, remembering something I’d read once, I grabbed a carton of plain yogurt along with the eggs and lowfat milk.

Spinach-mushroom quiche, made with yogurt, baked individually in muffin tins, turned out better than I could have expected.  J. was slightly skeptical, but willing to give it a shot, since he (like me) is an inveterate quiche lover.  His verdict: a surprised “Yum…this is really good, hon.”  P. refused much more than the crusts, but he was full of pancakes and mixed berry crumble by that point in the meal; L. ate about a third of his, and though it didn’t seem to be a favorite, he said it was “not bad, Mommy.”  For my part, I ate my portion last night and just finished tucking away another one of the little suckers for breakfast.

So with a good experiment under my belt, and hence another way to use up leftovers when the opportunity presents itself, I’m feeling satisfied and slightly smug this morning.  Looking ahead, the next few days will likely go by in a blur of too much food, too little sleep, too much excitement, and far too much indulgence of every kind, but things like a shot of green veggies and good protein in the morning will help keep me (and hopefully J. and the kids as well) upbeat and energetic throughout the celebrations.  I’m taking tomorrow as an unplugged day, so I won’t be posting here on RRG, but I’ll be back on Christmas Eve.  Until then, try the quiche.