Macaroni-and-Cheese Quiche

As promised, and by request from a follower, the recipe for Mac&Cheese Quiche. A friend hooked me up with this recipe from Woman's World magazine. A great little magazine, I've gotten several recipes and craft ideas from it, check it out!

OK here we go:

Ingredients:
1 lb penne pasta (or macaroni, cavatappi or corkscrews--I used traditional macaroni)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup finely minced shallots, about 1 large shallot
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups milk
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 8oz package shredded Italian five-cheese with cream cheese blend, such as Kraft
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 cups spinach leaves

*Some notes about the ingredients: at first I had a hard time finding shallots at the store. I was looking for them around the onions, they were in a separate little shelf in the produce section. While I usually buy skim milk, I did use 2% milk for this. If I'd been able to find 1% at the corner store, I would have used that. I was not able to find the five-cheese blend with the Philadelphia cream cheese at my local stores. They did have some of the other cheeses with cream cheese, so I just bought the regular Italian blend. For the eggs I used Egg Beaters. And I did not add the salt, since I try to watch the sodium due to my high blood pressure. I'd say the salt could be optional.*

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 8" springform pan with cooking spray. Cook and drain pasta according to package directions.

1. In pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallots; cook until just tender, 1-2 minutes. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth; cook, stirring, 1 minute.

2. Gradually whisk in milk. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil; cook until thickened and coats back of spoon, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool 10 minutes.

3. Whisk in eggs, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, Parmesan, zest, salt and pepper until blended and smooth. Stir in spinach and pasta. Transfer to pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Cover with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Uncover; bake until golden, 10-15 minutes. Run sharp knife around edge of pan to loosen pasta. Let stand 20 minutes. Remove from pan and serve.

Here are some pics. And for the record, this was AMAZING. The only person who didn't eat it was my picky nephew, but even the 4 year old niece ate some!

Let me know if you try it and how it turns out! And I'd love to try it with other veggies too! I'm thinking broccoli next!

Happy eating!