I recently signed up to provide snack (a.k.a. breakfast) for my Sunday School class and was trying to figure out what I wanted to make when I stumbled upon today’s recipe in an old issue of Country magazine (the June/July 2010 issue).

Three-Cheese Quiche

— 7 eggs

— 5 egg yolks

— 1 cup heavy whipping cream

— 1 cup half-and-half cream

— 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

— 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

— 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

— 2 Tablespoons finely chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

— 1-1/2 teaspoon salt free seasoning blend

— 1/4 teaspoon dried basil

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, egg yolks, whipping cream, half-and-half, mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, seasoning blend and basil. Pour into a greased 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 6 servings.

The photo caught my eye and the fact that the quiche was crustless, requiring less effort, also appealed to me.

We have all heard the saying “Real men don’t eat quiche,” but all the real men in our Sunday School class seem to like just about anything homemade, so I felt this recipe could be a winner.

I didn’t have the ingredients I would need to prepare this, so bright and early Saturday morning I went to the grocery to beat the crowd.

I thought I needed sun-dried tomatoes not in oil and could not find them anywhere. I found the ones in oil next to the other canned tomatoes, and after asking three store employees and being directed to a couple of different locations, one of the employees finally found them in the produce section.

But the ones without oil were a lot more expensive, so after all that trouble, I just bought the ones in oil, thinking I could drain them if I needed to.

After gathering all the other items on my grocery list, I headed home. The last time I fixed snack for my Sunday School class, I prepared another egg-type dish and swore I’d never prepare one again on Sunday morning because they always seem to take longer than expected to cook.

I debated on fixing this dish Saturday night and then heating it up Sunday morning or just getting up early Sunday and putting it together.

I opted to get up early Sunday and give myself plenty of time to let it cook for a lot longer than the recipe calls for — just in case.

I set my alarm, got up early and started putting this dish together. I greased the pie plate and pulled out my cutting board to finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes (after reading the recipe again I needed the ones in oil after all).

Since I wasn’t going to use the whole jar of sun-dried tomatoes, I decided to just shake the oil off the little things and chop them. I tried using a knife to chop them, but since I’m not a chef and I’m not knife-savvy, they just kept sticking to the blade and I gave up.

I pulled out my handy dandy food chopper and went to town, beating those little dried tomatoes to bits. When I was satisfied they were chopped enough, I put them in a large bowl and began cracking the seven eggs into the bowl. I separated the other eggs and added the yolks to the seven in the bowl. I stirred them up a bit then added the remaining ingredients.

I poured the egg mixture into my pie plate. Yikes! It was so full I wasn’t sure I could even carry it to the oven without spilling it. I decided that was not going to work because I was afraid the quiche would rise up out of the pie plate and make a mess in the oven.

I scoured my kitchen — and my brain — to figure out what I could use instead of the pie plate. I decided on a two quart round casserole dish I keep in the top of one of our kitchen cabinets. I climbed up on a chair to get the dish, greased it, then poured the egg mixture from the pie plate to the casserole. Surprise, surprise — I just spilled a little bit.

I continued reading the recipe and read the part that directs to “sprinkle with the remaining cheddar cheese.” I wondered what remaining cheddar cheese? I’d missed the part in the recipe that says add 1/2 cup cheddar cheese to the eggs. Oh well, I just sprinkled a little bit of extra cheddar on top; not much though, because I didn’t want to mess with the flavor of the end product.

I put the quiche in the oven and set the timer for 50 minutes. When time was up, the quiche had risen quite a bit and I was sure glad I hadn’t left the mixture in the pie plate to bake. But a knife inserted in the center didn’t come out clean.

I set the timer for 10 more minutes. When time was up, it still wasn’t what I called done. After 10 more minutes, it finally looked pretty good.

I let the quiche cool about 10 minutes and then cut it. I took out a tiny sliver for Brad to taste. He said it was good. “YES!”

When I got to church, I let a few people know I needed their feedback. While eating, some of them let me know the quiche was really good. Yes, even Tom, one of the real men, gave it a thumbs up.

There was a little bit of quiche leftover and Brad let me know he would be having it for breakfast the next morning.

All in all, I nailed this recipe and I’ll be adding it to my self-made cookbook.

I made a coffee cake from a cake mix for the class too, and I’ll tell you about that next week.

Sarah Condley is an amateur baker and chef who is compiling a cookbook of her favorite recipes.