Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Leftover Wednesday - Impossible Bacon Cheese Pie & Salad

We have 2 trash pickups per week - Mondays and Thursdays.  On Wednesday nights, we clean out the fridge.  We used to toss any leftovers that had not been eaten by Wednesday, but I am getting better and better at using them up.  So, I am challenging myself to start a new series - Leftover Wednesday - where I will post what I made for dinner that night, using up leftovers in the fridge.  Tonight, we had Impossible Bacon Cheese Pie and Salad.

Have you ever had one of Bisquick's Impossible Pies?  If not, than I am happy to introduce you to them!  And if you don't eat gluten, there are GF baking mixes out there you can substitute for the Bisquick, store brand or homemade baking mix of your choice.  I know what your thinking - what is an "impossible" pie?!  It's crustless.  You are making a "pie", or more accurately a quiche, without a bottom crust.  You put your pie "filling" into your dish and then pour over it a mixture of beaten egg, milk and Bisquick.  It's the addition of the Bisquick that allows your pie to stay together.

And the filling options for these pies are as endless as your imagination!  Bacon & Swiss; ham & cheddar; turkey and broccoli; spinach and parmesan; chicken club; taco; Italian chicken (not the one with the peas, the other one) are just some of the ones I've made and love, but there are many, many more.  They were called Impossible Pies when I was growing up, but if you go to Betty Crocker's website (the maker of Bisquick), they are now called Impossibly Easy Pies.  In the recipe search just type in "impossibly" or "impossible" and all the options that Betty has come up with will appear.  And when you have leftovers in your fridge to use up, or you're just trying to use up the rest of your groceries before your next shopping trip, toss together flavors you like and make your own Impossible Pie!

So, let me tell you what I found in my fridge tonight:

  • leftover bacon from last night's breakfast dinner of bacon and French toast
  • leftover romaine, black beans, grape tomatoes and corn from the Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad I served at our America's Funniest Videos party Sunday night (our video aired on the show!)
  • 1/4 of a sweet onion
Here's what I did:
The hubs likes his bacon "medium-rare" and I am a "well-done" bacon girl, myself.  So I snipped up the bacon slices with the kitchen shears and sautéed it in a non-stick skillet for a few minutes to cook it more. Then covered the bottom of a greased pan with the bacon.
On top of the bacon, I shredded a layer of Swiss cheese and then tossed in the 1/4 of an onion.  The onion I diced and sautéed in the drippings released into the pan when I cooked the bacon.
I beat 2 eggs, 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup Bisquick and then poured it over my "filling".  Bake for 30-40 mins @400.

Now, my pan is small - 8" round. If you are serving a bigger crowd that the 3 in our house, you can make your pie in a 9"x13", double the egg/milk/Bisquick mixture and just make sure your main filling ingredients cover the bottom.
This is what it looks like when it's done. Notice the different dish? Yeaaaah...when I picked up my springform pan to put it in the oven, I discovered the hard way that I'd not sealed it properly and it was leaking. Had to switch dishes.
And this is it on my place with the salad leftovers. I'm sorry it is not the most appetizing picture! The salad is in focus and the pie, not so much. But it was all gone by the time I uploaded pictures and saw this so I could not take another.  :o) Oh, well!
It was deelish!  Lessons learned: when using Costco's Thick-Cut Applewood Smoked Bacon, I only need to cover half the bottom of the pan with it, it's that flavorful.  If you decide to make an Impossible Pie, I'd love to hear what you use as your filling!

4 comments:

  1. I use EVERYTHING in Impossible Pies, I've been making them for longer than I want to admit...but since I was in my teens! Some of my favorite combos are: chicken/broccoli/cheddar cheese, pepper/onion/tomato/swiss cheese...which also makes a lovely side dish with a grilled meat main course and leftover taco-seasoned ground beef/banana peppers/4 cheese mexican blend. I have also made it with JUST cheese and nothing else and it was still tasty. This has been my go-to use-up-the-leftovers dish for a very long time, you name it and chances are I've used it in an Impossible Pie at some point...I've even done them with bits of salami and american cheese when cleaning out the cold cut drawer, lol.

    Ok, now I'm totally craving one of these, lol.

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    1. Nice to find someone who has been making and enjoying these as long as I have! I love your cold cuts drawer idea. The spinach and parmesan is my potluck brunch go to. Always a hit.

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    2. Oooo, spinach and parm sound really good actually! Do you do it with fresh or frozen spinach??

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    3. Depends what I have on hand, but usually frozen. If I have fresh spinach on it's last legs, I'll steam it and use that. I saw a new spinach one with feta instead of parmesan on Betty Crocker's website, last night.

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