kitsch quiche

yet another recipe with no photo...this is becoming a bad habit, i'm so sorry. thing is, by the time i got home from work, and made this quiche, it was already pretty late...and we just wanted to eat and go to bed.

the quiche itself is really good and pretty simple to make. i've done my best to tone down the heaviness of standard quiche recipes, though this does employ some delectable ingredients. there is a good ratio of vegetables to meat in this, so technically it could be made into a vegetarian dish.

ingredients:
1 frozen pie crust
4 eggs
2 cups of 1/2 and 1/2
pinch of cayenne
salt (about 1 teaspoon)
leaves from about 5 sprigs of thyme
4 slices of bacon, chopped
1/3 pound of deli black forest ham, chopped
1/2 a bunch of asparagus, cleaned and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 a red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 a large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 cup grated gruyere cheese
2 tablespoons butter, divided
olive oil

directions:
preheat oven to 375 degrees.
in a bowl combine the eggs, 1/2 and 1/2, cayenne, salt, and thyme. set aside.
heat a large pan over medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. once it comes to heat add the chopped bacon and begin to render. once the bacon is starting to brown add the onions. stir often and once they begin to go glassy add the red peppers and the asparagus. the vegetables just need to get slightly soft, once this happens turn off the heat. mix in the chopped ham.
layer the meat and vegetable mixture into the bottom of the pie crust, then top with the grated cheese, then top with the egg mixture. pour in the egg mixture until the crust can't hold any more, and then place onto a cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.) let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. enjoy!

notes:
i really like quiche, it's sophisticated and looks like a lot of work, but really isn't. the hardest part for me is waiting for it to cool. i'm lucky to have married a man who doesn't mind eating such a "dainty" dinner...in fact, he begs for a good quiche from time to time. the gruyere really lends a richness to this dish, as it's a very complex cheese. but other readily available options that would work are fontina, parmesan...maybe even gouda?
also, the vegetables are kind of interchangable, these are the ones we like a lot in our house. and if you want this to be vegetarian, just leave out the bacon and ham, it will be just as delicious.