During high school, it was just my mom, my little brother and I, and because my mom worked full-time, it often fell on me to cook dinner. For a year or so, we ate really simple meals, and then I realized cooking wasn’t as hard as the Food Network made it out to be. After years of honing my craft, I found that quiche is a fancy meal but also one of the easiest to make. Even four-star restaurants serve high-quality quiche for brunch, utilizing a multitude of ingredients to create new combinations of quiche goodness.

At some point in my experimentation, my mother and I found it easier to make quiche with hash browns as a crust instead of using a pastry crust because it makes a crunchy, delicious pie.

To begin your quiche, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. To make the crust, thaw the hash browns in the microwave for about six minutes. Once they are soft, press them into a greased pie plate and, if you re- ally want to get professional, brush melted butter on the crust for shine and a little added flavor.

To save on calories, feel free to skip this step. Bake the crust for 25 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

While the crust is baking, beat the eggs, soup, flour, milk and ground pepper together in a large bowl until the mixture is an even yellow color. Set the mixture aside and chop up the green pepper and broccoli. Chicken, ham, bacon, red peppers and onions are some other common quiche ingredients, but you can use whatever you want.

Remove the crust from the oven after 25 minutes and reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Let the crust cool for a few minutes, then place the chopped pepper, cheese and broccoli into the center of the pie and pour the egg mixture over them. The pie dish should be about 3/4 full to allow for it to rise while baking. Bake the quiche for 45–50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Wait until the quiche is cool, and then serve in slices.