Gluten-Free Frito-Lay

When the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness approached me to be one of the five bloggers for the Frito-Lay Gluten Free Giveaway and Promotion I was ecstatic. Then, when I received my “assignment” of baking the Tostitos Crust Party Quiche, I was somewhat hesitant. You see, I am not much of a chef [that's my stepdad's job]. But, I went to the store, bought the fresh ingredients needed for the recipe, and told my mom she needed to help me.

To take a stab at this Quiche, you will need the following…

Tostitos Cust Party Quiche:

• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 large egg [we used 2]
• 1/4 cup milk [we used 1/2]
• black pepper
• cooking spray
• 20 Frito-Lay Tostitos Restaurant Style tortilla chips
• 1 tbsp butter, melted [we used 1 1/2 tbsp]
• 2 tbsp blue cheese
• cilantro

To find baking instructions, visit the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness website.

With ingredients purchased and tummy growling, the time had come to put the classy pants on and make my first ever gluten free “Quiche”. After experiencing a minor hiccup in preparation [my family's kitchen was in the process of getting backsplash done, so I had to transport ingredients to my Grandma's kitchen], I was ready to get started. I chopped the veggies while my mom crushed up the Tostitos chips for the crust. Once I had all of the veggies chopped up, we sprayed the ramekins [am I the only person who had NO idea what a ramekin was prior to reading this recipe?], we attempted to pack the crust against the walls of the dish. After about 0.2 seconds my mom decided we needed more butter, so we added another 1/2 tbsp to the recipe [making it healthier as well]. After that slight modification, the crust packed quite nicely.

We then poured the tomato, onion, and spinach in the dish, and fixed the specified egg + milk mixture to add. After running out of that on ramekin number 2 [recipe calls for 3 ramekins], my mom mixed up more egg + milk, and we ultimately used almost twice the amount specified in the recipe. Finally, after everything was in the little baby dish, we popped it in the oven to bake.

Since we added the extra egg + milk mixture, our baking time increased from the approximate15-20 minutes to 25-30 minutes, after which we pulled the puppies out of the oven to add blue cheese. The next step was to broil the cheese until it was bubbly, take the Quiche out of the oven, let it cool, then flip it over onto a plate. If you know me at all, you know that I am not good at things involving coordination or skill, so flipping a ramekin onto a plate seemed impossible. But, I did it! My mom even took a picture of me, as if it was some great accomplishment.

After adding some fresh cilantro, I prepared three plates for myself, my mom, and my Grandma. We were so excited that the Quiches were finally done, we couldn’t wait to taste the fruits of our labor. The first thing I noticed was how the crust turned out so good! It was not crumbly, and you could easily pick the Quiche up without it falling apart [a hard thing to accomplish in the gluten free world]. I then cut into the Quiche for my first bite. The crust tasted great [kudos Frito-Lay], and I loved the fresh veggies inside, but I do have to say that the blue cheese was not my fav. We each thought that this recipe would have been better with less “strong” of a cheese, as it kind of took away from the rest of the dish.

All in all, this was definitely a challenge, but I did feel rewarded seeing the beautiful masterpiece at the end. I think that this recipe is great, and it is good to know another alternative for gluten free crusts, but it was a bit much for me. I’m 23, just out of college, and still get dinner cooked for me by my parents [I know, you're jealous]. So, I am going to recommend this recipe to all of you gluten free rockstars out there who love to cook, and you can whip it up for me next time. Maybe in my next life, when I live on my own, and have a new-found love for cooking, I will use this recipe…but for now, I will stick to the easy-peasy stuff, like dipping my Tostitos tortilla chip into salsa.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and review from a young, gluten free gal’s perspective! For more information on gluten free Frito-Lay products, visit the National Foundation for Celiac Disease website, and enter the Frito-Lay Giveaway!

Tagged celiac, celiac disease, celiac sprue, Frito Lay, gfree, gluten, gluten free, gluten free crust, gluten free diet, gluten intolerant, Tostitos tortilla chips