I made a quiche with the eggs our hens laid. Delicious! My recipe is at the end of this post.

We headed down to Catamaran, which is near Cockle Creek, which is near ‘The End of the World.’ We went to a very pretty, secluded bay. The area is a popular camping ground but the beach we went to is quite small and the eight of us were the only people on it. Some cars drove past a few times.

Our picnic table: a pot of tea with pretty tea cups, plus sandwiches, banana chic-chip muffins, date loaf and some vegetables and hummus and fruit.

Banana chic chip muffins baked fresh… So tempting, with the chocolate hot and melted… These were made using whole meal self raising flour.

Our brown hen lays such lovely, big eggs. This huge egg was also a double-yolker! Boom!

Little Elora found the whole picnic process very exciting.

I haven’t made a quiche for so long because it doesn’t really feature on the healthy foods for our diet list, but when the fire is cranking and I’ve been baking anyway, and there are literally dozens of eggs to use… Why not make a quiche?!

Delicious oversized quiche
This makes 8 very generous servings! Perfect for a picnic with friends!

ingredients:
3 rashers bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 sheets frozen pie crust pastry
6 eggs
500g smooth ricotta
4 thick slices of cheddar, diced
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

::Sautée onion and bacon until bacon has browned a little and the onion is tender
:: thaw pastry and press it gently around a greased, 20x30cm lamington tin
:: whisk the eggs, add the tub or ricotta, nutmeg and milk and mix until pale and a bit frothy
:: place the bacon, eggs and cheddar cheese on the pastry. Spread it around so that the layer is even
:: pour the egg mixture over the bacon, egg and onion layer
:: bake at 180-200 degrees for 40 minutes or so, or until the quiche has browned on top and it is firm if the tin is jiggled around a bit. During cooking, the egg mixture will bubble and rise but to will settle after baking.
:: turn carefully onto a wire cooling rack and serve, or allow to cool and serve cold.

I didn’t add salt or pepper. With the cheeses and bacon, this dish is salty enough, but you might like to add some chilli or pepper or even cayen pepper. You could put tomatoes on the top of the mixture. You child add capsicum and mushrooms to the quiche and easily remove the bacon to make a vegetarian version.