Q. I'm always looking for a "better" pastry crust recipe or product but haven't had any luck. I love making quiche for get togethers and would love for you to weigh in on this.

A. Quiche is definitely one of my top 10 favorite dishes and I can lighten up the filling all I want but if the piecrust is high in saturated fat (and sometimes trans fat) and calories and low in fiber, it's going to drag my more healthful quiche down. So here's a quiche crust recipe I developed that calls for three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and one tablespoon of whipped butter, with half of the flour is whole wheat. It works really well for quiche and any other appetizer or entree recipe calling for pastry or piecrust and contains 30 percent fewer calories, 40 percent less fat, and a much more heart healthful ratio of smart fats (monounsaturated fat and omega-3s) to trouble fats (saturated fat and trans fat).

A traditional pastry or pie crust contains 150 calories, 10 grams fat and 2 grams saturated fat and 2.5 grams trans fat per serving.

OLIVE OIL PASTRY CRUST

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon whipped butter, chilled

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2-3 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor, combine the whole-wheat flour, white flour and salt. Pulse for a few seconds to combine.

Add the butter and drizzle the olive oil evenly over the top of the flour mixture. Pulse again until the ingredients resemble crumbs.

While the processor is running, add the ice water slowly into the bowl and process only until the dough starts to come together.

Gather the dough into a ball and let it rest for a few minutes. Lay a sheet of waxed paper on the counter and roll the dough ball into a circle large enough to cover a 9-inch pie dish (or similar) with a lightly floured rolling pin. Invert the sheet with pie crust over your baking dish and peel away the wax paper. Finish off the crust around the rim by trimming or folding over the crust in places as needed.

Fill as desired (but the filling doesn't count in the nutritional analysis below.)

Makes 8 servings.

Per serving (just pastry crust): 105 calories, 2 g protein, 11.5 g carbohydrate, 6 g fat, 1.3 g saturated fat, 4 g monounsaturated fat, .7 g polyunsaturated fat, 2.5 mg cholesterol, 1.2 g fiber, 45 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 50 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .1 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = .6 gram. Weight Watchers POINTS = 2


Elaine Magee is author of "The Recipe Doctor Cookbook" and "The Flax Cookbook." Reach her through her Web site at www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided.