Last year I came up with a quiche recipe that highlights the delicious winter veggies we’re still enjoying in early spring. However, spring 2014 Portland  has been unseasonably, but gloriously, sunny and warm. With the appearance of fresh asparagus in the market I was inspired to make this colorful spring quiche for the So Delicious Spring  Fling Dairy-Free Recipe Contest.

This recipe makes two whole quiches in pre-made pie shells which makes it a star recipe for a brunch gathering. I use pre-made pie shells to speed up the preparation of this beautiful dish. I recommend Wholly Wholesome for pre-made pie shells. They have organic vegan, white & whole wheat pie shells as well as a gluten-free shells! I’ve used the wheat crusts, both white and whole wheat, and they’ve come out wonderfully every time.

The Stuff:

• 1 small, red, sweet bell pepper, 1/4″ dice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small red onion, 1/4″ dice
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1/2 pound asparagus, sliced in thin rounds (reserve 12 of the tips, cut at 2″ for garnish)
• 12 grape tomatoes, sliced in thin rounds
• 12 grape tomatoes sliced lengthwise, set aside for garnish
• 2 T fresh basil, chiffonade
• 3 T chopped parsley
• 1 t dry oregano
• 1t dry marjoram
• 12 oz firm, water-packed tofu
• 1 package firm, silken tofu
• 2 T cornstarch
• 1/4 c nutritional yeast
• 1/3 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Almond Plus 5X almond milk
• 1 T champagne vinegar
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1/2 t dry mustard
• 1/2 t black salt* (optional)
• fresh pepper & sea salt
• 2 pre-made pie shells

*Black Salt, or Kala Namak is usually found at a Desi market or a good pan-Asian market that features ingredients popular in Indian and other South Asian cuisines. It is mostly sodium chloride, but it also contains sulfur in addition to the other minerals. It is pink or light purple in color and imparts a more subtle flavor cooked. It can be skipped, just add 1/4 t of sea salt, but it worth the effort to seek it out. If you don’t have any suitable markets in your area, Kala Namak Salt can be purchased online.

The Making

Bake the pie shells according to the directions and set aside.

Bring a saute pan to medium-high heat and lightly coat with spray oil. Add onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes, add garlic and continue to saute until very fragrant, about 3 more minutes. Add zucchini, asparagus, and bell pepper, sauteing for 7 minutes before adding dried herbs, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Saute for another 7 minutes and remove from heat.

Squeeze out water from water-packed tofu. No need to press for a long time, just squeeze out a little of the excess water with your hands. Crumble into large mixing bowl and add sauteed veggies, fresh herbs, and sliced tomatoes.

Put silken tofu, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, almond milk, vinegar, turmeric, dry mustard, and black salt into the container for a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides to be certain all dry ingredients are incorporated well with wet. Add contents of the container to the mixing bowl with the tofu and sauteed veggies.

Mix together all ingredients until evenly combined. Pour mixture into pre-cooked pie crust. Garnish each quiche with the reserved asparagus tips and sliced grape tomatoes.

Place filled pie crusts onto a baking tray. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 400 F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the comes out clean.

Let quiche stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 12 servings (six generous slices per pie crust)

Nutritional Info (with crust)

Serving Size: 1 slice
Calories: 238
Total Fat: 14 g
Saturated Fat: 6 g
Cholesterol: 0g
Sodium: 242 mg (10%)
Carbohydrates: 20 g
Dietary Fiber: 6 g
Sugars: 4 g
Protein: 12 g

*Want a lower-calorie & gluten-free version?

You can also ditch the gluten and the calories in the crust by distributing the quiche into two dozen silicone baking cups that have been lightly sprayed with oil first.

Bake 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees, until a toothpick inserted into the comes out clean. This makes a whole pile (e.g., 24) of gluten-free mini quiches to enjoy!

These pack well for lunch or picnics, just don’t remove the silicone baking cup and stack into a container. They retain their shape well and are quite tasty chilled or at room temperature.

Nutritional Info (without crust)

Serving Size: 2 mini-quiches
Calories: 91
Total Fat: 3 g
Saturated Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0g
Sodium: 109 mg (5%)
Carbohydrates: 8 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Sugars: 3 g
Protein: 10 g

This winter it seems like we’ve always got a few yams on hand. So far they’ve inspired the Golden Provence Winter Stew, which has become a quick favorite, but I recently had several chilies on hand as well as a large quantity of black beans we’ve been trying to find more uses for. With these ingredients on hand I came up with this delicious, warm stew inspired by Cuban flavors.

The Stuff

• 2 medium yams, diced small
• 3 cups cooked black beans
• 1 large yellow onion, 1/4″ dice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium green bell pepper, 1/4 dice
• 1 Ancho/Pasilla pepper, 1/4″ dice
• 1/2 t cumin seed
• 1 15oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2.5 T tomato paste
• 5 cups water
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 T dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 t cayenne
• 1/4 t ground coriander
• 1/2 t sweet smoked paprika
• 1 bunch collards, cut up small
• 1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice

The Making

Heat a 8-quart stock-pot to medium-high heat and then lightly spray with Canola oil. Add cumin seeds and toast until fragrant, about 2 minutes or less. Add onion into the pot, lightly spritz with oil and saute 5 minutes, until onions become translucent. Add garlic and saute with onions another 5 minutes before adding all of the diced chilies. Saute all together another 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes, yams, dried herbs & spices and water to the pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 35 minutes, or until yams are tender. Add collards and tomato paste and stir in. Simmer for 15 minutes before adding in the fresh herbs and lime juice. Simmer for 5 more minutes before serving.

10 Servings

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 2 cups
Calories: 191
Total Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 81 mg
Carbohydrates: 41g
Dietary Fiber: 8 g
Sugars: 3 g
Protein: 7 g

This time of year there are more tomatoes than I know what to do with, zucchini everywhere, lovely peppers and kale. Chopping it all up and throwing it into a pot is clearly the way forward. This hearty stew, so thick it is more of a stove top casserole, highlights the best of the late summer harvest.

Summer’s Bounty Stew

The Stuff

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 3 medium zucchini, chopped (about 4 cups)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced roughly
• 1 medium onion, sliced into thin petals
• 1 poblano pepper, diced fine
• 2 bunches of kale, stemmed and torn into small pieces
• 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes, chopped into pieces of varying size (a nice mix of large and rather small bits is perfect)
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1 t dried basil
• 1 t dried marjoram
• ½ t dried rosemary, rubbed together in your palm to break it up a little
• ⅓ c nutritional yeast
• 1 t sweet paprika
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

The Making

Heat a 4 qt sauce pan or cast iron dutch oven on medium-high (if using cast iron, reduce to medium-low once the pot is hot).

Lightly spray the pot with canola oil. Saute onion until it begins to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute another 3-5 minutes; onions will begin to caramelize. Add poblano pepper and saute for another 5 minutes. Add in zucchini, chickpeas, and tomatoes.

Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until zucchini is tender. Add kale and all the herbs and spices then simmer until kale has softened, another 5 minutes.

Serve with some crusty bread or with quinoa.

Makes 3+ quarts of very tasty stew.

Notes:

• Yes, fresh herbs would totally rock. I just didn’t have any on hand. Next year we’ll have an herb garden going. I’d use up to a tablespoon of each herb, fresh. Parsley would be a great addition.
• This recipe reminds me a lot of the Japanese-inspired winter stew I make, which uses canned tomatoes. They would work perfectly well in this recipe, however, my main goal was to use up some of the pounds and pounds of fresh tomatoes from our garden.
• I use a mix of heirloom tomatoes, because that’s what we grow in the garden. Don’t worry if these are far too expensive to consider — just use any fresh tomatoes or go ahead and used canned, diced tomatoes.
• You could replace the sweet paprika with smoked paprika and it would be delicious. I think I sometimes go a little crazy with the smoked paprika so I skipped it this time.
• Want a spicier stew? Replace the paprika with cayenne and add a ½ teaspoon dried chili flakes – this would be fantastic too!

Nasty Flash + Ugly Counters

By the bye — check out the much better picture I used at the top of this post! Christie gave me a light tent set for my birthday so I can start taking better pictures of my food and art work. I still have a lot to learn about this kind of photography, but even the first attempt with the light tent on the picture above is so much better! For proof take a look at the best possible picture I was able to take at night in my kitchen.

Once again we managed to be busy, busy, BUSY during the peak of tomato season. This means several pounds have sadly gone to mush on the vine, but earlier this week I went out and picked pounds and pounds. I’ve been hearing all about people drying them in the oven (“sun dried” for Portland) and thought I’d give it a whirl.

Several of the “Roman Candle” paste-type tomatoes sliced into quarter wedges (the long yellow ones) along with the larger cherry types and some small plum types.

A whole roasting pan full of cherry and grape type tomatoes cut in half and put face down.

Hours and hours and HOURS later:
Yield = 3 cups of dried tomatoes

The verdict: The oven is very inefficient for dehydrating food. We’ve pondered an Excalibur model and this experiment has moved it up in priority.

We do not share a love of eggplant in our home. Christie prefers to avoid it and I really like it. In getting boxes of fresh produce I find that I often have more eggplant than I am sure of what to do with and have already thrown out one lovely one this summer. In our garden we found a Turkish variety that yields small, orange eggplant with a tomato shape.

I had seen a recipe on the NYTimes that referenced a staple of Middle Eastern cooking. Tonight I made a variation with the ingredients I had on hand and the result was very tasty. I’ll have to recreate at another time for exact measurements, but here’s a review.

2 cups cooked chickpeas were added dry to a pre-heated cast-iron skillet on medium heat. I very lightly spritzed them with Canola spray (Spectrum) as they browned. Once they were beginning to look toasty I added a small onion, thinly sliced. Sauteed 5 minutes or so, until the onion began to go translucent and then I added a generous amount of dried oregano, some dried marjoram, lemon pepper, granulated garlic, and a pinch of nutritional yeast. Tossed all of that around to coat the chickpeas & onions before adding 1/4 cup of chopped, fresh Italian parsley, the juice of half a lemon, and one diced medium green tomato.

While all of that chickpea stuff was going on I had sliced in half 4 small, Japanese eggplant. I pre-heated our cast-iron grill pan and then added the eggplant, sliced side down. I put the lid of my small casserole dish on top of them to press them into the grill. After grilling for a few minutes face-down I flipped them all over, skin-side down, replaced the lid to press them flat and grilled for a few more moments.

The oven had been pre-heating to 375. After the eggplant was done grilling and the chickpeas sauteed, I gathered my casserole dish and 2 cups of crushed tomatoes. 4 eggplant slices went into the baking dish, topped with half the chickpea mixture and followed by half the tomatoes. Repeat, cover with lid, pop into oven for 15 minutes.

Tasty all by itself. If there were guests or I was less hungry I’d have garnished with fresh parsley and a slice of lemon. This would also be great paired with some whole grains or stuffed into a baguette. I enjoyed it with a big salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb cream cheese (Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese–Non-Hydro is what I use)
• 2 tbsp port wine reduction*
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 7-8 oz sun dried tomatoes in olive oil (drained)
• 2 tbsp brown rice syrup
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional)

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend well (2min minimum so as to finely mince the tomatoes.)  Refrigerate over-night for flavors to meld and spread to thicken.  For a dip instead of a spread, double the water to 1/2 cup, or until desired consistency is reached.

Port Reduction

• 3 cups ruby port
• 3 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
• 3 bay leaves

Bring to low boil uncovered.  Reduce down to 1/2 cup, siring frequently with a whisk (about 30min).  Strain.  With the back of a mixing spoon, press onions of liquid, and save for something else.

May be reduced even further once onions are removed to make a syrup.

When my afternoon plans this past Sunday were canceled I decided to make up a big pot of stew. Even though Christie was out of town, I knew this would be a great lunch when she arrived home on Monday and we’d have some great leftovers for the week.

I wanted to try a little something different from the garbanzo stews I’ve been making so made up a batch of black-eyed peas. The taste of those with yam and tomato evoked a more “southwestern” flavor so I went with the cumin and smoked paprika to finish the stew off.

Southwestern Stew

2 carrots, diced
2 stalk celery, diced
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups black-eyed peas (cooked or 1 can drained & rinsed)
1 can diced tomatoes
4 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 can corn (drained)
1 large yam, diced
2 small zucchini, cut into half rounds
1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
8 stems of kale, stemmed and chopped up (about 2 cups)
8 cups water
1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin powder
1/4 chili powder or powdered cayenne (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon sweet, smoked parprika
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

You can use some olive oil to sauté the onion & garlic or, instead of sautéing in oil, you can use water, tamari or broth for an ultra low-fat dish. Once they start to soften add the rest of the vegetables (except the kale), beans, corn, and water. Bring stew to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer until all veggies are cooked through, about 40 minutes. Add spices, yeast and the kale, simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.

We served this with some quinoa for an even more hearty dish. Add a little Sriracha and Bragg’s over the top at serving, yum! Would also be great topped with some lime juice and a little chopped up, fresh coriander (cilantro) — but I didn’t have any. I did top with some fresh diced avocado and it was muy delicioso!

This makes an enormous pot of soup (about 10 servings?) – more than enough to have leftovers for lunch during the week!

This is a fast-assemble soup that is awesome with sourdough baguette/bread. I grilled some tempeh to toss on top as well…

Ingredients:

• 3tbsp oliv oil
• 1 large onion (sweet/white) diced or chopped
• 1 large bag mixed frozen veg (peas/carrot/corn, etc)
• 2 16oz cans garbanzo beans
• 2 24oz cans diced tomatoes
• 12-16 cups veggie broth
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 tbsp cornstarch or Wondra gravy maker
• 1 cup chopped frozen spinach

Directions:

1. Rinse and strain garbanzos
2. In a 12 quart stockpot, heat to medium, add oil, and saute’ onions for 4-5 min, or until just this side of tranlucent.
3. Add mushrooms & garlic. Saute’ for 4 min covered, stirring once or twice, until the mushrooms begin to let go of their liquids.
4. Add in frozen veg. Saute covered for 2 more min.
5. Add in tomatoes and their liquid. Stir well and cover.
6. Add broth to cans, swish to get all the rest of the tomato goodness. Add all liquid to stockpot.
7. Add garbanzos.
8. Cover ad bring to boil.
9. Reduce heat and simmer for a goodly long while.
10. Before serving, gather 2 cups of liquid, strain veggies, and place in a working bowl. Whisk in corn-starch/Wondra. Add back into stock-pot. Simmer for 5 min more while soup turns to stew. Add in 1 cup frozen chopped spinach.
11. Serve with bread or over pre-cooked pasta fusilli or rotini.

Serves more people than you probably know. I make BIG soup pots. Cheap meals for weeks.

Notes:

Obviously, you can take this soup in a number of directions. It can very easily be made into a tortilla soup (add cumin & cilantro and garnish with a slice of lime), or a tuscan (add an additional can of white beans, some fresh basil or 2 tbsp of pesto paste, garnish with lemon), florintien (add two cups of frozen spinach at the outset and cook in) or spanish (cumin & paprika, plus a small tin of sliced black olives & lemon). I typically start with this base soup, then do one or more of the varriations with the left-overs.

Yes, there is a recurring theme to my Sundays, especially in the chilly, wet months. Stews, soups and thick warming dishes. The mix of garbanzos, tomatoes, and squash is so popular that I tend to just do some variations on a those three ingredients.

Today’s stew is the best to date. Christie said to me while we enjoyed seconds that I had to write this one done. We tried to get a picture but discovered the camera had a dead battery.

2 cups cooked garbanzos (yes, canned is fine, just drain & rinse first)
1 smallish pie pumpkin peeled and diced (easily 4 cups)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 small sweet potatoes (I used the Japanese type)
1 medium red onion, diced
2 15oz cans diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen’s fire roasted, no salt added type)
6 leaves of chard, stems diced and leafy parts in small ribbons
5 c water
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon sweet, smoked paprika
1/3 c nutritional yeast
1 packet vegetarian bullion (I used the liquid type from TJs)

You can use some olive oil to sauté the onion & garlic or, instead of sautéing in oil, you can use water, tamari or broth for an ultra low-fat dish. Once they start to soften add the rest of the ingredients except the chard and spices/nutritional yeast. Bring stew to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer until squash is cooked through, about 40 minutes. Add spices, yeast and the chard, simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.

We served this with some quinoa for an even more hearty dish. Added a little Sriracha and Bragg’s over the top at serving, yum!

This makes an enormous pot of soup (about 10 servings?) – more than enough to have leftovers for lunch during the week!

Notice, other than the bullion packet (which yields one cup broth) there was no salt added at all!

Last Sunday, February 9th, the dinner request was, “Some kind of tomato-y garbanzo stew…”

Here are the delicious results!

2 cups cooked garbanzos (yes, canned is fine, just drain & rinse first)
3 cups diced winter squash (like butternut)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 “cloves” of shallot, chopped small
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 c water
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon herb mix (I was using “21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe’s)
1 teaspoon tamari
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast

You can use some olive oil to sauté the shallot & garlic or, instead of sautéing in oil, you can use water, tamari or broth for an ultra low-fat dish. Once they start to soften add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer until squash is cooked through, about 40 minutes, and serve. We served this with some quinoa for an even more hearty dish.

This makes a good size pot of soup (about 8 servings?) – enough to have leftovers for lunch during the week! I’m tagging this “Quick” because it is easily thrown together and set to simmer while you can get other things done.