Quiche fit for a mom brunch.. and Granita!

Wow, my hiatus was much longer than I expected! My apologies. No excuses, I got busy and then at home laziness took over, but I am back now and ready to share some recipes!

This may be my last decadent recipe for then next little while. I am about to embark on some mega dieting to fit into a bridesmaid dress. That, I am not looking forward to. I hope to find some tasty low calorie salads to get me through the next few weeks. Please send along suggestions!

Now before I ran away from the blog world, I was invited to attend a mom's group brunch party. I am not a mom, but somehow I got my in. Of course, I had to get some vegan treats involved in what is normally a meat/dairy fest style meal. I went to my vegan bible, veganomicon and decided to attempt a vegan quiche. I wanted to avoid the usual tofu-based dish since this was being served to a group on non-vegans. I don't know why, but something about tofu can freak the omnivores out. I think this group would have been fine, they were pretty cool and with the except of some scary birthing stories, it was an excellent time! I think the quiche was a big hit, and I certainly went for seconds. My sister, the vegan flirt, got into the groove and made an amaaaazing watermelon granita. So, so tasty; I could have ate the whole tray (you can see why a diet may be in order for me)

First off, the quiche:

Asparagus Quiche with Tomatoes and Tarragon (From Veganomicon)

• 1 pie crust
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup of vegan shortening
• 1/4 cup of cold water
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Lbs (about half a large bunch) of asparagus, trimmed
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 can of navy beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup of tarragon, chopped
• 2 Tbsp tarragon, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pepper
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 4 slices of a large tomato

First, make the crust (I did this the night before to save some time for sleeping). Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the shortening in small batches and cut it into the flour mix until it is crumbly and pebbly. Combine the vinegar and water and add to the flour in small batches and stir with a fork until well combined. The dough should hold together when you pinch it. You may need to add some extra water, add by spoonfuls. Now, take the dough and kneed a few times. Prep a work space with parchment paper and flour. Roll the dough out until it is about 12". Then use the parchment paper to transfer it to the pie plate.

The trick to making the dough is to make all ingredients as cold as possible. Keep even the flour in the fridge if you can. The colder the better.  In the end my crust was tasty, but the heat in my apartment made it a bit tougher than it should be. Hot apartment dweller beware!

OK, back to the quiche! cut the tips off of 4 asparagus spears and set aside. Heat a skillet to medium heat and add the oil. Saute the asparagus for about 5-7 minutes. While it is cooking, add the walnuts, 1/4 cup of tarragon and the nutmeg in a food processor and pulse into crumbs.
Remove the asparagus from the heat and set aside. Saute the shallots in a bit more oil in the same pan and saute for 3 minutes. Next add the garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer this to the bowl with the asparagus to cool.

Now, add the veggies to the food processor and pulse a few times. Add the beans and puree until smooth. Add the cornstarch and process again. Put the mixture back into the bowl and cool for 45 minutes or so.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Cover the pastry in the pie plate with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Once done, add the mixture into the pie crust and smooth it out. Sprinkle half of the breadcrumbs and drizzle with oil. Add the sliced tomato and asparagus tips on top then sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs, pepper, salt, and tarragon. Drizzle with olive oil.

Bake the quiche for about 45 minutes. Let it cool a bit before serving!

Whew - a lot of ingredients and a lot of instructions, but the plan is simple. Cook the veggies process it all together and bake in a prepped crust! It took about 90 min from start to finish. Two changes I will make next time, add some cornmeal to the pastry crust. I made a crust like this before and I think it would do well here. At the party Tara suggested that I don't fully process all the walnuts and asparagus to give more texture. I think with would make it even better! But the recipe alone is a hit. If you have some time, try it.

Now, the granita... this recipe came from Colour me Vegan by Colleen Patrick Goudreau and as my first granita, I am sold. I want to eat granita every day. It is not labour intensive, but you do need to be at home for like 3 hours to make it.
Watermelon Granita (From Colour me Vegan)

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup of water
• 4 cups of watermelon chunks (about half a watermelon)
• Juice of one lime
• Mint leaves for garnish

Make a simple syrup by combining the water and sugar on the stove over high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Add the cooled syrup, watermelon and lime to a blender and puree. Pour the mixture into a shallow dish (casserole or something similar) and put it in the freezer. after one hour, take it out and rake it with a fork. Put it back in the fridge and repeat this 3 times. Serve in pretty glasses and garnish with watermelon slices and mint (Don't forget to spank the mint for a beautiful aroma).

Perfect treat for a summer night... or morning!

Whew, this recipe was way less to write about. I hope to make this one again and maybe adding different fruit. A must try and a total hit of the party!

OK, coming up this week will be some salad recipes I think and other low calorie ways to eat vegan (It is harder than you may think!) I vow not to become a stereotype of living on guinea pig food, so I will be trying to find some for real tasty low calorie treats!

Bye for now!

One Long Cookie Night! Part one: The not so healthy

It seems like it has been forever since I made a recipe for the angry-vegan. I have been craving cookies for a while. I have also been promising an awesome post on cookies for a while... So... Here it is! Welcome to what was once cookie day, but now it is cookie night! I dedicate this to all the night owls out there... looking for something to do while the rest of the world sleeps.

One of my favourite things to do at night is cook. Weird? Maybe, but I find that as soon as I start something that requires me to stay awake, I start to want to sleep. It is a weird little mind-game that I play.

Tonight is no different. I planned to take this day for myself. Stay home and get a few things done while baking a few dozen cookies. Somehow day turned to night and here I am, nowhere near ready to sleep and needing something to do.

Part of my cookie challenge was to find a different egg replacer for each recipe. Egg replacers are very new to me. I have been avoiding them because I don't understand them. After a bit of research I learned not only do I use egg replacers all the time, but they are insanely easy to work with. Here are some egg replacers I have discovered:

• Apple sauce
• Banana
• Flax egg
• Chia egg
• potato water
• mashed potato
• commercial egg replacer
• soy milk and vinegar
• Silken tofu

With all these choices out there, why even bother buying eggs?? If you know anyone trying to cut down on cholesterol, then urge them to try one of these. An easy way to cut back. Lucky for me, vegan diets are essentially cholesterol free. I used to think eggs were a magic food. You can do so much with them and nothing can replace them. I will admit for the first time... I was so wrong!

OK. Let's get down to business here... the cookies.

Cookie # 1: Rum-Nog Cookies *Cornstarch egg substitute
Recipe from Vegonomicon
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup soy or rice milk
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 2 Tbsp dark rum**
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 corn starch
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 chopped pecan

Frosting:
- 2 Tbsp vegan margarine, soften
- 2 Tbsp soy milk
- 2 dark rum
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease two cookie sheets

In a big bowl, combine the oil, soy milk, sugar, molasses,rum, and vanilla. Beat until slightly foamy. Mix the dry ingredients together then put dry into the wet and mix until a dough forms.

Roll the dough into balls (about a Tbsp of dough), then roll the balls in the chopped pecans and place on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cook on the sheet for 5 min then place on a rack.


Frosting: Use electric mixer and cream the margarine. Add the confectioners sugar and stir with a fork until it is crumbly. Beat in the milk, rum** and vanilla. It should look like a butter cream frosting.

**Note: I made these in two styles. One alcoholic and one non. For the the non-alcoholic version, in the cookies I substituted apple juice for the rum and in the frosting, I just took it out.

If you like rum, you will like these cookies. If you don't substitute because they are still seriously good.

Old School Chocolate Chip Cookies * Flax Egg Substitute
Adapted from Crisco's recipe
- 3/4 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 flax egg (1 tsp ground flax and 2 Tbsp water)
- 2 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup of chocolate chips
- 1/2 pecans

Easy recipe. Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a small bowl, whisk the flax and water together and let sit for 2 minutes. whisk again until it has an eggy texture.

Mix together the shortening and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the milk, flax egg, and vanilla and mix again for 1-2 minutes.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Pour the dry into the wet (I do this in three batches) and mix until absorbed. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped pecans (optional).

Spoon Tbsp size dough balls on to the cookies sheets and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Let cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to plate.

If you want to make these a bit more adult, add in 1-2 tsp of instant espresso. Adds a lovely addictive quality. =)

Alright I think this is enough for one post. Coming next will be more cookies, but a little more healthy. Oatmeal raisin and Lemon sugar.