Asparagus Dill Quiche

I'm not completely vegan. I eat mostly vegan, but I make exceptions, particularly for locally and sustainably raised animal products. If you want to make this vegan, just replace the eggs and cheese with the tofu omelet mixture from Vegan Brunch and Daiya cheese.



1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and diced
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh dill, minced
4 eggs
3 Tbsp grated cheese (optional)
1 package crescent rolls
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs until yolks and whites are incorporated. Add cheese and salt and pepper. Unroll the crescent roll dough and press into the bottom of a greased pie plate. Spread the asparagus, dill, and onions in the pie plate. Pour the egg mixture over the asparagus. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Potato & Pinto Bean Tacos w/ Blueberry-Nectarine Salad

Thanks to my helpful neighbor Howard's tortilla press, I was able to make my own tortillas for this recipe. I'm not crazy about corn tortillas unless they're homemade or toasted. I made just about everything in this meal from scratch, but of course you could use canned beans, hash browns, jarred salsa and pre-made tortillas to save time.



Taco Filling:
2 tsp olive oil
3 green onions, minced
2 cups diced potatoes
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can diced tomatoes with chilis
3 cups pinto beans, drained and rinsed

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and onions and cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Add everything else, lower heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until the potatoes are practically falling apart.

Fresh Salsa:
2-3 cups diced tomatoes
a handful of cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
a generous sprinkling of sea salt

Combine. Let sit at room temperature while everything else cooks.

Homemade Tortillas:
2 cups masa harina
1-1/3 cups warm water (I used a little of the bean cooking liquid)

Mix the masa with the water to form dough. Divide into 12 equal parts and roll each part into a ball with wet hands. Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium-high heat. Line the tortilla press with a Ziploc bag with the sides cut out. Squish the dough ball into a disk and place between the Ziploc flaps, then press. Peel the pressed tortilla gently off the Ziploc. Cook for 30 seconds to a minute on each side. Cover the cooked tortillas until ready to eat. Repeat with all the remaining dough balls, dusting the Ziploc with masa in between pressings.

To assemble the tacos:
Tortilla + potato/bean mixture + salsa + diced avocado



Blueberry-Nectarine Salad
Chop up nectarines. Mix them with blueberries. Serve. :P

Ingredient Notes: I found my masa harina in the baking aisle at the Franklin Dahl's. Pressing the tortillas is a pretty tricky art. I find they're harder to get off the Ziploc if you press them too thinly. (I've also tried wax paper and plastic wrap, and nothing works quite as well as the Ziploc.) If you don't have a tortilla press, you can always put the dough in the Ziploc, put it on the floor, put a skillet (or book) on top of that, and stand on it.

Lower-Fat Banana Muffins

This is my adaptation of the recipe from Veganomicon, made solely because I had three overripe bananas attracting fruit flies. These are delicious, moist and rich. They don't taste healthy at all.

3 overripe bananas
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp molasses (I used sorghum)
2 cups flour (I used 1 cup pastry flour + 1 cup spelt flour)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Grease muffin cups and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mash the bananas really well. Add the sugar, oil and molasses and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the dry to the wet and stir very gently, just until combined. Spoon into muffin cups (mine were about 3/4 full) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Spicy Chickpea Tomato Pasta

A quick and very tasty pasta dish.

1/2 box thin spaghetti
1 Tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 can chickpeas
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp sundried tomato pesto

Boil salted water for the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and toss with a little olive oil.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, chipotle and pesto and cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until heated through. Toss with the pasta and serve.

Kale Chips

I made these last night, and they were AMAZING. Kind of like salt-n-vinegar chips. Crispy and salty and NOM.



1 bunch kale, leaves de-stemmed, washed and dried
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice or balsamic vinegar)
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk the oil, lime juice and salt together and coat the kale evenly. Spread the kale on baking sheets and bake for 7-15 minutes, or until the leaves are crispy and break easily. (Mine only took 7-8 minutes, but the original recipe called for 12-14, so who knows?)

Chickpea Salad Sandwiches

This is adapted from Vegan With a Vengeance and my previous recipe, but it's highly, highly adaptable. It's a good source of protein and iron, and it you whip up a batch at the beginning of the week, you'll have easy, cheap lunches.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp mayo
1 tsp whole grain mustard
2-3 Tbsp pickle relish (to taste)
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 green onion, minced
1 Tbsp shredded seaweed (nori, dulse or hijiki)
a pinch of black salt (optional, gives it an 'eggy' flavor)

Mash the chickpeas. Mix everything else in and adjust seasonings to taste. Spread on toasted whole wheat bread.

Ingredient notes: Seaweed can be super-expensive at health food stores, but it's cheap at Asian markets (like Double Dragon on 2nd Ave). You can used steamed tempeh or any other white beans in place of the chickpeas... the chickpeas are just a little firmer, so they hold up better in this salad. I found my black salt (which is actually pink) at Namaste Indian Grocery, at 77th and University.