Muffin Cup Quiche

Sunday morning with my dearest girlfriends...what a treat! I made these muffin cup quiches for the event. Not all the girls were vegan, or even vegetarian, but every last one of them got gobbled up, so I would have to say they were a big hit.



I made two variations, a mediterannean influenced sundried tomato and spinach one, and a brocolli "cheddar"version, complete with fake bacon. I used phyllo dough for the crusts. I will give you the recipe for the base quiche mix, and let you know what I added in for the different variations, but seriously, you can make these any old way you want to. In fact, you don't even have to make individual cups. One recipe would fill a premade pie crust quite nicely.

Basic Quiche Mix
Ingredients (makes 12 muffin cup sized quiches)
1 block of extra firm tofu, pressed, drained and crumbled
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp yellow prepared mustard
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup chickpea (besan) flour
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions
In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients and mush it all together with your hands until well incorporated.

For the mediterranean style quiche I added 2 cups of spinach leaves, chiffonade, and about 6 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped into little pieces.



For the broccoli "cheddar" quiche. I added 1/2 of a medium white onion, diced finely, 1 tablespoon of mello white miso, about 2 cups of brocolli florets, and about 1/4 cup of imitation bacon bits.



For the crust, I used phyllo dough. First, you need to prepare your muffin pans by spraying them liberally with nonstick spray. Following the instructions on the box, I carefully unrolled the package of dough, and, using a pizza cutter, I cut the dough into 8 even pieces. Then I oiled each layer lightly, and grabbed about 3 or four layers for each "cup". I pressed it into the muffin pan, and then scooped some of the quiche mixture into the cup.



I baked mine at 350 for 15 minutes. Checking them at 10 minutes. I am still experimenting with my electric oven, so no guarantees to accuracy of timing and temperature. Take them out of the oven when the crusts begin to brown.

Oh my gosh! It's been a whole week...

...since I've updated my blog! I am so ashamed. Well it was a crazy weekend, but the Children's Benefit for Salem School went off without a hitch. My wonderful Mom came down to help out, and we got lots of wonderful feedback on the food. We served over 300 phyllo cups! People kept coming back for more, and lots of folks were very interested in the fact that all of it was vegan. "How do you make it so good without meat?" "We were told to come get food from this table, 'cause it was the best!" The coolest thing was, we were set up next to a guy who did an entire table of meats and cheeses, and guess what? Almost all of his food was left uneaten at the end of the night...he said I was his nemisis...hee-hee.

SCORE ONE FOR THE VEGAN TEAM!

Here are some pics of the final products:

Me, my Mom and our table:


Little Taco Salads (Soyrizo mixed with Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese topped with Tofutti Sour Supreme and green onions):


Caramelized Onions and walnuts in an agave nectar and balsamic reduction:


Mediterranean Couscous (with olive oil, basil, sundried tomatoes and garlic):


Spanikopita, spinach and tofu feta with lemon juice, nooch and garlic, topped with toasted pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes (this seemed to be the crowd favorite!):


Mushroom Rissotto made with Jasmine rice instaed of arborio:


And our tower of Lemon Gems (from VCTOTW) with lemon cream cheese frosting, topped with lemon zest and a blueberry:


And if you are wondering about the bandanas and horse shoes all over the table...the party had a western theme and we were asked to decorate our table accordingly.

Appetizers Take 2

I give you "The Phyllo Cup"...You give me...HONEST feedback!

Phyllo cup filled with a garlic, basil and sundried tomato couscous garnished with a baby basil leaf:


Phyllo cup filled with a spinach and tofu feta mixture, topped with sundried tomatoes (pretend there are toasted pin nuts on top too!):


Phyllo cup filled with sweet carmelized onions and walnuts in a balsamic reduction:


Phyllo cup filled with sweet carmelized onions and walnuts in a balsamic reduction garnished with a fresh basil leaf:

A Break From Burgers...

...to have fun with phyllo!

An army of tasty triangles, all lined up and ready for duty!

After reading in The PPK forums that I am not alone in thinking a Saturday night at home cooking with my honey is more fun than going out to a stinky bar to spend way too much money on crappy beer...last night we decided to stay home and have fun with phyllo.

I have a humble kitchen, so we had to invent a work station by placing a door on top of a table to give us ample space to work.



I had every intention of making the VwaV Spanikopita, but alas, no fresh spinach at the grocery. Damn. So I improvised and made myself 2 varieties. One filled with the very popular (at least around my house!) Meximosa stuffing of soyrizo mixed with tofutti better than cream cheese and another filled with a delightfully sweet and savory mixture listed below:

Soyrizo mixed with Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese

Delightful Mushroom Stuffing:

Delightful Mushroom Stuffing:
(makes enough filling for 9 phyllo triangles)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil (for sauteing)
1 8oz package mushrooms, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 oz (about 1/2 cup) walnut pieces
1/2 cup cashews (ground up)
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cinamon
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
2 additional tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
Sea salt and frewsh cracked pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat oil in a skillet and add the mushrooms, onions and garlic, saute until fragrant and the mushrooms have reduced by about half. Add all other ingredients excepts salt, pepper and pine nuts to a food processor and pulse a few times, so that the mixture is chopped well, yet still a bit chunky. Fold in the pine nuts and add salt and pepper to taste.

Follow the instructions in VwaV for phyllo triangles in the directions for spanikopita...which, as I stated before, was what I had intended to make in the first place.