RECIPE: Amazing Veggie Quiche

In our apartment, brunch reigns supreme. I think I've already demonstrated my affection for lentils and passion for thick, chunky soups, but brunch ranks right there for me. One of my all-time favorite brunch dishes comes from Lakewinds Natural Foods in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The combination of spices and vegetables is delicious, and the smooth eggy custard base is decadent but not heavy.

I use a basic frozen pie crust when I make this, but you could easily substitute a homemade version (perhaps whole-wheat?).

Lakewinds Quiche
Serves 12, yield 2 quiches

Ingredients

2 pie crusts, uncooked
1/2 cup sun dried tomato
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion diced
1 15 oz. can artichoke hearts, quartered
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup spinach leaves chopped
1 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon dried mustard
dash nutmeg
7 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese shredded

Directions
1. Defrost, bring to room temperature, and unroll pie crusts. Place each crust in a 9" pie pan and crimp edges of dough.
2. Hydrate tomatoes in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain, cool, and cut into mediium size pieces.
3. Sauté onion, mushrooms, and thyme in olive oil until onions are transparent. Add remaining vegetables and sauté 1-2 minutes. In a large bowl, combine milk, eggs, cheeses, and spices. Whisk smooth. Add vegetables and tomatoes.
4. Pour into crusts. Bake at 350°F for 30 - 40 minutes or until the middle of each quiche is set (doesn't wiggle). Cool slightly and serve.

Variation
To make mini quiches, use a muffin pan and cut dough into circles using a cookie cutter or rim of a water glass. Use 1 pie crust per 12 mini quiches, and you will need 3 crusts (36 mini quiches) to use all the filling.

RECIPE: Golden Gate Bridge Lasagna

I've had my share of tasty veggie lasagnas over the years, from my mom's butternut squash lasagna with a delicate cream sauce to a friend's gourmet vegetable lasagna. They're all worthy variations, and I'll post some in the future. However, I wanted to start out with a basic recipe that my husband and I created a few weeks ago. I'm sure that there are tons of similar recipes out there, but this one can be whipped up in a flash and contains a scant 280 calories per large piece (!!!). Keeping the red pepper raw before baking adds a nice texture and keeps it from becoming mushy.

The title of the lasagna comes from the day we made it. My husband and I were getting ready to make the chilly, foggy, 8-mile round-trip from our apartment across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, but we also wanted to cook something that we could eat throughout the week. So, we assembled the lasagna before our walk and popped it into the over when we got home. It was the perfect thing to scarf down after returning home!

Golden Gate Bridge Lasagna
Serves 12 (or 6 really hungry people)

Ingredients
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles (we like Trader Joe's)
2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce (we like Trader Joe's Arrabiata Sauce for a little spice)
1 15 oz. tub fat-free or low-fat ricotta cheese
2 c. shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. + 2 T. shredded parmesan/asiago blend
1 heaping t. nutmeg
16 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
3 c. chopped mushrooms, your favorite variety
2 red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 large yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 T. olive oil

Directions
1. Combine ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/2c. of the parmesan/asiago in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion, cook on medium heat 3 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms, and cook until mushrooms are light golden brown and have just started to shrink. Remove from heat and place into a bowl. Set aside.
3. Spray the bottom of a lasagna pan with no-stick spray, and spread a thin layer of sauce over the bottom. Place a layer of lasagna noodles, breaking pieces if necessary to completely cover the layer. Spoon 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the noodles, then 1/3 of the vegetable mixture over the cheese. Sprinkle pieces of the raw red pepper over the cooked vegetable mixture.
4. Continue the sauce-noodles-cheese-veggies-red pepper layers until you run out, finishing with a layer of noodles with sauce on top. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 T. parmesan/asiago blend.
5. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and sides are bubbly. Let cool 15 minutes, serve, and enjoy!

Bay Area restaurant-a-palooza

I know it's been far too long since I've posted a recipe, but in my defense, I've been eating up a storm in some of the Bay Area's best restaurants! My husband and I are living on a tight budget, so we've foregone dining out with the exception of a celebratory burrito in the Mission or a slice of pizza from Dino's on Fillmore. However, my wonderful in-laws were in town this weekend, and we wanted them to truly taste the town!

If you live in the area or are thinking of visiting, it's good to have a few places in mind that also have meat options in case your friends or relatives prefer a little carne with their meal. I'd love to take everybody I know to Greens in Fort Mason, but curried sweet potato souffles won't please everyone ;) So, here's a quick summary of the places we tried. I'll never be a food critic, but I can just share my opinions (and veggie option availability).

Fresca on Fillmore is an amazing Peruvian restaurant. I ordered the bell pepper stuffed with quinoa risotto, cheese, vegetables, and a spicy cream sauce. I was really excited to get a vegetarian option that wasn't pasta with tomato sauce, and this dish really was up to par. It was served a little bit cold, but I attribute it to the packed restaurant as opposed to the dish itself. The cream sauce is made without chicken broth, so it's a truly vegetarian dish. If you were to skip the sauce, it could be made vegan. My meat-eating compatriots were impressed by the cerviche as well as the sangria!

Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf is nationally famous for its seafood dishes, but I was interested to find out what the vegetarian options were (and how they tasted). They had the requisite pasta dishes on the menu ($28 for pasta with tomato and basil? Are you serious?), but they also had a vegetarian risotto that looked promising. Our server was happy to check with the kitchen to find out if it was made with vegetable broth, and it was! It was served with perfectly al dente rice, a cornucopia of vegetables, and no cream or cheese at all (I got some parmesan added on the top). A truly vegan risotto is almost impossible to find, but the creaminess inherent in the rice made it a rich dish nonetheless. It's not the highest-protein dish, but it was great for a single meal. Needless to say, the seafood dishes left everyone stunned and raving, especially the sea scallops.

Squat and Gobble in the Marina has always interested me because of its.... unique name. When I heard that it had the best patio brunch in San Francisco, I knew we had to go. Brunch is often a more veggie-friendly meal, but their diverse offering of vegetarian crepes, omelets, pancakes, and breakfast sandwiches gave me a huge smile. I loved how the different omelets are named after San Francisco neighborhoods. I got the Lower Haight and loved the veggies, mozzarella, and pesto (!!!). Although my father-in-law is a generally happy guy, he really couldn't stop raving about this place! Any restaurant that can satisfy a hippie veggie like me and a meat-and-potatoes guy like him gets my stamp of approval :)

That was just a sampling of restaurants we visited, and I have a few I've been meaning to write about (including a Chinese food place that actually lets you know which of their sauces can be made with vegetable broth!). Perhaps I'll post a part two soon :) Enjoy!