Roasted vegetable quiche

My roommate and I made dinner for a friend, and she decided we should make some quiche! I've never made quiche, but based on my frittata experience I helped decide what vegetables to use. We also had some smoked gouda cheese that needed to be used up, and it worked perfectly.

First we roasted a whole bunch of vegetables (at a temp of 400 degrees):
-baby carrots tossed in olive oil, salt, and rosemary (took the longest to roast)
-cauliflower cut into small pieces, tossed in olive oil and salt
-leeks, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch pieces, tossed in olive oil and salt
-tomatoes, sliced and roasted then briefly broiled to finish them

We made 2 quiches. We got pre-made crusts, which was a good idea. We followed the directions on the package and pre-baked them. Meanwhile I whipped together 6 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 2 cups of milk, and about 1 tsp salt. According to most directions, for one quiche you should use about 1 cup of milk and 3 eggs, though several added egg whites. The 6:2 ratio worked well for us although there was some egg mixture left over.

When the crusts were done, I added a mixture of vegetables and shredded gouda to each crust then poured on the egg mixture. Here's what I would recommend:
-layer mixture of vegetables and cheese, pour on eggs; add more vegetables, pour on eggs; add top layer (cheese, tomatoes, etc.). Keeping in mind that the eggs will rise, I feel that I didn't add quite enough vegetables.

Here's the combinations of vegetables we used:
Quiche #1: leeks, cauliflower, and smoked gouda (with extra on top).
Quiche #2: leeks, carrots, smoked gouda, with tomatoes layered on top.

We cooked them for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees (until the eggs set in the middle and rise). And they were delicious!

Potato time

I have three recipes to share this week: German potato dumplings, sweet potato + feta salad, and roasted zucchini lasagna. I'm happy to report that all of them turned out quite well!

I attended a German-themed party and I wanted to bring something vegetarian, and a German friend made these for me once, so I figured I would try them out! It's not too different from making gnocchi. I based my potato dumplings on this recipe. First I boiled and peeled the potatoes earlier in the day, and let them cool in the fridge. This was the most time-consuming step, so it was nice to just throw everything together at the end. Next I fried up two pieces of bread and roughly chopped it in a food processor. Then I mashed the potatoes a bit with a fork, then put all of the ingredients into a stand mixer. The potatoes were still a bit chunky, so I put the mixture into the food processor in batches. This was a good idea because the dough very quickly went from "starchy" to straight-up "doughy." It was easy to work with on a floured surface. My dumplings took only about 5 minutes to cook; I boiled each batch an additional 2 minutes after they started floating.

We enjoyed the dumplings (which are amazingly filling little carbo-balls) with vegan sausage (Field Roast brand). People at the party enjoyed them, so I consider it a success!

My second recipe was a more random "I need to use up this extra feta," and I recall from my travels in New Zealand that the combination of squash (pumpkin), spinach, and feta was popular. So I decided to find a sweet potato and feta-based salad recipe. Fortunately I came across this gem! I followed the recipe almost exactly, only substituting sunflower seeds for green pumpkin seeds.

In the photo above, I tossed the arugula with Annie's goddess dressing. But the sweet potato mixture was good with arugula mixed in as well, and later I added dried cranberries for some extra sweetness.

Finally, after professing my love of roasted zucchini last week, this recipe's also been on my mind all month! This roasted zucchini lasagna basically follows my previous lasagna recipe, and I substituted blanched kale for the steamed spinach which I actually think improved the taste. I was surprised that the author recommended adding cinnamon to the cheese mixture, so I added a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg; it was good!

Roasted zucchini

I'm still on a spree of roasting vegetables. Last night I broiled a red pepper and zucchini that I would put on a pizza, and I saved some for my pasta lunch as well. But the zucchini was amazing on its own! I borrowed this easy recipe from the Livestrong website.

Step 1: slice zucchini into strips roughly the size of french fries (maybe a bit thicker).

Step 2: toss in olive oil, chili powder, smoked paprika, and salt. Add large chunks of garlic if desired.

Step 3: broil for about 10-15 minutes, stirring about every 5 minutes, until the zucchini starts to brown. Make sure to not crowd the pan.

YUM!

Breakfast tacos with greens

This recipe is my slightly adapted version of Martha Rose Schulman's Breakfast Tacos With Eggs, Onions and Collard Greens (NYTimes Recipes for Health author). I eggs and tacos for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner...), and collard greens are pretty hardy, even after sitting at the bottom of the fridge for a few days.

I started by roughly doubling the amount of collard greens (1 bunch), onion (1), and garlic (2 cloves) used in the original recipe. I steamed the greens, meanwhile sauteed the onion and garlic. After cooling and chopping the greens, I added them to the saute pan as well. I added a bit of salt, chili powder, and chipotle garlic powder to that.

Setting the greens aside, I fried two small corn tortillas in a non-stick pan and set those aside. I used the same pan to scramble 2 eggs (2 whites, 1 yolk). While the egg was cooking, I cut a few slices of avocado and placed them in the tortillas. When the eggs were done, I put them and the greens/onion mix into the tortillas and added Sriracha.

The leftover greens/onion can be stored in the fridge and warmed up next time you cook the eggs and tortillas.