Vegan Quiche #1 and #2

I love making crustless, vegan quiches! They are so easy to make and so healthy! They also are a great variation to eating tofu and give you the wonderful benefits of nutritional yeast!

Yeasts have long been used as supplements. While brewer's yeast is a by-product of making beer, nutritional yeast is made specifically for human consumption (1). It is a rich source of B-complex vitamins, trace minerals, and some protein (1)! Nutritional yeast has a cheese-like taste- sprinkle some on your popcorn, or substitute nutritional yeast for parmesan. However: nutritional yeast is not a good source of vitamin B12 (a vitamin of particular concern for vegans), unless it's been fortified with it (2)! You can find nutritional yeast in the bulk section of Whole Foods or the Harvest Co-Op.

The first recipe I made was the Crustless Spinach and Mushroom Quiche from Happy Herbivore. You cannot compare vegan quiche to quiche made from real cheese, but I was happy with my first attempt at making a vegan quiche!

My second quiche was adopted from Fat Free Vegan's Asparagus and Mushroom Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust. However, I doubled the tumeric so it was more yellow, and I substituted some of the veggies. I think it was the addition of tahini in this recipe that won me over, and so this is probably a recipe that I will be returning to. I may have also liked this recipe better because it did not have lemon juice, as the other one did. I did not make the brown rice crust this time, but I definitely need to try that the next time around- it sounds great! Here is my crustless, modified, and simpler version of the recipe:

Servings: 5
Cooking time: 45-60 min

Ingredients:
One 14-ounce package firm tofu
1/4 cup plain soy milk
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon tahini
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 oz spinach (fresh, frozen, or defrosted frozen is fine)

Directions

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. 2. Add the first eight ingredients in a blender, and puree until smooth.
3. 3. -If you already defrosted some frozen spinach, skip this step!
   -If you are using still frozen spinach: put the spinach in a bowl. Boil some water, and pour the boiled water over the spinach. Ta-da! The spinach is ready to use. It should be soft and not icy. A little ice is ok. Alternatively: steam the spinach, or add some water to a pot and cook the spinach until it's wilted.
   -If you are using fresh spinach: steam the spinach, or add some water to a pot and cook the spinach until it's wilted.
   -Note: feel free to substitute or add any veggies as you wish!
4. 4. Drain and press the spinach to remove the extra water.
5. 5. In a bowl, combine the tofu mixture with the spinach/vegetables.
6. 6. Pour the mixture into a greased pie dish. (Psst- feel free to add a garnish, now or at the end, for some nice visual appeal!)
7. 7. Bake for 45-60 min. The quiche should be slightly crusty around the edges, and when you cut through the quiche it should be somewhat solid.

Note: this quiche is light. It makes a good snack, or an accompaniment to a meal. I divided it into 5 servings, because each 14-oz package of firm tofu is about 5 servings, with 70 calories, 3 g total fat, 2 g carbohydrate, and 7 g protein each.

And I apologize that I am not the world's best photographer. But I promise you that the quiches tasted delicious! :)

Enjoy!