Butternut Squash Quiche

Quiche is one my favourite recipes to make when I am only slightly pressed for time and want something light but filling – think of the full feeling you have when you eat an entire plate of sushi, and I don’t mean the rolls stuffed with tempura. I mean the fresh fish. It’s this amazing feeling that we have forgotten in North America, mostly a result of over-stuffing ourselves with too large plates of fries and cheeseburgers. Now, whenever we have a completely satisfying meal that doesn’t want to make us nap it is intriguing, enlightening even. Food isn’t heavy? It doesn’t weigh you down? Really, it needn’t do that because that is sodium and fat, my friends. Think of your holiday dinners and they reason why you wear your most comfortable pants.

Quiche, and this one in particular because it has only a moderate amount of goat mozzarella and plain goat yogurt – goat products offer a more pungent and “cheesy” flavour so you don’t need to use as much to achieve the same flavour; makes for a great lunch or fortified dinner. I think that is my favourite quality of goat milk products; just a small amount of milk in a dish can transform it into this magically creamy dish without the extra heft from cheese.

I am not usually blatant about the fact that the kids and Mr. are dairy intolerant; I am aware that I mention it but at home we do not make a big deal of it. I think it’s important to experiment and attempt to at least recreate the dishes my children won’t have the opportunity to eat. Mr. was already in his twenties when he had to stop eating milk products; it is the children who have never known any different. A funky little anomaly is that (mercifully) everyone can happily indulge in goat milk products. Goat is … more fragrant but that is what makes it so much more enjoyable if you don’t use a heavy-hand with it. Chevre has replaced cream cheese in our icing recipes.

Goat milk came into our lives out of a desire to loosen our reliance on soymilk, cheese and yogurt. Miss N was the only fan of almond milk and she was still only lukewarm on the idea and then I learned a friend of my mom’s substituted with goat milk because of her own dairy intolerance. Replacing soymilk was a slow process and at this point goats are one of Miss N’s favourite animals because “they give her milk”. Sweetness.

The crust of this quiche is oil-based despite my fondness for a lard crust (which make the absolute flakiest pies!); the oil crust is sturdier but that doesn’t mean you will be making any flaky sacrifices. I used warm water to ease the mixing process and I did find the dough to have a bit of spring to it. I think that might just be me since it happens anytime I make a pie. I won’t include the recipe here because Mari of Once Upon a Plate wrote a fantastic recipe for an oil crust and I have always followed that one since discovering her gorgeous blog nearly 2 years ago. I haven’t revisited in a very long time and I should return. The tip about the mustard also comes from Mari!

The Quiche

1 piecrust, unbaked

2 – 3 eggs –my tart pan is approx. 11 inches

1 cup milk

¼ cup plain yogurt

handful grated mozzarella

½ cup butternut squash, shredded

mustard – I used tangy mustard from a beautiful gift basket from my sister-in-law

S & P to taste

basil oil – the gift basket, again

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and yogurt until smooth. Add squash and mix gently until thoroughly blended, salt and cracked pepper. Obviously you can’t really taste the mix but a solid pinch of salt and a few turns on a pepper mill should work.

3. With the back of a spoon or a brush, smear the bottom of the pie shell with a thin layer of mustard.

4. Pour in the egg mixture. Drizzle with the basil oil (feel free to use an alternative and complementary flavoured oil), just enough to flavour it.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until very lightly brown around the edges and set in the middle. Allow to rest for about 6-8 minutes before slicing into it, other wise it can “poof” or.. In fact, I don’t know. It will be the egg will be slightly puffed up as if it were trying to be a soufflé but if you give it a few minutes the delusions of grandeur will subside and you can eat it.

I served this with Mr’s gorgeous salad in last Friday’s Photo Friday post. Enjoy.

Spinach and Egg Crisps

The other day I was seriously craving hummus but the only chickpeas in the pantry were dried and seeing how it was already lunchtime, I couldn't really make Bubs wait 2 hours for chickpeas to hydrate. Instead, I start washing, chopping and throwing things into a pan without one clue as to what I was doing. The tastiest meals can come out spontaneity. This plate of crisps was perfect for Bubs and me as a light lunch, add in a glass of milk and a piece of fruit for lunch and it's a surprisingly healthy lunch. It is also a potential party food, spiced up a bit with slivers of smoked salmon and a bright drizzle of olive oil.

The recipe

bag on spinach, washed

half onion, diced

3 tbsp. apple cider

salt

2-3 tbsp. soy milk

S&P to taste

2 eggs

15 stoned wheat crackers (mine had caraway seeds and I strongly urge you to do the same)

1. Bring water to boil. Gently lay (with a spoon) two eggs in the water. Set the timer for 10 minutes.

2. In a pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil until it slips easily across the pan. Add the onion and cook until translucent.

3. Add the spinach and the apple cider, cover. It should take just a few minutes for the spinach to wilt, even though you will be blending it and breaking it down you do not want the spinach cooked to mush as it will destroy the flavour.

4. The eggs should be finished at this point. Dump out the water and run under cold water. Leave to sit in the water, you could even add a few ice cubes to speed up the process. Once cool, peel and slice.

5. In a blender add the cooked spinach and the soy milk. Pulse - I didn't make mine into a smooth purée because I wanted the texture. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

6. With a spoon, drop a spoonful of the spinach mix onto a cracker and flatten with the back of the spoon. Top with a slice of egg. Salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Enjoy.

School Lunch: Veggie Pasta in Poppyseed Dressing

This was actually a dinner in the midst of summer but I really think it would translate well into a child's lunch, provided you included an ice pack. You do want your kids to have a lunch and not be the kid with the weird mom who gives stinky lunches, right? Unless your kid won't clean his or her room, then have at it mean mama (or daddy) and do as you will. Included on this dinner plate are fried green tomatoes which are delicious but I don't suppose they'd translate well to a school lunch.

I don't suppose it's obvious that you ought to prepare vegetables your children will eat. I have a secret for you, if you keep giving your kid veggies, they'll eat them. Really. Miss N never eats the carrot sticks whenever I put out a platter of hummus but since we have a ton of carrots thanks to our CSA I've been putting them in her lunch. Miss N has eaten those carrot sticks every single day. Be resolute about your children's health and it will happen.

The Poppyseed Dressing

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup plain yogurt

half onion, diced

1 tbsp. honey

3 tbsp. Poppyseeds

salt to taste

A note: If you do not have buttermilk or you have little people like mine who cannot tolerate cow's milk, use your usual milk and add about a teaspoon of lemon juice.

1. Stir all ingredients together. Allow to rest for a bit for the flavours to marry (isn't that precious?).

Vegetables

Your choice, chopped into bite-sized amounts

1. To blanche, cover in boiling water and allow to sit for a few minutes until the colour becomes vibrant and they just start to become tender.

Toss together with some cooked pasta, the vegetables and the dressing. The hardboiled egg comes in so that the little person in your life will have a punch of protein for energy. If you are so inclined, feel free to chop the egg onto the pasta.

An Improvised Lunch: Sweet Pea Hummus

Today's lunch, like most days, is a simple affair. We have an eclectic mix of ingredients which meant a fair amount if improvising. Hummus (or something akin to hummus) is perfect for the mix kicking our in the fridge so we ended up with a sweet pea hummus that was flavourful, a little unexpected and a perfect dip for roasted garlic spaghetti squash fritters. Extra carrot sticks and broccoli florets rounded out a lunch my little people will always eat. When in doubt, give kids dip worthy foods. They'll love you for it.

Sweet Pea Hummus

one can of chickpeas

1/4 cup peas

garlic

one tablespoon dijon mustard

2 tsp. liquid honey

one tablespoon white miso paste (it could be less, honestly I just eyeball my ingredients!)

salt

white pepper

olive oil

apple cider vinegar

soy milk

1. Mix all ingredients together. As always, the spices are listed as to your taste. After you add the liquids (pretty well in equal parts to be able to blend/bind) throw in a dash of sugar to cut the acidity of the apple cider vinegar. Blend until smooth.

I like to make my hummus before cutting up the veggies so that the flavours of the hummus can bloom and mix.

I have to tweak the fritter recipe a little but as soon as it is up to par, I'm sure it will make an appearance!

Cold Sun, Spring Dreams

As the inaugural post to this new blog I thought it would be appropriate to write about the first quasi-spring afternoon in the Northern Hemisphere. The winter was strange this year. My first winter in Nova Scotia a few years ago was horrific: snow upon snow upon snow and it was actually -20 to -30 for three weeks straight. Not the kind of weather a kid from southwestern Ontario is accustomed to, but this winter was different (read: warm and only one nor'easter!). And, as March is chugging along into spring there have been more sunny days than not.

Saturday was a wonderfully lazy day. The babies were off to the grandparents and it was just Mr. White Plates and myself at home (and a cat who was showing off her majestic scowl to the sun). We had decided to forgo a lunch of sushi out, mostly because I was out of soy sauce and we forgot to pick some up at Pete's (wonderful grocer!). I should mention that I am intolerant of gluten which is why we tend to eat at home a great deal or make various sacrifices when out. A recurring theme will no doubt be my lamenting the loss of French pastries in my life ...

Moving on, lunch! I love lazy, wine filled lunches. I shouldn't say wine-filled because I don't like to be woozy from too much wine in the middle of the afternoon but two glasses makes the world a little bit more gentle and rosy, doesn't it? We had some left over roasted chicken from Friday night's dinner so what started out as a simple chicken salad salad turned into a scrumptious lunch.

The ultimate part of this lunch was the aioli. I adapted the recipe from the always wonderful David Lebovitz, although, I added a dried sage to accompany the chicken. Fresh sage would have been incredible but none was to be found. The result though, was delicious. Whisking the egg yolks is quite the feat but the result is so much better than any jarred mayonnaise.

To accompany the open-faced tomato chicken sandwich I blanched a few spears of asparagus and tossed the vivid green asparagus with goat butter, sea salt and cracked black pepper. Mr. White Plates was particularly fond of the asparagus, it was perfectly firm without being undercooked. I cannot wait for fresh spring produce from the Farmer's Market. The Halifax F.M. is an absolute treat on Saturday mornings!

Yum!