Vegan Energy: Vegetable Quiche Bites

Vegetable Quiche Bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes bake time: 40-45 minutes depending on which oil you useYield: 24+ mini quiches

INGREDIENTS

For the food processor

1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup + 2 tbs grape seed oil or coconut oil
1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
1 12oz package of extra firm tofu, cubed

To (finely) chop:

1 cup spinach (or any dark leafy green)
1 cup broccoli
1 cup mushroom
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cup green onion

Step 1: Blend the food processor ingredients

You want to start out with the cashews. Just the cashews.

As you can see, the cashews aren’t ground into a fine pulp. Rather, it’s broken down to tiny little bits.

After that, add all the other food processor ingredients (oil, milk, nutritional yeast, salt, smoked paprika) but the tofu. We’ll save the tofu for last.

As far as oil preference, I’ve found that different oils produced a different quiche. If you’re looking for a light, airy quiche, use grape seed oil. The batch containing coconut oil was more moist and hearty, so if that’s what you’re all about, use coconut oil. The ones photographed here contained coconut oil, but I’ll admit that I prefer the taste/texture/results of grape seed oil in this recipe.

Now, what I like to do with the tofu is plop in the cubes while the food processor is turning. I don’t know if it does anything special, but I like to think that it’s less overwhelming for my appliance.

Once all the tofu is mixed in, you’re going to be left with a strange concoction: the base! Pour/gloop the base into a big bowl. Set aside.

Step 2: Place chopped veggies in the bowl

If you haven’t chopped your veggies yet, now is the time to do so.

You can use other veggies. Once your vegetables are chopped, place them in the same bowl as your base. Mix.

Step 3: Pour and bake
These quiche bites use a mini muffin pan. A regular muffin pan will not yield the same fantastic results; it’s too heavy and thick, causing the quiche to fall apart.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Get out the mini muffin pan. No need to spray the pan, the mixture has enough oil in it to moisturize the pan.

Stack them high.

If you used olive oil or grape seed oil, your bites should be ready in 40 minutes. Coconut oil, bake them for 45.

Take them out and let them cool down for 5 minutes. They’ll seem a little moist when you first take them out, but the cooling process will help them harden a bit.