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(Photo by Juan Carlo, Ventura County Star. Food Styling, Mary K. Benson Tableware, Sur La Table)

Quiche is a good choice for a brunch or luncheon. Most often served lukewarm, there are several variations of the basic theme, but a rich custard base is a constant. High fat ingredients like cream, eggs, and cheese are baked into a rich pie shell. Certainly a dish such as this would be considered far too heavy in fat and cholesterol for today's health conscious cook.

How can you make quiche without eggs or milk? The very definition is a baked savory custard made with milk and eggs. And doesn't the crust need a lot of fat to make it tender? Not at all! This quiche is rich tasting and flavorful without artery clogging animal products, and is very low in fat and completely cholesterol free.

The filling is made with wholesome, plant based alternatives that mimic the flavor and character of the classic quiche. Lite silken tofu, low fat soymilk, nutritional yeast, and mellow white miso blended with sherry, create the base for the rich-tasting cream filling. A mixture of rolled oats and whole wheat flour, the pastry is made with only one tablespoon of olive oil. This fabulous dish is easy to maker and baked in tart pans, 4 5/8 inches in diameter for convenient individual servings.

Individual Broccoli Quiche
(Reprinted with permission, The Enlightened Kitchen, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.©Marie Oser 2002)
6 Servings

For The Crust:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup lite silken tofu, firm
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon liquid Fruitsource or frozen apple juice concentrate
• 1/4 cup ice water

For the Filling:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 cups broccoli florettes, cut to bite size
• (1) 12.3 ounce package lite silken tofu
• 1/3 cup dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons mellow white miso
• 1/3 cup mashed potato flakes
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 cup enriched soymilk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

  Preheat oven to 400°
  Place oats, flour and salt in food processor, pulse to mix. Add tofu and process. Add oil and fruitsource and pulse to blend. Drizzle in ice water with the machine running, until the dough begins to form a ball. Knead the dough a few times and shape into a ball. Divide the pastry into 6 equal pieces and roll out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Press into each each tart pan and
  set aside.

  Heat oil over medium high heat in a 10" frying pan, 1 minute. Add garlic, onions and pepper. Saute 3 minutes. Add broccoli, cook 4 minutes, and remove from heat and set aside. Place tofu in food processor and blend until smooth. Place the sherry in a small bowl, add miso and blend with a fork until smooth. Add to the tofu with potato flakes, yeast, turmeric, soymilk, and lemon juice. Process thoroughly. Fold tofu mixture into the broccoli and spoon into each pastry lined pan. Place the quiche on a baking sheet and bake on a the center rack of the oven 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Enlightened Broccoli Quiche
Nutrition Analysis: per individual quiche
Protein 17g, Carbohydrate 40g, Fiber 6g, Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Calcium 62 mg Sodium
481 mg
Calories 280
from Protein: 24%, from Carbohydrate 56%, from Fat: 20%

Traditional Broccoli Quiche
Nutrition Analysis: per individual quiche
Protein 14g, Carbohydrate 22g, Fiber 1g, Fat 21 g, Cholesterol 56. mg, Calcium 47mg Sodium 455mg
Calories 341
from Protein: 17%, from Carbohydrate: 27%, from Fat: 57%

Lite Silken Tofu - Japanese style tofu with a rich tasting, smooth, creamy texture and a custard like consistency. Widely available in aseptic packages in supermarkets and health food stores as Mori Nu Silken Tofu Lite.

Nutritional Yeast - nutritional yeast adds a rich, cheese-like flavor, and creaminess, and is very high in protein and B vitamins. This is not Brewers Yeast, which has a bitter taste. At health food stores.

Liquid Fruitsource - A wholesome sweetener made from grapes and grains. Available at health food stores, if unavailable, use
apple juice concentrate.

Mellow White Miso - Pale beige in color with a subtle, sweet fragrance and a a rich, creamy, texture. In the refrigerated section of health food stores.

Mashed Potato Flakes - Barbara¹s Mashed Potatoes, a wholesome product. Available in health food stores.

Turmeric - Ground from the root of a tropical plant of the ginger family, and best known as an ingredient in curry powder. Like saffron, a little turmeric adds a rich golden color. Available in supermarkets.