Ingredients:

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Put first 8 ingredients (tofu through salt) into blender. Puree until completely smooth, stirring a couple of times between blending.

Mix rice with 3 tablespoons of the tofu mixture and the vegan parmesan (optional). Add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray or canola oil, and press the rice into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Brown Rice Crust

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven.

Snap the tough ends off the asparagus and discard. Cut off the top 3 inches and set aside. Chop the remaining stalks into 1/2-inch pieces.

Cutting Asparagus

Spray a medium non-stick saucepan with olive oil and heat. Add the shallots and cook for about 1 minute. Add the garlic, asparagus, and two tablespoons water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, bell pepper, and 2 more tablespoons water. Cover and cook 2 more minutes. Remove cover, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, for a minute or two until most liquid has evaporated. Separate out the asparagus tips from the rest of the vegetables. (NOTE: Next time I will not pre-cook the asparagus tips; they should cook well enough in the oven.)

Spread the vegetables (excluding the asparagus tips) on top of the rice crust. Pour the remaining tofu mixture over the vegetables, stirring lightly to distribute it through the vegetables. Arrange the asparagus tips over the top and spray lightly with olive oil.

Assembling Quiche

Bake for 60 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting (this helps make the quiche slice more cleanly, but if you don’t care about that, go ahead and dig in; we did!)

(Serves –)

Ingredients:

Directions:
Rinse the asparagus and remove the tough stem ends. Steam or boil the spears until tender but still crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain, rinse under a gentle stream of cold running water or plunge into a pot of cold water to cool them quickly, and drain again. Set aside in a serving bowl.
Remove any tough stem ends from the snow peas. Blanch for just a minute or two, until the color brightens and they are crisp-tender. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Add the snow peas to the serving bowl and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle the asparagus and snow peas with the dressing, top with some scallions and mung sprouts, and garnish with a few cherry tomato quarters.

(Serves 6)

We get excited when fresh asparagus and snow peas become abundant in our local markets. The lovely presentation of these wonderful, bright green vegetables makes this a delightful spring and early summer salad. We use both asparagus and snow peas, but if you prefer to make the salad with only one or the other, use 1 ½ pounds of asparagus or a pound of snow peas.