Me & The Moose

Who resolved to eat more vegetables a few weeks ago? Who's still doing it? I'm going to be optimistic and say, "Good for you!"

I, for one, didn't make any resolutions this year, so I haven't broken any. However, I did make a list of cooking goals. For someone who cooks a lot, there are still many things I want to learn and master. Like bread. I've never made bread! How that possible?

Until then, these savory waffles are delicious for breakfast, but even better for lunch as a swap for sandwich bread. The veggies are held together with gluten-free garbanzo flour, eggs, and a few tablespoons of potato starch. The waffles are sort of latka-adjacent and as such, the potato starch makes them a bit crispier when they're first cooked. (In case you didn't know, potato starch is the secret to crispy latkes) However, once they cool, they get softer and more bread-like, so the starch isn't strictly necessary.

After giving all of the veggies a rough chop, you want to pulverize them in the food processor. This keeps the final product from being too chunky. Also, releasing some of the veggie liquid makes the batter more batter-y, so don't worry if the blended vegetables look too wet.

Veggie waffles

¾ lb potatoes (about 1 large or 3 small potatoes)
½ medium onion
½ cup cauliflower (heaping)
½ cup broccoli (heaping)
1 medium carrot
1 large garlic clove
¾ cup garbanzo flour
2 Tbsp potato starch (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil

Heat your waffle iron.

Roughly chop all of the vegetables and place in a food processor. Process until all large chunks have been emulsified. Dump out into a large mixing bowl.

Add the garbanzo flour, potato starch (if using), salt, pepper, eggs, and olive oil and stir well to combine.

Grease your waffle iron with olive oil or avocado oil (spray is the easiest) and spoon about ¼ cup of batter into each opening of your waffle maker (ours makes two medium-sized waffles at a time). Cook until done according to your machine.

Top with fried eggs, cheese, ham, turkey, avocado, etc.

Yield: 9 waffles

Rainbow vegetable quiche | Me & The Moose. This quiche is a tasty and pretty way to get your toddlers to eat veggies. It also cubes easily for a finger food. #meandthemoose #quiche #vegetarian #vegancrust #brunch

Isn't she puuuurty? This dish combines a lot of M's favorite foods: Eggs, cheese, milk, and bread (or at least, something bread-adjacent). Also, quiches are basically fancy casseroles with all of the benefits (big-batch; make ahead and reheat; easily customized based on preferences; etc), but are less messy than some of the saucier casseroles and are cube-able, which means that quiche = toddler finger food. This particular quiche is so pretty that I would happily feed it to a crowd. It's also so tasty that I would happily eat it all by myself (which I pretty much did because M went on a hunger strike after I made it).

I used a pre-made crust because I'm lazy.

I also recommend pre-cooking the potatoes a little bit, but this step isn't crucial. I just like predictability and pre-cooking means that all of the veggies will be evenly cooked. Tossing them in raw is more of a gamble, though after 45+ minutes of cooking, they'll probably be fully cooked. Also, slicing the potatoes thinly ensures that they cook at the same rate as the squash and tomatoes, which you can make a little thicker.

Rainbow Veggie Quiche

Time: About 1.5 hours (most action up front and then waiting for the quiche to cook)
Yield: 6-8 servings as a main; 8-10 servings as a side

1 large tomato, sliced into about 1/4-inch rounds
½ large sweet potato, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
½ large yellow squash, sliced into about 1/4-inch rounds
2 large handfuls fresh spinach or 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
3 small purple potatoes (or regular potatoes if you can’t find purple), sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
olive oil
4 large eggs
¾ cup whole milk
2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you prefer)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 9” pre-made pie crust (or your favorite homemade crust in a 9-inch pie plate)

Preheat the oven to 400.

Slice sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, into 1/8th-inch slices. You can use a mandolin or just eyeball it. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Cook in the oven for about 8-10 minutes, just until the sweet potatoes become pliable.

In the meantime, combine 4 eggs and milk and whisk to combine. Add the minced garlic. Grate the cheese and add ½ cup to the egg/milk mixture, reserving ¼ cup for topping the quiche. Season generously with salt and pepper. Stir to combine and set aside.

Next, using a fork, make holes all over your pie crust. Once the veggies have softened, turn the oven down to 375 and cook the empty pie crust for 10 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and begin assembly. I recommend putting a sheet pan beneath your crust to catch any spillover.

Starting with the purple potatoes, spread a single layer over the bottom of the crust (pie crust should peek through). Then, add two handfuls of spinach. Pour about 1/3 of the milk/cheese/egg mixture over these layers and tap the quiche once to remove air bubbles.

Then, add the yellow squash layer and the sweet potato layer. Pour over the other 1/3 of the milk/cheese/egg mixture. Tap once to remove air bubbles. By this point, the liquid should be even with the sweet potato layer and everything should be up to about the rim of the pie crust. If not, add more liquid and veggies.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, uncovered.

After 30 minutes, remove the quiche and add the tomato layer. Pour a bit of the remaining egg/milk/cheese mixture over the tomatoes (if possible- there may not be enough room for more of the egg mixture and that’s totally fine) and top with the remaining cheese.

Return to the oven for 15 minutes, or until the quiche is set. You should be able to rotate the entire thing without much movement from the contents.

If the quiche is not set after 45 minutes, but the cheese on top is browning, cover with foil and check again after another 10 minutes.

Let cool before serving.

Me & The Moose

Me & The Moose

Elevated family food

Me & The Moose

Veggie waffles

Rainbow Veggie Quiche

Me & The Moose