My friend Alma and I hadn't had the occasion to cook together for far too long, so we decided to make a decadent brunch. She had the idea to go wild with a quiche, using both sweet and savory ingredients such as apples, eggplant, mint and shallots. I gladly jumped on board and suggested that we take our "breakfast pie" one pie-notch further by making it with a graham cracker crust.
I chopped up a pack of whole-wheat organic graham crackers with some melted Earth Balance in the food processor. I added salt, curry and cinnamon to twist in some flavor.
I coated my baking dish with olive oil and packed in an even, tight layer of graham mix and put it in the oven at 400* for 10 minutes.
We prepared the apples, shallots and mint by chopping them and setting them aside.
Alma began chopping cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green onions and more mint for an Israeli- style salad to serve on the side. 
In a small bowl I mixed 1/2 cup of flour with a teaspoon of salt and teaspoon of baking powder. I added it to the 7 eggs I had cracked in a larger bowl. 
I mixed this well with a fork until as smooth and blended as possible. 
Alma had been busy sauteing our onion, sweet potato (that we had already boiled to soften), eggplant, zucchini, apple, basil, and mint in light olive oil. She spiced with salt, paprika, cayenne, cumin and lemon.
We spread out our cooked veggie lot evenly over the graham crust and then topped it with the egg batter. 
I sprinkled a nice coat of cayenne over the top to give it some nice color. 
Alma finished off the salad by adding fresh avocados, olive oil, salt and lemon. 
We put the quiche in the already hot oven, turned it down to 350* and cooked it for about 35-40 minutes until it was set up completely and brown around the edges. 
We used our leftover sweet potato-veg mix as a side and served up this mouth-watering quiche with a generous serving of salad. 
We were both blown away with how well the graham cracker crust worked and couldn't stop eating this quiche all day long!
So in my last post, I told of my recent visit to Santa Cruz where I visited my sister Alia's garden. Here's the booty I snuck away with:
And here is what I did with it:
Already I had in my produce drawer an onion, thyme, basil and mushrooms- so I sauteed them up together with some olive oil, braggs, salt and pepper. 
I soaked some sunflower seeds and cashews in water for a half hour and then drained them and threw them in the food processor with the mushroom/onion saute. 
I added a half of an avocado that I had, a spoonful of tahini, some braggs, lemon juice, agave, curry, cayenne, cinnamon, salt, pepper and cumin. It reached a wonderful texture and taste- thick and almost meaty. Dynamic, deep flavors with both spice and sweetness. YUM! I set this aside. 
I cut up the rest of my onion and all my garden produce (zucchini, yellow baby squash, eggplant and Pablano peppers) into long strips like I would use with sushi. I sauteed these in olive oil and lightly spiced.
Simultaneously , I had been steaming the garden kale until cooked yet not completely soft and wilted, and drained it to cool down. I placed it in a large bowl and added fresh lime juice, agave and braggs. 
I had scored bag of my sister's cherry plums from her tree, so I cut these up to add to the kale, deciding to make cold salad. 
I cut up the fresh squash blossoms we had picked off her squash plants and added them raw.
I added raw sunflower and sesame seeds. 
Lastly, I finished with carrots I had and the cucumber from her garden. I set my salad aside once it was tossed in some light olive oil and more lime. 
Back to the mushroom/nut "pate"...
I found some nori sheets in my cabinet and quickly decided these where the perfect vessel for my improvised pate. 
I spread a thick layer of pate over 3/4 of the nori sheet like I would with rice for sushi. 
I lined up stripes of my sauteed veggies in the middle of my spread...
And rolled and sliced the same as sushi.
My roommate Annie and I ate and ate until we could eat no more...
And even though we were beyond full, it felt so light and clean it kept me energized and stoked all day long! I seriously could eat this 5 times a week and not get bored or sick of it!
