Meatless March

Gather 'round, kids, and I'll tell you a story about perseverance. Unlike the rest of this blog, it has nothing to do with environmentally sustainable food choices; I just needed to record what happened so that in the future, I can avoid some baking errors that I made today. My first mistake was probably in answering the call put out weeks ago by the parents'/guardians' association at my backup dancer's school. Show the teachers some love, they begged, by contributing three dozen cookies to fill boxes we're giving them before the holidays. "Freshly baked," they added, smugly. No one will be shocked to learn that the people who signed up to bake cookies were 38 women and 3 men, as far as I could tell from their names, so why did I fall for this stupid gendered addition to my holiday to-do list? Sigh. Now, I'm a veritable wizard when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, but they're not festive. And while I make terrific gingerbread and sugar cooki...

I frequently choose masochistic methods when I cook , hoping for superior flavor, but I cut myself some slack when I made " Tofu Mushroom 'Quiche' " (NYT Cooking), in that I used a premade gluten-free, vegan, frozen pie shell. I was afraid it would taste like cardboard, but it was actually perfectly good. I used silken tofu, and 1/4 of a cup of nutritional yeast flakes rather than Marmite. I recommend pre-baking the shell 15-20 minutes before filling it (rather than 10), and I thought my quiche was done after 36 minutes, but it needed longer to set; next time I'll check it on the inside to make sure it's not still liquidy. While it wasn't perfectly set, my quiche tasted very good and was enjoyed by 2/2 backup dancers. It was savory and comforting. I am thinking that for next time, it could be even better with the addition of some dry veggies, like spinach or broccoli steamed and then squeezed (squeezing is one of the masochistic methods, but okay).  The qu...