In honor of my squash that apparently succumbed to chilly overnight temperatures, I decided to use up the squash blossoms harvested over the past few days. I'm generally pretty careful about selecting clean ones to harvest, but several of these were loaded down with aphids. It's hard to wash all of the little buggers off the delicate flower petals so I knew I either had to toss the blossoms or eat the bugs.Now as I've told you before, I eat a vegan diet primarily for health reasons. People don't have to lower their voices around me when they discuss eating the eggs from their chickens or when ordering grass-fed beef from the CSA. I'd rather not have someone blather on and on about the delicious pork roast they cooked up, but I'm not going to be militant about it. Still, I'm not a huge fan of eating insects. On the other hand, these were the very last squash blossoms I was going to get.
Forging ahead, I washed off what I could and assembled my quesadilla. I used to love chile cheese crisps and was happy to find that I could still have them as a vegan. Usually, I whip up a batch of Jo Stepaniak's uncheese sauce, but today I was too busy. The moisture of fire-roasted chiles is sufficient to get nutritional yeast to melt into a cheezy layer. I cheated a little and spread a fine layer of Earth Balance vegan margarine on the lavash first. Then came a hefty sprinkle of nutritional yeast followed by some salt. The beautiful roasted red chiles came next. The not-so-very vegan squash blossoms and a few bits of chopped jalapeno were the final touches.
Just 5-10 minutes in a preheated George Foreman grill produced a delicious crispy quesadilla with very little fat. Variations depend on what produce you have on hand. Thin slices of ripe red tomato add more moisture and nice flavor. Mashed avocado is divine. Grilled onion slices make for a quesadilla with more oomph. You can even make a meal out of this by spreading generously with mashed pinto beans, but then you might end up in a semantics argument about whether it is still a quesadilla or has morphed into a grilled bean burrito. Who cares?! It all tastes good. Be extravagant and dump salsa on top and a big pile of shredded lettuce.Aphids are, of course, optional and based on availability in your area.
6 comments:
It hadn't occurred to me to use the Foreman for Quesadillas. Thanks for that!
I've found the grill to be very versatile. It crisps up bean burritos so they are more like chimichangas but without the deep-frying.
What I've grilled in it: hashbrowns, veggie burgers, pineapple slices, frozen corn kernels, garlic, onion, green onion (leave whole), eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potato slices, carrots (makes 'em sweeeeeet), zucchini, asparagus, fennel, and leek. And I'm probably forgetting others. Oh yeah, chopped cabbage. Didn't work so well and smelled a bit. ;-)
Try washing the blossoms in a water/vinegar mix. It might help you get rid of the aphids.
Thanks! Good suggestion for next time. :)
I'm new to your blog, and didn't realize you were vegan :-)
Me too, but primarily for environmental reasons. I call myself a 'slackarse vegan' because I eat local organic honey in preference to refined sugar as my sweetener, as I want to support organic beekeeping in my area.
However, finding insects in your veggis - not good!
Welcome, Daharja! I began eating vegan food originally for health reasons, but the fact that it is a good environmental choice, too, doesn't hurt. Check out my other posts under the "vegan" label on the sidebar.
Oh, and we do eat local, organic honey as well.
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