best played on random

my husband makes mixed cd's that are usually best played on random. when it comes to recipes, i get into a rut sometimes and make a rotation of the same shit: mujadara, hummus, babaganoush, a pasta dish, etc. well--i'm challenging myself by trying to make more new stuff and put those cookbooks of mine to good use, so i'm playing my cookbooks on random.

this is the asparagus quiche with tarragon from veganomicon. i picked it by closing my eyes and flipping to a page. unlike most vegan quiches that use nooch and tofu, this one is made of white beans, asparagus, and walnuts. lemme tell y'all, i was excited about finding another use for asparagus and beans. the flavors were nice and savory, but it wasn't anything i'd shout to the rooftops about. i didn't really pay attention to the prep/cooking time and spent the said hour and 2o minutes preparing this dish. if i made this in the future, i would have made the crust way in advance and prepped my ingredients to save time in the kitchen. yeah, wouldn't it be awesome to have time to do that? my fellow foodie moms-(esp. ones with toddlers) should know what i'm talkin' about.

do any of you get frustrated with getting really rad cookbooks, then another one comes out and you haven't even used the ones you have? i'm kind of on a cookbook ban of sorts for a while until i use the ones i have. then there' s the internet. there are a metric buttload of vegan recipes and others that are dying to be veganized. i get overwhelmed easily.

i'll end this on some random good news: vin bought me a kosher for passover cake mix that is vegan if you don't make it with butter, eggs, and milk. this gets a little tricky b/c soy is prohibited during passover if you follow ashkenazic tradition. i do choose to follow that, so i think i'll use ground flax seeds as my egg and a nice home made-(commercial nut milks have soy in them) nut milk for the milk. i'll sub the butter for canola oil and it should be good.