Artichoke Pie

I had a pretty good weekend. I took the kids out for a fun day in Little Rock on Saturday, which ended with grocery shopping at Whole Foods. I actually made a menu list this time, which I'm posting on the fridge. I'm getting serious, y'all, about getting out of my cooking rut. My 10 year old son and my 3 year old daughter helped me clean out the fridge today so I'm all organized and ready to go. Fortunately, I have this amazingly huge island counter, and I've decided to quit trying to put all of my fruits and veggies AWAY. I just need to leave them out (well, besides the greens and berries and things that need to go in) in plain sight, where I'm reminded to use them.

I got the idea for Artichoke Pie from 125 Best Vegan Recipes, a book I enjoy by Maxine Effenson Chuck & Beth Gurney. Since I am really bad at following directions (and following the norm and rules, in general, in life), and I didn't want to make it as spicy as the recipe sounded (for my kids' sake), here is my adapted Artichoke Pie recipe:

I chopped half of an onion and let it heat up in a pan for a few minutes with a few drops of olive oil. I sprinkled enough oregano and garlic powder (because I forgot to buy fresh garlic) to lightly cover the top, stirred it up, and set it aside.

I cut up 2 cups of artichoke hearts. (I used half that were plain in a can and half that were marinated in a jar...because I didn't know which would be better.) I could have gotten away with only using 1 cup because I had extra. I stirred this into the onion mixture.

I precooked a Wholly Wholesome Organic Whole Wheat Pie Shell and set it aside. (I had removed the crust from the aluminum pie plate and put it in my glass plate...because the whole aluminum thing is a big question mark for me.)

Then, in my BlendTec I combined:

1 12 oz. box of extra firm silken tofu

1 Rapunzel vegan vegetable bouillon cube

a dash of salt

I poured half of the tofu mixture into the bottom of the pie shell. I covered it with the artichoke mixture, enough where I thought it left just enough room for another layer of the tofu cream.

I poured the remaining tofu mixture on top.

I baked it for about 40 minutes...I was a little unsure about this. I never know with tofu pies/quiche, etc. You can't do the "stick the toothpick" test because it only firms up as it cools. So maybe I didn't need to cook it so long; maybe 30-35 minutes would have been sufficient.

Dash wanted to help cook so I let him tear up bits of fresh parsley on top after it slightly cooled.

Verdict: 8 thumbs up.

(2 thumbs down...My 5 year old wasn't crazy about it. He's my pickiest eater. He ate it because he wanted dessert, but he says he does not like artichokes.)

I thought it was DELICIOUS. I'll definitely make this one again sometime.