-Posted by Jeff

Quiche has always been one of my favourite dishes, ever since our mom would make us rich Quiche Lorraine when we were young, filled with Gruyere and bacon and surrounded by a flaky crust.  This quiche is vegetarian and gluten-free, but it's still got the Gruyere and the flaky crust.  It just ain't got eggs!

-Posted by Jeff

Pears!  Nature's most aesthetically pleasing fruit: how many artists over the centuries have included pears in their still life paintings?  And they don't taste so bad, either.  

I did some research on pears.  Did you know that they are picked before they're ripe?  That means that they're usually still on the green side in the store and have to be ripened on the counter for a couple of days.  I hadn't known that before; I always used to be miffed that they were too hard at the supermarket!
 
Anyways, friends of ours recently gave us a jar of vanilla-pear jam as a present and we ate it faster than any jam we've ever eaten.  That's where I got the idea for this compote.  

-Posted by Jeff

A nutritious salad is sometimes all you feel like eating on a hot day.  And August in Kansas is scorching.  Salade Niçoise is a French classic that comes in many forms.  It's salad!  It ain't fussy!  So play with the ingredients if you want.  Here's mine and R's version.