Quinoa and Kale Tofu Bites

The Super Bowl is tomorrow and my home team, the 49ers, are in it!  I've seen a lot of red and gold floating around town over the last few days and tonight almost feels like Christmas Eve.  In addition to all the buzz about the game itself, my mind has been focused on endless game day menu possibilities.  Now I'm sure when people think of game day food, they're not thinking of quinoa and kale.  :)  In any case, I thought these would be a fantastic Super Bowl snack.  They're easy to make, healthy, and super tasty.  Touchdown!

Adapted from Simply Gluten Free Magazine

Makes 2 dozen mini muffin-sized bites

3 cups cooked quinoa (for cooking instructions, go here)
1 cup Mori Nu firm silken tofu
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup nutritional yeast (or your favorite vegan shredded cheese)
2 tablespoons cashew butter (I used Artisana raw cashew butter)
1 teaspoon tamari
1 cup finely chopped kale
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Make sure your quinoa is cooked and cooled.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
3. Blend the tofu, almond milk, nutritional yeast (or vegan cheese), cashew butter, and tamari in a blender or food processor.  Transfer to a large bowl.
4. Add the chopped kale and cooked quinoa to the tofu mixture and combine well.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Fill each muffin well with the tofu mixture and smooth out the tops with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
7. Let them cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan.  
8. Serve with your favorite sauce.  (I went with Sriracha!)

These are pretty similar to crustless vegan mini quiches.  If you don't have any cashew butter,  you can use another nut butter, tahini, or leave it out completely.  I added it to get more of a cheesy flavor.  They were great with Sriracha sauce, but I can also see these with some type of avocado topping or salsa.  Yesssssss.  I suppose you could also form the mixture into balls and deep-fry them if you really wanted to stay in line with some traditional Super Bowl delicacies.  But why mess with a good thing?  :)

Enjoy!  And go Niners!