vegetarian
14 April 2013, by gj
Recently at our local deli, a platter of Eggplant Rollatini caught our eye. So we tried some, and although it was very good and an interesting presentation, it was really nothing more than another version of Eggplant Parmesan.
Challenge accepted.
Gather your ingredients.
Peel one large eggplant and slice lengthwise 1/4″-1/2″ thick.
Place in colander and salt to remove any bitter taste.
Slice 1/4″ – 1/2″
Saute in a little olive oil until tender:
1 chopped leek
1/2 med-large fennel bulb
1 large clove Elephant garlic
Add:
1/2 each small yellow summer squash & zucchini, sliced
1/2 cup fresh spinach
3 asparagus spears, chopped
2 tomatoes, cut in chunks
These last few ingredients were all leftovers we wanted to use up, and it worked out well. You can also throw in any leftover eggplant.
Add 1 tsp. oregano and a splash of lemon juice, and cook over medium heat until they are about half way done. Let cool.
Combine the flavors.
Add:
4 oz. feta cheese
1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
1/4 cup chopped pitted Greek olives
Sear the eggplant.
Rinse and sear the eggplant slices about 3-4 minutes on each side, until they become pliable. Let cool enough to handle.
Stuff. Or, actually, over stuff.
Fill with the veggie-cheese mixture. If your eggplant is sliced thin, you can actually wrap all the way around, overlapping the sides. Mandolin did these thicker, and used skewers to hold them together.
Cook about 30 minutes in a 200 degree oven if all your ingredients are still warm.
If you have let it cool more, cook at about 325 degrees. You just want everything to be heated through.
Garnish.
Ladle some Hollandaise Sauce over the top, garnish with a sprig of fennel.
Homemade hollandaise sauce is worth the effort, but too involved to go into it here.
Recipe serves 4-6.
Of course Mandolin said we should have had a bottle of Windex in the picture somewhere; and I added that if we really wanted it to be vegetarian, we should have used lamb.
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17 March 2013, by gj
Mandolin and I have the day off together and decided to make a little breakfast to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Things get a little odd when a gardener and a chef get together.
Braised Leeks with Turnip Greens
Melt some coconut spread or butter in a pan.
Slice thickly 2 leeks and saute until they begin to look caramelized.
Add about 2 Tablespoons chopped pimentos.
Together, or in a separate pan, steam 2 large handfuls of turnip greens. You can also substitute spinach or other cooked greens of your choice.
Serve.
Cream of Potato Soup
1/2 cup each finely chopped celery and onion
2 medium potatoes, peeled and 1/2″ cubed
1/4 cup grated carrot
Saute in olive oil over low heat until onions look translucent.
Add 3 cups of your choice milk, cream or non-dairy substitute.
Simmer until potatoes are soft.
Dissolve about 2 Tablespoons corn starch in water and slowly add to the soup. Salt & Pepper to taste.
Top with a little dried or fresh fennel weed.
Enjoy with a nice slice of warm Soda Bread.
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24 February 2013, by gj
Like many other people, Mandolin and I have been moving towards a more plant based diet. Of course this means adapting old and finding new recipes. We’ve been using more Tofu; made from soy beans it’s a wonderful source of protein.
Unfortunately there is a lot of GE soybeans out there, so be sure to look for the Certified Non GMO logo on the label, easy enough to find even in our area.
texture adjustment
Tofu doesn’t have much flavor on its own, but picks up flavors easily. We used to just cube it and toss into stir frys and salads, or slice and deep fry to serve with an assortment of sauces.
Recently a group of friends were talking and the subject of tofu came up. One woman commented that she didn’t like the ‘rubbery’ texture; it was fine if it was turned into something else though. Another friend said “Oh just squish the water out. It’ll look more like chicken.”
Oh really?
fried or baked
As the first picture shows, simply place the tofu in a bowl, cover with a paper tower and plate, and then weigh that down. Give it enough time to get as much liquid out as possible; the drier it is the more texture it will have. We waited about an hour and a half, draining twice in the process. To play it safe, you can let it sit in the fridge.
try it with your favorite sauce
So with STW as my taste tester, we set about trying some different marinades. All the tofu pieces were easily sliced using a piece of thread, were lightly fried after marinating.
In an effort to imitate beef, we tried steak sauce and liquid smoke. Although it’s a step in the right direction, two thumbs down.
I tried some that marinated in buffalo wing sauce, also in the right direction but needs more work. Understandably, she stayed away from that one.
Two thumbs up went to the tofu that marinated in sesame oil with a little teriyaki sauce. “This tastes the most like chicken.” she said. Granted it has been years since she ate any chicken, but I would agree.
spicy, creamy or sweet
Chicken doesn’t have a lot of flavor by itself, not compared to seafood or beef. That’s probably why we tend to add flavors to it, and that’s also why using tofu as a substitute makes sense. I tried one more, marinating it in Italian dressing and lightly breading before frying.
She nodded “yes” as she tasted it, and gave it a Thumbs Up.
“Hmmm…” I thought, “Not-Chicken Parmigana.”
vegan chicken parmigana
Better with homemade chunky marinara sauce and dried basil. Now all we need is a little spinach with garlic on the side.
Mmmmm….
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12 February 2013, by gj
This recipe is for vegan stuffed peppers, but you can adjust it to what you like. It will make 4 peppers, but we only had 3 to stuff. What remained was enjoyed as a sloppy joe.
Colorful and healthy.
You’ll need:
6 oz. Smart Ground vegetable protein crumbles
(or 8 oz. ground meat, cooked and drained)
4 red, orange or yellow sweet peppers
1/2 leek, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1/2 cup polenta, chopped
Caribbean Jerk spice
Chipolte spice
Tomato sauce
Hot sauce, optional
Slice the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl. Add a few dashes of each spice, and a little hot sauce if you like it hotter. Add just enough tomato sauce (or salsa or sloppy joe sauce) to make the mixture moist.
Put the tops back on the peppers.
Slowly simmer.
Place in the crock pot with about an inch of water in the bottom. Cook on low until the peppers soften, about 3 hours.
A few minutes before serving, add a cheese substitute or cheese of your choice. We used pepper jack. Just push it down through the hole in the peppers’ tops. Continue to cook until the cheese melts.
Add 'cheese'.
Enjoy!
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18 January 2013, by gj
Mandolin recently received a wonderful birthday gift from Mr. and Mrs. Jones, a box of assorted Spanish spices and other foods. As he was looking through the flyer included, he came upon a selection of items for sale to make ‘paella’.
gather your ingredients
Since it was akin to cooking in a wok on a grill, he was intrigued. There were numerous recipes on the internet, and after perusing a few, he went back into the kitchen.
Spanish spices
“Well,” he said, “I’m going to try it; but I’m not clearing the snow off the grill.”
saute your aliums
Here’s what he did:
In a cast iron skillet, lightly oiled, he sauteed until caramelized
1 chopped leek
2 chopped elephant garlic cloves
To this he added:
2 cups chopped kale
1 cubed small yellow squash
1 1/2 Tbl. Spanish Paprika
2 cubed avocados
1 chopped small tomato
1 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup smoked sweet peppers
2 cups each chick peas, black beans (If homegrown, soak and simmer first. If canned, rinse well.)
1 cup veggie broth (low salt)
1 cup water
1 cup rice (Spanish or Jasmin scented is best)
Pinch cumin
1/2 tsp. smoked salt
1 Tbl. sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato sauce
Pinch of saffron
so much color, oh my
Simply mix everything together and bring to a simmer, cooking about 15 minutes until rice is almost done.
more Spanish treats
blend the flavors
He added about 3/4 cup thinly sliced Spanish cheese, then turned up the heat to sear the bottom of the dish. Cook another 5 minutes.
with Spanish cheese
Let me just say that it was outstanding, the best thing we have eaten in quite a while.
colorful, flavorful, and healthy as heck
Of course you can add meat or seafood and substitute some of the other ingredients.
If you don’t have saffron, or what STW referred to as ‘crack for kitchens’ just leave it out. If you can afford it though, it has a fabulous flavor.
When doing a little research on it, I discovered saffron is actually the dried stigma of crocus. Hmm… 
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5 January 2013, by gj
Oh, did I forget to mention Easy?
In a slow cooker add:
for starters
1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
1/3 cup couscous
colorful nutrition
Throw in 1 can each kernel corn (drained) and black beans (rinsed)
If you use homegrown, that’s about 2 cups each.
keep the colors coming
To this put in 1/2 chopped pepper (any color you want)
1/2 chopped medium onion
1 grated or finely chopped carrot
Season with a few dashes of lime juice, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and a few spoonfuls of Recaito (Cilantro cooking base)
Top with slices of fresh tomato.
the finish... or is it
For fastest results, cook on High until the broth begins to simmer.
Turn to low, and cook until the couscous are done.
Then stir occasionally and serve whenever the peppers are soft-
about 1 1/2 hours or so.
to top it off
Mix the flesh of one avocado with some sour cream (or vegan substitute) to top.
looks good enough to eat
To serve, add some chopped fresh cilantro.
Disfrute de su comida! Enjoy your meal!
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1 December 2012, by gj
Lean Cuisine makes a squash ravioli that sells for $2.99 and isn’t half bad. That’s a little more than a single serving meal should cost IMHO.
After reading the list of ingredients, I knew homemade would not only be better tasting, it would be healthier. So I decided to give it a go.
what is carrageenan anyway?
In an Italian Foods specialty shop recently, I came upon this:
easy ravioli
“You’re going to thank me” the store’s owner said, “Let me show you how it works.”
He proceeded to say that you simply place dough over the rack and use the top piece to make indentations. After the filling is in, you put another layer of dough on top and use a rolling pin to squish them together.
“Turn it over and there you go, all cut and ready to boil. So much faster.”
To make things even easier you can buy pre-made dough or use egg roll wrappers.
easy as pie
I had pumpkin leftover from Thanksgiving, and to that I added finely chopped pecans, chopped apples, and maple syrup.
You could just make this dish, and put the leftovers through the blender instead- cook once, eat twice.
happy ingredients
Following the shop owner’s directions, the filling was added to the dough. Each egg roll wrapper covered four squares.
ready to roll
cholesterol-happy gravy
The Lean Cuisine version has a cheese cream sauce, which isn’t bad.
Here’s something better.
Parmesan ‘cheese’ and pumpkin spice were added to some vegetable broth, and a roux made with coconut oil and flour (you can use butter) was used to thicken it into a gravy.
whole wheat roux
The ravioli were boiled for about 1-1.5 minutes and allowed to drain a bit. Add the gravy and mmm!
omgoodness!
That ravioli maker is sure going to pay for itself, and no more unpronounceable ingredients!
More of our recipes.
Categories: recipes, vegetarian
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20 November 2012, by gj
We were talking the other day about saving money by stocking up on food that is on sale for particular holidays.
Problems with our sweet potato crop this past season left us with only enough for starting slips, so this week we took advantage of the sale price of 69 cents/pound to stock up.
Then it hit me.
Sure… suggest to everyone that they stock up on sweet potatoes but don’t give them any suggestions as to how they can eat them all year round.
What kind of a friend am I?
just add taters
So out to the kitchen I marched, and putting together a few of my favorite things, came up with a new recipe to share:
Sweet Potato Salad
1 sweet tater, 12 oz.
A dollop of Mayo (we use Nayonaise, a vegan sub)
A dollop of Pickle Relish (homemade, of course)
Some finely chopped Almonds
Some Lemon Zest
Some Toasted Coconut
Peel and cut the taters into chunks. Cook in boiling water until fork-tender, almost 10 minutes for us. It depends on the size of the chunks.
Drain and cool in cold water, drain again.
Now I admit it would have been smarter to mix the other ingredients together and then add to the taters.
That’s what you should do, but that’s not what I did. 
doing things the hard way
I added the relish, almonds and mayo and tossed the cubes in it.
Really pecans would probably have tasted better, but if you’ve been reading here a while then you know I try not to go to the market and, well… I had almonds on hand.
Then I thought a little lemon would taste good, and while grabbing some fresh zest from the freezer, saw the toasted coconut.
so much flavor for just one mouth
Honestly I thought it came out wonderful and Mandolin, who does not really favor sweet potatoes, agreed.
To be double sure I took some to work and got a taste test from Shirley Mae (that’s not really her name, that’s just what I call her) and she really really liked it… so much so that she asked me to write down what I did. I’ll take that as a thumbs up.
Have you ever had sweet potatoes as a salad?
It’s nutrition you can smile about!
Categories: recipes, saving money & time, vegetarian
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6 November 2012, by gj
This wasn’t really a planned post, but it came out so good we thought you would enjoy the recipe.
Or lack there of, nothing was actually written down.
ready to blend
Following a basic pesto recipe, blend together until smooth:
fresh spinach and kale
nuts, we used almonds
Parmesan cheese (or vegan substitute)
oil
garlic cloves or garlic powder
lemon juice
orange zest
The main thing is to get it a good consistency and flavor, so have fun and experiment.
green goodness
If you’ve never roasted veggies before don’t worry, it’s easy.
Chop up your veggies and toss with a little olive oil, salt (or substitute) and black pepper.
Cover the pan and bake about 15-20 minutes at 400-425 F. until done.
If you have veggies with different cooking times, you can add them in order of how much time they need.
The carrots pictured here had been blanched and frozen, so they took less time than a raw carrot would.
Here we used cauliflower, carrots, zucchini (yep, there was still one left), whole small onions and celery. We threw them all in at the same time and it worked fine.
ready for the oven
When they are ready, just toss them with a few spoonfuls of the pesto.
There will be some moisture in the pan, that helps the pesto spread.
mmmnesss
Enjoy!
Some of our readers suggested more pesto possibilities:
Parsley, Sage, Arugula, Garlic Scapes, Garlic Chives, Stinging Nettle, Cilantro, Asparagus-Parsley, Sorrel, and even Hot Peppers. Mmmm!
More of our recipes can be found here.
Categories: gluten-free, recipes, vegetarian
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30 October 2012, by gj
If the title seems odd to you, think about it.
We eat leaves all the time- lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, cabbage and so on.
a whole bunch of goodness
There are other leaves we can enjoy as well, that you may not know about.
Eating turnip leaves was new to me, likewise beet greens.
The one that seemed the strangest though was sweet potato leaves.
When I read what a great nutritional resource they are, I became interested. And when my sweet potato crop otherwise failed, I was determined to make something of what I had.
sear 'em up
In this particular recipe, zucchini chunks were seared in a little oil and extra firm tofu cubes added.
The clean leaves went in next, whole. I would recommend taking the stems off. Although edible, they were annoying to eat.
add the sauce
To this a little Tikka Masala Sauce was added, and the mixture was allowed to simmer.
Simple and oh my! was it delicious.
delicious and ever-so healthy
The idea was to steam and freeze the remaining leaves, but that never happened.
They didn’t make it that far, it was that good.
You can use the leaves any way you would spinach, the flavor was similar.
Nice, a veggie with no waste; you got to love that.
Medicinal and Nutritional Qualities of Sweet Potato Tops and Leaves
Mother Earth News- Sweet Potato Leaves Relish
Tikka Masala Sauce recipe
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