Thanksgiving!

Delicious

People can't imagine what I eat on this meat-heavy holiday. There are lot's of things I can think of and this year I made corn bread stuffing with apples, celery, carrots, onions and apple sage field roast sausage. Below is the yummy and healthy meal we had at my aunt's house. She of course had a free-range organic turkey but she also made me eggplant Parmesan-vegan style! She baked slices of eggplant that she dredged with plain soy milk and then dipped in plain breadcrumbs. She then sauteed mushrooms and garlic and layered them on top of the eggplant. We made a spicy sauce with onions, hot red pepper, garlic and capers and tomatoes and baked it until heated through. She also served super tasty brown bread with smart balance, steamed green beans, acorn squash puree, roasted baby potatoes with pearl onions! I made cranberry orange sauce which was great with the squash and on the brown bread. Everything was healthy and delicious! We of course had apple pie (made with Pillsbury crusts that are vegan) and a strawberry rhubarb crumble!

Mexican Torta

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A Mexican torta is a traditional sandwich with meat and cheese and yummy Mexican accompaniments. Well I love sandwiches and I love Mexican food so I decided to give myself a version I could eat!!! While I love the traditional sandwich roll I thought veggies might do better in a open face sandwich and decided to use the technique I used to make naan to make a fake version of Mexican fry bread but healthier. See this post to see how the bread is made. Then I just layered on this filling:

3 portabello mushroom caps sliced and sauteed until tender and giving off their juices (add a bit of salt to encourage mushrooms to give up their liquid). Add 1 thinly sliced zucchini to mushrooms and mushroom juice and turn heat up to medium high. Liquid will cook off and you can saute mixture until zucchini is cooked through. Add 1 chipotle and adobo pepper sliced and tsp cumin then add 1/4-1/2 cup frozen corn and some chopped cilantro and cook until heated. This would also be a great burrito or taco filling and is quite yummy on it's own.

To layer torta:
Mexican fry bread (or you could use a tortilla or tostada)
2-4 TBS Amy's re-fried black beans (soooo good-use leftover as bean dip for veggies or chips!)
Veggie mixture
Any or all of the following: salsa, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, black olives, chopped avocado, scallions or sliced red onion

Use all leftovers to make some kick-ass nachos the next day! Update: Picture of nachos below with re-fried black beans, veggies, pickled jalapeno, black olives, cilantro, tomatoes, and oh yes I sprinkled bacos on it! SO GOOD! Serve with salsa and guacamole if you want.

Rustic Mushrom and Carmalized Onion Flatbread

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This uses Tom's pesto recipe as a base for delicious mushrooms, caramelized onions, sun-dried and diced tomatoes.

Pesto:
Kalmata olives
Basil
Pine nuts
1 clove garlic
handful of baby spinach

Combine a small handful of each ingredient in food processor and add 1-2 tablespoons EVOO
Spread on pre-made pizza dough and add toppings.

Topping:
Sauteed mushrooms
Caramelized onions
Sun dried tomatoes
1/2 jar Trader Joe's bruschetta sauce or diced tomatoes

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

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I received my first issue of Vegetarian Times from my sister-in-law last week and was inspired by these lettuce wraps. The original recipe calls for water chestnuts but I used shitake mushrooms instead. Other good additions would be bamboo shoots sliced up. The recipe below is from the magazine with my addition of the mushrooms and a little substitution I made. Make it with what you like!

Filling:
2 TBS olive oil or vegetable oil
1 red onion
1 package shitake mushrooms
1 can water chestnuts or bamboo shoots (optional)
1 TBS ginger*
1 TBS lemon grass
2 cloves minced or crushed garlic
1lb Xtra firm tofu
4 TBS soy sauce*
4TBS hoisen sauce*
1-2 squirts vegan chile sauce
Shredded carrot
2-3 chopped scallions (white and green parts)
Chopped mint and Thai basil

* I cheated and found a sauce at Trader Joe's called Soyaki which had all of these ingredients in it already and used that instead.

Saute mush rooms and diced onion in oil. When cooked add lemon grass ginger and garlic and cook for 3-4min. Next crumble in tofu and add sauces. Cook for an additional 5min until warmed through. At the end add shredded carrot and chopped scallions as well as mint and basil.

Optional toppings:
crushed peanuts
lime wedges
peanut sauce
chille sauce
additional mint or scallions

Serve with Boston lettuce leaves and any additional toppings so people can make their own wraps. This would be a fun and easy entertaining menu if you rounded it out with some good Asian inspired appetizers like vegetable pot-stickers or veggie sushi.

Veggie Pizza

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Anyone who knows my husband knows he is a pizza addict. Of course with me being vegan his opportunities to eat pizza have dwindled. Now I'm no claiming that this pizza is as good as the "real thing" but the savory sauce really makes this pizza satisfying. I used Trader Joe's herb and garlic pizza dough but if you know how to make your own go ahead!Preheat oven to 425 and take pizza dough out of refrigerator for 20min. While you wait saute one package of sliced baby portabella mushrooms also called crimini. To make sauce saute 1/2 a sweet onion, add 1 small can diced tomatoes, 2 TBS sun dried tomatoes and 1 small handful chopped kalmata or black olives. When the sauce has thickened (about 15min) add 2 cloves crushed garlic, a pinch of dry oregano and 2 or 3 leaves fresh basil. You want to add the garlic at the end to make it more strong when it cooks in the oven. If you don't like the taste of fresh garlic you can omit it or put it in when you add the onions so it cooks and mellows, but I think it makes the sauce more pizza-y. Roll out dough on a cookie sheet sprayed with pam or pizza stone. Add sauce, mushrooms, spinach and any veggies you like.

*Trader Joes makes a fresh pizza sauce (in the refrigerator section) that is pretty good and makes this meal easy. Just add the sun dried tomatoes, olives, and garlic on top or combine before hand. Their Bruchetta in a jar is also a really good pizza sauce as well.

Wine party book club

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I have 3 friends who are some of the smartest, coolest women I know and in an effort to get to see them more, despite our busy schedules, I started book club. Now you should know that this is really more of a wine and food club and part of my plan to feed people delicious vegan food. I am not a very fast reader and would rather cook, go out or shop than read on a typical day so I, of course, finished the book the day of and spent the rest of the day prepping the italian themed party. This actually ended up serving as a light meal for four people.

Spinach salad
Dressing:
2 TBS EVOO
1.2 TBS dijon mustar
1/2 TBS agave syrup
splash of blasamic vinegar
lots of black pepper

This dressing is sweet with a slight tang and should be thick enough to coat the leaves nicely. Add candied walnuts or pecans and dried cranberries.

Stuffed mushrooms
These were made the same way as in this post: Italian Entertaining
although I used red wine instead of white.

Polenta and eggplant rounds with balsamic onions and tomatoes
I haven't worked with much polenta but I was interested in it when I saw organic polenta at Trader Joe's. It comes in a tube which makes slicing it in rounds easy. I sliced pieces about 1/4in thick and toasted them up in a non stick skillet. I then took slices of salted eggplant and pan fried them. For the sauce I caramelized one onion in EVOO for about 30min on low heat. I then added 1TBS of balsamic vinegar and 4TBS of diced canned tomatoes and let cook down about 15min. Place polenta rounds on baking sheet top with fried eggplant and about a TBS of sauce. Place in oven for 5 min before serving. For extra flavor and a contrast to the sweet onions add an oil cured black olive to the top or on just some in case people don't like olives (crazy).

Roasted garlic and white bean dip with crostini and veggies
While the mushrooms were baking I roasted a whole head of garlic. To do this, cut off the top of the garlic head, create a pouch of tin foil and place garlic inside with a drizzle of EVOO before closing up the pouch. After 45 min in a 350 oven, remove from pouch and squeeze out roasted garlic into the food processor. Add one can of cannellini beans, 2 TBS EVOO, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crostini (brush slices of bread with EVOO and toast for 10min in oven) and raw veggie sticks.

Olive crostini
Blend kalmata olives, basil, EVOO and fresh garlic in a food processor. Spread slices of bread with kalmata olive pesto and bake in 350 oven for 10min. So yummy with wine!

Vegetable Panini

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Tom and I got married 2 years ago and when you get married you get a lot of stuff/crap. Granted it's crap that you want or at least you wanted it after two hours of walking around linen's and things with a laser gun (so fun), but soon you realize that maybe you don't need every appliance, bowl, and wine glass known to man. This is the case with our most highly debated appliance: The Panini Press! I wanted it more than life itself, Tom thought it was unnecessary. Needless to say it was only used once at our very popular "make your own panini party", but now that I'm vegan it is back and better than ever. We've used it a lot to make these delicious panini's.

The most important and delicious part of this sandwich is the black olive spread. I make it by combining kalmata olives, fresh garlic, basil, and olive oil in the food processor (another appliance we registered for). Spread this on half of your bread. For the picture above we used forcaccia.

For the filling we used roasted red peppers, sauteed portabello mushrooms, fresh spinach and fried eggplant. Once filed with your favorite topping press in panini press or place in skllet with a heavy pan on top to press and toast bread. Eat and enjoy.

Lasagna Pasta

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After the success of the lasagna earlier this month I was inspired to make something that incorporated the same flavors but was easier to make. I used to make this with sausage and ricotta so that was out of the question but this is really just as good!

Sauce:
I made a basic tomato sauce but added big mushrooms, olives, and frozen spinach in order to mimic the flavors of my lasagna. At the end of cooking I added meatless meatballs to simmer and warm through. You could also add your favorite fakey sausage.
Ricotta:
Pulse firm tofu, olive oil, and basil in food processor until crumbly in texture. Do not add fresh garlic like in previous recipes as the flavor will be too pungent. You could add roasted garlic but I added mine in the sauce.
After sauce is cooked take off the heat and fold in tofu ricotta. Serve over whole grain pasta.
Prep and cook time:45min

Italian Entertaining

Delicious

Spinach and Eggplant Lasagna
This lasagna is time consuming but well worth it. It is a crowd pleaser and in Tom's opinion "The best fake-out meal" thanks to the delicious tofu "ricotta".

Tofu Ricotta (adapted from "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch"):
One package of firm tofu
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons EVOO
4 or 5 leaves fresh basil
salt and pepper
1/2 package of defrosted frozen spinach (this is my edition and really makes it yummy)*

Blend ingredients in a blender or food processor until it is grainy in texture and a beautiful bright green. Refrigerate and save for later.

Eggplant:
Take one Italian eggplant and slice in 1/4 inch slices. Lay out on paper towels and sprinkle both sides lightly with salt. This will remove some of the bitterness by drawing out the bitter liquid inside the eggplant as well as season them. Let these sit for 30minutes to an hour to give off their liquid. Warm EVOO in a skillet and pan fry the eggplant untill light brown and nice and soft. This makes the eggplant smooth and delicious.

While the eggplant is salting (not a word) prep your sauce and boil a package of whole weat lagagna noodles. I made a sauce with onions, garlic, capers, kalmata olives, crushed red pepper and crushed tomatoes and fresh basil, but you can use a jar sauce if you're lazy (I'm judging you).

Layer the lasagna in a baking dish as follows:
a ladle of sauce on the bottom
noodles to cover
ricotta
fried eggplant
sauce (I like a lot)

Continue untill you have about 3 layers and end with noodles and a bit of sauce on top. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes with foil on top and then uncover for the last 15-20min. Let cool about 20min until you cut and serve.

Prep time: 60min
Cook Time: 60min and 20min cool time

Spinach Stuffed Mushroom
This is adapted from my grandmother's recipe that uses a lot of parmesian cheese. These are just as good and with the added benefit of spinach.

1 Package white mushrooms (you can use stuffing mushrooms but I wanted small ones)
1 shallot diced
2 cloves garlic
3 or 4 tablespoons white wine
1/2 cup while weat bread crumbs
1/2 package of defrosted frozen spinach*

Clean mushrooms by wiping with a damp paper towel. Remove the stems and reserve for later. Place mushroom caps on a baking sheet sprayed with pam and bake at 350 for 15 minutes to pre-cook them. They will give off some liquid which you should reserve. Set aside caps to cool.

Sautee diced stems and shallots in EVOO untill soft. Crush 2 cloves of garlic into the mixture. When it becomes fragrant add the white wine and mushroom liquid and cook down. Then add spinach. Turn off the heat and add bread crumbs and salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be crumbly but wet enough that it sticks together. Use it and stuff into caps. Bake at 350 for 10 min or untill tops get crispy. Serve as an appetizer or side dish.

Prep time: 30min
Bake time: 10min

*To defrost spinach place in microwave safe bowl. Take spinach and place in clean dish towel and squeeze out water until spinach is drained.

Portabello Fajitas

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I love fajitas and the taste of these meaty mushrooms makes this easy meal very satisfying. Just start by sauteing one onion (sweet or red is great) when they start softening add some peppers and sliced portabellos. Once all items are cooked add chile powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Warm tortillas in a warm skillet until soft and top mixture with your favorite toppings. I like:

black beans (warm organic black beans in a pot and add fresh cilantro and scallions)
fresh salsa
pickled jalapenos
and Sarah and John's famous guacamole!

This is a fun meal and you can set up a topping bar and have a fajita party with friends!