Cooking vegetarian when you're from a meat and potatoes family is not easy. I hit a few bumps in the road but I think I found a few dishes to feed the family and they'll eat it. They're real recipes with real ingredients that you can find in most local supermarket (if not all supermarkets)
I LOVE pesto, there is something about pesto that drives me crazy and I eat and eat and eat. So my challenge was to make a pesto recipe without the parmesan. I surprised myself and did. Not only was I able to create a vegan pesto recipe, my kids ate it without adding spaghetti sauce - which they never did with the parmesan version. The trick seemed to be the nuts making a paste, with a similar texture as parmesan but still retaining a great flavor. It helped that we had butternut squash ravioli. I hope you find it just as good as we did. This recipe is a keeper in our house.
Ingredients:
1 - 1.5 lbs of butternut squash ravioli (we've also used mini potato and onion pierogi)
1.5 cups spinach
1/2 cup basil
1/4 cup olive oil
8 oz pine nuts (or walnuts)
2 cloves garlic
Directions:
1. Cook butternut squash ravioli per package directions.
2. Chop garlic in smaller pieces, it doesn't need to be minced, just it blends better.
3. Toast pine nuts (walnuts).
4. In a food processor (or blender), put spinach, basil, olive oil, nuts and garlic in it. Blend. It will be thicker then jarred spaghetti sauce
5. Put squash and ravioli together and you have a delish meal!
We lived on the Space Coast in Florida for a time and there was a little burrito shack, Da Kine Diegos, the surfers liked to hangout. They sold insane burritos and I miss them.
For meatless (and dairy-free) Monday, I attempted my own version of insane burritos. After I made the burritos and called my kids down to make their own, my daughter said "Where's the sour cream?" <rolling eyes>
Ingredients
Dressing:
1/4 c olive oil
1/8 c apple cider vinegar
1/8 c lime juice
1/4 tsp of salt
Burrito:
1.5 c of dry rice (I used wild rice)
2 small - med onions
1 tbl olive oil
1 romaine lettuce heart
2 tomatoes (I'm partial to ripened on the vine)
1 - 15oz can of beans (I used black eyed)
largest tortillas you can find (check ingredients for no hydrogenated oils - tortillas are notorious for them - I used chi-chi's)
1. Start cooking the rice. Most Mexican recipes do not use wild rice, I do because I have a pressure cooker. I put extra water in the pressure cooker and the rice comes out a bit mushy - that's the way I like it. However I think Jasmine rice would work well with this.
2. Chop up onions. Put 1 tbl of olive oil in a frying pan. Put frying pan on medium and begin cooking your onions. You're looking to caramelize these onions. So you'll need to take breaks from your chopping to stir them occasionally.
3. Chop lettuce, take break to stir onions. Chop tomato, stir onions, chop other tomato, stir onions. Put lettuce and tomatoes in separate bowls.
4. When onions are caramelized, drain beans and put them in with the onions, stir, put beans and onions on med low heat.
5. While the beans warm up, warm up the tortillas in the oven/toaster oven and make the dressing. In a tight fitting bottle (I used a ball canning jar), put in all the ingredients for the dressing, listed above. (Note: If you don't have a bottle or jar, put it in a large bowl and whisk.) Shake the jar.
6. When the beans and onions are warmed, turn off the heat.
7. Mix the rice and dressing. Here you can mix the beans and onions as well (that's how my hubby likes it). I prefer to stack the ingredients on the tortilla.
8. at this point, I let my kids make their own tortilla. I place the tortilla on the counter, stack the lettuce, tomatoes, then rice then beans, then hopefully fold it up to make it a burrito that doesn't fall apart.
I'm finding the key to vegetarian is the protein. The problem is many cooks throw in cheese to get that protein. Well, I'm going dairy-free, for a number of reasons that I will save for another post. (Please be sure to subscribe to my blog to get that post :) So how do I get that protein without animal fat. Quinoa is one of those grains that are high in protein.
The last couple of weeks I have been failing at recipes that my family has given me grief over. I am not used to being stumped by a recipe. Sometimes I make a mistake in a recipe but I understand how I can fix it next time. Vegetarian recipes are a bit more mysterious and I would sit at the table, with elbow on the table, my chin in my hand and everyone gone making PB&J, trying to figure out how to make a vegetarian meal taste good.
Well, I think I finally gotten the knack for it. I've came up with two recipes where the family ate the whole thing. I can't say it's their favorite. It's hard to compete with salami and bacon but they seem to like it more then some of the other meat recipes, like stew or hot dogs.
This week, I'm sharing with you a Quinoa stir fry.
If you like this recipe, don't forget to subscribe or connect :)
Ingredients:
1 cup of dry Quinoa
2 tbl of olive oil
1 broccoli head
2 carrots
1/2 of zucchini
2 cloves of minced garlic
waterchestnuts
4-5 scallions
1 cup of frozen peas
soy sauce
salt (optional)
1. Cook the quinoa - somewhat modified from the package directions. I cook it with 1/2 cup of water more per 1 cup of dry quinoa then what the package says. for instance if the package says boil 1 cup of water for 1 cup of quinoa, I will use 1.5-2 cups of whater. I want my grains to be bursting with water. It is my goal not to have hard grains in my dishes. I find this goes over better at the dinner table. You may need to experiment to see what texture you like.
2. Chop all the vegetables and mince garlic. Have them ready to throw in the stir fry. Once you start cooking you will not have time to chop them up.
3. Heat olive oil in frying pan on high heat. When ready put in the broccoli and carrots. Be careful of the oil splatter. The broccoli will absorb most of the oil, no worries, you don't need to add more oil.
4. After 2 minutes of stirring in the frying pan, add zucchini.
5. After a minute of stirring, add garlic.
6. After another minute of stirring, add water chestnuts, mix in then add scallions, mix in then add frozen peas.
7. Stir for another 2 minutes. Hang in there, you're coming to the end.
8. Add the quinoa. Note, quinoa expands quite a bit. It does not have a lot of flavor so you want enough in it to get the protein benefits but not too much to overpower the vegetable flavor. My goal is to have half vegetables and half quinoa.
9. When the quinoa is added, stir for a minute then add about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. I don't always think there is enough soy sauce so I put in the 2 tablespoons then leave the bottle of soy sauce on the table for everyone to add what they like.
You may add salt at this time, but remember that soy sauce has lots of sodium so you may not need the extra salt.
Me: "So how is it?"
Hubby: "Still tastes like cardboard."
Me: "How do you know what cardboard tastes like!?!"
Hubby: "Oh come on, you've had put cardboard in your mouth - tastes like that."
I huffed and walked off.
So I don't have a recipe for you this week but I'm working for you. I cooked up some lentils, split them into different bowls and added ingredients to make it not taste like cardboard. I'm happy to say I've come up with a concoction with ingredients that I got from the fridge and pantry. I fed it to the family and huzzah they ate it. I will be sure to repeat the recipe and have it for you next week. Stay tuned.
Lentils that did not go so well. Need to experiment
I wanted to experiment with other forms of protein that you get from a meatless and dairy-free dinner then just tofu. Lentils is known to have high protein. It didn't go over so well with the family members. I got lots of complaints and lots of recommendations. Dear Husband suggested I use a beef stock when cooking the lentils.
I said "No, that defeats the purpose."
"These aren't people who are looking to be vegetarians. Beef stock won't hurt."
"Yes I think they want to be vegetarians for a day. You just don't. Besides why not vegetable stock, why does it have to be beef stock?"
"Oh come on, you're taking this too seriously."
"You don't get it, it's suppose to be vegetarian. It doesn't fit in the blog if it isn't. Meatless Mondays, except sometimes? Besides, this is my first attempt at lentils and ya'll are getting down my throat. Chill, give me a chance."
And hence I do not have an entree for you today but I do made a quick video of a whey protein shake I make sometimes when I want to supplement my protein intake. It's simple, tastes good and pretty filling for a shake.
Ingredients:
a scoop whey protein powder (chocolate or berry)*
1 cup of frozen berries
8 oz of water
Put it all in a blender and blend baby blend.
* I've heard from many of my workout buddies that whey is the best protein powder. My whey says vegan. Not that this is a vegan blog, it's just all of my recipes are going that route :)
I'm amazed that when you go with meatless and dairy-free I find many vegan recipes. This was a nice recipe that the family ate everything on their plate. I was nervous because it was tofu but I liked cooking it until it had that semi crispy taste. With each recipe I modify so that I can use ingredients that are easily accessible or what I have in the house that I think will be a good substitute. I encourage you to do this as well. With all that said, check out the lesson learned at the end of this blog.
Please keep in mind this is NOT a set it and forget it recipe. On the other hand, it shouldn't take more then a half hour.
Ingredients:
1-2 tbl olive oil
14-15 oz chopped firm tofu - I found it pre-chopped in the store
2 cloves of garlic
1 head of broccoli
2 roma or plum tomatoes
2 cups of green beans
ginger
chili powder
I like to prepare all the ingredients first, so mince the garlic, chop the broccoli and tomatoes and trim the green beans. The veggies can be put in one bowl since they will be put into the recipe at the same time.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
When oil is hot, place the tofu and begin stirring.
After about 5 minutes, sprinkle on ginger, to your taste. Continue to stir.
After another 3-4 minutes you can put in the garlic. Continue stirring.
When tofu appears crispy (I tasted it to see if I liked it) add vegetables (broccoli, tomatoes and green beans)
Cook and stir until broccoli and green beans are bright green then stir in chili powder
Stir for another minute then serve.
Lessons Learned:
Wait till the tofu is the texture I like and then put the garlic in for about a minute. The garlic became crispy. I didn't notice it in the end product but also didn't taste it either.
I was nervous the tofu would have no flavor but really does take the flavor it is put with.
I was also afraid that the tofu texture would be too mushy but it stiffens, I wouldn't call it crunch, more of a store bought tater tot texture.
I was a bit concerned that this recipe would not have protein in it but surprisingly butternut squash and the wonton wrappers both have protein. It's a little protein but it's there. Plus I served this with a side of roasted asparagus which also has protein.
The recipe is surprisingly easy, and the kids loved it.
What you need:
a winter squash - I choose butternut
scallions
olive oil
soy sauce
ginger or tumeric
How you put it all together:
1. Peel squash, cut off ends and open up to scoop out the seeds. Chop squash up into pieces.
Peel, cut and scoop out the seeds
2. Boil the squash until soft. I must say I think I'd like to roast it instead of boiling it next time. I think it would be thicker in texture. I'll update this post if I try it this weekend.
3. While squash boils, thinly slice a couple of scallions
When squash is soft, puree. I used a food processor but a fork will work. Mix in soy sauce, to your tasting, ginger and scallions. Have puree, wontons and a small bowl of water on hand. Take a wonton and place a dollop of puree on the center.
4. Dip your finger in the water and wet two congruent sides of the wonton.
5. Fold the wonton where a dry side touches the wet side, press the two sides. Do this until you run out of puree or wontons.
6. Heat oil in frying pan.
7. When oil is heated, place the wonton in the frying pan. The wontons will sizzle. Heat about 1-2 minutes per side. If the wonton is getting that brown crispy color, flip.
8. When both sides have that brown crispy color remove from heat. I place mine on a paper towel lined plate to soak up the extra oil.
9. Let cool and you are ready to eat.
You can watch me make it here:
I LOVE pesto, there is something about pesto that drives me crazy and I eat and eat and eat. So my challenge was to make a pesto recipe without the parmesan. I surprised myself and did. Not only was I able to create a vegan pesto recipe, my kids ate it without adding spaghetti sauce - which they never did with the parmesan version. The trick seemed to be the nuts making a paste, with a similar texture as parmesan but still retaining a great flavor. It helped that we had butternut squash ravioli. I hope you find it just as good as we did. This recipe is a keeper in our house.
