Shepherd's Pie

A quick and easy weeknight meal, vegetarian shepherd's pie, and you really won't miss the meat. With the use of veggie ground, a tofu based ground "meat" it's often hard for people to tell, unless you tell them.

Ingredients:

1 pkg of Yves Veggie Round Ground or Tofurkey ground original
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 yellow onion, diced
5-6 russet potatoes, cut up into large pieces
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil potatoes, when they are cooked mash and add salt, pepper and butter. Meanwhile in a pan on medium heat add olive oil and diced onion. Sautee for 5 minutes until onions are soft. Add veggie ground. If using Yves, it tends to be a little drier, so you will need to add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water as you go to keep the mixture moist. It does not need to be cooked, just warmed. Before adding any water, break up the veggie ground and add cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Gradually add water as needed.

In a baking dish (about a 9x13) add frozen peas and corn, no need to defrost. Add veggie ground mixture on top, spreading evenly. Top with mashed potatoes and put into a 375 degree oven uncovered for 30 minutes.

When you are ready to serve, broil on high for 2 minutes watching carefully so it does not burn, and you should get nice crispy bits for your potato topping.

Serve and enjoy.

Roasted Portobello Sandwich with Sun-dried Tomato Aioli

A 7 1/2 month old baby has kept me from feeling like I had the time or energy to post another vegetarian meal; however, this sandwich -- even the thought of this sandwich has inspired me to post again. You NEED to make it. Don't wait, this sandwich will blow your mind. I was inspired by the cookbook Clean Food by Terry Walters, a fantastic cookbook in my opinion and I plan to make quite a few of her recipes while putting my own spin on things.

I have changed parts of this recipe to suit my needs and to suit the ingredients that I could find in the store this time of year.

Ingredients (serves 4):

Sandwich:

4 Portobello mushrooms 

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Sourdough bread (I used multigrain sourdough)

2 whole red peppers

2 ripe avocado

1 romaine heart

Grainy mustard or dijon

Aioli:

10-15 sun dried tomatoes in oil

3 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 tbsp oregano (dried or fresh)

1 tbsp basil (dried or fresh)

Salt

Preheat your oven to 400.

First, prepare the aioli so that the flavours can meld. You could make this a day ahead and have it sit in the fridge until you're ready to use it. Finely chop the sun dried tomatoes and add to a small mixing bowl. Using a microplane grater, or the small holes on a box grater, grate the garlic and add to the mixture. Add mayonnaise, herbs, and salt and stir thouroughly. Allow the mix to sit until you're ready to assemble your sandwich.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, place the mushrooms stem side up. Remove the stems and drizzle the mushrooms with a small amount of oil. Sprinkle the mushrooms with basil, oregano, and salt and roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. 

Once the mushrooms have roasted, remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 550C or high broil. Place the red peppers directly on the top rack with a baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any drips if needed. Rotate the red pepper every 3-4 minutes, blackening and blistering the pepper on the outside. After the pepper has been rotated all the way around immediately remove and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, when you can safely handle the pepper, peel the skin off and discard. Slice the red pepper into strips. 

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the avocado with a spoon so that it comes out of the skin in one piece. Slice into strips.

In a small bowl mix 3 tbsp of dijon mustard with 1 tbsp of honey or agave. If you don't have honey, I used a pinch of brown sugar, or you could skip this step and just use regular dijon or grainy mustard.

To assemble your sandwich, toast the bread in the toaster or oven. Spread aioli on one slice and mustard on the other. Slice portobellos and place along one slice of bread, followed by roasted red pepper, avocado, and romaine hearts.

This sandwich is delicious and filling on it's own and I felt like nothing else was needed with it. I know I will make this again.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheese Flatbread

Tonight I was heavily tempted by my husband who, after coming home from a three day work trip, suggested we go out for wings and beer for Wing Wednesday at the pub near our house.  I'm a sucker for both wings AND beer, but I gave up beer 2 months ago and meat two weeks ago for our weekday vegetarian challenge (I know, what's the point in eating or drinking at all without meat and beer? But hey if I can do it, anyone can).  While tempting, I instead drove to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for our broccoli cheese flatbread, a recipe I adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook which is an excellent vegetarian food resource. If you don't own a Moosewood cookbook and are trying to eat vegetarian, one of these books is a must!  As for the beer that I passed up, there was no substitution, except water. Less exciting, I know, but I'm on a roll here and gotta keep it going.

This dish is creamy and rich, yet fresh and crispy.  There are three types of cheese included and any of them could be substituted for what you have on hand or for a cheese you more regularly use. I have used flatbread and served it open faced; however, it would work with regular tortilla shells wrapped up and would be much more portable that way, especially if you're taking it for lunch at work.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1 medium chopped onion
3-4 cups chopped broccoli (4 small crowns)
4-5 cloves chopped garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pkg greek style pita bread (naan bread would also work)



Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and add onions and 1/2 tsp of salt. Cook until softened for about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the chopped broccoli, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook until the broccoli is bright green and tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the three cheeses.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Toast the pita bread in the toaster or in a dry skillet on high heat for about 30 seconds per side.  Place the pita on a plate and top with the broccoli cheese mixture and serve.

If you're using a pita you'll need a fork and knife, while a tortilla is more of a wrap and go format.  Either way this dish is cheesy and delicious and will definitely satisfy you...even on a day when you're offered hot wings and beer!

Why Weekday Veg?

So I've decided to give it a shot and see what it's like to be a weekday vegetarian.  I am a food lover of all sorts: meat, vegetables, etc., so it's difficult for me to "give up" any sort of food because deep down I feel like limiting myself is taking away from things that are great about the world. Cooking being at the forefront.  No, I'm not a chef or currently working in the restaurant business, but someone who finds the act of cooking and feeding others, watching the enjoyment on their faces as they eat what I've prepared to be an utterly peaceful, joyful, and relaxing experience.

So why weekday vegetarian? I grew up essentially vegetarian.  My sister became a vegetarian at 8 years old (mainly because I teased her about which animals she was eating WHILE she was eating them).  She has remained vegetarian well into adulthood and struggled with ideas for cooking for her largely meat eating husband.

I've always loved vegetables and never missed meat when I've had meals without it.  It didn't seem like a huge step to go from everyday meat to meat on weekends.  This solution is environmentally conscious (something I've considered myself to be), economically conscious (saving huge amounts of money on grocery bills), and conscious of the treatment of animals consumed for food.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for eating animals as food.  I will never vow to be a vegan, nor will I likely give up all meat forever. I don't want to put myself in a box, I just want to be conscious of my surroundings on all levels and since I care about food, I care about what goes on to my plate daily as I plan grocery lists, weekly meals, and try out new recipes with enthusiasm. I figured it makes sense to be totally aware of what I'm eating and how much everyday.

Now to people, like my own mother, who have been eating this way for years and not calling themselves vegetarian, this will seem like incredibly old news and potentially annoying that I've come up with this "new" idea for myself.  Regardless, I feel like it's something that I need to test the waters with and I'm pretty excited at the prospect of a lifestyle change.  My husband and I have vowed to be "Weekday Vegetarians" until Thanksgiving.  We are allowing ourselves to eat meat at other peoples houses if we are invited for dinner (no one likes the annoying dinner guests who are testing out new diets and can't eat anything), and we are also allowed to choose meat at restaurants if we so desire.  We will reevaluate in mid-October to see how we feel about our new choices and decide whether or not it's working for us.  Personally, I can see this extending well in to 2012, if not being permanent.

I will post about my experiences, choices, and, of course, new and delicious recipes that I've tried that work for the regular meat eater...no xanthan gum, or nutritional yeast, or many ingredients that you are required to seek out at health food stores.  Just delicious food that you want to eat without missing the meat.

I've been at this since Sunday and we've already enjoyed BBQ roasted vegetable pizza, fresh pasta with cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic, and an excellent lime glazed tofu stir fry.

See Graham Hill's short speech on TED Talks for more information.