EasyVeg

I found this ‘meaty’ Shepherd’s Pie recipe from the VegCooking.com website. It’s a wonderful alternative to a regular Shepherd’s Pie that will satisfy the staunchest meat-eater - like my father-in-law. He’s a meat n’ potatoes kind of guy if ever you’ve met one, but he still requests this dish from me just about every time I see him. Enjoy!

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, diced
2 Tbsp. margarine
1/4 cup soy milk or liquid nondairy creamer
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
12 oz. faux ground beef-style crumbles (try Yves® Veggie Ground Round)
1 10.5-oz. can Campbells mushroom gravy (or 1 1/4 cups prepared vegetarian gravy of your choice)
1 6-oz. can mixed peas and carrots, drained
Salt, garlic powder, pepper, and cayenne, to taste

Directions
• Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and mash with the margarine and soy milk or nondairy creamer. Season with salt and pepper.
• In a medium pan, sauté the onion in the oil until translucent.
• In a medium bowl, mix the cooked onions, faux beef crumbles, mushroom gravy, peas and carrots, and spices. Pour into a pie pan. Top the crumble mixture with the potatoes, spreading to the edges.
• Bake in a 350°F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the potatoes are browned and the crumble mixture bubbles out the edges.

Tip
Make the whole recipe even if you’re just feeding a few, or just yourself! Leftovers are just as good, and you’ll be glad you have some the next day.

Try this recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance and you will thank me. I can almost guarantee it. Don’t be intimidated by the amount of ingredients. You will have to do a bit of chopping, but once you’ve done that, essentially you just throw everything into your pot and let it simmer together. Get yourself a box of quick cooking couscous (isn’t it all quick cooking?) and serve this stew over it. As always, my additions, omissions, and substitutions will be in parentheses.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, quartered and sliced thin
1 cup baby carrots, quartered and sliced thin (regular carrots work just as well)
1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger (1 Tbsp ground ginger)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric (couldn’t find it, didn’t use it)
1 tsp ground coriander
2 cups vegetable stock
3 cups water (I used just over 2 cups, and it was really thick, but I liked it that way)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
Several dashes fresh black pepper
1 cup dried red lentils, washed (I could only find green/brown?, so I used those.)
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4″ thick
1 cup green beans, cut to 1″ pieces
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp salt
1 bunch - about 4 cups - spinach, torn into pieces
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped mint
Lemon wedges to serve (omitted)

Directions
In a stockpot, sauté the onions in the olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and chile and sauté 3 minutes more. Add the garlic and ginger; sauté for 2 minutes. Add the cumin, turmeric, and coriander, and mix. Add the stock, water, tomato paste, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, black pepper, and lentils. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes.
Add the veggies (except the spinach) and raisins and salt, simmer 15 more minutes. Add the spinach, cilantro, and mint; stir well. When the spinach has wilted completely (about 1 minute) turn the heat off. Let the stew sit for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks. Serve over couscous with lemon wedges to squeeze in.

The hardest part will be waiting to eat it. Enjoy!

I have yet another awesomely helpful website that is teeming with veggie goodness to share with you. You’ve probably already guess what it is from the title. If not, it’s VegWeb.com!

VegWeb is especially helpful for vegans, as it offers just about a billion yummy vegan recipes. The site also includes Veg shopping tips, links, and the like. Also, if you’re looking to read up on other vegan related issues, there are tons of reader submitted articles to browse, through. Likewise, if you’ve got something to say on the subject, you can submit articles to VegWeb too.

VegWeb is also a community type website, so you can join, make a profile for yourself, and search for and chat with other like-minded vegans.

What are you waiting for? Check it out.

I’ve been absent for a while. I apologize. How about I give you a recipe that I LOVE, and I’m pretty sure you will too. It’s from Rachael Ray, as you probably guessed. She uses it over noodles with veggies, which is good. You can also use it over stir-fried veggies and rice. Or as a dipping sauce. Or you can eat it with a spoon because it’s just heavenly!

Ingredients
1/4 cup Tamari dark soy
1/4 rounded cup smooth peanut butter, softened in microwave 15 seconds on high
2 tablespoons cider or rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons hot sauce

Directions
Put all those ingredients in a small bowl, whisk them together, and EAT!

It really is that simple, and it will add tons of flavor to you meal. It will only take a few minutes and virtually no effort , but it will taste like you put a lot of though and hard work into it. No one has to know how easy it was, though. I won’t tell if you won’t!

It’s amazing what you can find at your local supermarket if you really look. When I first decided to go vegetarian, I was a little intimidated by some recipe ingredients. I figured I’d have to start shopping at some expensive specialty food store to make my meals. After all, I’d never seen those weird items in my store.

But I, like many people I think, had never really looked for any new ingredients at the grocery store. I bought what I always bought, which was essentially the same as what my mom had always bought, and that was the end of it. However, when I changed my diet, those same old items no longer sufficed, and I was pretty much forced to broaden my horizons.

And did I ever. There were so many fruits and veggies, I was practically blind to before I had to find them for a particular recipe. So many spices and beans and grains. So much STUFF! And it was all at my local supermarket.

So if you’re considering going vegetarian, but think it’ll be too expensive or confusing, you can rest assured that you can do it, and you won’t have to drive far away to a special store or pay an arm and a leg for weird food. I maintain a healthy, well-rounded, and balanced vegetarian diet, and I have for quite some time now, and I do it all with products from my regular old grocery store. You can too.

I’ve just started picking my way through Quick-Fix Vegetarian, also by Robin Robertson. Some of these recipes are ridiculously quick and easy. Like this one:

Ingredients
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 scallions, chopped
2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1.5 Tbsp Madras curry powder, plus additional to taste (or use whatever curry powder you have on hand)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 (16oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups water or vegetable broth
1.5 cups quick-cooking couscous
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cups chopped fresh parsley

Directions
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions and cook, stirring for 1 minute to soften.
Add the zucchini, cover, and cook for 2 minutes to soften sightly.
Stir in the curry powder.
Add the peas, chickpeas, and water and bring to a boil.
Stir in the couscous and season to taste with salt and pepper. If you like it spicier, add more curry powder to taste.
Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes.
To serve, fluff the couscous with a fork and transfer to a serving bowl.
Sprinkle with the parsley.

I found Quorn ‘Chicken’ recently in my grocery store while I was picking up veggie burgers and other quick, microwavable meat analogs - like veggie corn dogs, which I love. I think I’ve mentioned that before.

But I digress…

I’d never seen Quorn or even heard of it before, and I thought it could make a good addition to a stir-fry, so I picked it up. And I must say, for fake chicken, it’s pretty darn yummy. I’ll admit that it’s been quite a long time since I’ve had any real chicken, but I still think that Quorn makes a decent chicken replacement.

A word of warning, however: Quorn is not a vegan friendly product. It does contain dairy and egg products. If you aren’t a vegan, though - like I’m not, this could be a good thing to keep in the freezer for a quick, no-brainer kind of meal.

I’ve been reading through Vegan with a Vengeance for a while now, trying to get a feel for the book and trying also to decide if I like it or not. I still don’t know. There are things I really like about it, and there are things I don’t. I guess I’ll just run through my personal pros and cons regarding this vegan cookbook, and let you decide.

Good - No recipes with prepackaged food. Moskowitz really wants her fellow vegans to experience the joys of cooking with fresh ingredients.
Good - The pictures of the food look really yummy! I’ve mentioned before that pictures of food often inspire me to want to cook them.
Bad - There are only 4 pages of pictures.
Good - The book is organized well. Chapters are: Introduction, Brunch, Muffins and Scones, Soups, Little Meals Sammiches and Finger Foods, Sides, Pizzas and Pastas, Entrées, Cookies and Bars, Desserts
Bad - One-third of the chapters are devoted to sweets. I personally, am not a big dessert or cookie person. I don’t bake. And I definitely, definitely don’t bake from scratch. That makes all those chapters useless to me.
Bad - Moskowotz finds any excuse to remind the reader that she was/is totally punk rock. That’s an annoying trait in a teenager. In a 30-something (maybe 40-something), it’s just outright ridiculous.
Good - Many of the recipes have little pointers, tips, and suggestions for substitutions of certain ingredients.
Bad - These tips are called “Punk Points.” Seriously. Grow up.

I guess that’s it for now. I’m still undecided about how I feel about this book. I don’t think I would suggest it to someone new to vegetarianism or veganism, though. There are plenty of ingredients that have to be purchased in specialty stores. On the other hand, though, there are also very many recipes that use veggies and grains, and those can be found at any supermarket.

I’ve learned something new about myself over the past year or so. I love curry. I LOVE it! For years I thought I didn’t like it, but I was either being an idiot and thinking I didn’t like curry without trying it, or I had some less than savory curry at some point and swore it off. Either way, I’m glad I gave it another go because now I just can’t get enough. Here is an easy recipe from One-Dish Vegetarian Meals that had me drooling before the dish was even done! It’s that good. Oh yeah. And it’s vegan. Bonus!

Ingredients
1 Tbsp safflower oil (I used olive oil; you use whatever you want)
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 Tbsp hot curry paste, or to taste (use mild or medium instead, if you don’t like it too hot)
1 - 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
1.5 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained (1.5 cups is about 1 can)
1/2 cup soft or silken tofu
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb fettuccine
8 oz green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)

Directions
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Stir in the garlic and curry paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to blend. Stir in the tomatoes and their liquid, and simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Add the chickpeas and keep warm over low heat.
In a food processor or blender, combine the tofu with the coconut milk, and add salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.Stir the tofu mixture into the vegetable mixture and keep warm over low heat.
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. When pasta has cooked about 3 minutes, add the green beans. When pasta is al dente, drain and place in a large serving bowl. Add the curried vegetables and toss to combine.
Eat!

Tips
Wait until nearly the end to add your pasta to boiling water. Even though cooking the pasta is just about the last step, out of habit, I cooked it first, and it was done way before the curried veggies were. My pasta ended up a little dried out because of it.
Try this dish without adding the coconut milk and tofu mixture. The curried tomatoes and chickpea combo is great on it’s own!

I’m still working my way through Vegan With a Vengeance, but I must say that I’m enjoying it very much. I came upon this simple, absolutely yummy side dish, and just had to share it.

Ingredients
3 medium potobello caps, sliced 1/4″ thick
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Directions
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat for a bout 2 minutes.
Toss the mushrooms with the olive oil until coated. Place in pan in single layer. Let cook for 5 minutes, until they start releasing moisture. Turn over and cook another 2 minutes.
Add the vinegar and salt; sauté for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and sauté for 3 more minutes.

It’s easy. It’s yummy. It’s good hot or cold. It’s good in salads or sandwiches. Aren’t you glad I decided to share that one?

You’re welcome.