Let it snow..Let it snow..Let it snow!

Happy Holidays!!!!

I've been taking a little break from cooking and posting. I am however going to cook a few tasty new dishes over the holiday to post once I'm back in action in the New Year.

Look out for: Italian-Vegetable Stromboli, Organic Brownies and a fablous Brown Sugar Boday Scrub that makes you smell almost edible! YUM!

Amazing Veggie Burgers

I'm not a fan of eating a lot of Boca or Morningstar products and have been on the hunt for the perfect Veggie Burger (and BB burger). Well, here it is, this burger will not disappoint. It's hearty, healthy has great texture to it and is SUPER easy to make. You can make the mixture ahead of time for dinners and freeze it into patties for dinner-on-the-fly.

This comes to us via Martha Stewart and can be found here. You know, I loved her so much more for rocking a knit poncho out of jail, and actually starting that trend. Thank you Martha.

Ingredients
2 Portobello mushrooms (8oz), stems removed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small zucchini
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
1/4 cup minced shallot or 1 large shallot (they're like onions and garlic, but not)
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup quinoa, cooked or 2 cups cooked quinoa
2 teaspoons sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs
6 whole-wheat buns, split

Yogurt-Garlic Sauce (not tested but sounds great!) - try it, let me know how it is.
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaft parsley
1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, rinsed and chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions

1) Pulse mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped, and transfer to a bowl. Shred zucchini, place on paper towels, and squeeze to remove excess moisture. Add to mushrooms.

2) Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add shallot and red-pepper flakes, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and zucchini, and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and add Parmesan, quinoa, and salt. Season with pepper. Let cool completely, then stir in egg and breadcrumbs. Cover, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 1 hour.

3) Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Shape mixture into six 1/2-inch-thick patties, pressing firmly. Cook in batches until golden brown and cooked through, about 3-5 minutes per side.

Top with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce and enjoy :)

Vegetarian Seitan Chicken and Dumplings - Oh Comfort Food!

One of my good friends that I'm stoked to work with again was sick last week and kept whining about wanting her mom's dumplings. She had kept saying how comforting it was and just needed dumplings and soup to feel better. There, it was planted in my head, her obsession became mine.


I used a recipe that I found with a Google search, ended up on a site called "My Vegetarian Recipe of the Day" original recipe can be found here . I subbed out white flour for wheat, most of the butter with coconut oil and definitely did not use the fake meat (blah). Don't get me wrong, I do like some fake meat products but not the chicken starters. Instead, I used a seitan recipe (listed below) and it worked perfectly, try it- you will not be disappointed! There are many very important rules to making seitan, which I learned the hard way. If you don't follow the directions you'll end up with a spongy gross mess. 


Important seitan rules:

• Do not over mix. 
  
• Do not let seitan boil 
• Let seitan cook slowly in the soup or stew that you are making
• Make sure that when adding liquid to dry ingredients the liquid is cooled off
  
• Put pieces in one by one
• Stir often

Ok, onto the recipe. Thank you Caitlin for your love of good food, complaining and inspiring our great cooking feast this weekend!

For the Soup:
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) margarine or butter or a mix of butter and coconut oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
8 cups vegetarian chicken broth
2 medium carrots, diced
1 bay leaf

Seitan:
1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup Imagine No-Chicken Broth, cold (or other veg. broth)
1 tablespoon tahini or other nut butter

For the dumplings:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. soy milk (or rice)
2 T. oil or melted butter or margarine ( or mix of coconut oil and butter)
1 T. chopped fresh parsley


Soup:
Place the margarine, onion, and celery for the soup in a large saucepan and sauté until the vegetables are soft.
Add the flour, salt, and pepper to make a thick paste. Slowly mix in the broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add the carrots, seitan, and bay leaf.


Seitan:
Mix the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Combine the broth and nut butter. Stir the broth mixture into the dry ingredients until well blended. Knead gently 10 times. Turn out onto a cutting board and press it as flat as possible. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then using a sharp knife (or kitchen scissors), cut it into 1/2-inch cubes. Add the seitan cubes to the simmering soup, taking care to separate them before they go into the pot. Stir well and simmer  for at least 45 minutes.


Dumplings:
Combine 1 cup flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Combine milk and oil. Add to the dry ingredients, along with the chopped fresh parsley. Stir just to moisten dry ingredients and drop by tablespoon directly into the boiling broth. Cover tightly. Return to a boil. Reduce heat without lifting cover and simmer about 15 minutes.


If mixture is too thin you can always add nutritional yeast, I also think the second time that I make this I'm going to add peas and sweet potatoes. I'm also going to make my dumplings a bit smaller, more like a little bouncy ball size. Having made too much Quinoa for a mushroom burger recipe, I threw a bunch into the soup - it's excellent and a super protein.


ENJOY!

Vegetarian (no one knew it!) Mushroom Gravy Recipe

Gravy makes me think of biscuits and gravy and lard and fattening stuff and blah! Let's just say, I'd NEVER buy it in a jar, can or chemically charged pouch. This led me to search for a perfect gravy to top off the stuffing and Quorn roast that I made for Thanksgiving.

This recipe was pulled from About.com and can be found here. The first batch that I had made turned out way too salty and I ended up throwing it out ( I did try saving it but just made it worse). I've modified the recipe and reduced the amount of Bragg's Liquid Aminos and omitted the additional salt.

Both veg and non loved it. I'm working on perfecting (dominating rather) homemade Seitan, this gravy would be perfect on it.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white or button mushrooms, chopped
1 small yellow or white onion, minced
1/4 cup vegan margarine
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or tamiri / soy sauce)
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp poultry seasoning (or 1/2 tsp each of sage, thyme and marjoram)
Pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a large skillet, melt the vegan margarine and add onion and mushrooms. Sautee for just a minute or two over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium and add vegetable broth and soy sauce. Slowly add flour, stirring well to combine and prevent lumps from forming. Bring to a simmer or a low boil, then reduce heat.
Add poultry seasoning and pepper, stirring consistently. Allow to cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until gravy thickens.

Red Cabbage and Wheat Berry Salad

I made a new friend  over spring and we continued to hang out over the summer, best Mpls summer yet! I remember going to her house for the 2nd or 3rd time and she had just whipped up this incredible spread of food. Red cabbage and wheat berry salad, hummus, home made pita-fresh from the oven, this zucchini and something-or-other dish; it was amazing!!

Craving the wheat berry salad later that week, I scoured the net for a similar one. I ended up finding Mark Bitman's book-How to cook everything  Vegetarian and made the salad that day.

There' s something really amazing about the heartiness of the wheat berry with the lightness and crunch of the cabbage, the coarse mustard dressing is  really perfect. This is a great summer salad or a perfect side to a heavier dinner over the winter.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups finely chopped or shredded red cabbage
  
• 2 cups whole wheat berries
  
• 1/2 med red onion - thinly sliced
  
• 1 to 2 carrots - shredded
  

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons coarse mustard
  
• 1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2 tablespoons red wine or other vinegar (apple cider)
  
• Salt and fresh gound black pepper

Toss ingredients in bowl and set aside. Whisk mustard, oil and vinegar together, add a little salt and a good 1/2 tsp of fresh ground pepper. Mix into cabbage and enjoy!

A few tips and tricks, if you have too much cabbage after chopping the entire head, bag it up and store in the fridge. It will last a decent amount of time (couple of weeks?). I also do not yet have a pressure cooker, oh.. I so want one but am going to hold off until I can get the super deluxe type. I have a huge fear of blowing up a pressure cooker in our kitchen. I digress, if you do not have a PC like me, cook a good batch of the wheat berries (really easy) and throw in two cup portions in the freezer. Add your berries to soups, chili, tacos, burritos, you'll be surprised at how many things you can use these in.

The links listed above provide info on wheat berries and how to cook them, they really are a great addition to any diet. I promise that you will love this salad, eat it alone, throw it in a pita, add apple or walnuts, use different cabbages or grains; the options are yours for the taking.

Gemm-Bought? Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions

This is my healthy, vegetarian version of an Italian classic. In my family this is called Gemm-Bought and I have no idea of the correct spelling or if this another made up Muccianti family word?

There are a few questionable words and phrases floating around my family. Let's say my Mom (that really is my Mom, amazing huh?!?) Anyways, let's say she dropped a glass of water, you'd hear "son of a cock-a-datch" and within the past few years she's added "sa-bash-tcha". For a great angry Italian sounding swear word- Sonofacockadatch, Sabashtcha; I think it says it all.

This is a ridiculously easy rustic dish and can be eaten in a variety of ways. You can make a sandwich with the sausage, pepper, onion mix, serve over warm polenta or as is. Make sure to get a variety of colored peppers, yellow, red and green; the colors together are really fabulous.

update: I've obtained the correct spelling and meaning from the big man, Papa Palladino; my Mom also sent the real family recipe  (the unveggie kind).

Ingredients:

12 cloves garlic - whole, peeled
4 assorted peppers, red, yellow, green, orange
1 really large or 2 med onions, sliced
1-2 potatoes, partially peeled, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Basil - couple of shakes
Oregano - couple of shakes
4 Vegetarian Sausage of your choice (Italian type is perfect)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a large bowl, combine garlic, peppers, onion and potatoes. Pour melted coconut oil into bowl, add salt and pepper, tossing to coat.

Pour veggie mixture onto a cookie sheet and sprinkle with basil and oregano. Cook for 20 minutes, tossing veggies around mid-way through.

Pull veggie sheet out and add sausage, stirring veggies around with sausage. Cook until brown (about 20-25 minutes) stirring veggies and turning sausage midway through. Tip: if you like your sausage really browned; when your veggies are done, finish off the sausage in the broiler.

As we say, Gah-Bless and Mangia!

Granola Bars; Not Candy Bars

My friend Holly, is an amazing woman and totally inspirational. She's a wonder in the kitchen and a wiz on the bike; anyways this recipe came from her, from Joyful Abode. Shout out to Hausfrau in the Kitchen!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats
• 3/4 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 cup ground flax
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup peanuts, crushed
• 3/4 cup honey or agave
• 3/4 cup almond butter
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• A couple of turns of sea salt (if using grinder)
• aprox 8 oz dried fruit

Stuff:

• Wax paper
• Bigish bowl
• Small pot

Mix oats, wheat germ, flax, sunflower seeds and crushed peanuts in a baking pan. Place in the over for about 5 - 10 minutes, stirring a few times to  roast up dry mix.

While dry mix is in the oven; in a small pot dump honey, almond butter, vanilla and salt, turn heat on low. Pull dry mix from oven and let cool off. Once cool, dump in bowl and line same pan with wax paper, cut a second sheet the same size for later use; set aside.

Raise flame on "sticky" mix, stirring constantly until it gets liquidly. Once mixture looks like it has thinned out, pour into bowl with dry mix and add fruit. stir your brains out, super important to get all dry stuff with sticky mix so your bars don't fall apart (no worries if they do, then you'll have yummy granola)

Once mixed dump into lined pan and spread mixture out; place second sheet of wax paper on top and start smushing down. Once you think you've gotten in flattened pretty well, put pan on floor, place a book over top (still lined with wax paper of course) and stand on the book. The goal is to get your bars as flat and packed as possible.

Let bars rest on counter with book and heavy pan full of stuff to give it some weight. Bars will be ready to cut in 2 1/2 to 3 hours. You can let them sit overnight on the counter if you're cooking int he evening and happen to fall asleep on the couch-whoops.

Once you cut bars, wrap each in plastic wrap or store in container.

To make gluten free, use GF oats and omit wheat germ.