Portobello Patties - Raw

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When I first happened upon a recipe for Portobello sausage that sounded really yummy my first reaction was, "Wow, I don't have half of those ingredients in my kitchen!"  The results of some major tweaking on my part resulted in a chewy and flavor-filled creation that was pretty darn good, according to a half dozen people that I was able to foist this on. 

Notice, before you begin, that you're going to have to have one cup of almonds that have been soaked in water for 8 to 12 hours.  Therefore, before you go to bed on a day when you'll have a bit of free time the next morning, put the cup of almonds into a container, add water, set onto the counter top, and go to bed.  The almonds will be just fine for the night.  Or, you could put the almonds into some water the first thing in the morning and whip up this recipe later in the afternoon.  Life is full of wonderful choices!

Ingredients:
  3 T olive oil
  2 T soy sauce or tamari
  1 T mango chutney
  1 T apple cider vinegar
  4 cups Portobello mushrooms, chopped (I used 3 cups Portobello and 1 cup button)
  2 cups eggplant, unpeeled and chopped
  1 cup almonds, soaked 8 to 12 hours
  1 cup oat flour - quick oatmeal made into flour using blender
  1 T coriander
  4 scallions, chopped
  2 to 4 cloves roasted garlic
  1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
  S&P to taste

Distructions:
  In a large bowl whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, mango chutney, and apple cider vinegar.  Toss in the mushrooms and eggplant and allow to marinate for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, process the soaked and drained almonds, along with the coriander, in a food processor until the almonds are small pieces but not too small.  (Don't you just love such specific instructions?) Put into a large bowl. 

Next process the mushrooms with the scallions, garlic, and parsley until chunky.  Add this mixture to the almonds and work in the oat flour with your hands if no one is watching.  Salt and pepper to taste, about one teaspoon and a half-teaspoon respectively, and shape the mixture into patties.  Place on a dehydrator screen and dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 8 to 12 hours.  I made about 12 patties.

OK, this recipe does have mango chutney in it, which is probably not a common product in most kitchens.  But I got a jar of this delicious chutney for Christmas and I used it instead of a plum paste that the original recipe called for.  I would also try apricot jam without too much hesitation.

Yes, this is a time consuming recipe but for most of the time things are simply soaking or dehydrating and you can go about your life casting votes for your favorite contestant on American Idol or wondering if you're ever going to win Power Ball and be able to really speak your mind.

To serve these I actually placed two patties on top of some leftover pasta, which I had lovingly warmed, and covered the whole creation with heated, leftover pasta sauce.  I served this to my husband for dinner and the next morning he was able to get out of bed under his own power.  He didn't ask about the patties.  His motto is, "Please don't tell me what's in it!"

These patties also seem to keep in the fridge for about a week with no noticeable impact on their texture or flavor.   Yummy enough for me to want to make them again!

Loveya
The Mom

Dried Rosemary - Growing Your Own

"A garden is never so good as it will be next year." Thomas Cooper

Dried Rosemary Plant!

I know.  Most people purchase dried rosemary.  But not everyone is lucky enough to have a dried rosemary plant of his or her very own.  I am one of the lucky ones.

OK.  So my rosemary plant died and I stripped off the needles to collect the dried rosemary.  This was the good news.  The bad news is that I once heard that if a woman were able to keep a rosemary plant alive, in the house, through the winter, she would be the head of her household.  It's a goal.

Truth be told, I did keep this particular plant alive last winter.  This winter, however, it seems that I lost control of the situation.  Because I had kept my husband apprised of the head-of-the-household myth last year when everything was coming up rosemary, this year it was necessary to hide the body.  The pot is on a shelf in the basement.  The dried rosemary is in a recipe for a tomato sauce that's good on pizza or pasta.  Recipe to follow on another day.  I've had enough excitement for one day!

Loveya
The Mom

Restaurant Leftover Redo

"Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories.  Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart."  Thomas Fuller

Two of my favorite redo meals come from restaurants.  First on the list is a dish not pictured here because we ate it.  This is a redo of a vegetarian fajita as served in most restaurants featuring southwestern food.  This dish generally comes with some tortillas, beans, rice, lettuce and other goodies, along with a generous platter of sauteed veggies.

What I generally do is eat up all the side items wrapped in the tortillas and take the sauteed veggies home.  At home I reheat the veggies with some soy sauce and serve them over rice.  It makes a meal large enough for two and better yet, it's in a completely different ethnic setting!

The dish pictured here is the leftovers from a curried lentil and sweet potato dish that I enjoyed at a different restaurant.  Because I also had an appetizer and dessert I was able to take half of my entree home.  With dishes that contain beans and/or lentils the redo is generally a soup.

To my leftover curried lentils and sweet potatoes I added:
  carrots, diced
  onion, diced
  celery, diced
  veggie broth, about 2 cups
  salt, to taste
  2 T nutritional yeast (optional)

I sauteed the veggies in a splash of oil for a few minutes and then added the broth.  When the veggies were tender, after about 10 minutes of simmering, I added the leftover curried lentils and sweet potatoes along with a pinch of salt and some nutritional yeast.

Another addition that can add a bit more color and nutrition is parsley powder.  This is an ingredient I have around by accident, like two of my children.  It seems that grocery stores are not willing to sell parsley by the sprig and so I usually end up purchasing a bunch.  From this bunch I use a sprig or two and then watch the rest of the bunch slowly deteriorate in my refrigerator. 

One day, as the faerie tale goes, I decided to dehydrate extra parsley in my dehydrator (an oven on low would probably work) and then whipped up the dried parsley sprigs in my blender.  I now have a little jar of parsley powder to use in soups or for parsley tea.  I also still have the two children who went on to create beautiful accidents of their own.  Life is good!

Loveya
The Mom
     

Asian Noodle Salad

 "If God had intended us to follow recipes he wouldn't have given us grandmothers."  Linda Henley

Here's a little dish I put together because I had a few leftovers lurking around in my fridge.  Also, I had recently, on a whim, purchased some rice noodles that I wanted to use. 

I stared this dish by making Asian Dressing (August 18, 2011).   To review:

Ingredients:
  1 T Bragg Liquid Amino
  1 T agave nectar
  1 t Bragg apple cider vinegar
  1 1/2 t toasted sesame oil
  1 or more cloves garlic - this time I used roasted garlic (Jan 27 blog entry)
  Bit of grated ginger

Distructions:
  Whisk all together.

To this dressing I added:
  Red cabbage, sliced thin
  Small piece of red pepper, diced
  Kale, finely chopped
  Red onion, diced
  Rice noodles, cooked and drained

You'll notice that there are no amounts listed on the above ingredients.  That's because I was cleaning out the fridge. Also good in this dish might be canned green beans, cooked broccoli, snow peas, frozen peas, and/or sliced water chestnuts.

That's the nice thing about a tasty dressing.  It's a blessing when it comes to creating a new dish in just a few minutes.  And it's a great way for the fearless to clean out the fridge!

Loveya
The Mom

Vegan Beef Barley Veggie Soup

"I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage."  Erma Bombeck

I recently had the privileged of entertaining my son along with his wife and their three teeny daughters.  No, their daughters aren't small, but they've all reached or are about to reach their teenage years.  My goal, if I chose to accept it, was to introduce them to the joys of vegan dining.  I went into this knowing nothing about their eating preferences.

I began with my Really Good Broth (July 24, 2011 blog), which I enhanced with celery, carrots, portobello mushroom, and barley.  To review the broth recipe -

Ingredients:
  3 T soy sauce or tamari
  2 t Kitchen bouquet
  2 T nutritional yeast flakes
  1/2 cup chopped onions
  1/3 t rubbed sage
  2 cups water
  1 t oil

Distructions:
  Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.

To expand this version for our group of seven that was dining together I doubled the broth recipe and added:

  1 cup baby carrots, sliced
  2 stalks celery, diced
  2 T barley
 1 large portobello mushroom, diced

In order to cook through all of these additional ingredients I partially covered the pot, set it on simmer, and let it go for about an hour. 

Dinner report - my beautiful granddaughters and their parents were open to all of the dishes served and approached everything with a spirit of adventure.  A good time was had by all!

Loveya
The Mom

Black Bean Vegan Brownies

"I'd give up chocolate but I'm no quitter!"  Anon

For some reason a group of us were talking about brownies made with black beans.  I guess we'd run out of gossip or even enough imagination to make up some stuff about people that we barely know.  What is this world coming to!

At any rate, I perused the Internet and sorted through a number of such recipes and finally tweaked one that produced a rather tasty product.  One of the sweeteners in this recipe is bananas, so make sure you use RIPE bananas.  A good time to stock up on ripe bananas is when the store is selling out the overly ripe bananas.  Grab a bunch or two and store them in the freezer until you're ready to whip up a batch of these brownies.

The other sweetener is agave nectar and we've already sung its praises in other recipes - low glycemic index, etc. 

Ingredients:
  15 ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  2 bananas
  1/3 cup agave nectar
  1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  2 t cinnamon
  1/2 cup oat flour*
  1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal

Distructions:
  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x8 pan.  I did not have an 8x8 pan so I used a pie plate.  The world continued to spin on its axis.

*Oat flour - quick cooking oats whipped up in a blender or food processor until they turn into a flour-like substance.  Don't agonize over this.

Place all of the ingredients, except the oat flour and oatmeal, into a food processor or blender.  Whip until smooth.  Stir in the oats and oat flour and place into the prepared pan.  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean or until you are just too hungry for chocolate to wait another minute.  The batch I made never got to the clean toothpick stage.  They were a fudgy brownie. 

I served these brownies to my husband and told him they were a banana cinnamon brownie.  I did not mention the black beans because his food attitude is, "Don't tell me what's in it because then I might not like it."   Black beans, for all their nutritional value, are not something that most chocolate eating beings want to find in their brownies. 

An additional note - because these brownies were so moist I guessed that they were capable of growing hair so I stored them in the fridge.  They stayed moist for about a week.  I'm going to whip up another batch this weekend.  Life is good!

Loveya
The Mom

Spanish Rice

"The Cardiologist Diet: if it tastes good, spit it out."  Anon

The reason for the above quote comes from a phone call I just received from a friend.  She was telling me about the different recipes she's tried from my blog and ended by assuring me that everything really tastes good!  I love it when people find out that healthy food can also taste good.  And I also love it when I can take a recipe and make it simpler.  Here's a recipe that I recently had a go at and I love the results.

Yummy Spanish Rice

Ingredients:
  1 T olive or coconut oil
  1 onion, red or sweet, chopped
  1 red pepper, chopped - any color will work
  4 or more cloves roasted garlic, mashed (Jan 27 blog)
  1 cup rice, uncooked
  diced tomatoes, 14.5 ounce can
  salsa, 14.5 ounces
  water, 7.25 ounces
  1/2 t paprika
  1/2 t basil
  1/2 t oregano
  1/2 t cumin

Distructions:
  Saute the onion and pepper in oil for 3 to 5 minutes.   Add everything else.  Now the fun begins!

At this point you can either put everything into a 9.5x13 roasting pan, cover with foil, and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour, or you can put everything into a heavy kettle, cover, and simmer for about an hour.  Either way, it's a good idea to roast or cook everything for about 30 to 40 minutes and then check and stir it every so often until the rice is done.

As you can see by the recipe, I used the diced tomato can to measure the salsa and water - filled for the salsa and half-filled for the water.  That means I didn't have to dirty a measuring cup.  Also, you get to choose the degree of heat in the salsa, which means you can make this dish as mild or spicy as you wish.  Furthermore, I used only the 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to measure all of the spices.  Again, fewer dishes to wash.  Incredibly clever or incredibly lazy?

 Some recipes for Spanish rice include celery and mushrooms, so if you have some in the fridge that are looking for a home feel free to add them or any other ingredient that strikes your fancy.  As for the resulting rice dish, it's great as a side or under veggie chili.  It's also good with re-fried black or pinto bean tacos or tostadas.  The fun never ends!

Loveya
The Mom