Bonnie Antonini

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Carrots And Pistachio Nuts In Cointreau Sauce

Carrots & Pistachio Nuts in a Cointreau Sauce

Carrots & Pistachio Nuts in a Cointreau Sauce

Someone gave my husband a huge bag of pistachio nuts.  Now that’s the kind of thing I do NOT need hanging around my house, taunting me with their salty, crunchi-liciousness (I made that word up.) What’s worse is they’re shelled, so all I have to do is reach in and grab a handful.

Of course, the wheels in my head started cranking, looking for ideas to use up these bad boys. My immediate thought was to a carrots and pistachios recipe I’ve had since before I was married. It’s so good that my friend Deno (who has the will power to actually eat ONE potato chip), was sneaking extra helpings. But over the years I’ve rarely made this dish because I hate shelling the pistachio nuts (yes, I’m lazy).

Now that I have access to a pound of shelled pistachios, Carrots & Pistachio Nuts in a Cointreau Sauce will be a common side dish in our home for weeks to come…at least, until the pistachios are gone.

I stream-lined the original recipe (again – lazy) by steaming the carrots, rather than boiling them in butter and water then reducing the cooking liquid. To make up for the lost butter, I just added more to the Cointreau sauce.

CARROTS & PISTACHIO NUTS IN COINTREAU SAUCE

  • 2 cups carrots cut in ½”- 1″ pieces
  • 1½ T butter
  • 2 T Cointreau (option:  use orange juice if you don’t want the alcohol)
  • 2 T pistachio nuts, salted & shelled
  • ½ tsp salt

Steam the carrots until a fork can just pierce them. Don’t overcook! It only takes about 5 minutes.

While the carrots are steaming, melt butter in a saucepan.  Add Cointreau, salt, and pistachio nuts. Sauté 1 minute.

Gently stir the sauce and carrots together. DONE! An elegant side dish that’s a snap to make!!!

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Italian Flag Lasagna: It’s Worth Saluting!

Italian Flag Lasagna

Italian Flag Lasagna

When one walks around with a surname like ‘Antonini’, there’s a certain expectation of Italian-ness. It probably comes from all the vowels. Even though there’s actually not a drop of Italian blood coursing through my veins (I married into the name), I have adopted some of the mannerisms:  talking with my hands, being emotional, and cooking lots of pasta.

The latter (cooking pasta) is what caused me to say, “hmmmm!” when I spied my friend Rose’s Facebook photo of the Italian Flag Lasagna she made. Rose is a fabulous cook so I always pay attention when she talks food.  Her dish had 6 layers:  green, white, red….green, white, red.

As cooks the world over know, we always feel obligated to tweak recipes and make them our own. So, of course, when I decided to pay homage to my husband’s people by making my version of Italian Flag Lasagna, that’s what I did with Rose’s recipe.

The first change was making the lasagna 3 thick layers of green, white, and red – so it’s more flag-like. Then I bulked up the green filling with broccoli and the red with fake ground beef, so the layers wouldn’t collapse. The white layer of ricotta, egg, and Romano cheese would be fine on it’s own.

By now you may know that I’m a wee bit picky (some might say ‘neurotic’) about what I feed my family.  I like to make as much from scratch as I can so I know what’s in our food. I’m also on the frugal side (some might say ‘cheap’) so cooking from scratch saves me money. Always a bonus!

That being said, doing everything yourself takes time. For my Italian Flag Lasagna, I made the pasta, pesto, marinara sauce, and bought fresh spinach that I washed, de-stemmed, and chopped in the food processor. Not gonna lie: it was work. But if you choose, you don’t have to do any of that. You can purchase lasagna noodles, pesto, frozen chopped spinach, and marinara sauce. While it’s probably tastier to make the spinach/pesto and marinara layers from scratch, the main feature of this recipe is that it looks like the Italian Flag – and you can still get the ‘wow’ factor from store-bought ingredients.

As the self-proclaimed Queen of Freeze, next time I prepare Italian Flag Lasagna, I’m going to make several batches of both the spinach/pesto and marinara fillings, then freeze them in portion sized containers. That way in future, all I’ll have to do is make the noodles and ricotta filling.

THIS IS IMPORTANT (you can tell because I used all caps):  For best results, make Italian Flag Lasagna the day before serving. After baking, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate. The layers will then solidify. To serve, slice into serving sizes, and microwave until warm. If you don’t do this, the layers won’t be as pert, and you’ll lose the flag effect.

ITALIAN FLAG LASAGNA – makes a 10″ x 7″ x 2″ lasagna

– Spinach/Pesto Filling

  • 9 cups packed fresh spinach (or 1¼ cups frozen chopped spinach)
  • ½ cup onion, chopped
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 1¾ cups broccoli, chopped and blanched
  • 2/3 cup pesto (recipe below)

Chop spinach in a food processor by pulsing several times, or use kitchen scissors.

In a skillet, heat olive oil and sauté onion until translucent. Add in spinach, salt, and pepper. Cook until spinach is wilted and liquid is extracted. Turn off burner and tilt skillet, pushing the solids uphill so the liquid can drain. Mix together the drained spinach, broccoli, and pesto.

– Pesto – makes 2 cups (freeze what you don’t need!)

  • 5 cups fresh basil, pack down the basil when you measure
  • 12 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 5 T lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
  • 1 cup + 2 T Romano cheese, shredded
  • ½ cup + 2 T pine nuts, toasted
  • Put all ingredients in a blender.  Depending on your blender, you will probably have to start and stop quite often in order to reposition the ingredients. Be very careful not to press down with an implement (such as a wooden spoon) while the blender is running. As tempting as it is, I’ve had to throw out a few batches of pesto when the wooden spoon went too far down and got caught in the blades. Wood chips in pesto = not good!

– Ricotta Filling

  • 15 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
  • ½ cup Romano cheese, shredded
  • 1 egg

Beat egg in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the ricotta and Romano.

– Marinara Sauce

  • 4 cups Roma tomatoes, drained and chopped (I used canned, removing the stem end and any flaws)
  • ½ T olive oil
  • ½ cup onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp garlic, pressed
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ cup red wine
  • 1¼ cups fake ground beef (I use Morningstar Griller Crumbles)

In a skillet heat olive oil and sauté the onions and garlic until translucent.  Add in the tomatoes, oregano, and wine.  Bring to boil, then lower flame and simmer sauce uncovered until it thickens (about 20 minutes). Stir in the imitation ground beef and simmer another 5 minutes.

– Cheeses

  • 1 cup Romano cheese, shredded
  • 1½ cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

– Noodles

NOTE:  If purchasing lasagna noodles, you’ll need 11 noodles.

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ T olive oil
  • water, as needed

Into a food processor put the eggs, flour, and olive oil. Blend until most of the flour is incorporated. Add water one tablespoon at a time until you can form a ball with your hands, but dough is not wet. Roll dough into 8 balls, 2 of them should be about 2″ in diameter. Let rest in covered food processor 30 minutes.

Start boiling the water to cook the pasta. Run the two large dough balls through the pasta machine working your way to #5 setting.  They should be about 5″ wide and VERY long.  These pieces will form the bottom layer and will run up the sides.  The extra length is to wrap around the lasagna to form the top layer.

– Assembly

Grease the sides of the lasagna pan. Spoon some of the liquid part of the marinara sauce onto the bottom of the pan and spread to cover. Boil one of the long pasta strips about 1 minute. Remove and drop into bowl of cold water. Put the other long strip into the boiling water. While that’s cooking, take the cooled strip and cover one side and half the bottom of the pan. Remove the other strip, put in cold water, and lay that one on the other side.

Spread the spinach/pesto filling evenly on the pasta. Top with ½ cup shredded Romano.

Prepare 2 more pasta balls. Roll them to #5, making them 3″ wide. Boil them together 1 minute, drop into cold water, and layer them on the spinach/pesto filling.

Spread the ricotta filling evenly on top.

Prepare 2 more pasta balls as above. Layer on top of ricotta filling.

Spread the marinara filling evenly on top. Top with the remaining ½ cup Romano.

If the bottom pasta strips are long enough that they can fully cover the marinara layer, you don’t need to use the last 2 pasta balls. Prepare them, if needed. Wrap the bottom strips around the marinara filling.

Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese, cover with foil (making sure it doesn’t touch the cheese). Bake at 350º Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake 15 minutes longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beer And “Sausage” Sliders = HOME RUN!!!

BEER & 'SAUSAGE' SLIDERS

BEER & ‘SAUSAGE’ SLIDERS

It’s that time of the year again! The BIG GAME is coming up and the gang is getting together to watch.

You may be wondering to which game I’m referring. Sport’s Widows the world over know: no matter where you are or what time of year it is, there is ALWAYS a Big Game.

Snacks are a must. I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of rule that when you watch a sporting event, you must eat.  Just watch the commercials before a championship game – enthusiastic friends cheering their team on, as they consume vast quantities of food and drink.

Just as sports and food are a natural combination, so are beer and sausage. So I created a slider using beer bread as the bun, and imitation sausage patties as the insides.  (This IS a vegetarian cooking blog, after all!) I also throw in some jalapeño jack cheese for good measure.

These sliders are so tasty even my carnivorous brother raved about them. I decided not to enlighten him about the sausage being fake – why rock the boat! One thing I really like about these sliders is the beer bread, sausage, and cheese bond together as they bake, so you don’t have to worry about them falling apart.  This feature makes them perfect for grab-and-go eating.

If you’d like to see my video on how to make these, click on  BEER & “SAUSAGE” SLIDERS.

NOTE:  Beer & “Sausage” Sliders freeze well, so make extra!

BEER & “SAUSAGE SLIDERS – makes 12 sliders

  • 350 ml (12 fl oz) bottle beer at room temperature (any kind is fine, just make sure you like the flavor since it will be prominent)
  • 30 g (3 T) granulated sugar
  • 416 g (3 cups) self-rising flour
  • 12 imitation sausage patties (I LOVE Morningstar brand!)
  • optional:  12 cheese squares (1″ x  1″ x ¼”) (I use jalapeño jack, but you can use any kind)

Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit.

Bake the sausage patties for a total of 15 minutes, flipping them after 7 minutes. This can be done ahead of time.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Pour in the beer and stir until the flour is incorporated. No need to knead. (Yes, pun intended!)

Put a rounded tablespoon of the batter on the bottom of each greased muffin cup. Add the cheese squares, if using, and smoosh them into the batter to spread it out. Layer on the cooked “sausage” (reminder: quotation marks = fake). Then top with the rest of the batter. There’s exactly enough batter for 12 sliders, so divvy it up accordingly.

Pop them in the already heated 375º Fahrenheit oven and bake for 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Remove from pan and serve!

These Beer & “Sausage” Sliders are not only great for snacking, but for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, too!  You’re welcome.

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The Ultimate Comfort Food: Mac and Cheese!

Homemade MACARONI & CHEESE, served with steamed broccoli and roasted carrots.

Homemade MACARONI & CHEESE, served with steamed broccoli and roasted carrots.

Much to my children’s amazement, I was once a child myself.  So I know first-hand that kids are creatures of habit. Example: If you give a child a cookie after dinner as a treat “just this once”, they will translate that to mean they will get a cookie after dinner “forever”. The battling will begin, and logic will never prevail because in their minds, they ALWAYS get a cookie after dinner.

When I embarked on motherhood I was determined to make it as easy on myself as possible. So I made everything from scratch – baby food, bread, pasta, yogurt, soups, and macaroni & cheese.

What’s that you say? Cooking from scratch doesn’t sound easy to you? First of all, it’s easier than you think – it just takes practice. Second of all, I would rather spend a few extra minutes preparing healthy food so my kids (aka, creatures of habit)  were used to what ‘the real thing’ tastes like. I knew in time they’d eat packaged and fast foods, but I was hoping that by then they would find those foods (laden with sugar, salt, preservatives, and additives) abhorrent.

I wish I could report that things went according to plan. Well, you can’t fight city hall, nor the big food companies.  These people know what they’re doing. My children loved all the junk foods the minute they tried them. And what’s not to like? The sole purpose of these foods is to taste good, thereby ensuring repeat business. (Walking down the chips aisle in the supermarket is the ultimate test of my will-power.)

Macaroni and cheese is standard fare to serve children.  Sadly, most kids only know the boxed kind, with its fake, orange colored cheese.  That’s all I knew growing up – my mother gravitated like a magnet to boxed, canned, and frozen foods. While she enjoyed good food, preparing it held little interest to her.

If your history with macaroni and cheese is with the boxed kind, you may feel like homemade is missing something…and it is. Check out the ingredients list on the package and you’ll see what – and they’re all unpronounceable. Stick with it and you’ll learn to appreciate homemade macaroni and cheese.  To cop the slogan from the old Coke commercial:  it’s the real thing!

NOTE: You can toss in cashews, cauliflower, peas, chopped spinach, etc.  This is a great (sneaky) way to add vegetables to the little ones’ diets. Also, change the cheese to suit your taste.  Try a jalapeño jack to spice things up. Or use up those odd bits of cheese you have in the fridge that you can’t bear to throw out because they’re still perfectly good. (Waste not, want not!!!)

MACARONI AND CHEESE

  • 173g (6 oz) dried elbow macaroni pasta (I use the large size)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp dry mustard
  • 1 T water
  • 250ml (1 cup) milk (I use nonfat)
  • 209g (3½ cups) (7.25 oz) cheese, shredded (I use medium cheddar)
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 egg, beaten

Boil the pasta until it’s almost soft – it will continue to cook in the oven with the other ingredients.

While the pasta is cooking put all but 33g (½ cup) (1 oz) of the shredded cheese in a bowl.  Stir the water, salt, and dry mustard together in a small bowl, then pour over cheese. Add in the milk and stir together. (I ‘rinse’ the mustard liquid bowl with the milk into the cheese so I can get every bit.)

When pasta is done, drain and return it to the cooking pot.  Blend in the butter and egg – do this on a cool surface (you don’t want to cook the egg). Transfer the pasta into an 8″ x 8″ baking dish. Pour the milky cheese over the pasta, then sprinkle the reserved ½ cup cheese on top.

Bake uncovered at 180°C (350ºF) for 40-45 minutes, until browned. Let set about 10 minutes before serving.

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Armenian Salad

Armenian Salad

Armenian Salad

Anyone raised in an Armenian home, like I was, knows that food is a central part of our world. Family gatherings were abuzz with endless food preparation and overlapping conversations.

We were a traditional group – men cooked the shish kabab and women did everything else. Whoops, I almost forgot – the men did suggest it was time for leftovers as soon as the last plate was dried and put away.

Generally speaking, Armenian foods are labor intensive. Dolma, lahmajoun, boereg, and kufte take quite a bit of time to produce, especially for a large family with hearty appetites. But, believe it or not, there are one or two dishes that are easy, nonfat, and meatless – something that’s sure to tug at your vegetarian heartstrings.

Armenian Salad is a favorite, particularly during the summer when bounty from the garden (or your local farmer’s market) can be chopped, tossed, and chilled in no time.  The flavor of these few ingredients awakens your mouth with an explosion of freshness – a perfect foil to the heaviness of many Armenian dishes.

ARMENIAN SALAD

  • 4 cups tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I use Roma tomatoes)
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • ½ cup scallions, thinly sliced, using white and green part
  • 2 cucumbers, skinned, seeded, and chopped
  • ¼ cup lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
  • 2 tsp salt

Toss everything together and chill briefly.  The longer it sits, the soupier it gets, so lessen the chill time by using cold ingredients.

 

 

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Nutty “Meat”loaf

NUTTY "MEAT"LOAF

NUTTY “MEAT”LOAF

Every time I make Nutty “Meat”loaf, I ask myself why I don’t make it more often – it’s THAT good!

For those of you new to my site, you might be wondering why a vegetarian cooking blog has a recipe for “meat”loaf.  First of all, welcome!  Second, look carefully – there are quotation marks around the word meat.  That’s my special code for “not real meat”. Often times I’m using purchased imitation (aka, fake) meat. But in this case, the “meat” is a cornucopia of ingredients that individually are good, then blend together symbiotically to create a delectable dish, even tastier than the sum of its parts. (Whoa – creative moment!)

What I love about Nutty “Meat”loaf is that, unlike other veggie loafs, it has a meaty bite to it. This is helpful for those of you still weaning yourself from your carnivorous ways. Temptations lurk everywhere – like a siren beckoning the hapless sailor (Have I mentioned I write poetry?), enticing us with adverts for burgers, chicken, and steak.  We must fight these tactics with creative vegetarian dishes so satisfying, we won’t miss the meat.

Nutty “Meat”loaf is another weapon in my arsenal of recipes  to combat the proverbial fall off the vegetarian wagon. (How did I veer from poetry to battle so quickly?) But be warned: this is NOT one of those 30 minute recipes – the prep can take as long as 30 minutes (unless your rice is already cooked), cooking time is 60 minutes, and then it needs to set for about 15 minutes.  But I beg you – don’t be daunted! This recipe is worth the time. And, if you like, you can prepare the ingredients ahead of time and set the ‘delay bake’ button on your oven (if you have this feature). Just make sure you’re home when the loaf is done so it doesn’t overbake.

NOTE:  I highly recommend using Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Medley (and, no, they’re not paying me to say that) for the rice. I’ve used other rices before in this recipe, but I love the taste and texture of this blend best. It’s a combination of long grain brown rice, black barley, and daikon radish seeds.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: This Nutty “Meat”loaf makes crazy good sandwiches the next day. (Crazy. Nutty. Get it?)

NUTTY “MEAT”LOAF 

  • 1/3 cup (53g) uncooked rice
  • 1 cup (250ml) water
  • ¾ cup (65g) walnuts, finely chopped, lightly toasted
  • ¼ cup (40g) cashews, finely chopped, lightly toasted
  • 1 cup (112g) onion, chopped
  • 1 T butter
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • 2 common mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 3 oz  fresh shittake mushrooms, finely chopped (or ½ oz dried – make sure you soak them in water)
  • ¼ tsp dried thyme
  • ½ tsp dried marjoram
  • ¼ tsp dried sage
  • 2 eggs
  • 118g (½ cup) cottage cheese (I use lowfat)
  • 170g (6 oz) medium cheddar cheese, shredded (or use whatever cheese you have on hand)

Cook the rice in water. Cool. This can be done ahead of time.

Sauté onions in the butter for a few minutes. Add in the salt, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, marjoram, and sage. Continue sautéing until liquid is released from the mushrooms and then is reduced but not gone. Cool. (This can be done ahead of time, too.)

In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs.  Add in the rice, cottage cheese, nuts, onions, and cheese. MAKE SURE YOU’VE INCLUDED ALL THE INGREDIENTS (I have a tendency to forget something, then have to remix everything.) Pour into an oiled loaf pan. An 8″ square pan works, too.

Bake at 375º Fahrenheit for 1 hour. Let set for at least 15 minutes.

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When Is Dessert Not A Dessert? When It’s A Yogurt Shake!

 

Yogurt Shake

Yogurt Shake

Hold onto your hats, Ladies and Gents: I have a recipe so yummy you’ll swear it’s a dessert!!!

(Insert trumpet fanfare.)

YOGURT SHAKES!!!!

(Insert cheers and applause.)

It all started years ago when my children were very young. They were adorable. They were smart…And (big sigh!) they were picky eaters.

My challenge was to find healthy foods that they would actually eat.  I was bound and determined not fall prey to Tired Mom Syndrome.  Never heard of it?  That’s because I just made up the term.  But the symptoms of TMS are well known: exhaustion due to chronic chauffeuring, cleaning, cooking, refereeing, helping with homework, and on and on.  So when mealtime comes around, all we want is for them to eat.

Tired Moms often go for the easy fix: fish sticks, tater tots, Happy Meals, boxed mac ‘n cheese, and peanut butter in which sugar, oil, and salt have been added.  These foods (and I use the term loosely) taste great – which is all they’re meant to do. A cycle develops wherein the kids have gotten used to preservative filled, sugar laden, nutritionless (I made that up, too) meals and refuse to eat the healthy foods over which mom labors. It becomes a math equation: hungry child = cranky child = cranky adults = junk food = happy child.

So I looked for ways to apply the substitution principle (See what I’m doing?  I’m keeping the math metaphor going!) by replacing “junk food” with “healthy food”.  NOT AN EASY TASK!

One food I desperately wanted my children to eat was yogurt. My Armenian father made it when I was growing up, and I carried on the tradition – although I make mine in a thermos as opposed to the oven, where he did. Click on YOGURT MADE IN A THERMOS to watch my video. Yogurt is a multifaceted superfood. Studies have shown that people who regularly eat yogurt live longer and healthier.

However, unlike store bought,  homemade yogurt has a bite to it, so it takes some getting used to. This is something for which kids have no patience. Sadly, touting the health benefits of foods falls on deaf little ears, followed by “I wanna go to McDonalds!”

So I started making yogurt fruit smoothies as our evening beverage BUT, since perception is everything, I called them Yogurt SHAKES. My kids were quite familiar with the word “shake” – associating it with other words such as “ice cream”, “dessert”, and “delicious”. No need to bother them with facts. (We moms sometimes have to be a little sneaky…. but the kids will thank us later.)  Continuing with my crafty ways, I did make a point to leave the word “yogurt” – I wanted them to have positive thoughts about it.

One of the things I love about Yogurt Shakes is that they’re an easy way to fulfill those pesky daily fruit requirements. If you’re adventurous, you can even throw in spinach or kale. (I’m not that brave. I live by the motto: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!) Use any fruit you like but, unless you have an aversion or allergy, a banana is a must. There’s something magical about the interaction between the ice cubes and a banana that produces a creamy shake instead of one filled with annoying ice chunks.

Yogurt Shakes are made in a blender. If you have one of those jet-engine blenders (like I do), you’ll have no problem getting a creamy chunk-free shake. But if you have a cheapy one (I have one of those, too), you might want to invest in an inexpensive ice crusher….or a hammer and a sturdy plastic bag, and break up the ice cubes before putting them in the blender. Even with a banana, the motor just isn’t powerful enough to completely purée  the ice. If you don’t mind the odd ice chunk, don’t worry about it.

Although I occasionally change up the fruit, this is my go-to Yogurt Shake recipe.  I always add a packet per person of Emergen C – I’ve found it not only enhances the flavor, but it’s another way to add vitamins into our diets.

YOGURT SHAKE – for 1 person

  • 1 large spoonful nonfat plain yogurt
  • 4 strawberries
  • 1 large handful blueberries
  • 1 banana
  • splash pomegranite juice
  • splash orange juice
  • optional: 1 packet pomegranite-cranberry Emergen C
  • about 6 ice cubes – more ice cubes will yield a thicker shake

Mix everything in the blender on medium/high.  Serve immediately.

Yogurt Shakes are easy, nonfat, frosty, creamy, and nutritious. But more importantly, they’re something you and your children can enjoy guilt free.  How often does THAT happen?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Evolution Of My “Chicken” Crescent Sandwiches

"Chicken" Crescent Sandwiches
“Chicken” Crescent Sandwiches

I’m one of those people always trying to build a better mousetrap.  (Perhaps that’s not the best metaphor for a vegetarian cooking blog!) No matter how tasty a dish is, I ask myself (and, yes, I do this audibly), ” What would make this recipe even better?”

Years ago, while still a carnivore, I made chicken sandwiches encased in crescent rolls (called Savory Crescent Chicken Squares), using a recipe I found in one of those ladies club cookbooks. (By the way, that genre of cookbook generally has the BEST recipes!) But when I said ‘goodbye’ to meat, I also had to bid a fond farewell to some fabulous recipes, including those tasty chicken sandwiches.

Then I discovered (drum roll, please):  IMITATION MEATS!!! I revisited my old carnivore recipes, adapting them to my vegetarian lifestyle.

Obviously, the first thing to change in the chicken sandwich recipe is Chicken to “Chicken”. Do you see the quotation marks?  That’s my special code for fake (aka, imitation …or faux – for you posh people)  Newbies often cringe, asking, ‘What’s in it?’  (Oddly enough, these same people will eat salami, hot dogs, and sausage.) Well, there are MANY fake meat products, so there’s no quick answer – you’ll just have to check the ingredients list on the packages.  But I assure you, there isn’t anything inedible or weird.

That being said, imitation meats are a processed food.  Like any processed food, I don’t believe they should be eaten everyday. I permit myself two meals per week in which some sort of fake meat is used.  For me, these foods serve two functions.  One, they’ve vastly expanded my vegetarian recipe repertoire. And, two, they talk me off the ledge when I’m tempted by a KFC or Burger King commercial.

The original chicken sandwich recipe used real chicken, canned crescent rolls, store-bought cream cheese, onions, diced pimento, and was topped with crushed croutons.  I put on my thinking cap, rolled up my sleeves, and began the arduous process of refining that mousetrap.

Being the compulsive person I am (some might think that’s an understatement) I decided to make the crescent rolls from scratch. Then I figured I may as well make the cream cheese, too.  Yes, this added to the amount of work, but I like to know what’s in my food. Of course, you can purchase said items, if you like, but I encourage you to give them a try.

The next thing to tackle was modifying the filling to make a more flavorful sandwich – it was a little bland for my taste. I felt it needed something sweet, so I added pineapple. Dried pineapple worked best – fresh made the sandwich too soggy.  Then the diced pimentos were increased to add more color and seasoning. A little crunch was needed, so I threw in chopped celery and toasted slivered almonds. The last task was to swap the crushed crouton topping for shredded asiago cheese.

By the time I was done revamping the original chicken sandwich, the only thing remaining of the recipe was the idea: a chicken sandwich encased in a crescent roll.

A big THANK YOU to my family for not complaining about the numerous meals of  “Chicken” Crescent Sandwiches as my recipe evolved. There was a lot of trial and error.

Here’s a picture of my preferred fake chicken for this recipe:

It’s made by Worthington, comes frozen, weighs 4 pounds, and appears pricey (about $26.00) until you realize that it cuts up to 18 cups cubed. When I haul (and I mean haul) these rolls home, I let them thaw just enough so I can cut them into meal sized pieces. Then I refreeze them.

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, taste is in the mouth of the diner. You may not like the brand I suggest.  That’s fine. My feelings won’t be hurt if you use a different product. As always, I encourage you to tweak recipes to suit your own preference.

“CHICKEN” CRESCENT SANDWICHES – makes 24 small sandwiches

Crescent Rolls

  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup milk (I used nonfat)
  • 2¼ tsp dry active yeast (1 packet)
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 3½-4 cups all purpose flour

Heat the milk and water to 104ºF. Stir in the yeast and set aside to proof (about 5 minutes).

Into your food processor put 3 cups of the flour, the butter, sugar, salt, and egg.  When the yeast is proofed, turn on food processor and slowly pour in the yeast liquid through the pour spout. Add more flour in small increments until the dough forms a ball. Let the machine run for 45 seconds to knead. Remove the dough and press into a greased bowl. Flip the dough and press down again. Cover and let rise 1 hour.

Filling

  • 2½ cups “chicken”, cubed
  • 4 oz jar diced pimentos
  • ½ tsp dried dill
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dried minced onion
  • ¼ tsp garlic salt
  • 2/3 cup celery, chopped
  • ½ cup slivered almonds, toasted
  • 4 dehydrated pineapple rings, chopped
  • 1 cup cream cheese (to make it click on How To Make Cream Cheese)

Mix all filling ingredients together.

NOTE: Dried cranberries would make a yummy substitution or addition to the pineapple rings.

To assemble sandwiches:

Cut crescent roll dough into 24 pieces. One by one, roll each piece into a circle approximately 4″ in diameter. Place ½ cup of filling on one side of circle. Run a wet finger along the rim of the dough, fold the dough in half to encase filling, then press the edges together with a fork. Place on a greased cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit.

Once they’re all assembled, brush the tops with milk and sprinkle on asiago cheese.

Bake at 350º F for 23 minutes, until golden brown.

 

 

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CHOCOLATE RICE CEREAL BARS – What’s Life Without A Little Treat?!

choc-rice-krispies-textI know it can be a little confusing.  One minute I’m touting soups for lunch to help keep the weight down, the next I’m tempting you with chocolate desserts.  But, hear me out!

No one says you can’t have the fattening foods you love! You can. I, for one, HAVE to have dessert everyday. If I don’t, I feel deprived and it’s all I can think about. Then, in the vain attempt to fill the void an absent chocolate chip cookie leaves, I start eating pretzel sticks – lots of them. Or raisins, followed by pretzel sticks. I think you see where I’m going. I end up eating more calories trying  to avoid eating calories.

The key, of course, is portion control. We dessert lovers have to find a method to outsmart our sneaky ways. What sneaky ways, you ask? Let me paint a picture:  You make a pan of brownies. You decide to store them in the baking pan so you don’t have to dirty a Tupperware. And you also decide not to pre-slice them so everyone can cut out the size brownie they want. You cut yourself a piece that’s about 1½” square – a reasonable size, right? But, gee – another ½” would just hit the spot. Oh, no! That last slice was not quite straight – let’s just fix that up (brownies should be at 90º angles, shouldn’t they?). But now the rest of the row is too big for one person, but not enough for two – might as well fix that, too. Whoops – you broke off a piece when you were removing that last bit. No one’s going to want that. Pretty soon you’ve rationalized eating the entire row.

Been there, done that!

I’ve been around this earth long enough to get to know myself. As stated previously, I need my dessert everyday. I just do.  BUT, I’m also very vain and have always prided myself on my slim physique. It never came easy, but I always managed to keep my weight stable. Unfortunately, as time went on it got harder and harder.  Before I knew it I was wearing nearly 10 extra pounds. That’s 2 sacks of flour! Something needed to be done.

Besides being vain and needing dessert everyday, I’m also basically lazy. So instead of cupcakes I’d make a layer cake, instead of muffins I’d make a loaf, instead of individual pudding cups I’d make a large bowl, and so on. The problem was I always knew there was more when I took my serving. If I cut a ½” slice of cake, it was kind of flimsy, and I felt like I was short-changing myself. So I’d go back for a wee bit more. BUT, if I have a cupcake I feel complete – even though if you cut a cupcake in half and place one half on top of the other it becomes a VERY thin slice of cake.  Crazy! The mind is a funny thing. I guess when I grab a cupcake (or pudding cup, or pre-cut cookie bar) I know this is my dessert. But when face to face with a whole dessert, I can take as much as I want. And that’s where will power comes into play…..or doesn’t. Sigh!

So now I either make individual portions (such as cupcakes or pudding cups), or I pre-cut the dessert and remove them to a storage container. I’ve found if I leave it in the baking pan – even if I pre-cut – I’m tempted to cut off a little more.

This brings me to the No Bake Chocolate Rice Cereal Bars pictured above. The last time I made them I left them in the pan and didn’t pre-slice. I think I polished them off in 3 days BY MYSELF. I made my latest batch 6 days ago. There are still 2 left and I’ve had my husband and son to help me  eat them. So, ladies and gentlemen – PORTION CONTROL! It works for me.

CHOCOLATE RICE CEREAL BARS

  • 2 cups milk chocolate chips (I used Nestle’s)
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 4 cups rice cereal (I used Rice Krispies)

Melt together the chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup in a large pot over a low/medium flame.  Stir often so it doesn’t burn. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until blended. Turn off burner. Pour in the rice cereal and stir gently stir (you don’t want to crush them) until well coated.

Pour into any size pan you want, depending on how thick you want you bars to be.  If you want to make individual cookies, you can drop blobs onto waxed paper.  Either way, put them in the refrigerator to set.  You may want to store them in the fridge, depending on how hot it is in your house.

NOTE:  I line my pan with waxed paper – that way I can remove the entire slab and make nice clean cuts with a long knife. If you have trouble removing the bar with the waxed paper,  hold the pan WEARING OVEN MITTS and quickly run it over the stove flame to slightly melt the bottom. It’ll come right out.

Following the theme of this blogpost, cut the bars into whatever size pieces you want and store them in a covered container.

 

 

 

 

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CREAMY SWEET POTATO SOUP – Without The Cream!

CREAMY SWEET POTATO SOUP

CREAMY SWEET POTATO SOUP

Cream soup without the cream? What?  How can this be?

Oh – it be!  Thanks to your handy-dandy blender.

Wait – you say you don’t have a blender?!  As many of you know, I don’t like to throw money away on frivolous things (cheap!). There are many kitchen gadgets that are one trick ponies – you can only use them for one thing (such as a bread maker). I’m not a fan.  BUT, I do believe in stocking your kitchen with tools that will ease the task of cooking, thus making it more likely you WILL actually cook. Items such as a food processor, toaster oven, a wide assortment of pots, and a BLENDER!

Please note, that I put food processor AND blender on the list.  That’s because they are both useful in different ways. The food processor is great for shredding carrots & cheese, chopping tomatoes and onions, kneading dough, finely grinding nuts. The blender uses a funnel action and is great for puréeing soups, pesto, and yogurt shakes. By the way, you can find these items at thrift shops if you’re on a tight budget.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about eating soup for lunch (click on Slim Down With Vegetable Soup) to help lose those extra pounds one accumulates during the winter months and (let’s be honest) just plain life. I based the idea on that old Campbell’s Soup commercial where the girl wanted to fit into her itsy bitsy bikini so she replaced her calorie laden lunch with soup.

I decided to add another soup to the list:  Creamy Sweet Potato Soup. Which brings us back to the blender. (See how I did that?  I returned us seamlessly to the beginning of the blog.) Did you know if you purée soup in a blender it gets creamy, even if there’s no cream in it? It makes you feel like you’re indulging in something decadent when, in reality, it’s low in calories. Plus, soup fills you up pretty quickly which satisfies you long enough to get you away from the table.

The last time I was in London, I had a wonderful Sweet Potato Soup made with coconut milk and coriander. It was a lovely blend of flavors. I decided to try to duplicate the essence while ditching a lot of the calories.  Also, to make sure it met vegetarian criteria (this is a vegetarian blog, as you know), I used vegetable stock in lieu of the suspected chicken broth.

So I started throwing ingredients together until I came up with a taste I was happy with. (OR, ‘of which I was happy’, for you English majors). A little tip for those of you who like to either create your own recipes or just tweak other peoples’:  write down the ingredients and the amounts you use.  Then make notes about the taste and possible suggestions for future attempts.  You don’t have to write a novel – just a quick, ‘try oregano instead of basil next time’. I’m a firm believer in not reinventing the wheel. When you find something that works (or doesn’t) keep track.  That way you’ll save yourself time in the future AND be able to make it again. No matter how good your memory is, over time one forgets minutia such as ‘was it 1 cup or 1½?’ or ‘did I use garlic SALT or POWDER?’.  Once you write it down, it frees your mind and you don’t have to worry about it again.

As far as the coconut milk goes, you can use either canned or powdered.  Canned is more accessible in my town, but I prefer the powdered so I just order it online. If you use the canned, you’ll need to decrease the amount of vegetable stock since there’s water in it already. By using the powdered, I can play around with how much coconut goes in the soup. Also, I can half the recipe and don’t have to worry about what to do with the unused half. Plus the powder takes up less cupboard space. But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter as far as taste is concerned which you choose.

SWEET POTATO SOUP – makes 10 cups

  • 9 cups sweet potatoes or yams, chopped
  • 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1½ tsp dried cumin
  • 1½ tsp dried coriander
  • 1/3 tsp dried ginger
  • 1/3 cup coconut milk powder (or 1  14 oz can)
  • 4 cups vegetable stock (or 2¼ cups if using canned coconut milk)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • few twists of pepper
  • 1 bay leaf

Heat the olive oil in a very large stockpot and sauté the onions about 5 minutes – until they begin to brown. Add in the cumin, coriander, ginger, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Stir for another minute to bring out the flavors. Pour in the sweet potatoes, coconut powder, and vegetable stock. If you’d like to make your own stock (which I ALWAYS do), you can find my recipe by clicking on BACK TO BASIC: VEGETABLE STOCK. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender – about 20-30 minutes.

Let the soup cool down a bit, REMOVE THE BAY LEAF (notice the caps – this is important!), then pour into your blender (in batches, if need be) and purée. Serve either hot or cold.

NOTE:  Toasted pumpkin seeds are a tasty topping – and they’re visually appealing.

If you’re in a hurry (and who isn’t?!), you can make this soup even faster by skipping the sauteing onions part and just throwing everything into the stockpot. I’ve done this many times, and the soup is still excellent.