Pasta and Lentils

Another Rachael Ray recipe......and believe it or not, one that didn't need to be veganized!! This is a perfect winter pasta dish consisting of brown lentils, crushed tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, and allspice. There are also some carrots and green chard thrown in for good measure. Quick, delicious, and healthy....what more could you ask for??

Green Minestrone

This is a recipe I veganized from Rachael Ray. Yes, I know I'm a naughty vegan, liking Rachael Ray and all. I've discussed this before, and while she's far from vegan (can you say cheese in EVERYTHING), she inspires people to cook. It would be great if the whole world were vegan, but people skipping fast food and cooking at home is at least a step in the right direction. And for that reason, I like Rachael Ray.

Anyway, this was simple enough to veganize, just leave out the meat and cheese, change the chicken stock to veggie, and there you go. Delicious served with buttered (read Earth Balance) sourdough bread.

Green Minestrone

2 Tbs EVOO (it is a Rachael Ray dish after all)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 medium zucchini, diced in bite sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups cannellini beans

2 cups garbanzo beans

8 cups vegetable broth

1 cup small pasta (I used small shells)

1 16 oz package frozen cut green beans

1 10oz package of baby spinach

Heat EVOO in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and saute, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add cannellini beans, garbanzo beans and broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Add pasta and green beans and cook about 8 minutes, until pasta is tender. Stir in spinach to wilt. Season to taste.

Not a Holiday, Holiday dinner

Here's that "holiday" dinner I promised you..........I made the Vegan Turkey Roast from Everyday Dish. Mine doesn't look as appetizing as Julie's, but it was still tasty. Mairin really liked it, and she doesn't like much!! Rob and I were both pleased with the results. Only, I wish I had an electric slicer so I could make the slices thinner. This was a trial run for our Christmas meal, and while we were all satisfied with the seitan roast, we decided that it's probably not the best thing to feed to our entirely omnivorous family. I know that when I became vegetarian I would not have enjoyed eating seitan, it took a long time for me to come around, so plopping a big seitan roast on the table is probably not the best thing to do for Christmas dinner!!

We had all the fixin's along with the roast; mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, and brussels sprouts. The brussels sprouts were sauteed in olive oil along withe some yellow pearl onions. When they were nicely sauteed I added in about 1 Tbs of Earth Balance and enough bread crumbs to lightly coat. This is by far one of the best ways to eat brussels sprouts.

In other news......two of my sweet readers nominated me for the butterfly award. Thank you to Chessa and Elizabeth. I really appreciate the award and I'm so glad that you still put up with me considering my recent lack of blogging. I promise to reciprocate your generosity, and play along with the butterfly award, just as soon as I have some time!!

I'm back

Wow, it' s been a very long time since I last visited my blog. We were away on vacation during the holiday week, and I feel like I've been going non-stop since then. This is such a busy time of year, and something had to give. What gave was cooking and creating new dishes, and posting on the blog. We've been eating, and we've been eating well. We just haven't been eating anything that deserves to be blogged about.

Starting with our trip.......I managed to eat very well in Mexico. I never had any problem finding something tasty and vegan with which to fill my belly. And there was of course plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. However, one of the most interesting finds turned out to be a vegan staple.........soy milk. The place we stayed had the most delicious soy milk you've ever tasted in your life. The brand was AdeS, and unfortunately is not available in the US market, but keep you eyes peeled, all of the US commercial soy milks pale in comparison.

Since our return, and even before we left or meals have been mostly comprised of old stand-by's. I've not been creative enough to cook anything of my own, and I've only been motivated enough to cook one meal from a recipe. That would be the tasty soup you see above. This is Lentil Soup with Ribbons of Kale from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. This soup was delicious. My family of four finished the entire pot at one meal!! And it's so satisfying to have a healthy, hearty meal waiting for you at the end of a long cold day. Expect to see many more recipes from this book over the long, cold winter days ahead.

Since we missed Thanksgiving, we did a small meal here before we left which consisted of Tofurky and the fixin's. However, it was really kind of a quick, thrown together Thanksgiving meal, so tomorrow we are putting up our Christmas tree and eating a proper, takes all day to prepare, Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for that in the near future.