Vegetarian Chicken-LESS Pot Pie

Sorry I haven't blogged lately!

We were all sick for a few weeks, and the last thing you want to do when you're sick is think of something new to make for dinner and document it every step of the way.
No, if you're me, all you want for dinner when you're sick in the winter is a big pile of mashed potatoes and a generous helping of green bean casserole. 
But, we all pretty much know how to make those things.

So for something you might not know how to make, I present to you Chicken-Less Pot Pie!

I started making this dish a couple of years ago, and it's become a staple for our family every winter. But since Douglas and I have become vegetarians, I've had the tweak the recipe a little to replace all the meat-oriented ingredients. After having devoured the last batch, I believe I have perfected my new and improved vegetarian recipe. It's super warm and comforting for those cold,  snowy days.


What You'll Need

1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter       
Approximately 1/2 cup of flour
8 oz. heavy cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup (or if you prefer, cream of something else)
1 cup vegetable stock
4 small cans of veggies or 2 regular cans (I use carrots, peas, corn, and green beans)
1 box of pre-made pie crust
salt to taste
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. Italian seasoning





The very first thing you'll want to do is preheat your oven as directed on the pie crust box and lay out one of the crusts in a casserole dish to get it baking. I always do a preliminary bake on the bottom crust of the pot pie before I put the filling in so that it doesn't turn out doughy. You just want to get a slight golden color on the bottom crust and then pull it out to be filled.

While the bottom crust is baking, start the pot pie filling. 

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium low heat.

 

Once the butter is melted, slowly whisk in the flour until it forms a thick "paste". You may need slightly more or slightly less. It should look about like this:

Then, whisk in the heavy cream, can of cream of mushroom (do not add any milk! just the can of soup will do), and the vegetable broth. Add your seasonings.

 

Turn the burner up to medium heat and bring this mixture to a slight boil. Then, add in your vegetables. You can use a frozen vegetable blend for this instead if you want to, and I have before - it will just need to cook longer in order to thaw the vegetables (it would probably take about 2 cups of vegetables).

Once everything is hot, fill your casserole dish! 

Then, cover it with the remaining pie crust and put it back in the oven to bake until the top crust is cooked to your liking. 

Witness Douglas' food-style handy work!

And finally, enjoy! You may want to let the pot pie sit for a few minutes to let the filling cool down and thicken back up. Or, if you're like me, ignore all of that and scoop it into your bowl with a spoon.  =o)

Yum!!

Doug's Gluten-Free Vegan Patatas Bravas with Greek Yogurt Sauce

These potatoes are not traditional patatas bravas, as they are generally made with a tomato-based sauce. And rather than sticking to common Spanish spices, Doug's potatoes include a popular Indian spice, garam massala. Nevertheless, they are delicious! They can be pretty spicy though, so if you're sensitive to spice, you may want to omit certain ingredients to tone the heat down a little.

What You'll Need
4-5 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch squares
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp. chili oil (omit and replace with olive oil if you don't like it spicy)
1/2 tsp. chili flakes (omit these as well if you want mild potatoes)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp garam massala powder
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
Black pepper and salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees

Peel the potatoes and chop them into 1-inch squares. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you want them small enough so that they'll cook through fairly quickly.

Spread the potatoes out on a cookie sheet and season them with as much salt and black pepper as you prefer. Salt will emphasize the flavor of the other spices, and the back pepper will add a some mild heat.

Cover the cookie sheet with foil and bake them for 15 to 18 minutes. Then, remove the foil and cook the potatoes further until they are tender and starting to brown. This will give them a bit of a crust.

While the potatoes are cooking, add your oils and spices to a small sautee pan and heat them over medium-low heat (save the lemon juice until the very end).

Once the potatoes are done cooking, put them into a large bowl.

Add in the hot oil and toss it together with the potatoes and the lemon juice.

Finally, eat them! Or, serve them with a refreshing Greek Yogurt dip to cool your mouth down.

What You'll Need
1 cup Greek Yogurt

1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste








Simply pour your yogurt into a small bowl and add the seasonings in no particular order.

This sauce is not only great served with the potatoes above, but it is also a great condiment for falafel and veggie gyros. The same night we made the potatoes, we also had veggie gyros, and it was the most amazing thing I had eaten since the last time I ate something amazing!

If you're feelin' some veggie gyros, the directions are simple. 

Sautee any vegetables of your choice in a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper over medium heat (we used zucchini, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms). Once they are cooked to the tenderness you prefer, place them atop any flat bread (naan, pita, or otherwise... we used tandoori naan), add a few halved cherry tomatoes, and top with yogurt sauce and a bit of feta cheese if you like.

Amazing! Kind of wish I had some right about now.

How To Do It

It's been said that the most common question vegetarians get asked is "What do you eat?"
I can tell you from experience that it's probably true, and the answer is definitely: EVERYTHING!

Nearly everything I used to love to eat, I still eat. Sometimes it just takes a little tweaking. I really think that the food I eat now is more delicious and more satisfying (not to mention better for me) than when I ate meat. 

Having been on the other side of the fence, I can definitely understand the concern some people have at the thought of eliminating meat from their diet. I used to love a medium rare hunk of steak just as much as the next guy, and my motto - when it came to meat-eating, anyway - was the age old adage "for every animal you don't eat, I'm going to eat three!" Yeah, I think a lot of us have been there. From a health standpoint, as long as you eat a variety of foods (which you should do anyway), you'll be fine. This article provides some good info.

I can't say for sure exactly what it was that made me reconsider my diet. I think it was really the combination of a lot of little stuff. As is true for most things in life, the first step is always the hardest. Change of any kind is never easy. I am a serious condiment lover, so the real challenge for me was finding a way to redirect my love of things like barbecue sauce and hot sauce onto a different food source. 

The easiest way to introduce yourself or anyone else to vegetarianism or flexitarianism (eating vegetarian a few times a week) is to start with foods that lend themselves very easily to meatlessness: stir-fries, pastas, and casseroles. If you feel like you're missing some bulk, mushrooms are a really great way to add a meaty factor to a dish. They hold up well during the cooking process, and they will absorb pretty much any flavor, so they're really versatile. They're also good for your prostate (and if you don't have a prostate, you can just pretend)!

Soy foods can also be a good meat replacement, but the trick is to stay away from over-processed soy (actually, it doesn't hurt to stay away from over-processed foods in general). I'm not a huge fan of fake meat, although I do enjoy the occasional Boca burger. Soy in its simplest forms - edamame, tofu, tempeh - is, according to Alton Brown, nutritionally equivalent to meat. It offers the same proteins as beef or chicken without all the fat and cholesterol.

One of the greatest things about being a vegetarian is that once you truly cultivate your love of all things produce, you can happily eat as many vegetables as you want without having to worry about gaining weight!

Whether going full-time or part-time with vegetarianism, it is definitely a journey. Reading labels, discovering new items and methods, and choosing raw foods may seem like a pain at first, but it becomes really rewarding to know exactly what you're eating and how those foods benefit your body...all while being kind to animals and the planet.

Gluten-Free Vegetarian Tortilla Casserole

I had a craving for this dish one night and I knew exactly what I wanted. But I couldn't find a recipe anywhere, so I just made it up! It's relatively inexpensive, and it's great served with a side of vegetarian refried beans.

What You Will Need
3 medium green bell peppers
3-4 medium poblano peppers
Corn tortillas
Tortilla chips
Leftover Beans N' Rice
(or 1 can of black beans)
Mexican cheese mix to cover the top of the casserole

For the sauce:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (you can use milk instead, but it curdles very easily and may require corn starch or four to thicken)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 pound monterey jack cheese
Cumin (1 tsp)
Paprika (1 tsp)
Chili Powder (1 tsp)
Cayenne Pepper to taste
Black Pepper
Salt


Chop the bell peppers and poblano peppers into short strips and add them into a sautee pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Salt and Pepper them and cook them over medium heat until they are browned and tender.

While the peppers are cooking, start the sour cream sauce. In a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat, mix together the heavy cream and sour cream. Add in the seasonings and heat slowly, but do not bring it to a boil. Once the cream is warm, add in the monterey jack cheese (either shredded or a few chunks at a time) and stir together until the cheese is fully melted.

Once your peppers are browned and tender, you're ready to start layering your casserole!

 

 In your casserole dish, place a small amount of sour cream sauce (about 1/4 of a cup) just to keep the tortillas from sticking. Tear your corn tortillas into quarters and layer them in the bottom of the casserole dish. Then, place a layer of peppers (about half the pan) on top of the tortillas, spread in some of the Beans N' Rice sauce (or black beans), and lightly cover it with sour cream sauce. Continue making layers until you're out of peppers.

Once you're done layering the casserole, cover the top with a handful of crushed tortilla chips, a bit of sour cream sauce, and a mexican cheese blend.

Bake it at 350 until the cheese on top is melted, about 20 minutes.

Then, serve it with refried beans and eat it!

Joy's Gluten-Free Vegan Beans N' Rice

I got the idea for this dish while watching the Food Network, except their version had pork products and some other unnecessaries, so I figured this meat-free version out on my own. It's a great cold weather meal because it has the comfort factor, but you can really eat it any time. To me, it's kind of a member of the chili family.

What You Will Need
1 medium sweet onion

1 medium green bell pepper       
2 cans of red kidney beans
1 can of black beans
4 cups of vegetable stock
Cayenne Pepper (a pinch, or if you like it spicy, more than a pinch)
Paprika (1 tbsp.)
Cumin (2 tbsp)
Chili Powder (2 tbsp)
Oregano (2 tbsp)
Black Pepper (1 tsp.)
Salt to taste

Brown rice or any rice of your choice



To start, heat about 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Dice your onion and green pepper and add them into your hot olive oil. Season them lightly with salt and pepper and let them cook until they are soft and slightly browned.

Next, add in the 4 cups of vegetable stock and all of the seasonings. Add in the three cans of beans, but don't drain them, as the liquid in the can helps to thicken the finished product.

Bring everything to a boil and let it reduce for about 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes has passed, reduce the heat to low. At this point, you'll want to mash about 1/4 of the beans to further thicken the mixture. I used to do it with a fork, but having discovered the wonders of the hand blender, that is now my preferred method. You could also put the beans into a blender or food processor and then add them back into the rest of the sauce.

Stir everything until the mashed beans are incorporated and the mixture is thicker. If you want it thicker still, you can bring it back up to a boil and reduce it further, but the beans should have the consistency of a thick gravy.

Finally, serve it over the rice of your choice and enjoy! We typically use long grain brown rice and just cook it plain in our rice cooker, but you can by all means use whatever kind of rice you prefer. Just follow the directions on the bag or box and eat it along side your Beans N' Rice.

And if you have left-overs, they can be used in tomorrow night's dinner: Tortilla Casserole!

Vegetarian Mushroom Gorgonzola Pasta

This is a super easy, super comforting meal that Douglas and I came up with one night because we wanted something delicious, and we wanted it fast. The ingredients to this dish are also very cheap, so you can feed the whole family for very little money.

What You Will Need:
16 oz. (1 box) of rotini noodles
0.4 pounds of Gorgonzola cheese
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 large portobella cap (or 15-20 cremini mushrooms)
Enough mozzarella cheese to top off the casserole dish

To start, preheat your oven to 375.
You'll want to cut the mushrooms into 1 inch chunks. Size is not that important, and neither are the dimensions of the mushroom chunks - you just want to leave them big enough so that when they cook down, they'll still be able to stand on their own in the casserole.

Sautee the mushrooms in a pan with 1 tbsp. of butter or margarine and 1 tbsp. of minced garlic. We use fresh garlic at home because the flavor is mush stronger (and we are very enthusiastic about garlic), but if you only have garlic powder, you can use that too. Season the mushrooms with a little bit of salt and pepper, and cook them over medium heat until the butter is absorbed and the mushrooms are smaller and slightly browned.

Next, start the noodles. Once your pasta water is boiling, add a little salt. You'll want to make the whole box of pasta and cook the noodles to "al dente". The noodles with soften up and cook more once they're incorporated into the casserole, so they don't need to be too soft.

While the noodles are cooking, pour the can of cream of mushroom soup in with your cooked portobella mushroom chunks and add in 1 can of milk. Stir everything together until everything is combined. Once this is warm, add in your gorgonzola cheese, a few chunks at a time, and melt it all together on low heat (make sure it doesn't boil!). Add salt and pepper to taste.

When the noodles are done, strain them and stir them into the mushroom gorgonzola mixture. At this point, if you're feeling some extra cheesy goodness, you can add in 1/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese and stir it all together until the cheese is melted and incorporated. It's not a necessary step, but it is a delicious one!

Finally, pour it all into a casserole dish, sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese, and bake it at 375 until the cheese on top is melted (about 15 minutes).

Serve with asparagus or another side dish of your choice!

Eat To Love

I am starting this blog mostly because people keep telling me to. I get a lot of requests for my recipes, so I figure I might as well share them with the world!

A lot of the food I make does start off with a base recipe that I find on the internet or in a book, but I pretty much always end up changing the recipe and some of the ingredients to fit what I'm looking for in the finished product. The end result is usually a whole new recipe that I use over and over again.

Because I'm Italian, I have always enjoyed feeding people. I think one of the greatest things about food is that it is so diverse and flexible, and it is a wonderful vessel for love. I love introducing people to new foods and new combinations of foods and showing them that vegetarian food doesn't have to be a side dish.

My ultimate goal in sharing vegetarian food and recipes is not to push a vegetarian agenda, but just to show people that food without meat is delicious and can stand on its own. I will also offer occasional vegan and gluten-free recipes, because these ways of eating are important to a lot of people. My hope is that when you try these recipes for yourself, you'll love them so much that you won't even realize it's meat-free.

Vegetarian food is good for your body, good for the animals, good for the environment...and just plain good.

Enjoy!