Wild Rice and Mushrooms

I love the earthiness of mushrooms. Add them to wild rice, and you have the perfect side dish for fall. We're a family of five, so I prepare large portions. If you're cooking for 2-3, I'd cut this recipe in half.

Ingredients
2 cups organic wild rice (It's less expensive to buy rice in the bulk bins at Basic Foods or Whole Foods.)
4 cups organic vegetable broth
1/2 cup dry red wine such as Merlot
2 cups or more sliced assorted mushrooms (I used Shiitake tonight.)
1 cup shallots or onions, sliced thin
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
olive oil
pinch of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes

Directions:
1) Cook 2 c rice in 4 c vegetable broth (plus a splash of red wine if you like) in a rice cooker or pot for 40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
2) Thinly slice mushrooms and shallots.
3) About 15 minutes before your rice is done, drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet and cook scallions and sliced mushrooms over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt, pepper, and red pepper. Saute 8-10 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add 1/2 cup red wine and saute until liquid is absorbed, about 2-3 minutes.

4) Stir the mushroom mixture into rice and add parsley.

I served this with veggie kabobs that I cooked on our indoor grill.

 

<sup>As I count my many blessings this year, I'm grateful for my loving husband, our terrific kids, the love and support of our mothers and siblings, our extended families, the unconditional love of our Corgi puppies (Reveille and Bevo), our decision and the opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle, and the right to worship God in a free country. May God grant you and yours health and prosperity! 

Psalm 100 (NIV)</sup>

 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;

   come before him with joyful songs.

³ Know that the LORD is God.

   It is he who made us, and we are his;

   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Decadent Stuffed Mushrooms

I love this time of year! Cooler weather always gets me in the mood for the holidays. Tonight, I made my mom's decadent stuffed mushrooms, except I replaced the shrimp, crab, and butter with olive oil and spinach.



Ingredients:
15 large whole white mushrooms, brush dirt off and remove stems
olive oil
1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped
mushroom stems, chopped fine
2 cloves minced garlic
3 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
salt and black pepper to taste
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese (or vegan cheese)
1/3 c. Panko bread crumbs (Look at the ingredients and choose one without hydrogenated oils or make your own bread crumbs)
a dash of Tony Chachere's creole seasoning or red pepper
dry white wine (I use Chardonnay) & more olive oil

Directions:
Drizzle olive oil in skillet on low heat, add mushroom stems and saute for 5 min. Add onions and garlic and saute a couple more minutes. Add spinach, salt, and peppers. Cook until spinach is wilted. Remove skillet from heat and stir in bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Overstuff mushrooms with the mixture. Mix equal parts of white wine and olive oil (about a half cup of each). Drizzle on top of stuffed mushrooms and bake in oven 20 min. at 350º.

Veganized Mimi's Cafe Corn Chowder

We love soup! Now that the weather has finally cooled down in Texas from one of our hottest and driest summers on record, I'm ready to whip up some chowders and soups for my family. I've mentioned before that two of my teens are picky eaters; one chowder we all like is the corn chowder at Mimi's Cafe. I hate that it's made with butter, white flour, and half-and-half though, so I used this recipe at food.com for Corn Chowder and veganized it. Topped with Shiitake Faux Bacon and chopped green onions, this chowder is sure to be a hit at your house this fall.

Ingredients: We always use organic vegetables when available.

• drizzle of olive oil  
• 1/2 yellow or white onion (chopped fine)
• 1 cup diced celery
• 5  cups hot water
• 8 cups cubed potatoes (about 3 large baking potatoes) chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 16 oz. bag frozen corn 
• 1 14 oz. can cream corn
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar or sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
• 2-3 dashes cayenne pepper (You could use white or black pepper if you don't like the spice of cayenne.)
• 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or flour)
• 3 cups non dairy milk such as soy or almond (If you eat dairy, then you could use half-and-half or evaporated milk instead of non-dairy milk.)

Directions:
1) Melt oil in large saucepan. Once melted add celery and onion and saute for 5 minutes (just until soft).
2) Add water, potatoes, corn, syrup, salt and pepper, making sure water covers everything, adding more if not covered completely. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, usually about 30 minutes.
3) Whisk arrowroot powder (or flour) into 1 cup of the non-dairy milk and then stir into soup.
4) Add remaining non-dairy milk and simmer until soup is thickened to a creamy consistency (usually about 15 minutes).
5) Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if wanted. If the chowder is too thick, add some milk, if it is too thin, simmer for 5-10 minutes more.
Note: Chowder will thicken upon standing

Kimchee (Kimchi) and Quinoa

 Craving something easy, salty and spicy for lunch this afternoon, I reheated some leftover quinoa (from yesterday's stuffed eggplants) and topped it with a little Korean super food, Kimchee. It was little party in my mouth! Kimchee is another first food for me this year. Beware, if you don't like cabbage or spicy flavors, you probably won't like this pickled condiment (No one in my family likes this dish except me.) I've only tasted one brand, Banyan Foods Kim Chee, which is the one sold at our local grocery store, HEB. I'll definitely be whipping this one up for myself again soon.

Quinoa & Sundried Tomato Stuffed Eggplant

My husband's Japanese eggplants have been very productive this summer, so this is the second stuffed eggplant recipe I've prepared this year. It was so good! I really like using quinoa in this recipe since it's a complete protein. The recipe I got my inspiration from calls for goat cheese....even when I was a meat eater, I hated goat cheese. I prepared these without the cheese, but you could add a little Parmesan if you're not vegan.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 small eggplants
• 2 cups cooked quinoa (I cook it in boxed organic vegetable broth for flavor.)
• 2 green onions, chopped thin
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 c chopped sundried (in oil) tomatoes
• small bunch of flat leaf parsley and basil, chopped
• olive oil
• salt to taste
• a pinch of red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Slice eggplant in half vertically. Place eggplant in colander and sprinkle with salt. Allow eggplant to sit in salt for about 20 minutes for a firmer texture. 

3) Meanwhile, chop the sundried tomatoes, onion, garlic, and herbs.

4) Rinse and dry eggplant.
5) Score eggplant 1/4" from the edge.
6) Scoop out eggplant with a teaspoon.
7) Chop eggplant into small cubes. Place in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.
8) Add cook quinoa, tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs to eggplant. Salt to taste and add a pinch of red pepper.
9) If you eat cheese, you may want to add about 1/4 c Parmesan to this mixture.
10) Lightly coat the back of each eggplant (skin) with olive oil and place on baking sheet.
11) Generously stuff each eggplant and drizzle with a little more olive oil if you want.
12) Bake for 30-35 minutes. 

Gluten Free Stovetop Mac and "Cheese"

My husband and I have been big meat eaters for 40+ years, but stopped eating meat back in February 2011. Since that time, hubby has lost 45 lbs. Weird, but I haven't lost a pound and remain between 128-130 lbs. which I guess isn't too bad for my height. I admit that there are certain dishes we really do miss....homemade mac n' cheese is one of those dishes. In previous years, I made decadent mac n' cheese with butter, white flour, breadcrumbs, milk, and cheese. I've seen quite a few vegan mac n' cheese recipes in vegan cookbooks that I've ordered and on food blogs, but haven't been brave enough to try one until tonight. Oh my gosh...I had no idea what I was missing. I combined some of the ingredients from Vegan on the Cheap and The Happy Herbivore cookbooks (Both of which I highly recommend.) I made my mac n' cheese gluten free since I'm experimenting with cutting out gluten for two weeks to see how it makes me feel.

1) Boil salted water, and cook 12 oz. brown rice spiral or elbow pasta according to directions. Be careful not to over cook. Drain and rinse with cold water. Return to the pot.
2) In the meantime, whisk together the following ingredients:

• 2 c non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk.)
• 1/2 c nutritional yeast
• 2 T yellow or white miso paste (I bought ours in the refrigerated section of Basic Foods.)
• 2 T arrowroot powder (You can use gluten free corn starch instead.)
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric 
• 1 tsp. mustard powder
• dash of red pepper and black (or white) pepper

3)  Heat sauce over medium. Stir frequently to avoid scorching on the bottom of your saucepan.
4) Pour sauce over drained pasta and toss.

I served this to my family with pan fried cabbage and tempeh "bacon" (recipe coming later), and there weren't any leftovers tonight.

Southwestern Soup

I adapted this recipe from a wonderful new cookbook I just purchased through Amazon by Robin Robertson, Vegan on the Cheap.
 
Organic Ingredients:
4 large or 5 medium homegrown tomatoes (or 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes if you don't have fresh)
1 small can Rotel tomatoes
1 1/5 cups frozen corn
1 medium chopped white, yellow, or purple onion
1 small chopped green bell pepper
2 15 oz. cans (rinsed and drained) blackeye peas, pinto beans, black beans, or a combination of these
3 cups vegetable broth

Seasonings to taste (If you want more than this, knock yourself out!)
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. paprika
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and fresh ground black pepper 

DIRECTIONS:
1) Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot and saute onion and bell pepper a few minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute.
2) Add fresh, chopped tomatoes and 1 can Rotel tomatoes to the soup pot.  Cook on med. about 15 minutes. If you're not using fresh tomatoes, just add a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes instead and the Rotel tomatoes at the same time as the following ingredients:
3) Add frozen corn, beans or peas, seasonings, and vegetable broth.
4) Simmer 20-30 minutes until flavors have married. Salt and pepper to taste.

I served this soup over Fritos and sprinkled nutritional yeast on top. A healthier choice would be to serve it over millet, quinoa, brown rice, or organic blue corn tortilla chips. I'm embarrassed to admit that my husband and I ate the entire pot by ourselves in less than 24 hours.

Fried Green Tomato BLT with Remoulade Sauce

I feel like the vegetarian version of Bubba from Forest Gump with all the tomato recipes I'm trying out this summer. This recipe may not exactly be healthy, but it's decadent and delicious!!

 Today for lunch, I veganized Bobby Flay's recipe for Fried Green Tomato BLT's and made my own version of a Remoulade sauce.

Fried Green Tomato Ingredients:
4 green tomatoes (Pick tomatoes when they are as large as a ripened tomato but haven't started turning pink yet. Core and slice about a 1/2 inch thick.)
2 T flax meal (optional)
1 1/2 cup corn meal (Measurement doesn't have to be exact)
1 cup brown rice (We try to avoid white flour, but you could use all purpose flour instead of rice flour.)
1 cup filtered water
safflower oil for frying (Don't use olive oil to fry your tomatoes.)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Slice tomatoes. Dry on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2) Mix rice flour and water together in a bowl.
3) Mix flax and corn meals in a separate bowl or plate.

4) Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a skillet (preferably cast iron)
5) Dredge tomato slices in rice/water mixture.
6) Dip both sides of tomato in corn/flax meal mixture and press to make sure the breading sticks.

7) Fry in batches of 4-5 slices about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

8) Assemble tomatoes, vegan bacon (I make my own from Shiitake mushrooms), dark leaf lettuce, and remoulade sauce on sprouted whole grain bread such as Genesis bread.

I'm not a big sandwich eater like my husband, so I eat my BLT (with extra sauce of course) on a bed of lettuce instead.

Vegan Remoulade Ingredients
Whisk the following ingredients together:
1 cup Veganaise
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup or small handful of fresh chopped parsley
1 T horseradish
juice of half a lemon
1 chopped green onion (white and green parts)
1 clove garlic, minced (or powdered garlic)
couple dashes of Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning such as Tony's or Slap Ya Mama
1 T chopped dill pickle
1 tsp ketchup
salt and black pepper (fresh ground is always best) to taste
**Most remoulade recipes also include capers, but we don't care for them so I leave them out.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

My husband got a little carried away planting four different varieties of tomatoes this year, and now we have an abundance of tomatoes in our organic garden!! We've given a lot of them away to neighbors and friends, but they're still coming "out of our ears!" We don't have a stand up freezer, and I don't know how to can yet, so I'm trying to come up with recipes to use up this bumper crop before they ruin. Yesterday, I made a platter of yummy vegan fried green tomatoes and a large batch of fresh salsa. Today, I made marinara sauce that I adapted from several different recipes I found on the Internet. I served this sauce over pumpkin raviolis.

Ingredients - organic of course
olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
5-6 chopped fresh tomatoes, with the juices
1/4-1/2 cup dry red wine (I used Natura Organic Carmenere that I found at our local HEB grocery store)
pinch of dried red pepper flakes
1/8 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley
1/8 cup or small handful fresh chopped basil
sea salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 envelope Tree of Life stevia (optional)

Directions:
Drizzle about 2 T olive oil in a large pot and heat over medium. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minute. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juices and bring to a boil. Add all seasonings except basil and parsley (if you're using dried, you can go ahead and add them now) and lower heat. Simmer for at least an hour mashing the tomatoes with a potato masher so the sauce will be less chunky.

Stir in the chopped parsley and basil. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Sauce will keep up to a week in the refrigerator. Garnish with Parmesan if you eat cheese or nutritional yeast.