What? That doesn’t look too appetizing? Well it tasted a lot better than it photographed.
Sweet potato and carrot soup (recipe here) and cabbage galette (recipe here). Enjoying the last of the soup weather!
Here’s a link I wanted to share of 25 vegetarian crock-pot recipes from wisebread.com. I love the smell of dinner slow cooking in a crock-pot all afternoon, and since I rarely eat meat and most traditional crock-pot dishes are meat based, I’m excited to try these out. Some recipes I’m especially excited to try include broccoli risotto, vegetarian chow-mein, Thai tempeh curry, and meatless sloppy joes (made with brown lentils). Enjoy!
I made this Vegetarian Times recipe last week and thought it turned out well. The sweet potatoes with the cheese was an interesting flavor, and I liked that this was a vegetarian meal that didn’t have pasta in it. Here’s the recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush 9-inch springform pan with oil.
2. Stack 6 chard leaves on cutting board, and roll tightly into cylinder. Slice cylinder to chiffonade leaves into thin strands. Repeat with remaining leaves.
3. Place 1 sweet potato slice in center of bottom of prepared springform pan. Arrange slices in circles around center slice, overlapping slices by at least half. Brush with oil, sprinkle with 1 tsp. chopped rosemary and one-third minced garlic, and season with salt and pepper (if desired). Spread 1 cup Swiss chard over potatoes, sprinkle with 1/4 cup chopped onion and one-third crumbled Taleggio. Arrange another layer of sweet potatoes over chard, and press down on potatoes to flatten layers. Repeat layering twice.
4. Place torte on baking sheet, and cover with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Press top of torte to remove excess liquid.
5. Turn torte upside-down on platter, unmold, and serve. For a crispier top, unmold onto ovenproof platter, and brush top of torte with oil. Broil 3 to 5 minutes, or until potato slices begin to brown and start to curl. Cool 10 minutes before slicing.
For this week’s vegetarian recipe, I tried this smitten kitchen recipe. It turned out delicious and I will for sure make it again. It was pretty easy and made great leftovers. I omitted the mushrooms and just used more cabbage, and I didn’t make the horseradish sauce, and it still turned out great. Here’s the recipe (with mushrooms and the sauce):
For the pastry
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice waterFor the filling
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely diced
4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thinly diced
1 teaspoon chopped thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon chopped tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon chopped dill or 1 teaspoon dried
6 cups thinly sliced cabbage, preferably Savoy, or 4 cups cabbage plus 2 cups other greens, such as beet, chard, or kale
salt and freshly milled pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 hard-cooked egg, chopped
1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar
2 tablespoons melted butterFor the horseradish sauce
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
1 cup yogurt or sour cream1. Make pastry: In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the filling: Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, mushrooms, and herbs and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the cabbage, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook slowly until the cabbage is tender, 15 to 20 minutes, turning it occasionally. Add more liquid. When tender, uncover and raise the heat to evaporate any excess moisture. The mixture should be fairly dry. Stir in the parsley, egg, and sour cream. Season with vinegar and taste for salt and pepper.
3. Assemble galette: Preheat the oven to 400» F. Roll the dough into a large thin circle and set it on the back of a sheet pan or cookie sheet. The edges will hang over the sides. Add the filling, making a mound 7 to 8 inches across, then fold the edges over and brush with the melted butter. Pour any extra butter into the vegetables. Bake until browned, 25 to 30 minutes. While it is baking, mix the horseradish and cream to form a sauce, and season to taste. When galette is done, carefully slide it onto a serving plate. Serve with the horseradish sauce on the side.
For this week’s vegetarian recipe, I wanted to share something I tried out last week from Smitten Kitchen that turned out delicious. It was fast, easy, healthy, and filling. Here’s the recipe:
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons (or more) fresh lime juice
2 cups coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 white or yellow corn tortillas
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Hot saucePlace beans and cumin in small bowl; partially mash. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add coleslaw, green onions, and cilantro and toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture onto half of each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta and slaw.
Mine didn’t turn out as pretty as her’s, but I really threw them together and tried to put a lot of slaw on them since I was trying to use up some cabbage before it went bad. These would be good with cheddar cheese instead of feta too!
As you can see, her’s had better presentation:

It’s been awhile since I did recipe Tuesday but I’ve still be eating mostly vegetarian, just slipping into a recipe rut. My husband made this awesome cauliflower-broccoli gratin a week ago though, and it really hits the spot and makes a great vegetarian meal when served with a side salad or some bread. Most recipes that are this healthy don’t taste this good, but the sauce, which is made with low-fat milk, makes this recipe taste very creamy and delicious. Here it is:
From EatingWell: November/December 2011
Yield: 8 servings, about 1 cup each
Active Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
Preparation
Nutrition Per serving:
145 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono); 4 mg cholesterol; 16 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 6 g protein; 3 g fiber; 324 mg sodium; 337 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (77% daily value), Folate (20% dv).
1 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 fat
I checked out Frank today for lunch and it was awesome! How did I now know about this place before? It’s located on 4th and Colorado, and for a place that specializes in hot dogs/sausages, their vegetarian offerings were amazing. I was interested in the tomato soup served with a grilled beer (!!) cheese sandwich, but I opted for the vegetarian sausage on the specials menu. The menu describes it as ‘A Grilled Field Roast Italian Sausage dressed with pesto cream cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and crispy onions.” It was so tasty, it didn’t taste like fake meat at all, the onions were perfectly fried and salty and the pesto sauce was really unexpected and delicious. My friend had the vegetarian chili waffle fries, which I had a taste of as well, and those were delicious too.
My sausage was $7.50, which I thought was reasonable. The service was really fast even though it was the first day of F1, and our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu. It’s a cool place too with nice decor, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Most importantly, I didn’t feel like I was missing out by getting a vegetarian dish off the menu. I will for sure go back!
Look at this pretty quiche I made. Aren’t I talented? This is pretty much the same recipe I’ve used before here, but I sauteed the bell and jalapeno peppers fist for a few minutes before adding the greens for just a couple of minutes just till they started to wilt. Once I assembled everything with the eggs and cheese, I places halved cherry tomatoes in a pattern on top of the quiche. A delicious and fancy looking no-meat meal!
Have I not posted about making empanadas before? I guess not but what a tasty vegetarian meal! I mostly made this recipe up with what I had on hand and it turned out well. Sometimes when I improvise it can be a disaster but this time it worked out. Yay me!
Here’s the recipe for the dough:
Blend cheese and butter together, and then once it’s creamed, slowly add flour and salt. Make a ball of it and wrap it up to put in your fridge. You want it nice and cold because it rolls better if it’s cold and doesn’t stick as much.
Filling recipe:
Saute the onions in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat till they just start to wilt and add the cabbage and jalapeno. Stir cabbage and let it cook for 5 minutes. Then lower heat to low and put cover on lid and let cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add cream cheese. Stir around so cream cheese melts and add in sweet potatoes. Make sure everything is fulling mixed.
Now you can take your dough out. I would only take 1/3 of the ball at a time, and let the rest sit in the fridge so it stays cold. Roll that ball out on a well floured surface and roll it till it’s so thin it’s almost about to rip through. The dough has a lot of fat in it so it can be spread pretty thin before it will tear. Then use a small bowl or large glass to cut out circles in your dough. I was able to make about 18 circles with this dough. Fill those circles with the filling, but only put in enough filling so you can still close up those empanadas. When you close them up, crimp the sides together so they’re nice and sealed. You can whip up an egg and brush the tops with egg to make them look pretty when they come out. Bake at 425 on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake them 13-17 minutes. Keep an eye on them! You want them to be golden when they come out.
Enjoy!
Since we now have 2 chickens, we should eventually (in the next 4 months) be getting a lot of eggs, and I wanted to find a good vegetarian quiche recipe for when that day arrives. I modified this recipe from epicurious and it turned out really delicious – I remained super excited to eat the leftovers of this quiche while it lasted. And as a person whose cooking is usually ok but presentation isn’t always great, I was pretty pleased with myself that this looked so pretty when it came out of the oven. Here’s the basic recipe:
Place the flour and the salt in the bowl of a food processor and process to mix. Cut the butter in chunks and add it to the flour. Process it, using pulses, until the butter is incorporated into the flour and the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. With the food processor running, add the water and process briefly, using pulses, just until the pastry begins to hold together in large clumps. Turn the pastry out onto a floured work surface and gather it into a ball.
Quiche:
In a small pan, saute diced onions in some olive oil until they begin to brown. Add greens (greens should be washed, dried, and roughly chopped) and saute until they begin to wilt. Set aside.
Roll out the pastry to fit a 10-1/2 inch glass or metal pie plate (not removable bottom). Crimp the edges, poke the bottom with a fork or the tip of a sharp knife, and place the pastry in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line the pastry with aluminum foil and pastry weights and bake in the bottom third of the oven until the pastry is golden at the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the aluminum foil and pastry weights. Return the pastry to the oven to bake until the bottom is golden, an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and the milk until thoroughly blended. Season with the salt and pepper, then add the cheese and veggies and stir until it is blended, Turn the mixture into the pre-baked pastry, and spread out the cheese evenly over the bottom of the pastry. Bake in the center of the oven until the filling is golden and puffed, and is completely baked through, about 30 minutes. To test for doneness, shake the quiche – if it is solid without a pool of uncooked filling in the center, it is done. You may also stick a sharp knife blade into the center of the filling and if it comes out clean, the quiche is baked through.
In other news though, Priscilla may end up being a rooster, in which case we won’t be as overflowing with eggs as I hoped. Fingers crossed, Priscilla!
My husband and I made this recipe yesterday and it turned out well. For those of you not familiar with huevos rancheros, I think it translates to cowboy/rancher eggs and is usually a fried egg on top of tortillas with some salsa. It’s usually a breakfast food, but we had tomatillos and fresh eggs from our JBG box to use up, and this seemed like a quick way to use those ingredients up for dinner. The end result was spicier than what I’m used to, but still delicious.
Ingredients :
Directions:
Cook tomatillos in large saucepan of simmering water until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain. Transfer tomatillos to blender; add onion, lime juice, peppers, garlic, and cumin; puree. Season with salt and pepper.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tortillas; cook about 1 minute per side. Transfer to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas, adding more butter to skillet as necessary. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet over medium heat. Crack 5 eggs into skillet. Cover and cook eggs to desired doneness. Sprinkle fried eggs with salt and pepper. Using spatula, place 2-3 eggs on each of 2 fried tortillas. Repeat with remaining eggs and 1 tablespoon butter. Top eggs on each tortilla with 1/2 of sauce and 1/2 of cheese. Using spatula, return 2 huevos rancheros to same skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat until cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Transfer to 2 plates. Repeat with remaining huevos rancheros.
Was it the healthiest vegetarian meal? No, but the eggs had a good amount of protein and each serving had a lot of salsa on it, which is sorta good for you. Maybe serving this with some black beans and some grilled veggies would have rounded this out better, but it was a nice mid-week treat. For dessert we made smoothies using melon from our JBG box, so that should have upped the nutrition of the overall meal.
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Huevos-Rancheros-Verdes-105295#ixzz1ywAcuv3K
I found this recipe on the Hairpin and modified it slightly. It turned out really great, made a lot of servings, and would be a good way to get kids to eat their veggies. I served it with this “South of the Border Coleslaw with Jalapeno and Cilantro” from epicurious.
Ingredients
12 flour tortillas
3-4 tomatoes
cilantro
fresh garlic
1-2 jalapenos
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium zucchini, sliced in nice pieces
½ tsp. table salt
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1.5 cups grated pepper jack cheese
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a 9”x13” pan by spraying it liberally with oil.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frypan over medium high heat. Add the onions and zucchini and stir well. You’re going to sauté these together for 8-10 minutes, until they’re soft and speckled with brown fry spots. Stir every minute or so.
3. Turn off the heat (this was the hardest part and it’s done!). Add the salt, cumin, and oregano. Stir together.
4. Use a food processor to make a salsa with the tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, and jalapeno. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Assembly time. Dump half the salsa on to a plate. Dredge 6 of the tortillas in the sauce, one at a time, so that they’re covered with sauce on both sides. Use these to line the bottom of your greased casserole pan. Scatter the onion and zucchini mixture over the top of the tortillas. Add the rest of the salsa to the plate, dredge the remaining 6 tortillas, and arrange them on top of the beans. Pour any remaining salsa on top, and top with the cheese.
6. Cover tightly with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, bake another 10, and remove from the oven. Serve with sour cream or guacamole.
I’ve been trying to find squash recipes that are easy, and also make more vegetarian meals that don’t involve carbs. I made this recipe last night and it turned out well. It’s very healthy because it’s mainly veggies, a little butter, veggie stock, and some plain Greek yogurt to thicken it. I based it off this SmittenKitchen recipe (which by the way, has a much more appetizing picture of what the soup could look like when you make it.) The main difference between her recipe and how I made mine was that I omitted carrots, added yogurt, and changed the amounts based on what I had in the house.
Here’s how I made it:
Make soup: Melt butter in a 6- to 8-quart wide heavy pot over moderate heat, then cook onion with salt, stirring, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add squash, potato, and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, then simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool soup, uncovered, 10 minutes.
Working in batches, puree; soup in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids) and transfer to a bowl. Return purée to cleaned pot and thin with water if desired; simmer 3 minutes. Season with salt and stir in yogurt (it will dissolve quickly).
Add a dollop of sour cream and serve.
Here’s a vegetarian recipe that’s healthy, filling, and not pasta or tofu based: Kale and White Bean Soup. I got this recipe from epicurious and thought it was fast and easy to make. It just has a little olive oil in it, and that’s all for “unhealthy” ingredients, and the beans give protein for a vegetarian diet, while the kale gives some protein and iron.
Cook kale in large pot of boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain. Transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain. Squeeze out excess water. Coarsely chop kale. (I skipped this step and just added the chopped, raw kale in at the end and found that the 5 minutes of simmering cooked it)
Heat olive oil in medium pot over medium heat. Add chopped carrots, celery, shallots, and garlic; cook until soft, stirring, about 15 minutes (do not brown vegetables). Add white wine and simmer until liquid is slightly reduced, about 7 minutes. Add white beans, 4 cups broth, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes. Add kale and simmer 5 minutes longer. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Add more broth by 1/2 cupfuls to thin stew, if desired. Mix in Sherry wine vinegar and chopped fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/recipes/food/views/Kale-and-White-Bean-Stew-351254#ixzz1sM4jSYCx

I made this recipe from epicurious yesterday for dinner and thought it turned out pretty interesting. The mix of jalapeno, raisins, tomato, and feta cheese was unusual. I just so happened to need to use up some green onions, beets, and swiss chard from our vegetable box, so this recipe was great for accomplishing that. People on epicurious RAVED about this, so I gave it a try even though it sounded a little funny. I wasn’t as blown away as many of the other reviewers, but I would make it again if I had these veggies on hand. Served with some crusty bread or pita, this is a healthy vegetarian meal.
Here’s the recipe:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap beets individually in foil. Roast until beets are tender, about 1 hour. Cool. Peel beets, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover; chill.)
Fold Swiss chard leaves in half lengthwise and cut stalks away from leaves. Cut leaves coarsely into 1-inch pieces. Slice stalks thinly crosswise. Reserve stalks and leaves separately. Cook chopped leaves in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 1 minute. Drain and reserve.
Heat oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Add sliced stalks; sauté until starting to soften, about 8 minutes.
Add onion and next 3 ingredients; sauté 3 minutes. Add drained tomatoes and 1 cup raisins. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
Add chard leaves to pot; stir to heat through. Remove from heat; add lime juice and stir to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer chard mixture to large platter. Sprinkle with beets, goat cheese, pine nuts, and remaining 2 tablespoons raisins. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The epicurious photo by Pornchai Mittongtare looks a little more appetizing
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now and really love it, so I wanted to share it today. Normally I like to try and share a vegetarian main entree recipe on Tuesdays, but I haven’t made anything too exciting for dinner over the past week, but keep making this beet cake or some variation of it every week (we’ve been getting beets in our CSA box each Thursday for the last few weeks). It sounds weird, but is really dense and chocolaty. I don’t think it tastes like beets at all, but the beets give the cake batter a nice deep red color.
I found the recipe on epicurious. I don’t have a bundt pan, so I just use a 9 inch cake pan and it works out just fine. Also, I don’t normally have exactly 2 cups of boiled, pureed beets, and it’s turned out fine using a little more or a little less than that recommended amount – I just add in however much I get from my CSA box, which is usually 3-4 medium sized beets. To get the beets ready for this recipe, you need to wash them really well and then quarter them and throw them into a small pot. Cover them with water and boil until soft, about 30-40 minutes.
Here’s the recipe:
Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/recipes/food/views/Beet-Bundt-Cake-354070#ixzz1qMBgsgRY
Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/recipes/food/views/Beet-Bundt-Cake-354070#ixzz1qMBQ8YpV
For this week’s vegetarian recipe, I have something to share from Food and Wine, which my CSA (Johnson’s Backyard Garden) had recommended on their facebook page. I gave it a try and thought it turned out really well. I used my own vegetable broth that I had made and frozen earlier this month, and along with one bunch of chard, I also added in one bunch of beet greens since I had those on hand as well, and didn’t add lemon juice. It turned out great and there’s a lot of room to make your own changes and still have this turn out well. Here’s the recipe without my modifications:
I made this vegetarian recipe a couple of weeks ago and it was soooooo good. I loved eating the leftovers. I modified it from this epicurious recipe to make it a little less fatty and have double the greens.
Preparation:
Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic, then flour; stir constantly 1 minute (don’t let the flour burn). Gradually whisk in milk. Cook, whisking occasionally, until mixture begins to boil, about 5 minutes. Add cheese. Stir until cheese melt, about 2 minutes. Stir in cayenne and nutmeg. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2- inch baking dish. Cook chard and spinach in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 1 minute (may have to cook in batches). Using slotted spoon, transfer veggies to plate; cool. Reserve pot with water. Squeeze water from chard and spinach.
Return water in pot to boil. Add macaroni; cook until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Stir macaroni into warm cheese sauce. Place macaroni in dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over mac and cheese.
Bake mac and cheese until breadcrumbs are golden and edges are bubbling, about 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.
I don’t have a picture of this epicurious recipe, but it’s pretty easy to imagine; it’s basically just shredded veggies in a roll with some dressing and cheese. Maybe it’s not very creative, but it is a super fast way to make a healthy, meat-less dinner. Since the veggies are all raw, it’s pretty nutritious, and I was able to use local, organic carrots, cabbage, and spinach from our vegetable box, so that was great too. If you use a food processor to shred everything, this meal takes less than 10 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Spread tortillas with avocado and top with lettuce and tomato. In a bowl, combine carrot, spinach, onion and cabbage; toss with vinegar; add salt and pepper to taste. Divide salad among tortillas and top with cheese. Fold tortillas around salad.
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/California-Garden-Roll-230231#ixzz1l4wSRVao
I made these vegetarian calzones yesterday and they were the tastiest thing I’ve made in awhile. I got the dough recipe from Epicurious here but made up the filling recipe.
Place dough in oiled large bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Punch dough down. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide into 4 equal portions; shape each into ball. Roll out dough balls on lightly floured surface to 9-inch rounds. Spread 1/3 cup cheese mixture over half of each round, leaving 3/4-inch border. Cover cheese on each with 1/4 of veggie mixture. Fold plain dough halves over filling, forming half circles. Pinch edges of dough firmly together to seal.
Using spatula, transfer 2 calzones to each prepared sheet. Pierce tops in several places with small knife. Bake calzones 15 minutes. Reverse baking sheets and bake until tops of calzones are golden brown, about 15 minutes longer.