April Vegetarian Recipes

April was a successful month for vegetarian recipes.  March, on the other hand, was full of learning experiences.  We had several recipes completely bomb.  Lessons learned:

• Don't try a recipe with an ingredient you've never had.  You will have no way of knowing whether it tastes like it's supposed to or not.  Case in point: we tried eggplant parmesan yet neither of us had ever had eggplant.  Tasted bitter and moldy.  Will be one to try in a restaurant or at a friend's before we attempt again.

• The more ingredients, the more expensive a meal will be.  I'm not talking about a butt load of spices, but sheer number of items that must be used.  Particularly if they are not pantry items, are expensive products, have short shelf lives, or ones you simply don't use them often.

• Don't schedule new recipes on nights you know are busy or after a hard day.  Experimenting with new dishes is fun, but not when you're completely depleted of energy.  We've found it's better to do "Meatless Monday" on the weekends, when there's more time to prepare (or make a second meal if it's a bust).

Here are our recent successes (click on titles for recipes).

1. Quick Bean and Veggie Couscous or Bulgar Pilaf

We made this after a lazy morning of sleeping in and not getting lunch started until 2pm.  We have couscous often, but usually plain and with marinated meats.  This was a new venture to make it into a pilaf.  We made this as directed but replaced the onion with onion powder and skipped the carrot.

Pros

• Pantry ingredients with long shelf lives
• Good source of whole grain and protein
• Easy to customize (ie: vegans can skip cheese)
• Good two-person recipe with leftovers, or nice side
• Reheats well 

Cons

• Recommend a mild cheese, not aged as suggested.  Havarti was delicious!
• Canned tomatoes were a little too sweet, will use fresh next time. 

2. Vegetable and Black Bean Enchiladas

Every quarter, my insurance company (Wellmark) sends out a newsletter.  They always include several recipes, and they recently offered some vegetarian ones.  As a chronic meat eater, I was skeptical of this recipe.  So many veggies, plus prep time.  We'd also never used zucchini before but took the risk since the amount was small.  Surprise of all surprises, this is entirely delicious!  I loved everything about this dish.

Pros

• Don't let the amount of ingredients deter you.  The even quantities ensure a great blend of veggies without being overwhelming.
• Anything smothered in enchilada sauce is tasty.
• Leftovers taste virtually the same and will make your coworkers jealous.
• Prep was surprisingly fast.
• Roasting corn is the best thing ever!  Take the extra 10 minutes for this step.  It's well worth your time!

Cons

• You will have leftover ingredients.  You need to plan a companion dish for them to not waste food.  Thankfully, they all keep well in the fridge.
• Corn tortillas always tear on me when rolling.  Gotta find a way to make them stay pretty.

3. Chilaquiles Casserole

This casserole is the perfect medium for the leftovers mentioned above.  We made it three days later with no spoilage of ingredients.  Made as directed but skipped onion, added onion powder (yes, I'm an onion hater, Mike deals).  Overall decent.  Much more of a corn and zucchini presence in this one, something I personally just need to get used to.  

Pros

• Great way to use leftovers
• Pantry staples
• Speedy prep
• Can be made night before

Cons

• I actually preferred the leftovers better, but that's just me.  
• Could roast corn for this one too
• Massive amount of leftovers for two people
• Too much cheese, or maybe needs a mix of mozzarella and cheddar 

4. Souffled Pumpkin Pancake

Pumpkin is awesome.  I don't know why the majority of people only eat it in the fall.  Well, I do, seasonal ingredient and the holidays, but I love it year round.  Pumpkin smoothies, muffins, breads, pancakes - I'll eat it all.  This recipe combines my love of pumpkin with my joy of egg dishes.

Pros

• Mouthwatering awesome yet completely filling
• Great for two people with leftovers
• Not too much sugar and doesn't need to be drenched in syrup
• Uses all pantry items
• Leftover pumpkin freeze well, in case you didn't know

Cons

• Beware, you need a 10" oven-proof skillet for this dish.
• It's a Paula Dean recipe, which means it's more decadent than it should be.  We skipped the pecans, which eliminates the fat from the nuts and the 2 T of butter and 1 T of sugar they're caramelized in.
• Calls for buttermilk.  First of all, infrequent ingredient in our house, meaning special purchase.  Second, infamous for high fat content.  Here's the waist- and budget-friendly alternative: Mix 1T of white vinegar with 1 cup of skim milk.  Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.  Voila, a chemical reaction has produced something akin to buttermilk but will not kill you.
• Prep is ok, but getting your egg whites to peak is an extra step.  Just plan accordingly.  Also, there is a difference between soft and stiff peaks - overbeating will change the texture.  
• You don't need to buy pumpkin pie spice specially for this.  A combination of cinnamon, allspice, ginger, or cloves usually does the trick.  We used chai spice and enjoyed the mellow flavor.  Next time, I might use just cinnamon.

5. Plain Yogurt in Smoothies

A great way of getting in fruit is to have a smoothie.  Frozen fruit is cheap, there's many varieties or blends, and yogurt is inexpensive.  We've been experimenting with smoothies lately, partially with the help of the last Food Network Magazine issue, which included 50 smoothie recipes.

One thing that can kill a healthy smoothie is added sugar.  Fruit and juice already have a high sugar content, which can be of concern to some.  Then if you add a flavored yogurt, honey, or flavored milks, your intakes goes up.  I've even seen some recipes call for adding straight sugar.

We enjoy smoothies with yogurt.  The extra protein is helpful, and they also go great with any of the above veggies recipes or as a light meal.  We've been using vanilla yogurt but wanted to find an alternative.  Part of this was added sugar, the other was that it's hard around here to find a natural yogurt that won't cost you an arm and a leg.  I just don't want to be eating a bunch of dye and artificial flavor.

Plain yogurt is the answer.  It adds protein and a nice creaminess that allows the fruit to come through.  We've tried two brands so far: Stony Brook has zero sugar and is very tart, but A&E only adds a subtly tanginess.  

Question of the Day: What are your staple vegetarian dishes?  

The Frittata Queen

As of late, I've been experimenting with egg recipes.  Eggs are the pen-ultimate poor person's food (and I say that lovingly) but can be kicked up a notch to satisfy any foodie. Eggs are cheap, nutritious, adaptable and easy to make into vegetarian or meat dishes.  You can put all fresh items in them or pull together leftover dabbles to suit your tastes.

This month I have tried 3 variations of frittata and quiche, both new dishes to me cooking-wise.  The difference between the two is that frittata has no milk, is initially cooked on the stove top, and then finished off in the oven.  Quiche has milk and is baked in a pie crust.  Either is filled with your favorites.

First up: Vegetable Frittata ala Food Network (recipe here)

The ingredients looked promising.  I had mostly everything on hand, swapping frozen mixed vegetables for frozen peppers/onions and using regular cheddar in place of expensive Gouda.  Cooking was easy and the dish came out very pretty.

Taste and consistency-wise, this feel flat.  The frozen veggies sweated off too much liquid (if you do this recipe, drain it).  They were also bitter, which I blame on being frozen.  The cottage cheese was creamy but overall bland.  I also wasn't thrilled about using 3 whole eggs + 3 whites.  I know this saves on calories and cholesterol, but I don't know what to do with the leftover yolks so it feel wasteful. 

The second attempt was Slow Cooker Tomato and Basil Frittata.  Courtesy of a fellow blogger, I was excited to try the flavor combination and cooking method.  Check out her recipe and blog at Living In Iowa.

So I modified the recipe by cutting it in half, omitting the onions, using dried basil, roma tomatoes instead of grape, and grated parmesan instead of shredded.

Ours took 1.5 hours to bake, which was odd because the recipe was halved, but it might be because of different crock pots.  Ours has the coils around the outside, others have them only on the bottom, the latter I imagine being more efficient with eggs. 

This was totally delish!  Just a little crush on the outside, the tomatoes and feta formed a layer at the top, and the basil was the perfect herb to complement it all.  Only disappointment was that our 1 cup of diced romas was not nearly enough.  But that's a good thing :)  It also reheated well for breakfast the following day.

My 3rd and best attempt was the same recipe modified into quiche from Better Homes and Garden (recipe here).  I used everything in the recipe but the onions and swapped the cheese / veggie ratio: 3/4 c feta cheese and 1 1/2 cup romas.

I proudly made my first pie crust (also BHG with bacon fat in place of butter, which was awesome but perhaps not quite right for this quiche).  I'm definitely not good at pinching the edges, but I'm not submitting this for a blue ribbon or anything.

Tell me that isn't a tasty looking piece of pie

This was by far the most successful.  Bursting with tomato, you get that saltiness from the feta, and held together with a flaky crust.  Only complaint was from Mike, who didn't think it was cooked enough in the middle.  Duly noted.

Question of the Day: What's your favorite way to have eggs?

Quiet Weekends R Us

When it comes to the art of quiet weekends, Mike and I are masters.  Weekends used to be the time for traveling, trying out new restaurants, and shopping.  Now they represent a lull from my job, trying out new recipes, and cleaning.

Our top weekend activities:

• Attempt a new vegetarian recipe
• Catch a matinee
• Deep clean
• Watching Netflix
• Power napping
• Baths/hot showers
• Exercising
• Perfecting Sunday brunch

I'm becoming quite a fan of these weekends.  They're relaxed and easy going, typically without any schedules (which I truly relish).

This weekend was probably our "busiest" in a while as I did some shopping with a friend yesterday afternoon and today we're going to go see "Unknown," that Liam Neeson/January Jones movie.  We had plans to go hiking, but alas, it's raining and the ground is completely soggy.

Last weekend we hit up the Cedar Valley Trail.

The trail goes right behind our condo complex.  We only had to drive 2 miles to pick up the path along the river.  It was still a little cold and everything was an ugly shade of brown, but at least the sun was shining.

 

 

 

Look, we're outside and it's February!

I also started sifting through my new favorite magazine: Food Network.

I got this off the stand for $3.99.  It's a completely steal -- there are over 70 recipes!  Plus the articles are fantastic, the instructions are easy to follow, and it's a great layout.  A subscription for the whole year costs just $15, but I'm content to buy it for stand prices.  Gotta support my fellow magazine peeps!

I was excited to try a new snack recipe.  I love nuts: spiced, sugared, roasted, smoked, crunchy, with fruit, whatever.  They're a little on the expensive side upfront, but per serving, they're a much better deal than buying processed snack bars.  Plus they're healthy (in moderation) and I like the natural feel of them.

Doing your own nut mix is far cheaper than anything at the store.  You'll notice any mix with added spices or fruit always has a premium price on them.  For example, Plantars has these awesome chili-lime-sea salt almonds, but it's $3.49 for 6 oz of them :(

Do-it-yourself mixes will typically cost you the price of nuts and pennies in spices.  If you've never done your own nuts before, I highly recommend this recipe for Spiced Mixed Nuts. Check out the instructions here

Sorry it's blurry ...

For the nuts, 4 cups equals two of the 9oz containers.  Depending on the kind you like, this could run you anywhere from 2-5 bux.  The recipe calls for mixed nuts, but I opted for cashews, peanuts, and almonds so we only had nuts we like and because I already had some on hand.

You have 3 basic components: the nuts, the sugar + spices, and your whisked and frothy egg.

These babies cook for 45 minutes, don't need any stirring, and come out perfect looking!

This bowl disappeared shortly after the photo was taken

They have the most pleasant flavor -- a wintery, Christmas, sitting by the fireside, going on a sleigh ride, ringing in the New Year taste.  We opted for the original recipe and the heat from the cayenne is more of a warmth at the back.  The rest of the spices meld together well yet still have an individual presence.  Next time I definitely want to add the chipotle powder!

Had a saved peanut container on hand and packaged the leftovers up.  A week later, they tasted no different.  The nuts have been a great breakfast and snack and good for before/after a workout too.

The weekend is the perfect time to try out new recipes for us.  You don't feel rushed, you haven't just worked for 8+ hours, and if it goes wrong, then you still have time to make something else.

Question of the Day: How do you like to spend your weekends?

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

So our foray into Meatless Mondays has produced mixed results.  We've found some keepers, some epic fails, and a few that need tinkering.

A recent keeper is Pumpkin Pie Smoothie.

 
Ingredients:
1 can (15oz) pumpkin
1 can (10.5oz) evaporated milk, fat free or 2%
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup brown sugar (heaping, if you have a sweet tooth like me)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon + nutmeg)


Mix all in a blender until smooth.  That's it.  Seriously.

It really does taste like pumpkin pie filling.  It's very thick, you'll need a spoon. This was great as a side to fritta, worked wonderfully for breakfast, and I imagine is a nice dessert or after workout treat.  

It also makes a ton.  Probably perfect for 4 people.  We got 3 generous servings out of it.

It keeps really well.  I had that plastic container for breakfast at work two days after we made it and it didn't taste any different.

Nutritionally it's a great option, fiber and protein taking the lead.

Nutritional Profile (for 3 servings)
287 calories (14%)
1.4g fat (2.5%)
.5g saturated fat (2.6%)
223mg sodium (10%)
55g carb (17%)
4.6g fiber (21%)
47g sugar
14g protein (28%)

Now it's true this will cost you a little in carbs and sugar, but I feel the fiber and protein, not to mention the vitamins, outshine in this case.   For being on the sweet side, it really sticks to your ribs.

It's also a recipe where you could easily cut corners or add substitutes.  Those are my favorite ones -- adjustable.  Pretty sure this would be just as delicious if you used soy, cut down on the sugar, or added Greek yogurt (talk about amping up the protein!).   

Just make sure you get fat free evaporated milk (you could probably use regular milk if you wanted it thinner, come to think of it).  We did regular the first time and wow, talk about busting this as being healthy.   
It's also ridiculously cheap.  Purchased at HyVee:

$1.19 canned pumpkin 
$0.99 evaporated milk
$0.73 yogurt ($2.19 for the big container)
$0.40 brown sugar + spices (that's guessing)
________
$3.31

Even if you had to buy everything upfront, that's still under $5.  Cheap, easy, and nutritious: we have a winner!

Question of the Day: What's your favorite smoothie?

Meatless Mondays -- Baked Spaghetti

So hubby and I are initiating Meatless Mondays.  We're traditional Iowans in respect to our meat and potatoes.  Trying to go meatless is to help us balance our meat intake with more fruits, veggies, and fiber.  

I totally respect people who have an ethical dilemma about eating meat.  Unfortunately, meat is just too tasty to stop eating.  I also wish we could purchase cage-free, grass-fed, hormone-free, farm-raised happy meat, but the markup is waaay out of our price league at this point.

In the meantime, the best I can do is be thankful that an animal died so I can eat, portion control so we're mindful of our consumption level, and prepare it so we waste as little as possible.

This week's venture was Baked Spaghetti

13x9" pan

8oz wheat angel hair pasta (1/2 box)
14-16oz jar pasta/pizza sauce
14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan
 

Prepare pasta according to package. Rinse and cool enough to handle.

Create three sets of layers starting with
1) sauce + tomatoes, then 2) pasta and 3) cheese.  Just like assembling lasagna. 



Bake @350 25 minutes covered with foil.  Uncover last five minutes.

This recipe creates 6 generous sized pieces.

Cost based on Walmart purchases:
$0.78 cents for tomatoes (Hunts)
$1.08 for jar of pizza sauce (Ragu)
$0.89 for half box of angel hair (Barilla)
$1.00 for half bag of shredded mozz
$0.60 cents for 1/2-1c Parmesan

______________

$4.35 or 73 cents a serving


Nutritionally, this is a fantastic meal.  Lots of vitamins from the infusion of tomatoes, Barilla's wheat pasta has tons of fiber and added Omega 3's, and this recipe can easily adapt to lower amounts of parmesan and adding 2% cheese.

Nutrition Profile per serving:
306 calories (15% based on 2,000 cal)
11.3g fat (17%)
6g saturated fat (30%, and based on a full cup of parmesan)
815mg sodium (34%)
5g fiber (20%)
59g carb (19.5%)
18g protein (36%)
8g sugar 

This is pretty good considering we can do about 1.5 servings (plus veggies) and we're full.  

Paired the meal with a spinach salad.  We really like Brianna's Dressing.  It's a little more on the expensive side (around $3-4 a bottle, depending on where you're at) but there are no preservatives and the taste is restaurant quality.


This is one of those foundation recipes that's simple and quick, but has room to jazz up or down based on your preferences.  We also had enough leftovers for both Mike and I to have lunch the next day, making this a double punch for healthy and economical!

Question of the Day: What's your favorite vegetarian dish?