Ok so I’m back. I’ll try harder this time not to lose everything : )
Cold Soba Noodle Salad With Vegetables and Peanutbutter Dressing (This is currently my favorite recipe. I substituted the asparagus for broccoli, just because I like it better. I made mine with Trader Joe’s Organic Baked Tofu and it was marvelous!)
Kale Salad With Root Vegetables (This is a dish that I discovered about 6 months ago and I’ve probably made it 6 times, trying out different root veggies. Don’t be scared by the Kale. This is one of the most delicious salads of all time. I took it to a family potluck or meat eaters and everyone loved it, and it’s super healthy. My fave root veggies so far have been the combo of rutabagas, beets, but use the Golden beets instead of the red ones if you don’t want your sink to look like there’s been a bloody murder comitted, although the red ones sure do look pretty, and turnips. Instead of making the nuts myself, I just used Trader Joe’s Sweet Spicy Pecans
Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff (This one is on my to try list. I used to love stroganoff when I was a kid, this one sounds really yummy and has no meat. I would probably use non-fat or low-fat sour cream)
Chinese Hot and Sour Soup (I love soups of all kinds, but this is one of my very favorites and it goes well with fresh spring rolls which I’ll list below)
Fresh Spring Rolls Recipe One
Fresh Spring Rolls Recipe Two
Asian Noodles with Sweet Potatoes and Almond Butter Sauce (This is another one on my to try list. The photo is so enticing that it makes me drool to look at it!)
Gingered Carrot Soup
Basic Baked Macaroni and Cheese (I make similar recipe to this one, but I use a really fabulous sharp cheddar cheese, Trader Joe’s has a few that are really excellent. Also, I sautee about a half a pint of sliced button mushrooms with a little bit of olive oil and diced onions until they just start to brown, then I add them to the cheesy roux mixture before I dump it all into the noodles. And one more thing that I add, is one piece of cooked, crumbled fake bacon from Morningstar Farms and those two extra ingredients really make this a marvelous dish.)
Hummus (Sometimes I’ll just serve this with toasted pita triangles, but my favorite thing to do with it is to wrap it up in one of those flavored flour tortillas, then add some diced tomato, a bit of shredded lettluce and a dollop of non-fat plain yogurt, and maybe a few pitted Kalamata olives)
Black Bean Chili
Green Chili with White Beans (This recipe calls for ground pork, but you can substitute Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Recipe Crumbles to keep the texture similar, or just omit it.
Asian Cabbage Slaw
Tofu Salad
Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Apple Salad (This is especially good as a side dish with veggie burgers)
Corn Chowder (I’m actually craving this right now!)
Caramalized Onion, Sweet Potato, and Swiss Chard Quiche with Gruyere Cheese (I use Trader Joe’s brand of pre-made, frozen pie crusts)
Broccoli Quiche (Clearly, I love quiche! Plus you can eat it hot or cold)
The next few items are some that I developed myself, hope you like!
Very Veggie Enchiladas
My Dad recently had heart surgery so I wanted to try to make some recipes for him that would be heart healthy as well as good tasting. This recipe is chock full of veggies, uses whole grain corn tortillas and substitutes low fat cottage cheese for full fat jack or cheddar cheese. I thought a green sauce would be best for this dish, but most of the store bought sauces are full of nasty, un-natural things and are especially high in sodium content (The Frontera sauce had 35 mg of sodium compared to 200 mg and up in the canned green enchilada sauces). Generally I would make my own sauce, but this week I was in a hurry. I found a jarred green tomatillo sauce made by Frontera (who incidentally makes a line of excellent salsas) that is made for livening up guacamole. But for my purposes, I used it as my enchilada sauce. Perfect. I even surprised myself at how good these enchiladas tasted. For this go round I used kale, orange colored cauliflower (which has more beta-carotene than white, and looks really terrific) and fresh mushrooms. You can substitute just about any kind of veggies you like. Next time I’m going to try artichoke hearts, carrots and asparagus.
Ingredients
1 package Trader Joe’s brand Corn Tortillas
1 8 oz. jar Frontera All Natural Guacamole Mix
1 16 oz. container low fat Cottage Cheese
2 tbls Olive Oil, divided use
1.5 cup chopped fresh Kale
1.5 sliced fresh White Mushrooms
1 cup diced Yellow Onion
1 4.5 oz. can chopped Green Chilies, rinsed
1.5 Cups chopped fresh orange colored Cauliflower
Instructions
Start by spooning the cottage cheese into a fine wire mesh strainer over a bowl, to allow some of the liquid drain off; ten or fifteen minutes ought to do the trick. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, sauté the diced yellow onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until just soft, add the mushrooms and stir until they just start to brown, then add the rinsed green chilies (they’re rinsed to remove most of the added sodium) until heated through. Empty the mushroom/ green chilies mixture into a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, sauté the orange colored cauliflower in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until it just starts to brown, then set the cauliflower aside. Meanwhile, spread about 4 tablespoons of the Frontera All Natural Guacamole Mix into the bottom of a glass 11 inch by 7 inch glass baking dish. Take 2 of the corn tortillas out of the package and cut them in half (because of the round shape of the tortillas and the rectangular shape of the baking dish, you will need four half sections of tortilla to fill in the middle spaces in your dish). Place two whole tortillas and one of the halved tortillas into the bottom of the dish to cover the bottom. Spread a thin layer of the cottage cheese over the tortillas, and then spread the mushroom/green chilies mixture over the bottom layer. Put down another layer of tortillas, spread another thin layer of cottage cheese over the tortillas, and then spread the chopped kale over this layer. Drizzle about 6 tablespoons of the Frontera sauce over the kale. Add another layer of tortillas and cottage cheese, and then spread the chopped orange colored cauliflower over this layer. Add one more layer of tortillas and cottage cheese for the top layer and pour the remaining Frontera sauce over the top layer and down into any crevices. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, or until bubbling and hot. This may sound like a lot of steps, but the prep time took me only about 20 minutes. I chopped and sautéed the vegetables while the cottage cheese was draining.
Burrito and Taco Filling
I use Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Recipe Crumbles as the basis for my burrito and taco filling. I thaw out however much “meat” I think I’m going to need in a big enough microwave safe bowl with a lid or a paper plate over it, so it won’t explode all over the inside of the microwave. The following ingredients amounts are based on using a whole bag of fake meat, so you can adjust accordingly if you don’t want to use the whole bag at one time. While that is happening, I sautee about 1 cup of diced onions in about a Tablespoon of Olive Oil. When the onions start to soften up, I add about a cup of diced fresh tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes, and about 2 Teaspoons of dried Mexican Oregeno and a tiny pinch of Cayenne Pepper. Then I dump the fake meat into the pan and heat through.
For Burritos, I use Trader Joe’s Organic Olive Oil Whole Wheat Wrap Tortillas. They are good for you, but taste a little less earthy than some whole wheat tortillas. I just wrap them up with a sprinkling of shredded pepper jack cheese.
For Tacos, I use Trader Joe’s Organic Corn Taco Shells. Then I add shredded cheese, shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes or Salsa Fresca.
Here is a recipe for Fresh Guacamole that is almost identical to the one I make from scratch.
You might also like my super-easy recipe for Fake Meatball Sandwiches
I use Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs. Then I pull out however many “meatballs” I think I will need (usually 4 balls per individual sandwich) Then I throw the balls into a medium to large sized skillet, add my favorite Marinara Sauce and heat through. While the balls are heating (I just love to say that) cut your French Rolls almost in half (like a butterfly, still attached, so that your balls will stay in the bun), put a little bit of butter or Smart Balance Buttery Spread on the insides then toast them up on a flat griddle. Once the balls are heated through, load 4 of them, along with the sauce onto the bun, then sprinkle some grated mozzarella cheese onto them.
Fake Egg Salad Sandwiches
Take one block of extra firm tofu, place it on a clean dish towel or several layers of paper towels and squeeze out most of the excess water. It’s OK if it starts to fall apart, because you are going to crumble it anyway. Once the tofu is a liquid free as you can get it (basically so it’s not dripping) put it into a medium sized mixing bowl and add ½ Cup of Vegenaise and ¼ cup of yellow mustard, 1 Tablespoon of Sweet Pickle Relish and 1 Tablespoon of chopped green onions or chives and 1/8 of a Teaspoon of Turmeric (which does not add flavor, but it gives it a little bit more of the traditional yellow color). Then mix and smoosh all of this together with fork, so it has the slightly chunky texture of real egg salad. Give it a taste, to see if you need to add more of any of the mix ins. Then spread some fake egg salad onto whole wheat bread slices with lettuce and tomato.
Fakey Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
1 package Trader Joe’s brand Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
1 tbl olive oil
¾ cup diced onions
2 large cloves minced fresh garlic
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 package (12 oz. bag) Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Gillers Recipe Crumbles
1 cup any kind of Barbecue Sauce (I used K.C. Masterpiece Hickory Barbecue Sauce)
butter or transfat margarine
Instructions
Thaw out the package of Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Recipe Crumbles in the refrigerator over night or remove from package and heat in a large microwave safe bowl on high for 2 minutes, stirring half way through. Coat the bottom of a large skillet with the olive oil; sauté the onions and garlic over medium heat until soft, taking care not to brown or burn. Add the mushrooms and cook for about two more minutes. Add the tomatoes and heat through. If using canned tomatoes, drain off liquid before adding to mixture. Add the Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Recipe Crumbles; mix thoroughly with the other ingredients. Stir in the barbecue sauce and cook entire mixture until hot. At this point you can turn off the heat, or turn down the heat to the lowest setting. Make sure the mixture does not burn. Spread the insides of the hamburger buns with a thin coating of butter or trans fat free margarine. Sear the buns butter side down in a separate skillet over medium high heat until golden brown. Put the buns on plates and scoop ½ cup to 1 cup of the Fakey Sloppy Joe mixture onto each bun (this depends solely upon how big of an appetite each person has). Tastes great served with a side of macaroni salad and salt and vinegar potato chips. I only said the Fakey Sloppy Joe’s were healthy! Recipe makes six to eight sandwiches.
Hopefully you will find something on this list that is appealing to you and your nieces : )
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