I haven't posted anything here in a while, partially (I suppose) because I'm really lazy and partially (I suppose) because I'm aware that no one is reading this. Ah, but this blog is for me and my own private usage I've decided!! Those of you who refuse to read it.......won't read this, either....so.......um......there.
BTW I realize the photo isn't of the best quality, but it is an actual picture I actually took of the actual finished product, and that should count for something. The camera isn't even ours - our camera broke. This one is a very crappy one which we borrowed from our friends.
OK here are the ingredients:
For the main thingy 2 Pkgs Tofu 3 med. Onions 2 cups frozen chopped spinach 1 pkg or can tomato pieces 2 garlic cloves 2 tspn. curry powder 2 vegetable stock cubes 2 tablespoons soy sauce
For the peanut sauce (This is made in mind with having lots left over so you can use it on salads and things for weeks to come as it is delicious. That is, of course, unless you do what I did and accidentally spill it all over your kitchen floor). 6 cloves garlic 2 red chili peppers fresh ginger (about the same amount bulk wise as the garlic) About 3/4 cup peanut butter About 1/2 cup olive oil (Did I mention this isn't exactly diet food?) 2 or 3 table spoons soy sauce Salt to taste
Also make some rice. Surely I shouldn't have to tell anyone how to do that??
Whoops! I have to go. I'll post cooking instructions later.
My sister-in-law Boukje reads my recipe blog apparently, but has complained that my recipes have "too many ingredients". I suppose this is true, and really, what kind of vegetarian blogger would I be if I didn't also cater to the vegetarian on the go who doesn't have time for such frivolity. With that in mind, I present my recipe for a peanut butter sandwich.
The Peanut Butter Sandwich
Ingredients:
Peanut butter Bread Butter (optional)
Cooking instructions:
Gather all your ingredients in front of you, with a standard sized plate and a dull knife. (editor's note! If the butter option is being used, you might want to use two knives so as not to sully any of your ingredients!).
Open the jar of peanut butter by steadying the jar with one hand whilst revolving the lid in an anti-clockwise direction with the other hand. When the lid has clearly disconnected from the jar, cease revolving motion and gently lift lid away from jar and set down on a (preferably) flat surface. Now take bread in hands. Hopefully bread has been pre-sliced. If not, it would be advisable to discontinue operation and acquire pre-sliced bread. If this is not an option, carefully slice two equal (1 - 1 1/2 centimeter in width) slices off the loaf of bread. (*warning*: make sure you are slicing across the shortest width of the bread. Slicing across the longest width of the bread can result in a sandwich that is completely the wrong size!)...Take the two slices of either pre-sliced or carefully self-sliced bread, and set them on the plate, broad side down.
For butter option (If preparing non-buttered option, please skip this step and proceed to the next paragraph entitled, "Applying the peanut butter"): Unwrap butter, or remove lid from butter spread, whichever is applicable. Grasp dull knife by the handle (important!), and insert the blade into the butter. Remove the blade employing a semi-circular movement with the wrist so that a measure of butter is removed and sticks to the knife. If first attempt is unsuccessful, try again using a slightly larger arc until butter removal is achieved. Once butter is on the knife, bring it to the bread, lower it, and distribute the butter onto the broad side of the bread using the knife in sweeping motions to coax the butter to the edges of the bread. Keep doing this until the butter is evenly distributed on the bread. If more distribution is needed, repeat butter removal step to bring more butter to the bread.
Applying the Peanut Butter: Grasp a dull knife by the handle, and gently insert the blade into the peanut butter on the inside of the peanut butter jar. Employing a circular motion, use the knife to coax a chunk of peanut butter out of the jar. Bring the knife, with the peanut butter on it, to the non-buttered slice of bread and lower the peanut butter onto the bread. Using a sweeping motion, distribute the peanut butter over the bread, extending out towards the edges. If distribution does not seem complete, repeat the instructions at the beginning of this paragraph to acquire more peanut butter.
When you are happy with amount/distribution of peanut butter (and butter, if you are using this option), prepare to close your sandwich. To do this, gently lift one of the bread slices and revolve it so the butter/peanut butter is facing downwards, towards the other piece of bread. Now move the bread so that it is positioned above the other slice of bread (which should still be lying stationary on the plate). Line up the two pieces of bread as best as you can by visually judging where the corners are. Your aim here is to bring the two pieces of bread together in an exact square with all the sides of the square of one slice lining up with all the sides of the square of the other slice. When you are certain that this has been achieved, carefully lower the piece of bread in your hands until it is on top of and touching the stationary piece of bread. When this has been achieved, you can remove your hands.
Congratulations! Your sandwich is now ready to eat! Simply slip your thumbs under the sandwich, at the same time closing your other fingers over the top, with enough pressure to secure your sandwich. Be careful not to apply too much pressure or sandwich can fracture. Bring sandwich towards your face and apply eating motion.
Dedicated to Jonathan, who is trying to lower his cholesterol or triglycerides or something.
Here's something you should know about Jonathan: He is a vegetarian. And yet he apparently has such high cholesterol that his doctor has had "a word" with him How can this be? I'll tell you how: Not only is Jonathan a vegetarian, he is also an Australian. And the problem with Australians is that when made to give up their barbecues, they tend to fall back on the deep fried and stodgy foods of their British ancestry. And believe me, there is nothing that an Australian would find more insulting than to be reminded of having British Ancestry, but it's true. And British food is world renowned for being terrible. Everything is deep fried or buttery and vegetables, when present, are boiled until they are unrecognizable. So when you couple that with Jonathan's addiction to cheese (in lieu of barbecue meat), you're heading for trouble.
By contrast, the Italians seem to have the right idea about things. They cover everything with cholesterol-lowering olive oil, infuse everything with garlic, drink red wine, and live with a relaxing fegiddahbowddit attitude. And I, having Italian blood, have magically been inspired to create this tantalizing dish.
I've also made it easy for those bachelors on the go.
The Recipe:
1 package rice in the individual boily bag thingy 2 medium tomatoes 1 large clove garlic, chopped 1 or 2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds 1 tablespoon olive oil A few leaves of fresh basil, torn into bits.
Set the rice to boil in slightly salted water. While it is boiling, prepare the other ingredients, and put them into a large bowl. It helps if you stir it all up together. When the rice is done, cut the bag open (be careful! Don't burn your fingers! Use a fork for Chrissakes!) and dump the rice into the bowl. Mix it all together. Add more olive oil if you like, if you're not worried about the calories. Don't worry about the fat thing, because this is good fat.
Good, huh?.......Now lay off the cheese for a while, my friend. x
OK - this recipe is not strictly "mine". I did, in fact, copy and paste it from another online recipe site, but in my defense, I did this because it looked really good and I wanted to make sure I had it on hand. I changed one ingredient which was this: They had listed "poultry seasoning" and I substituted a crushed vegetable bouillon cube. WHY would someone list a recipe for something vegetarian and then have you add chicken stock? I hate that. You damned carnivores can't just nick our recipes and add a pinch of death. Go away, sit in the darkest corner of KFC and think about what you've done. You know, this reminds me of the time I wrote an email to Jack in the Box fast food restaurant. I had heard a rumor that the meat they used in their tacos wasn't meat at all but soy. I was very excited about this. So I wrote to ask if this rumor was true. Then I went out and lived my life. A few hours late I came home to a frantic message on my answering machine from a Jack in the Box executive telling me not to eat the tacos. So I called him (because he really sounded upset) and he said that while yes, the "meat" was made from soy, it was flavored with beef broth. I was really crest fallen. I mean they came this close to being the coolest fast food place in the world, and they fell short at the last minute. In retrospect, it was nice of them to call though.
OK. On with the recipe:
Tofu Mushroom Burger Makes 12 patties or 24 tofu balls
1 block firm tofu 1 med. onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 1 large carrot, grated 12 mushrooms, chopped very fine 1 TBsp. olive oil 1-2 tsp. sea salt 3-4 cup quick oatmeal 1 cup water 2 cups seasoned breadcrumbs 1 vegetable bouillon cube, crushed 1-4 tsp. turmeric 1-2 cup sesame seeds (optional) Vegetable oil for frying
Anything is better in a tortilla wrap. Anything. Even a peanut-butter and jam sandwich. Substitute the bread with a tortilla, wrap it up, and you've got yourself a fun roll!
Vegetable tortilla wraps are a good way for you to have lunch and eat a salad without even trying while feeling festive.
Here's what you do:
Put a large tortilla on a plate.
Spread some mayonnaise or mustard on it.
Load it up with slices of: Onions Bell Peppers (a.k.a. "Capsicums") Lettuce Cucumbers Alfalfa Sprouts Carrots Tomatoes Avocados Perhaps add cheese slices.
You can use any or all of these ingredients. Or you can even use other stuff! That's the beauty of tortilla wraps!...Having said that, the raw onion slices really do kick it over the edge, though.
Note: As you're adding the vegetable and cheese slices, leave a few inches width bare. This will be the outside of your tortilla wrap which you will roll towards.
add salt and pepper to taste.
Now roll it all up, as tightly as you can. Then cut it in half. When you're finished it should look like this (sort of):
Now isn't that more fun than just a salad with cheese on it? Am I right or am I right?
My friend Linda Chandler said she wanted to be converted to vegetarianism, and if you're going to convert someone to vegetarianism, this recipe is one of the ways to do it.
Lentil soup is fabulous. If you've had it, you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, well, now's your chance. I don't know what it is about lentil beans but they seem to give you really good energy for the entire day. Also they taste fabulous.
This recipe is adapted (and when I say "adapted", I mean basically plagiarized if not for a few variances in ingredients), from a medieval French recipe. They used to eat quite a lot of vegetarian food in medieval times, actually. And clearly it didn't kill them. Disease, feudal wars, and a lack of sanitation killed them, but not vegetarianism.
OK. Forget that I just said the words "a lack of sanitation", and let's get on with the recipe, shall we?
(Really I shouldn't have mentioned it a second time, because now you're really thinking about it).
Lentil Soup (Soup de Lentilles)
Dried lentil beans - 1 1/2 cups Two large onions - chopped into bits One large carrot - also chopped into bits One large turnip (or several smaller ones) - chopped into little chunks 3 garlic cloves - chopped into little bits A small bunch of parsley - chopped Olive Oil - 5 tablespoons (Or more. Don't be shy - this stuff is good for you.) 2 tomatoes - chopped up One small chili pepper - chopped to bitty bits 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 cup red wine (optional - but it is really good. If you don't want to add it to the soup, you might want to just drink it while you're cooking)
OK. First, soak the dried lentils in a pot of water for about 2-4 hours. Make sure the water level is much higher than the beans, because they will expand. (That's the whole point). After the soaking period, drain the water from the pot, add a good amount of fresh water, and begin the whole cooking process. Don't ask me how much water. Um, I don't know. About halfway up. I'm sure you can figure it out.
Now add all the other stuff. Wasn't that easy?
Bring it to a boil then turn down the heat, cover it and let it simmer for 2 hours. keep adding a bit of water whenever you need to just to make sure the water level is slightly above the beans. Also stir it occasionally. It couldn't hurt.
Isn't it delicious? See? This is why Medieval people were so happy!!
...When they weren't dying from some horrible bacterial disease due to a lack of sanitation, of course.
I'm one of those cooks who does everything intuitively. Therefore it's kind of hard for me to try to put everything from a right-brained to a left-brained format and figure out proportions and everything. I think from now on I will just list all the ingredients and have anyone reading this just figure it out. Besides - I've been looking around and there are some WONDERFUL vegetarian recipe sites online where they are really good at talking about all that measuring stuff.
Anyway, here's today's recipe:
Tofu Salad
Ingredients: Tofu lettuce fresh chopped garlic fresh chopped bell pepper raisins olive oil lemon juice salt
