Meatless Monday: Peanut-Broccoli Stir-Fry

Sorry to have neglected my MM posting, but the holidays were a complete blur. We didn't even travel for the holiday this year, but it still seems like we were busy non-stop. I'm afraid to admit that there was plenty of meat-eating done over the course of those weeks (e.g., on Christmas Eve we had the traditional Italian-American "Feast of the Seven Fishes"), but we did have plenty of vegetarian dishes too. This next recipe is one of those dishes.

Peanut-Broccoli Stir-Fry
Recipe

We were out of brown rice, so we used quinoa, which was great because I prefer quinoa anyway. It was quick and easy to throw together and it was pretty tasty too. We made it just this past week after all the holiday mayhem had quieted down. It was nice to have a light, healthy dish after all the indulging that had been going on since Thanksgiving (see previous post).

Speaking of indulging . . . I stepped on the scale at the doctor's office the other day. Woo, what a bad idea! There was the evidence of my indulging and not exercising all year staring me back in the face. I won't share the number with you, but I will say this - it was SOBERING.

I knew my pants weren't fitting very well lately, but I had no idea how out of hand things had gotten. Let's just say I've officially stepped outside the "healthy" zone for my height. Not far outside, mind you, but still not cool. I was pretty bummed about finding this out, but the timing is actually good. I was poised to set my New Year's resolutions anyway, so I just added one more to the list. What that means is that I'll be being extra diligent about finding low-fat and low-calorie recipes to eat in 2010 - and I'll be sure to share the vegetarian ones with you!

Did you make any special vegetarian dishes for the holidays? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Lime Peanut Noodles

Last week, when I was drafting my post about PB&J, I came across the following recipe and thought YUM! I love soba noodles but hadn't had any in quite a while, and I love satay sauce in Thai restaurants but had never tried making my own peanut sauce before, so I was intrigued. I had almost all the ingredients in the refrigerator, and the cooking prep seemed super quick and easy, so I said, "Why not?!"

Lime Peanut Noodles
Recipe

I know, I know. After all the hemming and hawing I did about never willfully eating another carrot or radish after the bushels of it we got from Underwood Family Farms, here I am making a recipe that calls for both. What can I say?

I wasn't so sure about this dish when I saw it coming together, but I'm happy to say, despite appearances, it tasted great. Here are the few adjustments I made or would suggest:

I substituted parsley for the cilantro (surprise-surprise!) and didn't use as much as was called for. I used a julienne peeler on the carrots. I didn't use as many radishes as it called for. It suggests cutting the cucumber and radishes thinly, but I would actually suggest chopping them finely; I think you can toss the ingredients with the soba noodles more easily that way.

Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: White Bean Salad with Creamy Lemon-Dill Dressing

In our CSA box the past couple of weeks, we've been getting bunches of green beans. They're so fresh, they *squeak* when you bite into them, and they're so tasty. I'm much more excited to be getting these on a regular basis than those blasted carrots and Easter radishes. (Seriously, I think I hit my yearly allowance for beta carotene in just two months.)

One of our go-to salad recipes for green beans is one I've shared on here before. We were tempted, of course, to make that again (because it's insanely good!), but falling back on favorites too often just deprives you of the opportunity to find new favorites. Sure, sometimes you try something new and it's awful, but "no risk, no reward." That said, I still wanted to mitigate my risk.

Since I'm a sucker for the dill in the recipe I mention above, I was drawn to this next recipe because it's dressing also contains dill - even though no green beans are called for. The green beans would just have to keep another day.

White Bean Salad with Creamy Lemon-Dill Dressing
Recipe

As I discussed in last week's post, not following a recipe exactly doesn't always have to end in disaster. Last week, by accident, I didn't follow the recipe. This week, I couldn't follow the recipe exactly . . . because I hadn't planned ahead well enough.

I hadn't looked at the recipe for a couple of days, but I still thought I remembered all the ingredients. So, I just headed off to the grocery store and picked up the couple of things I thought I needed. I thought I was good to go. Turns out . . . not so much. I obviously planned on skipping the shrimp, but how did I miss the red onion, watercress, and fennel bulb??

It was too late to go back to the grocery store (we were starving!). So, it was time to improvise! Watercress became arugula fresh from Matt's garden (which lent a similar tangy, peppery flavor). Red onion became Texas sweet onion from our CSA box (I'm thinking, probably an improvement on the recipe!). And kohlrabi provided the crunch that the fennel would have . . . without the icky fennel taste (icky to me anyway). The verdict? Criminally good! And the best part? The creamy lemon-dill dressing. And we didn't have to feel bad about eating it because it's made with fat-free yogurt - a non-guilty pleasure!

Not interested in this salad but hankering for a simple summer salad? Check out this article posted last week by the New York Times. 101 recipes!


Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Carrot Soup

In a previous post, I mentioned that we were starting to get a box of fresh fruits and veggies from a local farm once a week. So far, it's working out pretty well. Well, pretty well with one exception. Every week so far, in with all the other things in the box, has been a rather large bunch of carrots.

Now, don't get me wrong, carrots are great! Love 'em. Really. It's just that, well, it's been kind of difficult to get through the big bunch of them in one week's time before the next bunch is sitting there in the vegetable crisper drawer in the refrigerator taunting me - "Vhat vill you do vith me dis time, ehhh?" (Yes, my carrots have a very bad Russian/French-Canadian accident.) And, you know - lather-rinse-repeat - I don't want to make the same things with them over and over. Sure, they're great by themselves or with a dip as a snack or hors d'oeuvre, they're yummy shredded and sprinkled in salad, you know how much I love them in carrot cake (see post), and most of us know about their magic in mirepoix (a.k.a., the holy trinity), but, um, . . . yea, then what?

My recent culinary adventure with carrots involved this next recipe for soup, which my husband really loved. I'm happy to share it with you, but then I'm going to have to ask for a little quid pro quo. Seriously, we're talking LARGE bunches of carrots every week for three weeks straight, . . . and I suspect I'll see more come Tuesday. I need your suggestions for other great carrot recipes!

Carrot Soup
Recipe

The recipe author encourages you to play with the consistency until you're happy with it. We made ours pretty smooth and I would recommend that to you too. Why? Because it's great in a bread bowl that way, that's why! Mmm, bread bowls can make even the best soups that much better. I highly recommend. We picked up a couple of sourdough ones at Panera and were really happy with them. After cutting off the top of the little round loaf and coring out the middle, I toasted mine before filling it with soup. *Drool* So good.

The recipe also suggests you experiment with different finishing oils. That's a great idea (and a little evoo did taste good with ours), but I would also recommend adding a dash of vinegar to sharpen the soup flavors and balance it out a little better.


Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

Other Meatless Monday soup posts:

Pea Soup
Curried Lentil Soup
Tortellini, White, Bean & Spinach Soup

Other Meatless Monday posts