Meatless Monday: Falafel Pita

You know . . . sometimes, the best meals aren't elaborately orchestrated events involving complicated recipes that require trips to specialty food stores. Simple, quick, and inexpensive can be tasty and satisfying too. I know that's usually what I'm looking for when I throw together lunch most days.

Up until now, I've shared recipes that were mostly intended as dinner dishes and that require at least a little prep. Since Meatless Monday is all about going meatless all day though, I thought I'd mix things up a bit and offer some of my favorite ideas for simple meatless breakfast and lunch dishes too. This next one is one I really like for lunch.

Falafel Pita
It is often difficult to find decent falafel or hummus in a restaurant, so I was downright shocked to find absolutely delicious falafel and hummus in - of all places (!) - Costco. Yes, Costco! I know. The falafel comes in a two-pack by Veggie Patch and the hummus comes in a big ol' tub by Sabra. I freeze one pack of the falafel and my husband and I easily go through the other in a few days.

While the chickpea balls heat up nicely in a conventional oven, I slather some of the hummus inside a pita pocket and then add some freshed, diced tomatos and a leafy green like spinach or arugala. Once the falafel is done, you pop them in the pocket and voila! Yum!

Of course, some people will think this dish is chickpea overkill (since hummus and falafel are both made of it). If it's too much chickpea for you, you might consider making it with raita instead of hummus. (Trader Joe's makes a nice raita, or you can make it yourself easily enough.) Yes, you'll be mixing cuisine types - let yourself be a little creative, people! Experimenting is fun and the results can be fantastic (in the kitchen, too)! ;)

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

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Meatless Monday: Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Spinach & Goat Cheese

As many of you ponder recipes for stuffing various types of birds this week for your Thanksgiving feast, I thought I would offer up a recipe for a different type of stuffed edible that is perfect for this time of year:

STUFFED PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS WITH SPINACH & GOAT CHEESE
www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?newVideo=y&docid=17663
(Along with the recipe, this site also has a great little video of the whole process for making it.)

I've always loved stuffed mushrooms. In fact, one of the first things I ever cooked for my husband when we first started dating was stuffed mushrooms. The button variety make such a great, satisfying hors d'oeuvre because you can just pick one up with your fingers and pop it whole, just like a sushi roll, and just like the description I once saw on a sushi menu, "you will have heaven in mouth!" Of course, you should wait until they cool a bit before doing that . . . a warning my husband unfortunately disregarded when I served him one that first time. As his tongue came close to feeling like it would ignite and he oh-so-suavely spit the whole thing out into a napkin, he wondered if he'd ever be asked over for dinner again.

Of course, button mushrooms aren't the only kind you can stuff. Portobello mushrooms are also ideal for stuffing, as this recipe proves. It's a much nicer choice if you're looking for something to plate and serve as an appetizer. You lose the convenience of being able to pop it into your mouth whole, . . . but maybe that's better for some people anyway. ;) The variety of things with which you can stuff them is endless too. Naturally, I would suggest a recipe involving cheese. The goat cheese in this recipe complements the earthy flavors of the mushroom and walnuts remarkably well.

Bon appetit & Happy Thanksgiving!

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Baked Goat Cheese & Roasted Winter Squash Over Garlicky Fettuccine

I have been known to say, "Put cheese on a pile of $h!t and I'll eat it." Am I proud of that statement? No. Is it true? You betcha. (Sorry if that last phrase caused any traumatic flashbacks to the presidential election campaign.) Okay, okay. It is a bit of an exaggeration, . . . but I do love me some cheese. One of my favorites? Goat cheese. It's just so tasty and so versatile. I love it hot, cold, spread on a piece of nice crusty bread, sprinkled throughout a salad, "in the rain, on a train" . . . and, in today's recipe - breaded, baked, and served on a bed of fettuccine!

Baked Goat Cheese & Roasted Winter Squash Over Garlicky Fettuccine
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1559238

Recommendation: When a recipe calls for peppers, I typically like to roast them and take the skin off. The body doesn't digest pepper skins that well and the texture and flavor of the roasted pepper is just nicer anyway. Not sure how to get that pesky skin off? It's actually easier than you might think. Or, easier yet, you can pick up a jar of roasted and peeled red peppers at most any run-of-the-mill grocery store.

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Butternut Squash Lasagna

Any chef would agree the best ingredients for your recipes are always the freshest ingredients, so trying to plan your meal menus according to whatever produce is in its peak season in your local area is usually a good idea. To the right here is a chart that shows the availability of fresh produce in California. (If you hunt around online, you should be able to find one of these for your vicinity too).

I know, my east coast friends, you're jealous - we're extremely lucky because so many fruits and vegetables are available fresh year-round. You'll notice that squash is one them. Even though I can pretty much get it any time I have a hankering for it, I tend to eat it more in the fall because it's something I associate with this time of year - particularly Thanksgiving. In the past, that's always meant mashed squash and squash pie, but in recent years, it's meant delicious pasta dishes too. For instance, this next dish . . .


Butternut Squash Lasagna
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=698656

This is a great meal for entertaining because 1) you can make it ahead of time and 2) it's all contained in one dish. You just build the lasagna layers and put the dish in your refrigerator or freezer until you're ready to cook it. No big mess to clean up while you've got guests over. While it's baking, it doesn't require a lot of your attention either, so you can focus on more important things - like your friends and a tasty hot toddy! As a single-dish meal, it is easy to transport if you're invited to a potluck, seems to be toddler-friendly (our friends' one-year-old loved it), is really good as leftovers, keeps well in the freezer, and will clean your gutters for you. (Okay, maybe not that last part, . . . but it is pretty great.)

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Curried Lentil Soup

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a big fan of soups - most anytime, but especially during the fall. Plenty of soups are hearty and can help warm you right up, but on those particularly blustery, chill-you-to-the-bone types of days, nothing hits the spot better than a soup with an extra punch in the heat department - spicy heat, that is. This next soup fits that bill.

Curried Lentil Soup
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=222620

Recipe modifications I would recommend:

• Use 6 cups of water (or, better yet, vegetable stock) instead of 7 cups.
• Use twice as much curry (and this is a suggestion from someone who tends to be a big wimp when it comes to eating spicy foods).
• Use a can of roasted diced tomatoes; it adds a nice smokey flavor that compliments the curry. BUT only use half as much as the recipe calls for.

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Squash with Edamame-Cilantro Pesto

In my house, this next dish is one of our go-to comfort foods.










Spaghetti Squash with Edamame-Cilantro Pesto
Recipe

We skip the cilantro. (As I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan.) The dish doesn't miss anything without it, but you can substitute parsley if you really want. You can fiddle around with the ratios of vegetable broth, pepper, and garlic to find the combination that suits you best. I tend to like dishes more garlicky than most, and although I usually go light on pepper in most dishes, I like a lot of it in this one.We also use a food processor to get the pesto consistency really smooth.

The instructions advise preparing the squash halves a day or two before because it's easier to remove the flesh when it's cold. It really is so much easier to do when cold, so I highly recommend doing that part early. Doesn't need to be a day or two ahead though; doing it a few hours ahead and refrigerating works just as well. The way the spaghetti squash flesh really does looks like spaghetti is just so fun.

We typically run out of spaghetti squash before we run out of pesto. But that's okay because you can, of course, put it on regular ol' spaghetti too. We've also used it as a dip. And, on a whim, I even tried it as a sandwich spread the other day and LOVED it. Sooo versatile.

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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1st Anniversary

This past Friday marked the one-year anniversary of the day Matt and I got married . . .




Wedding - October 24, 2007










Ohio Reception - May 17, 2008









California Reception - June 1, 2008









Massachusetts Reception - August 17. 2008




After all the wedding celebrations, it was nice to have a very low-key anniversary celebration. We just took the day off, caught a couple of matinee movies, and had a nice dinner out. Sushi - yum. Keeping with anniversary tradition, we both gave each other paper gifts. I wrote Matt a poem. (Sorry, won't be sharing that. That's his and his alone.) And I also gave him two books:

The Hungry Scientist Handbook, by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns, seemed right up his alley because he loves to analyze cooking techniques and recipes in scientific terms. (He adores Alton Brown's show Good Eats.) After I'd already purchased the Buckley/Binns book, I saw this article about another great science-focused cooking book. Doh! Sounds better. I guess I'll just have to get that for him next.

Matt read his first graphic novel several months ago (Persepolis) and really liked it. He'd heard that this graphic novel, Watchmen, is being touted as the best graphic novel bar none, so he was really curious about it.







And Matt gave me these three books:

At different times, Matt and I have read entire books aloud to each other. It's a really neat experience to share. The first time we did it was with Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos, but we also did it with The Best American Non-Required Reading, 2003, edited by Dave Eggers. I'm hoping How We Are Hungry, another collection of short stories, will be another we read to each other. I'm a big fan of Eggers - the author . . . and the man. Matt knows this because he stood in line with me forever waiting for Eggers to sign my books and was totally amused by the fact that I shamelessly flirted with him once I got up there. The people in line in front of me wanted him to sign their books, but they weren't even talking to him. (I think they were the type who collect signed books regardless of whether or not they liked or had read the author. Their books were probably up on Ebay later that same day.) By the time I got up there, the poor guy was totally bored, so he drew a piece of balsa wood on the title page of one of my books (in addition to signing it). I told him he could make the other one out to "a fellow sock-slider" (an A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius reference). He gave me a big smile and wrote "Sock Sliding = En Fuego." Wood? Fire? He was so hot for me. ;)

View with a Grain of Sand, by Wislawa Szymborska, is one of my favorite books of poetry. Because I love it so much, about a year ago, I found myself in one of those moments where you're torn between wanting to share something and selfishly wanting to keep it for yourself for fear that it won't be returned. Well, I'm happy to say I decided to share, . . . but what I feared would happen did happen. It was never returned. Matt knows how much I love it, so he bought this as a replacement. I'm still not opposed to sharing, . . . but I will be more careful about it in the future.

Sharon Olds is probably my all-time favorite poet. I've got just about all of her books, but The Dead and the Living is one that I didn't have.








And, a gift to myself while we were out and about celebrating:

Kay Ryan is the current poet laureate. I had read, and heard her reading, some of her work online, but I really wanted to get one of her books. Unfortunately, there was a run on them when she was first announced the new laureate; many bookstores had to wait to get more until the publisher could crank out another print run. Then, of course, there's the usual problem of most bookstores just not carrying much poetry to begin with. So, I was very pleased to finally find a decent selection when we were out on Friday, and, after inspecting three, I chose this one - Elephant Rocks. I'm loving it so far. And it's kind of funny because my style of writing poetry is very similar to hers - well, except that she does it brilliantly and I'm a hack.

Meatless Monday: Pea Soup

In my book, there's no food more satisfying than a hearty soup in the fall. And, in fact, eating more soup is one of the things I look forward to as the temperature starts to drop. I just love the way soup warms you up from the inside out and that you can warm your hands on a cup of it just like you would with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. And there are just so many different delicious kinds you can make! One of my favorites? Split pea.

Apparently, once, when I was about three, I saw Popeye on a package of food in the grocery store and pitched a royal fit because my mother didn't want to buy it for me. I know what you're thinking - "Of course not, it was probably some sort of sugary cereal." But, actually, it was a 5-pound bag of . . . split peas. I know! Not even spinach. Peas. Go figure; maybe they were trying to make some loose connection to the Popeye character Swee' Pea? And what was my fascination with Popeye anyway? Well, it's likely that he reminded me of my grandfather, who we called Pappy - an avid fisherman who had a scrappy muscular build and who, on occasion, was known to smoke a pipe. (In this photo to the right, he doesn't have the pipe, but I think he strikes a rather Popeye-esque pose, no?)

Um, where was I? Ah yes, the world's largest bag of split peas. My mother put the bag of Popeye split peas in the cart to temporarily placate me and ended up buying it because she'd forgotten to put it back before we got to the checkout. Not surprisingly, we had pea soup that week . . . a lot of pea soup. And that kind of started a tradition in our house. Whenever my mother made pea soup, she would make what seemed like a vat of it and the whole family would consume bowl after bowl of it for about a week straight, always with multiple loaves of fresh scala bread from the local bakery. And, now, at this time of year, I get a hankering for it.

On one of our trips up the west coast, my husband and I discovered a quaint Danish restaurant that's been around for almost 85 years called Pea Soup Andersen's. Their billboards along the highway are pretty cute and kind of hard to miss and their location in Buellton places them at a good stopping point for the weary and hungry traveler, so we didn't need much convincing to stop in and give them a try. Oh my my my. Yum. Yes. So happy we did that. And, since then, we discovered they also have a location in Santa Nella (and we have an extremely dorky picture from that visit to prove it). To our delight, we also discovered their pea soup recipe can be found online. Matt made it just the other day. Turns out there's really not that much out of the ordinary about the recipe - no amazing secret ingredient - but it made one hell of a pot of soup anyway. I highly recommend.

PEA SOUP ANDERSEN'S SPLIT PEA SOUP

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/232/AndersonsSplitPeaSoup63578.shtml

I've found using a regular ol' sieve can be time-consuming, frustrating, and messy. Matt opted to use a food mill and the results were great. To finish the soup, we also like to use Pea Soup Andersen's Gourment Choice Seasoning, which contains salt, chili peppers, sweet red peppers, celery, onion, garlic, and a couple of preservatives and anti-caking agents.

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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