Pot Pie Appreciation

We had some wonderfully cooler days this weekend -- even hit freezing overnight. The days were so sunny and wonderful though it was hard to complain too much. Perfect October weather, I'd say.

Even though it's still fairly warm this evening, this time of year puts us in the mood for cooler weather food. I've already posted a blog on my attempt at making veggie pot pies (a very successful attempt at that!).

Since heathen son is thinking of spending Thanksgiving with his Aunt Karen and Uncle Jeff in Hanna -- and since they don't eat a plant based diet -- he was thinking I could teach him how to make the pot pies and then he could cook for them while he was there and, at the same time, ensure that he would be able to eat, too. Pretty good planning for an 18 year old boy, I thought.

Then his sweet girlfriend called and asked if he'd like to go out to dinner with her and he jumped at the offer, leaving me to make pot pies by myself. :) Oh well... I still love it that he thought about it and we have a few more weeks before Thanksgiving so maybe he'll get another chance. We'll see.

The pot pies are still in the oven but I think they're going to be just as good as they were last time. If you like this kind of hearty comfort food (and who on earth doesn't?), I definitely urge you to give it a try.

I made two separate pot pies again this time -- one adapting my usual chicken pot pie recipe using LightLife's chicken style veggies strips. Here's a picture of the filling while I was waiting for it to thicken up after adding the whole wheat flour.


The other is a veggie pot pie and this time I used broccoli, peas, carrots, potatoes and one of my new favorites -- delicata squash. I can't wait to try that one! It was so pretty putting it together, too. Here's all the veggies before I added the veggie broth and whole wheat flour.




Once the fillings thickened up I just poured them into the waiting pie shells, topped them both with freshly blended bread crumbs and a little paprika and put them in a 400 degree over for 35 minutes. They should be ready to come out in about 5 minutes... just in time for dinner. :) Yum!



Here's the full recipe (I only made one veggie pot pie so I halfed this one) in case you want to give it a try:

Makes two pies, 12 or more servings
• 8 medium potatoes
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups diced vegetables of your choice
(choose 3 or 4 from among cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, leeks, peas, corn kernels, zucchini, yellow summer squash, mushrooms, kale, etc.)
• 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour or 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose seasoning blend (such as Spike or Mrs. Dash)
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• Two 9-inch prepared good-quality whole wheat pie crusts
• 1 cup fine whole grain bread crumbs
• Paprika for topping
Cook or microwave the potatoes in their skins until done. Dice half of them and mash the other four coarsely. Set aside until needed.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Saute the onion in a little veggie broth over medium heat until golden. Add the vegetables of your choice, layering quicker-cooking vegetables like peas, corn, and zucchini over longer cooking ones like cauliflower, broccoli, etc.. Add a bit of broth; cover and cook until the vegetables are tender but not overdone, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour into the skillet, then pour in the stock. Add the nutritional yeast. Cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. until the liquid thickens. Stir in both the diced and mashed potatoes. Heat through gently. Stir in the seasoning blend, thyme, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and pat in.
Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over each pie, then top with a sprinkling of paprika. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Let the pies stand at room temperature for 10 minutes or so, then cut into wedges and serve.

- Posted by Jennifer

Location:Home, Sweet Home

Breakfast Casserole

Obviously I don't normally have the time to cook anything for breakfast. On this cold, somewhat lazy (we were up before 6:30) Saturday morning, however, I had time.

So, when the heathen son mentioned he was hungry for something hot and oatmeal wasn't going to cut it, I told him I'd see what I could come up with. I mentioned that I'd seen a lot of recipes for tofu scrambles but they'd never really appealed to me. None of us are big tofu fans so I'm sure that's the reason. I told him I had some frozen hashbrowns so perhaps I could do something with those. His eyes lit up. Then he said it would be great if I had some of the "Gimme Lean" vegan sausage and I could make some kind of breakfast casserole with that and the hashbrowns. That's when I told him I DID have some of the Gimme Lean. You should have seen his eyes then. It was pretty cute. :)

So off to the kitchen we went.

First thing I did was saute some red onions in a little veggie broth...



I'm still amazed at how easy it is to cook without using oil.

Then I added the sliced Gimme Lean sausage...



And chopped it up in the pan as it cooked...



I added a little garlic and some fennel seeds to give it even more of a sausage flavor but I didn't add any other spices.

I steamed a couple of cups of broccoli florets and made sure the frozen hashbrowns were separated instead of in clumps. Added that to the sausage onion mixture...



Then I put it all in a 9x13 glass baking dish I'd lightly sprayed with Pam and topped it with a layer of bread crumbs. The bread crumbs came about because I'd accidentally left some bread we'd had at dinner in the oven overnight. It was so hard the next morning when I discovered it that I almost threw it away but then it dawned on me I could throw it in the blender and get some really good bread crumbs. Worked like a charm!



I cooked it in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes and this is what it looked like when it came out.




Sweet hubby and heathen son both declared this a big winner. Hubby said he'd like it for breakfast, lunch or dinner - he didn't care which. We all had two good size servings and there's still a bit left so it makes a good batch.



Now I'm thinking I could substitute squash for the broccoli next time and that would be yummy... or I could substitute brown rice for the hashbrowns and have a really good broccoli rice casserole. Maybe add a little daiya cheese (which we use only sparingly) even. Oh, the possibilities. :)

Who knew a plant-based diet would be so versatile? :)

- Posted by Jennifer

Location:Home, Sweet Home

Super Soup!

It was 70 degrees when we left the house this morning but, within a couple of hours, the temps had dropped down into the 50s. Fall made its official arrival a few weeks ago but our weather just caught on. And that can only mean one thing --- soup for dinner! Hooray! :)

My wonderful next door neighbor shared this recipe recently. First she brought a small sample (which I scarfed down in no time) and then I had to twist her arm to share the recipe. Well, I didn't twist too hard. And, of course, I didn't actually follow the recipe so it has my own twist. :)

I've got to admit I've eaten quite a few things in the last few months since we switched to a plant-based diet that had never even been in my house before. Some I've liked... some not so much. For instance, none of us even care if we ever see another parsnip. :) This recipe called for millet and we've all decided that millet is A-OK with us. However, I was out of millet today (I did use it the first time I made this soup though!), I did have some quinoa and I was sure that would do in a pinch. I was right! And while I've had cauliflower many times, I'd never had it in soup before so that was new as well.

Like most all of the recipes I've been making lately, this one starts with saute-ing (how DO you spell that?) some chopped up veggies. As usual, I had some bell peppers and onions chopped up but I also had some leeks from a recipe I made earlier this week (that was a first, too!). I used the leeks in place of the onions this time even though I had some already chopped - I was afraid both might have been too much.

I cooked 2 cups of quinoa (the recipe called for one cup of grain but I went ahead and made two cups -- will save some for something I make this weekend) in 3 cups of water for 15 minutes.

While the quinoa was cooking I chopped up a full head of cauliflower along with 3 stalks of celery. I sauteed the leeks, celery, bell pepper and a chopped carrot for about 5 minutes in a little veggie broth. The veggie broth I used this time was darker than the stuff I usually use so I was afraid the soup would turn out a funny color but it really didn't. The recipe called for water but I like veggie broth better.






To the sauteed veggies I added 1 teaspoon each of basil, thyme and celery seed. Then I added the cauliflower and 6 cups of veggie broth. I let this simmer for about 20 minutes. Once the quinoa was cooked, I added that, too.

Next comes the surprising part -- the creamy soup base. Not using milk or cream or half & half, you'd think it would be hard to create a creamy soup but this stuff makes it easy!

Put 2 tablespoons of white miso, 3/4 cup of raw cashews, 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast and 1 cup of water in your blender and blend until smooth. Voila! The best vegan creamy soup base you can imagine. Add this to your soup and simmer for another 10 minutes. This is a thick, creamy, amazing soup that you'll just love!

The BEST dinner for cool fall evening. :) Yummo!



- Posted by Jennifer

Location:Home, Sweet Home

Making Up For Lost Time

I was shocked to look at my blog this afternoon and realize it's been almost three weeks since I've posted anything! Yikes! How did that happen? Well, let's see... first it was the twins' birthday (darling grandbabies) and a trip to Kansas City for their party and then it was a week-long trip to the beach with two of my bestest friends and then a mad week back at home trying to get caught up on everything that hadn't been done at home -- like laundry and groceries and cooking. :)

I have been doing a fair share of cooking lately, including on our trip to the beach. I convinced the girls to let me cook for them that week so they could see what kind of plant-based meals the boys and I have been enjoying. I was delighted that they agreed because it also guaranteed that everything I ate was something I knew I could have without any worries. Plus I loved making my friends feel pampered and taken care of, too. I think we all enjoyed it.

I thought I'd start with dinner last night and work my way backwards... a lot of the stuff I've made recently is stuff I've already posted about because they've become our favorite dishes. Last night, I tried something completely new that had ingredients I'd never even had in my house before!Stuffed Delicata Squash with Kale, Chickpeas and Leeks. Yum!

Until a friend gave me this recipe, I didn't know what a delicata squash even was. When I saw the picture of it I realized I'd recently seen it in the store but just didn't know what it was. Of course I looked in the stores for it (Crest, Sprouts and Whole Foods) once I got the recipe and couldn't find it anywhere! Sigh... I was incredibly happy to find it yesterday morning at the Edmond Farmers Market. I'm sure I acted ridiculous but the farmer was really nice about it. :)



The recipe is pretty easy. Take 2 Delicata Squash and wash them really well (because the skin is soft and edible). Slice them in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and gooey stuff. Spray the cut side lightly with Pam and place cut side down in a glass baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.






While the squash is roasting, wash the leeks and kale well. Leeks were another item I'd never had in my house before. I've heard of them and knew what they were, I was just always a little intimidated by them. They're pretty big and I wasn't at all sure what to do with them or which parts you discard, if any. Now I find out they're really just like big, mild onions. I don't honestly know if I'll use them all that much because I like onions and they're a whole lot cheaper -- but in the spirit of trying something completely new, I went with the leeks. :)

I sliced the leeks right down to the tougher green part and discarded that. Then I used my handy Vidalia Onion Chopper from Bed, Bath & Beyond to dice them up. I just love that thing - it's got to be one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. :)

I sauteed the leeks with a couple cloves of minced garlic in some veggie broth for a few minutes until the leeks were tender. Then I added one bunch of kale that had been stemmed and roughly chopped, one can of drained and rinsed chickpeas and about a tablespoon of sage. I LOVE sage. If you don't like it as much as I do, scale it back until you're happy with it or leave it out completely.



I cooked all of this about 5 minutes and that's when the timer went off on the squash. I got them out of the oven, flipped them over using some tongs and filled them with the kale,chickpea mixture. I put this back in the oven for about 10 minutes.



I made some whole wheat pasta as a side dish and added a little red pepper hummus and almond milk to it to give it an almost macaroni and cheese like appearance. It was delicous.

the Delicata squash has an almost sweet flavor that goes really well with the savory kale and chickpea mixture. It was yummy.

Let's see... what are some of the other yummy dishes I've made lately? I know I've taken some pictures...

Oh yeah... Cajun Cornbread Casserole one night. This is a spicy mixture of onions, bell peppers and beans (the recipe called for kidney beans but I only had black beans, pinto beans and chickpeas so I did the combo thing instead) with lots of Cajun seasoning. Then you mix corn meal, applesauce, baking powder and almond milk to make the cornbread and bake that on top. So good!






I made a really delicious sweet potato and red potato soup before I left for Alabama. I cooked 3 sweet potatoes and 3 red potatoes in the microwave. I sauteed some onion, fennel seeds and garlic in a little veggie broth and then added some reconstituted TVP crumbles. I added the potatoes and about 6 cups of veggie broth and let it all simmer for about 20 minutes. Then I added quite a bit of chopped kale and cooked until it was all wilted. Delish!


I also made the Curried Sweet Potato Casserole right before I left because I knew the boys could eat on the leftovers for awhile. This uses sweet potato tater tots as the topping on the casserole. It's so good. Mixture of sweet peas and chick peas with a spicy curry sauce that's so filling. Good cool weather food for sure.


While we were at the beach I made a Mexican Lasagna one night, Mushroom Stroganoff one night and Asparagus Chickpea Casserole one night. Didn't take any pictures of the food but did get this great shot that shows what a good time we had:



Ahhhhhhh.... :)

- Posted by Jennifer

Location:Home, Sweet Home

Chick pea tacos

My wonderful friend, Patti, recently shared a recipe with me once we started our new plant-based diet. Chick pea tacos. I wasn't too impressed with the recipe upon first reading it but once I made it... wow. Crazy good. The only change I made to it was to add fat free refried beans to the bottom of the taco shell because they will keep the chick peas from rolling out. The first time we had them it was pretty comical watching the chick peas just dropping out of the shell and rolling all over the plate and table. The refried beans do a really good job of holding them in and keeping them in place. :)



Chick Pea Tacos

Ingredients (8 tacos)
• 2 t. chili powder
• 1/4 t. garlic powder
• 1/4 t. onion powder
• 1/4 t. dried oregano
• 1 1/2 t. ground cumin
• 1 t. sea salt
• 1 T. lime juice
• 2 T. water
• One 14 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 8 organic taco shells
• Taco trimmings: shredded lettuce, tomato, guacamole, non-dairy (i.e. Daiya) cheese, etc.

Instructions
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, cumin, salt, lime juice and water.
• Add chickpeas and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
• Place chickpeas on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring once during cooking, until chickpeas are slightly crispy.
• Prepare taco shells according to package directions. Fill with chickpeas and desired toppings.

I mixed a can of black beans and a can of corn together and added some freshly chopped cilantro as a side and then mixed a can of Rotel tomatoes with some brown rice and we were all set. Yummy!


- Posted by Jennifer

Location:Home, sweet home