Vegetarian Falafel Pitas (A!)

This was absolutely great!  I wasn't honestly expecting much-- I've had Falafel in the dining courts at Purdue, and they were always pretty "meh."  But these were delicious.  Crispy, just a tiny bit spicy, very flavorful, and everything was mellowed out by the Cucumber sauce.  And, best of all, it was very vegetable-y!  (Yes, I'm allowed to make up words.  Trust me.  I'm a scientist.)  I also think that this is the first meal that I wouldn't change anything about...

Falafel

• 1 package (6 ounces) falafel mix
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 TBS Thinly-Sliced Green Onions 

1. Prepare falafel mix with water according to package.  Mix in carrots, sunflower kernels, and green onions.
2. Shape into patties 1/2 inch thick (or whatever other shape you think will be good); cook in lightly-greased large skillet until browned, 4-5 minutes on each side.  Serve in pitas with yogurt sauce.

Yogurt Sauce:

• 1 Cup reduced-fat plain yogurt
• 1 cup finely-chopped cucumber
• 1/2 tsp mint leaves
• Salt and white pepper (to taste)

1. Mix these together.  Let it sit for a few minutes.

Tasty!

Also, we want to start getting pictures up on our blog of the things that we make, but we're always too hungry.  We'll do better, we promise!!!

Grilled Asparugus Salad with 'Chikn'

It was really nice out the last few days so we decided to grill.
What the heck do you grill as a vegetarian?

We looked it up on allrecipes.com and came up with this
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-asparagus-salad/detail.aspx
6 servings
1/4 c olive oil
1/8 c lemon juice
12 fresh asparagus spears (we used 16)
6 c spinach leaves
1/8 c Parmesan cheese
1 T slivered almonds (we used sunflower seeds)

1. Preheat a grill for low heat. Combine the lemon juice and olive oil on a plate. Place asparagus on the plate, and roll around to coat.
2. Grill asparagus for about 5 minutes, turning at least once, and brushing with the olive oil mixture. Remove from the grill, and place back onto the plate with the oil.
3. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, Parmesan cheese, and slivered almonds. Cut asparagus into bite size pieces, and add to the salad along with the lemon juice and oil from the plate. Toss to blend, then serve.

Now, you have to watch out for the bottom of the bowl! It can get VERY lemon-ee so either drain it off, or serve it immediately.

We also added quorn 'chicken' to our salad. It's a fungus that is extremely high in protein made to be a chicken substitute. We cooked it in vegetable broth (which makes it super juicy) and added cilantro (because we have a ton left over from another dish) and some lemon pepper, because I freaking love lemon pepper.

We topped out salad with that. It was quite yummy.

However - this salad is simply not hearty enough for a meal, so make sure you serve it with some sides or as a side.

Flavor - very yummy.
We really liked that the seasoning for the asparagus wasn't thrown out and wasted at the end, like many marinades are.
We will do this one again.

Stuffed Peppers

This is the other recipe we got from our cooking gurus (okay, maybe not gurus, but at least pretty cool dudes) that we didn't write down.
A lot of the stuffed pepper recipes I've seen use tomato sauce and the photos just look runny and awful!
We didn't follow and exact recipe either because I wanted to get a bit creative, and didn't want to take the time to reconcile 15 different recipes.
I made some rice, and added some spices. Taco seasoning (the stuff ortega/tacobell/whatever sells to add to your taco meat) some cumin, and general mexican spices. I know, this is totally not helpful if you want to make this - but one of the best ways to become a better cook is EXPERIMENT!

We added some black beans to the fully cooked rice, stuffed the peppers and cooked for ~30 minutes.
And as always with any good western world recipe - TOP WITH CHEESE!!!

The peppers being cooked brought out a great flavor of the peppers. We made a yellow and red pepper, because I don't really care for green.
I would use green ones, even though they aren't my favorite most of the time, but peppers were in season and the better ones were especially cheap.

Then, for left overs, we used the rice bean mixture on top of some already cut better and microwaved it.

They were definitely good, but we need to work on the exact spices.

Portabella Burger

We made a portabella cap burger with our original cooking teachers, and it was awesome. But we didn't have the time to write down the recipe! Tonight, however, we just made up some stuff and it turned out great.
We did a porabella cap soaked in balsamic vinaigrette dressing for a few minutes, cooked it on med-high heat for ~4min/side and then put cheese on it! We put it on a bun with some lettuce, onion, and tomato. It was AWESOME.

HOWEVER, it is not as awesome when it gets cold. This is definitely something you want to eat immediately off the pan/grill.

Mushrooms can have a great taste or a meh or gross taste. I think portabella is one of the better ones by far, and it has a great texture, unlike most fungi. It is the steak of the vegetarian world (texture wise at least). This means it is thick and is something somewhat tough and strong to bite into. I recommend trying one! Even if you are an avid meat eater, having this instead of a second burger at the cook out will cut some calories, still leave you feeling full, and add a larger variety of nutrients to your meal!

Serving 2
Ingredients
2 portabella caps
enough balsamic vinaigrette to cover them
bun
favorite burger toppings

Indian Lentil Soup

6-1.3 cup servings
1/2 c chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t curry powder
1 t crushed coriander
1 t cumin seeds
1/2 t ground turmeric
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
1 T olive oil
5 cups vegetable broth
4 c water
2 c lentils
salt and pepper to taste
top with plain yogurt

saute onion, garlic curry powder, herbs, and red pepper in oil in large saucepan until onion is tender, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add brother, water, and lentils; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top each bowl of soup with a T of yogurt.

This was pretty awesome.

However - I used a lot more than a tablespoon of yogurt. It lightly sweetens the soup and smooths all the flavors and textures into a cohesive awesomeness. (I really need better descriptive terms).
I served the yogurt into my bowl as I ate it, because if it was mixed in the soup it got a little grainy.
I really like it - Bryan really liked it, Jessy came over and she liked it! Also - this is a CHEAP meal! lentils, yogurt, and spices. Mmmmm.

Kabobs: A+

Oh, boy.  We made Kabobs.  And they were DELICIOUS!  Here's the recipe:

1 bag of Meatless Meatballs (Will update with which type)
1 Green Bell Pepper, cut in 1.5-inch square-ish shapes
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, cut in 1.5-inch square-ish shapes
1 Red Bell Pepper, cut in 1.5-inch square-ish shapes
.5 to 1 Onion, cut in 1.5-inch square-ish shapes
1 cob of corn, sliced into 7 circles
Marinade:

• 3/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp red wine vinegar
• 3 Tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 Tbs tamari or shoyu soy sauce
• 1 Tbs honey
• 2 Tsp salt
• 1 Tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 Tsp dreid parley
• 2 Tsp dried oregano
• 3 cloves of pressed or minced garlic

Cut all your stuff up, mix the marinade, whisk the marinade up, and then pour it over the cut veggies.  Put the veggies in the fridge for 1 to 4 hours, mixing periodically.  Heat up the grill to medium-or-so heat, throw the kabobs on, and grill them and turn them regularly until parts of the kabobs start to turn black (Not the WHOLE thing-- you just want areas that are slightly charred).  Eat.

These were delicious.  We only marinated the veggies for about an hour, and you can get much more flavor if you marinate longer.  We're going to do that next time.  Also, the meatballs came pre-seasoned.  So if you use different fake-meat, we don't take responsibility if it's not super-delicious!

There was a multitude of flavors, and each of them were great.  We wished that we had made more.  I liked them much better when they were warm, but even as they cooled down they were tasty.  This recipe will be repeated!

3/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon tamari or shoyu soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley

2 teaspoons dried oregano

3 cloves of pressed or minced garlic

Source: Eat Drink Better (http://s.tt/12zCj)

3/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon tamari or shoyu soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley

2 teaspoons dried oregano

3 cloves of pressed or minced garlic

Source: Eat Drink Better (http://s.tt/12zCj)

• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tamari or shoyu soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 cloves of pressed or minced garlic

Source: Eat Drink Better (http://s.tt/12zCj)

Fajitas

Corey's Fajitas.
We used real chicken and fungus chicken. We cooked the fungus chicken in vegetable broth to make it moist.

"meat": originally designed for chicken breast, extra firm tofu pressed dry or seitan will work fine. Cut it into strips and fry in a skillet in olive oil. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and cumin while frying until golden brown. Remove from skillet, replace with sliced bell pepper and onion (long thin strips). Stir fry them quickly for a minute or two and toss in the "meat". Sprinkle more cumin and some coriander (optional) and more cayenne pepper powder if you want more heat. Sprinkle with juice from a lime, stir to mix and serve hot inside flour tortillas (warm the tortillas in the microwave for 20-30 seconds so they at pliable and don't crack). You can also throw cheese in them.

We over cooked the chicken a little (but there was no food poisoning!) and the fungus chicken was really juicy. Neither had enough spice on them, but that's because given the choice of making the food inedible from too much spice or a little bland - we'd rather have a little bland. And we ran out of cumin. But now we know. Overall it was great. We need to have either more people or less veggies. We had 1 red, yellow, and green pepper and an onion cut up and 4 people fed and there was still a lot left over.

I think this isn't a win yet - but we'll get there!

Zesty Ravioli Skillet

Recipe:
4 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach leaves
6oz provolone cheese
1tbsp olive oil
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 cans (14.5oz) diced tomatoes with onions, undrained
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 packages 24oz small frozen cheese ravioli
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Wash spinach, grate cheese.
Add oil to skillet, med-high heat 1-3 mins.
Chop jalapeno add to skillet, cook for 1 min
press garlic into skillet and cook until fragrant 15-20 seconds
add tomatoes, salt, and pepper, stir 1-2 mins until simmering
add ravioli, stir to coat
cook uncovered 4-5 minutes until tender.
Stir in cream.
Cook uncovered 1-2 mins or until simmering.
Sprinkle spinach over, cook, covered 1 minute or until spinach starts to wilt.
Top with cheese.

This is damn good. We added more spinach and no jalapeno. I think we may add the pepper next time just to see the contrast. Make sure you use a deep pan.
My main complaint with this recipe is what the hell to do with the rest of the whipping cream or half and half when we're done. I think we might start using milk.

It can also be very liquid-ee even after cooking off some of the juice from the canned tomatoes. I would recommend draining 1 can, and leaving the other undrained.

Vegetarian Chili (Via PMU)

For 1/2 gallon or 8 servings
1# Beef (or Veggie Crumbles)
23oz tomato Juice
1.75 c tomato sauce
1.75 c kidney beans
.5 c onion
1/8 c green peppers
1/8 t cayenne
1/3 t oregano
1/3 t pepper
1/4 t cumin
2.5 T chili powder
1/2 t sugar

Simmer for 45+ minutes. Cool. Eat the next day on potatoes, as chili, with noodles, chip dip, or whatever you want.


Well, I had 'this' chili at the Purdue Memorial Union for student employee appreciation day and it was PHENOMENAL! Flavorful, rich, just awesome.
And then I got the recipe and made it at home and it was... okay...

I learned from the chef that you should caramelize the onion first and don't leave out the green peppers! It is also likely the chef did the spices a little bit different since he's been doing this so long.
Overall - it was awesome at PMU, but this.. meh. Back to the cutting board.

Oriental Loaf

1 cup vegetable protein
1 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth
2.5 cups cooked rice
.25 cups each: sliced green onions, water chestnuts
2tsp each: minced gingerroot, chile sesame oil, reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
.5 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
.25 cups all-purpose flour
.5 teaspoons five-spice powder
salt, pepper to taste
1 egg

So, mixed reviews here.  Carmen didn't like it-- way too dry, and the rice got super-crunchy because there was nothing to keep things moist. 

Bryan didn't like it a lot, but he thinks that it's salvageable. 

It was pretty bland.  Here's what we're thinking-- change the veggie protein and broth to 2 cups instead of one, then reduce the rice to 1.5 cups.  Use 2 eggs.  And maybe make a sauce.  We have no idea what sauce to use!  Maybe it's better to spend time on recipes that don't need as much tweaking...

Or maybe tweaking is what will teach us how to COOK!

BY THE GREAT AND POWERFUL BRYAN

Vegetarian Biscuits and Gravy

By Carmen:
We have been using this recipe for a long time. I got it from a dinning hall my freshman year and fell in love.
Biscuits and Gravy is a midwestern breakfast staple, but as a vegetarian it's kind of off limits - until - THIS!

2tbsp margarine - melted
2tbsp flour - mixed with margarine
milk 2 1/4 cup
add and heat to boiling

sage 1/2 tsp
marjoram <1/4 tsp
salt 1/4 tsp
pepper <1/4 tsp
cayenne <1/4 tsp
add spices

Morning Star (or boca) Veggie Crumbles 1 cup
add, stir, let it cool just a bit to thicken up.

I vary this sometimes - using more crumbles and more sage because I'm a big fan of flavor.
But this is for sure something to try the next time a vegetarian stays over night!
If you like gravy on fried potatoes just take out the sage and marjoram and keep the cayenne light.
mmmmm... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.