Vegetable Gravy

Yes, you read that correctly...there IS such a thing as vegetable gravy! Who knew? I always thought you HAD to have meat or poultry in order to make a yummy gravy, or any gravy at all. Turns out that isn't true, luckily for me. My husband is a major gravy fan and I have visions of him liking the veggie meals I prepare, yet not being totally happy because he could never (gasp!) have gravy again. I found several versions online and came up with my own version. You can use my recipe as a base and tweak it to suit your tastes and desires. Isn't that what yummy cooking is all about, after all? Preparing meals that you and your family will eat!

A word about nutritional yeast: it is not the kind you use to make bread dough. It is a yellowish, flaky product, and has a slight cheesy scent and taste. It is used often in vegetarian/vegan recipes to thicken and flavor without using cheese.

I also added about 1 tsp. of Gravy Master, which I really like using in soups, stews and gravies. Next time I make this gravy, I will likely eliminate the soy sauce and use just Gravy Master.

Vegetarian Gravy

1-2 Tbls. EVOO

1/4 cup chopped onions or shallots

1 tsp. minced garlic

1-2 tsp. nutritional yeast.

2 Tbls. corn starch

1/4 cup cold water

1-2 tsp. light soy sauce

1 can vegetable broth

1/4 tsp. dried sage

1/4 tsp. salt

Black pepper (to taste)

Heat EVOO in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute about 5 minutes. While that is sauteing, mix cornstarch with fork into the cold water. Stir until smooth. Using whisk, add to pan the cornstarch mixture, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce, stirring with whisk to form a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the broth, season with salt, pepper and sage. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, whisking constantly. Continue to simmer and stir for about 5 minutes or until thickened.

Obviously, you can add various seasonings and also a little water or more broth if it ends up a little too thick. This is delicious over roasted veggies and rice. It would also be a great addition to vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. I will share that recipe some time soon!

Shamless Plug

My oldest son, who is a wonderful cook of many things yummy, produces his own internet cooking show. It is called "Menu From Mars". Go find it (menufrommars.com) and enjoy watching his unique way of cooking...from ribs and wings (no, he is not vegetarian or vegan) to barbeque sauces and canning. Learn from him and you will find that you also can cook wonderful foods. He also has a Facebook page by the same name...go "like" him!

Anyway, he called me today and suggested that instead of roasting my veggies in the oven, I may want to go buy myself some Mesquite wood chips at a local big box store and use them on my backyard grill to smoke the veggies. I think that is a mighty fine idea, and even though I don't have any wood chips yet, I do believe I'm gonna go and grill me up some veggies out there this afternoon. Because, as I've said before, you can never have enough roasted or grilled veggies on hand.

Major yum.

Pomodoro Sauce and Random Thoughts About It

I made pomodoro sauce today. Some people may think this is something difficult and special...well, it IS special, but difficult? No. Pomodoro simply means tomato. So, it is yummy tomato sauce without meat. And, although you can buy marinara sauce in a jar, making pomodoro sauce is so easy you will wonder why you ever bought jar sauce. I am posting two pictures of the sauce above...one is close up so you can see the garlic chunks. I have previously made this with minced garlic from a jar, and it has been just great. However, I decided to roast a bulb (several cloves) of garlic the other day and use that in this batch of sauce. I will not know just how yummy this is until we eat it on a plateful of pasta, but I did taste it and I can say I am looking forward to a full helping of it!! So, the recipe includes the roasted garlic, but for the purposes of keeping things simple and easy, go right ahead and use minced garlic from a jar. I will post a recipe for roasting garlic in a day or two. It isn't hard and you can find out how to do so online, so if you would rather not wait for me, go for it!

Pomodoro Sauce

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

1 16 oz. can of chopped tomatoes, partially drained

2-3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 small to medium shallot, chopped

2-3 Tablespoons Dried Basil (or fresh if you prefer)

1 bulb (several cloves together) of roasted garlic, chopped and/or mashed

Sea Salt

Black pepper

Heat EVOO in a sauce pan on low/medium and add chopped shallots. Saute shallots for 3-4 minutes, add chopped garlic. Saute for a mere 1-2 minutes, just until the garlic's fragrance is released. Add Basil, stir and continue to saute for another 1-2 minutes. Turn heat down to low and add tomatoes. I mashed a few small cloves of the roasted garlic and added now. Stir well, cover and simmer for a hour, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue to cook on low for approximately 30-45 minutes, to reduce liquid. Stir now and then. When the sauce is thickened and rich looking, remove from heat.

I would make this a day or two before you plan to eat it. Everything tastes much better once the flavors sit and meld together a day or two. BUT, if you have your heart set on it, go ahead and enjoy it immediately after preparing it!

Mangiare!!

Pizza, Pizza!

The way I now prepare pizza is below in my first "official" recipe on this blog. You can do it your way, however you like it or feel you would like it. You can even make your own pizza crust, or use some pre-made crust. That being said, the purpose of this is to encourage no cheese, no meat...so be brave and give my way a try. Consider it an adventure in eating. As you can see, there are now several "print" buttons at the bottom of the post/recipe. Not sure why there are 3, but at least now you can print what you wish to...haven't figured out if I can make it just print the recipe, but it is what it is, for now. Bon Appetite!!

Pizza, Vegan Style

Olive Oil (or canola) spray

"Flat Out" wrap*

Tomato sauce - marinara, pomodoro, Ragu (whatever you like)

Roasted veggies (remember that recipe?)

Sliced tomato

Soy Mozzarella (I use Lisanatti Soy-Sation) (optional)

Herbs & spices

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the top of the Flat Out wrap and put directly onto oven rack. Cook for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and spread tomato sauce, then mozzarella, then roasted veggies all over the top. Sprinkle herbs and spices on, then put back into oven directly onto rack and cook another 7 minutes.

Remove carefully with a large spatula and place on plate. Cut into three pieces, eat and enjoy!

*"Flat Out" is a brand name of a sandwich wrap that I eat a lot. You could possibly use any large tortilla, but we have tried several and "Flat Out" is our fave.

Note: You can add olives, garlic, or whatever else you'd like as a topping. You also can use regular mozzarella or whatever cheese you would like.

Helpful Prep Tools

Since I'm learning as I go, I will share what I learn along the way. Even if what I learn isn't so great...after all, failure is what motivates success, right?

Once we decided this new eating journey was going to be a sure thing (at least for a couple of months), we went out and bought a mandolin slicer. It makes slicing large amounts of veggies much easier and you can change the blades for thin, medium, thick and also do julienne and shreds. What, you ask, is a mandolin slicer? That is the same thing I asked, so I'm posting a picture below so you don't have to go searching online like I did.

Important to note is that handle type part next to the actual slicer. You really HAVE to use that when slicing because if you hold the veggie with your fingers you WILL get cut...trust me, I know. And you could get seriously sliced, so please use the veggie holder/handle type thing when using the slicer.

Another great purchase we made a couple of weeks later is a food processor. It is one of those machines that I never thought I'd need or use. I figured if I had a blender, that would cover the bases. Not so. Blending and processing are two different things and in order to make certain veggie meals the right way, using a food processor is a must. So, before you tackle that recipe that says to "process" an item (or items) in a food processor, thinking you'll just throw it into your blender, think again. You may get by using the blender, but it likely will be over taxed and you may end up having to partially hand mash, which is what I try to avoid at all costs. Plus, a food processor (a good one) will include blades that allow you to slice and shred automatically, so you can use it for multiple applications while preparing a meal that calls for different ingredients in various forms. Make sure you shop around...learn both online and in stores about various brands and levels of food processors; functions, prices, ease of use, and size. We got a fairly basic one that is made by Cuisinart, and has a 7 cup bowl, which is a good basic size. Some have 3 or 5 cup bowls, which could prove to be too small. Read reviews online, and once you've gathered your info you can make a good decision about a food processor you will use (hopefully) for years.

I'm going to attempt posting a recipe some time in the next couple of days. I say "attempt" because I want to include a way for recipes to be easily printed...so it will be another learning process for me. I'll also try to post a picture of each meal with the recipe, but there may be some cases that I don't. For instance, if I forget to take a picture in my desire to sit down and eat.

Coming attractions: Pizza, Pizza!!

Roasted Veggies

Roasted veggies are important to have available when cooking vegetarian/vegan meals. Even if you aren't going to use roasted veggies in a recipe, having a container full of them in the fridge comes in handy for a quick and delish lunch. All you need to do is heat a serving up in the microwave, add to previously cooked brown rice, and eat! Or, you can top some leftover pasta with a serving of roasted veggies, and then cover with homemade pomodoro sauce (or jar/canned marinara)...heat and eat. There are many ways you can use them, only limited by your imagination! Roasted veggies are yummy all by themselves, too!

Roasting vegetables is easy. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice up zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes. Add, or replace any of these with, a sliceable veggie you love. Chop cauliflower and broccoli, add some shredded carrots. Arrange all these vegetables on a lightly oil sprayed foil-lined cookie sheet (or two), spray with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, pepper, italian seasoning...or any other herbs/spices that you find yummy. Put into the oven and roast for 10-12 minutes. Remove and stir, moving the veggies around to allow for even cooking. Put back into the oven and cook for another 10 minutes...check to see if they look done, and either put back in for 5 minutes or remove from oven. You don't want them to be overdone, but just tender and some may also have some brownish tinge. After they are done, you can do with them what you wish. As I mentioned before, I like having a container of them in the fridge for spur of the moment recipes, or just to heat up and munch on. Topping homemade pizza with these babies is the best!

Roasted veggies are healthy, filling and satisfying. Consider this my first recipe post, although it isn't in a normal recipe format. Search online for roasted veggies, and you will find different techniques for roasting them.

Oh, and even if you are not vegetarian/vegan...everyone should eat some veggies every day, and this is probably THE best way to do so!

Next up: Tools you will find helpful, if not essential.

Here's the Dish...

Ok, my love of food has often defined my life. It comforted, brought joy, and provided satisfaction. Even when I have been angry, I've dug into foods I should not eat...potato chips, cookies, cinnamon rolls...all while thinking how that'll show whoever hurt me, upset me or made me mad. Not to mention all the celebrations that happen with food as the centerpiece.

In the interest of being healthier and more vibrant in our later years, my hubby and I decided to try vegetarianism. With a vegan slant that I have termed as being "veganish". We saw a movie titled "Forks Over Knives" and it presented a very good case against eating meats and dairy products. (Not to mention all that I have learned about just where and how we get our meats and dairy products, but I won't go into that right now.)

The purpose of this blog is to share some of what I'm learning about cooking and eating only vegetables, grains, legumes and very limited amounts of dairy. I'm still having trouble giving up half & half in my coffee, and we are not going to be so picky that we won't eat something made with eggs and milk. We are, however, choosing not to intentionally drink cows milk, eat cheese or eggs. The food we miss most in all this? Cheese. It is amazing just how much cheese is used in cooking, garnishing and otherwise flavoring many foods and meals. Let's face it, there is nothing quite like the comforting and deep flavor of cheese...so, yeah, that is what we both miss the most.

Considering that it seems a daunting task to revamp our eating habits in such ways, I have found it really isn't that difficult. Time consuming? Yes. Labor intensive? Yes. Requiring imagination and flexibility? Definitely. Having said all that, I have found (and so has my husband) that it is very worthwhile and rewarding. The food I've prepared has been delicious and nutritious...aside from one meal of faux mac and cheese which we decided was not worth the effort or the fat content since it wasn't delish or satisfying. I have consulted the internet for recipes, bought one cookbook and have another on the way...and also have realized that I can customize many recipes that formerly called for meat and/or dairy, into a yummy meal sans both!

I will be posting recipes on this blog in order to share what I am learning (and eating!). I'll also give some hints and advice. You don't have to be a vegetarian or a vegan to enjoy the recipes. Here is a bit of advice: Don't be afraid to give something new a try. If you go into preparing a meal of strictly veggies with an open mind and a desire to make it delicious, then you will most likely find it yummy! And, even if you don't forsake meat and dairy forever more...you can always enjoy one of my recipes as a change of pace.

A parting thought and preview to my next post:

Roasted Veggies.