Vegetarian thanksgiving stew

I know it's nowhere near Thanksgiving time, and the last thing on our minds is fall, but I had to share this recipe that I altered slightly from Vegetarian Times because it is soo good! I would make this anytime! I put savory dumplings in mine, but you could also do a puff pastry or biscuit crust for a more festive fall occasion.

2 medium potatoes, diced (2 cups)
2 large carrots, sliced (1 cup)
2 celery stalks, diced
3 leeks, cleaned and diced
3 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 16-oz. pkg. firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. Soy Sauce, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, divided
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
1 cup chopped broccoli florets
1 squash, baked and cubed
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup milk (whisked with 1 tbsp flour)
1/2 cup white wine
1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbs. chopped fresh sage
1 tsp. hoisin sauce
dash Worcestershire sauce

To make Filling:

2. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu, and cook 5 minutes, or until tofu begins to brown. Stir in 2 Tbs. tamari, 1/4 tsp. minced garlic, and 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, the hoisin and cook until all liquid has evaporated. Set aside.

3. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms, carrots potatoes, and cook 2 minutes. Add leeks and rest of garlic, and saute 6 to 7 minutes, or until onions begin to soften. Add wine and reduce by 1/2.

4. Push veggies to side of Dutch oven. Add remaining 1 Tbs. oil or butter to bottom of pot. add four and milk mixture, stir until smooth. Stir roux into vegetables.

5. Stir broth into vegetables. Once gravy is smooth, add tofu, broccoli, and squash. Stir gently, then add thyme, sage, Worcestershire sauce, remaining 1/4 tsp.garlic, and remaining 1/8 tsp. cayenne. Let simmer for about 1/2 an hour. (If you want your broccoli to be firm, add it in the last ten minutes).

Dumplings
2 cups white flour
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup milk, (approximately)

Cut butter into flour and bakking soda with fork until the consistency resembles cornmeal. Add parsely. Add milk, a little at a time until the dough sticks together easily. Drop about 1 tbsp size balls of dough on the surface of the bubbling stew covered for ten minutes.

No picture for this one, sorry.

PIZZA!!

How I love making pizza! The fun of kneading the dough and letting it rise, the creativity involved in choosing your toppings, the smell of it baking in your kitchen, and the cheese! Oh cheese, how I adore thee.

Pizza dough:

1 cup warm H20
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 package dry active yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups of flour
1 tsp salt

Stir together the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let this sit for about five minutes. Get your dry ingredients together. When the yeast mixture gets foamy and your apartment smells like a brewery, add the olive oil and then dump this mixture into your dry ingredients. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Then pack it into a ball, put it into a glass bowl coated with a bit of olive oil and cover with a damp tea towel. Let it rise for an hour. Punch the dough down and knead it for about 2 more minutes. Let this sit for another ten minutes. Separate the dough into two portions (it will make two thin crust pizzas). You can even freeze one ball and thaw it when you need it again.

Sauce:
I can of diced tomatoes
two cloves garlic.
s&p

Fry the garlic lightly in oil for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10-15 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.

Assembly:

Preheat the oven to 450 or 500. Pull apart your dough slowly to make a thin disk. Add your toppings, then your cheese, and bake for about 15 minutes until the dough is browned and the cheese is bubbly. I like to add spinach or arugula in the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

The pizza in the picture has prosciutto, mushrooms, mozzarella, parmesan, blue cheese (very small amount). Spinach is on top. One of my favorite combos for pizza.

mango salsa/salad

I made this yesterday. Mangos are on sale in little India here in Toronto.
I bought a case, so more mango recipes to follow I think

5 mangoes chopped into cubes
1/2 red onion
fresh cilantro (at least two handfuls)
1/4 sweet red pepper
fresh lime juice (I used about 3 limes)
salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Chop up all the veggies and herbs. add lime juice, salt and olive oil to taste.

serve with tortilla chips or alone.

Easter weekend quinoa salad

This salad materialized last night at the first barbecue I've been to this year. It is really delicious, if I do say so myself, and really great for making a big tub of it so you can bring the leftovers for lunch. Some people asked me to post the recipe on this blog, and this is my best attempt at remembering what I actually threw in.

salad:
1 cup quinoa, cooked and drained in salted water
1/2 cup or so chopped dried cranberries
handful of chopped chives
handful of chopped toasted almonds
one avocado, sliced
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1/2-3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (goat cheese would be good too)

dressing:
juice of two lemons
olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
couple tablespoons of honey
one tablespoon whole grain mustard
a glug of rice wine vinegar
s & p

Of course, you could add lots of different combinations of veggies. The salty and sweet really do it for me in this combo.

Warning: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE

My sister-in-law sent me this recipe this week, and let's just say I'm very, very glad she did. These are alot like those balls of sweetness you can get at vegan/vegetarian counters, or like Lara bars, if you've had those. She got this recipe from the Kind Diet, Alica Silverstone's vegan cookbook.

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup carob powder
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 to 1 cup coconut

Blend walnuts until coarsely ground. Add dates and blend until well mixed. Add maple syrup, carob powder, almond butter, vanilla, salt and process until thick and smooth. Chop almonds and mix into it. Form into golf-ball sized balls and roll balls in coconut. Freeze in container.

I've always wanted to make these kinds of snacks at home with my food processor. Now that I've tried it, i can easily see how you can get really creative, trying different combination of nuts, butters, fruits, seeds, and so on, and pressing them into bars or squares.