Seriously Easy/Quick Dinner Ideas; My new cookbooks!!!

I am thrilled to pieces, because as of yesterday, I have three of the four cookbooks I wanted the most: "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian," by Mark Bittnam; "Veganomicon," by Isa Chandra Muskowitz and Terry Hope Romero; and "The NEW Vegetarian Epicure," by Anna Thomas. The only one I'm still missing is on backorder at Barnes & Noble's online site, "Vegan With A Vengeance," by Isa Chandra Muskowitz. So now, of course, I can't wait to go grocery shopping this week, as I've already found some recipes I want to try.

The ideas I'm posting here came from a Woman's Day magazine. I've only tried one of them, the garlic couscous one, but the others sound pretty darned good, easy, and quick. One of the hardest things about being a vegetarian is that it's not usually a quick process to fix something to eat...or at least, it's not for me. Some of the cookbooks I've read have had a section for what they call "fast food," but the time involved is usually about 45 minutes. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't call 45 minutes all that fast. As far as I'm concerned, fast means 30 minutes or less. That's just my opinion, yours may differ, it's fine by me!

None of these are actual recipes, they are literally ideas, and you'll have to figure out the seasoning amounts for yourself and your family. Basically everything will be "to taste." So, here we go:

Prepare garlic couscous as the box directs. Saute in olive oil onion, red bell pepper, shredded carrot, raisins, and cumin until onion is soft. Mix and fluff w/couscous. I used 1/2tsp. of cumin, and added 1/2tsp. of cinnamon and a whole TBS. of powdered ginger. It was fantastic...and yes, actually fast. Seems like it took less than 20 minutes to get it all together, including dicing the onion and shredding the carrot.

Next one: Mix tofu w/hoisin sauce, scallions, and ground ginger. Heat in a skillet. Can add minced garlic, red bell pepper, and shredded carrots. Haven't tried this one yet, but it does sound good.

Another one: Simmer diced zucchini, chopped onions and canned diced tomatoes w/herbs until zucchini is tender. Serve over hot rice, with goat cheese crumbled on top. Sounds good to me, haven't tried it yet.

One more: Saute sliced apples and onions in oil until tender. Stir in sauerkraut until hot. Pour over grilled tofu slices, seasoned w/sage, salt, and pepper. Spread brown mustard on bread, and make sammiches. Sorta kinda like a Rueben, and I think I'd like it if I ever actually tried it...which I will, some day.

Last one: Saute sliced bell peppers and onions in oil until tender, stir in unsweetened coconut milk, frozen peas, curry powder or paste, and salt. Boil, then simmer until slightly thickened. Serve over rice, noodles, or potatoes.

So, there ya have it, and until next time, Happy Eating.