VEGETARIAN SINGAPORE NOODLES(can be veganized)

The "cocktail)of Lyrica, Tramadol, and Flexeril, along with the cortisone shots, seem to be doing a good job of keeping me relatively painfree, depressionfree, as well as giving me a lot more energy. For the most part I'm betternatured at work, and quite a bit more productive, too. We won't talk about home, ok? LOL! Actually, I did such a good job on my week of "30 Minutes," that things are still in good shape as far as laundry and dishes go, and The Routine takes care of the bedroom and the bathroom. So my little home looks company-ready. My biggest problem now is the stacks of books and magazines I have, lol. And the fact that I don't know where to start reading!! And when can I do a alittle craft project I have in mind? Not to mention getting the craft room itself in order, sigh. I have TOO MANY THINGS TO DO, and not enough time to do them in, sigh. I'm going to try to convince my boss to let me work either 5pm-5am or 4pm-4am. three nights a week(36 hours)and be off Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I sincerely think I'd like that, but, don't know if he'll go for it, or even if I'd reallylike it once I got it, lol.

So, instead of worrying about schedules, etc., let's talk about food, shall we? This Noodle recipe just plain sounded good, as well as fairly easy, and I just happened to have all the ingredients needed. I found it on About.com in the vegetarian pages, posted there by the site's blogger, Jolinda Hackett, who found it in the forum from a poster named Siddhi.

................................................VEGETARIAN SINGAPORE NOODLES..........................................

2Tbs. olive oil

1 each diced green pepper, and red or yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

Chili garlic sauce, to taste(I used about a half tablespoonful, and for me, 'twas plenty, lol.

3 Tbs. curry powder

2-3 Tbs. soy sauce

Egg noodles for four people, already cooked(Vegans: Use eggless noodles, or, rice.)

Saute bell pepper, onion, garlic, and chili garlic sauce in olive oil for a few minutes(in a medium sized pan, over medium heat, it takes about five minutes, and the onions will be a sort of translucent yellowish colour. I know I'm not very specific here, but, um, hey: Neither was Ms. Hackett, ok?), add the cooked noodles and mix well. Add the curry powder and the soy sauce and enjoy your Singapore Noodles.

Like I said, this just plain sounds good, as is, right? Well, you know me, I'm not going to leave a recipe the way it is, or at least, not often, and this wasn't one of those "not often" times, lol. When I cooked the onions, peppers, and garlic, I also added about two good handsful of presliced mushrooms, diced, some roasted red peppers from a jar, diced, some shredded carrots(about two good-sized ones), and a couple stalks of celery. All of this I sauteed with the onions, peppers, and garlic. I added 2 heaping tablespoonsful of curry, and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and should've added more of each. Even so, this was really good, I enjoyed it, and ate it twice: The first time over Basmati rice cooked with coconut milk(helps take the fire out of the chili paste...stuff is REALLY hot, believe you me, and the second time, over a baked potato. For this meal, I actually preferred the rice, in spite of my love of potatoes. If you try this, let me know if you like it, ok? Until next time, Happy Eating!!!

Two-Bean Vegetable Soup(Vegan); "Beefless" Stew w/Dumplings(probably vegan)

Good morning, beautiful, sunny day here in the metro Atlanta area, and I'm hoping it's a good day where you are, as well. About 30 minutes ago, I called my doctor, and kinda wish I hadn't, sigh. I think I mentioned a while back that I had to have a renal ultrasound, because my creatinine levels are too high, which means my kidneys aren't working right. So, I had the ultrasound, and this morning, Doctor told me that it shows a mass in my right kidney. I am NOT pleased. This is NOT what i wanted to hear, not today, not yesterday, not any day at all, ok? Doctor is going to call my insurance company for me today, and get the referral for either a CT scan or an MRI, and I'll see him tomorrow, as I need my pain med 'script rewritten. Needless to say, I'm scared. Maybe it's just a cyst. Whatever. Please keep me in your prayers. Thanks.

Yesterday was a really good day, one of the best in a long time, as far as feeling good physically goes. It's probably a combination of the thyroid med starting to kick in, and still being quit from smoking. Whatever it is, I'm not hurting as much as I was, and I had quite a bit of energy and accomplished, for me, quite a lot. Swished and swiped the toilet and sink, stripped the bed and washed the linens, washed and dried and put away two loads of laundry, remade the bed, washed the dishes, took out the trash, and vacuumed the living room and bedroom. Had time to read quite a bit, play on the computer, and cooked supper, too. Today all I plan on doing...all that's really needed, in fact...is washing dishes again, and watering my plants.

I love beans and lentils, and I love soups, so I make quite a few bean and lentil soups/stews, even in warm weather. In one of my last few posts I said that I was going to make a bean/barley/vegetable soup, but I didn't, not exactly. It was basically the same as the recipe I've posted for the bean/barley/vegetable soup, but just a couple variations. No real recipe needed here, just as you like it/to taste.

...................................Two-Bean Soup................................................................
One can each pinto beans and cannelini beans
Onions, garlic, bay leaf, thyme...all to taste
Potatoes, celery, carrots...as many or as few as YOU like.

Drain and rinse the beans, set aside. In a large pot, saute the diced onions, celery, carrots, and garlic for about five minutes, or until the onion starts to get tender and is translucent. Add the peeled and diced potatoes, the two types of beans, and about 6-8 cups of water w/veggie buillion cubes or veggie broth or plain water. Season with dried thyme and the bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil, and allow to simmer until the veggies are tender enough to suit you, probably about 30 minutes or so. I like mine really smooshy, so I let it simmer for closer to an hour. Your choice...I won't know, and it's fine with me. The soup can be left the way it is, or, if you like, and I do, use a potato masher or fork to mash up some of the veggies, which will thicken the soup somewhat. Serve this with a pan of hot, buttered, biscuits. Or cornbread. Or grilled cheese sammiches. Or just saltines or bread and butter. Your choice.

...........................JB's World Famous "Beefless" Stew, this time with dumplings....

Ok, ok, so it's not really world famous, and altho I never once looked at a recipe to come up with this lentil stew, I have no doubt that there are several thousand recipes just like this, or very close to it. There are probably enough variations of lentil soup to make a different one every day for at least three years out there, seriously. The important thing, tho, is that it's good, and even confirmed meat-lovers will ask for seconds, no kidding. Again, no real recipe needed, it's to taste/as you like it, ok?

Enough dried lentils for your family. Lentils don't need to be soaked, btw. You can just use them right out of the bag. And I don't recommend using canned ones, if there even is such a thing. I don't think I've ever seen canned lentils, just canned lentil soup, and that was just plain nasty. Anyway, I digress........

Put the lentils in a colander, pick them over and take out any little rocks or bad lentils, and rinse them really well. Set aside.

In a large pot, saute onions, carrots, celery if you like(I don't), and garlic. Meanwhile, wash, peel, and dice some potatoes, and then add them to the rest of the veggies. Add the lentils, a bay leaf, and enough water to cover all of it by about three inches or so. If you want to, you can use veggie broth or add veggie buillion cubes to the water. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer until the carrots are tender, about 30-45 minutes. Lentils will cook that quickly, in case you've never used them before, which is just one of the reasons I like them so well.

Now for the dumplings, and I'll give you a REAL recipe for them, right off the box of biscuit mix. So, this is where it stops being vegan, because the biscuit mix has small amounts of casein and buttermilk listed in its ingredients. Dumplings can be veganized, but you'll have to use your own biscuit recipe for them, as I don't have one. I suppose self-rising flour, shortening, and soy milk would do it, tho, right? Anyway...

2 cups biscuit mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 qt. broth
Mix first three ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls into boiling broth. Cover and simmer 5-8 minutes. Yield: 16 servings.

I used much smaller portions for myself, and didn't use the poultry seasoning, I just left them plain. And instead of broth, I dropped them, using an infants feeding spoon, on top of the lentil stew.

This was a really good meal. The dumplings were small and good, and just set the stew off to perfection. In fact, when I heat up the leftover two-bean soup, I'm going to make dumplings again, instead of biscuits.

Until next time, Happy Eating.

St. Patrick's Day Vegetarian Recipes

The post before last, I told you I would find and post some St. Patrick's Day recipes, so, here they are. The first one comes from www.about.com from the vegetarian pages there. If you've never been there, I highly recommend you check them out. Hopefully my link works, but if not, copy and paste into your address bar, and then after going to about.com, type "vegetarian recipes" into their search bar. Should work just fine.

First of all, since the first recipe calls for seitan, I'm going to post the definition of seitan from about.com, for anyone that doesn't know what seitan is.

Definition of Seitan: "Altho it is made from wheat, seitan has little in common with flour or bread. Also called 'wheat meat,' 'wheat gluten,' or simply 'gluten,' seitan becomes surprisingly similiar to the look and feel of meat when cooked, making it a popular meat substitute. Seitan is also high in protein, making it a popular protein source for vegetarians....Seitan also is the base for several commercially available products such as Tofurkey deli slices.

Seitan can be prepared by hand using either wheat flour or vital wheat gluten, and is made by rinsing away the starch in the wheat, leaving high-protein gluten behind. Prepared seitan can be found in the refrigerated section of most health food stores."

I don't think that's a really good definition, but it'll have to do.

Vegetarian "Beef" and Guiness Stew

Prep time: 10 minutes Cooktime: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
Approx. 14oz.seitan, cut in thin strips
2Tbs. each soy sauce and olive oil
1Tbs. steak sauce
3Tbs. butter or margarine(vegans can use Earth Balance)
1 onion, diced, 3 ribs celery, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 med. potatoes, diced;
3cloves garlic, minced.
2-12oz. bottles of Guiness stout, OR 1 bottle and 1 1/2C veggie broth
2Tbs. flour/ 1Tbs. chopped fresh thyme(1/2Tbs.dried); 1tsp. sugar, optional.

Preparation:
Saute seitan in olive oil and soy sauce until slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat, add steak sauce and stir until seitan is lightly coated. Remover from heat and set aside.

In large pot, saute veggies and garlic in butter or margerine 3-5 minutes, or until onions are slightly soft. Reduce heat and slowly add Guinness, gently stirring to combine. Add flour, thyme, salt and pepper and stir well[I guess this is where you would add the optional sugar.]. Add seitan and allow stew to simmer until stout reduces and stew thickens, about 40-5- minutes.

Reader Review:
"WARNING:...Guinness is not a vegetarian beverage. It contains isinglass...a byproduct of the fishing trade used to settle/clarify the stout....There are...stouts out there that don't use isinglass, so by all means, try this recipe."

And btw, I haven't tried any of these Irish recipes yet, so I can't give my opinion of any of them. But, they all looked good to me, and eventually, I do plan on cooking them. I was going to make this stew tonight, because I have some seitan in the 'fridge, but I'm not going to have time. And I don't have any steak sauce...I don't eat steak, so why would I have it, right? Anyway, maybe I can get by with a mix of ketchup, mustard, garlic, and Balsamic vinegar?

Ok, all of these next recipes come from a wonderful blogsite called "Vegetarians in Paradise." I found a whole bunch of Easter/Passover recipes there today, but, I'm not going to post them, because there are so many that I jsut do NOT want to copy them all down and then come here and post them, lol. Lazy. So here's the URL for the St. Patrick's Day recipes, and once you're there, click on "holidays" and look for Easter...or whatever holiday you choose. http://www.vegparidise.com/cookingwith83.html
Hope that works, sigh...if not, use the copy and paste, and the address bar. You knew that, tho, right?

Irish Soda Bread(Vegan)
1 1/2C plus 2Tbs. unsweetened soymilk and 1Tbs. plus 1 1/2tsp. vinegar
4Cwhole wheat pastry flour[according to "Vegan with a Vengeance," by Isa Muskowitz, you can use all-purpose flour if you prefer, or if you don't have any wheat flour.]
1tsp. each baking soda and salt.

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine woymilk and vinegar, and set aside.

3. Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Form a well in center, and add soured soymilk, stirring with a large spoon until mixture forms a dough firm enough to shape into a ball.

4. Place dough on parchment paper and form into a circle 8in. in diameter and about 1 1/2 in. thick. Using a sharp knife, make 3 vertical slits about 1/2in. deep, and 2in. apart. Then, crisscross with 3 horizontal cuts about 2in.apart(plus signs: +++). These will make it easier to slice the baked bread into portions.

5. Bake the bread 40-45 minutes or until bread forms a golden brown firm top and bottom crust[it should sound hollow when tapped on the top]. Serve immediately or warm gently to serve later.

This is not the same recipe I used for the soda bread I posted about in an earlier post, without the recipe. This one is less complicated, a few less ingredients, and I'm anxious to try it, but I don't have any flour, and forgot to buy any yesterday. Sheesh.

Vegan Soups: Cauli-Potato; "New England Boiled Dinner"

Friday morning, day off, looks nice out there, and according to my neighbor's thermometer on the carport, it's headed for the 60's, not bad at all. Last Sunday, the 1st, we had rain(and also on Saturday, the 28th), and quite a bit of it, too. Then in the early afternoon, we had SNOW! Yep, right here in Georgia, we had beautiful, gorgous, fluffy white stuff, and it came down good, too. Sadly, it only lasted a few hours, but it gave us almost two inches, I guess, and the backyard at the Waffle House looked like a fairyland: the trees were just covered in white, and it was lovely. There's a church sort of catty-cornered across the street from my teeny tiny little house, and the kids played out in the yard all afternoon, laughing, screaming, just having a ball. When I went to work the next morning, I saw that they had built a HUGE snowman, and a smaller one beside it! Don't you know those little kids had a great day?!?!

I went to my doctor this past Wednesday, the 4th, and wish I hadn't gone. The good news is that, finally, my b/p is just about normal: 125/85, and my pap smear was fine, along with my cholesterol and sugar. But. Sigh. Sad news: my urinalysis showed a borderline high for creatin(creatine? creatinine? Not sure...), so Doc has taken me off the diuretic and replaced it with something else, told me to cut way back on my pain meds(I can't. I can't work without them. I can't even stand up straight without them.), and back off the protein. Now, that's just plain ironic, because I'd been afraid I wasn't getting enough! My thyroid level is borderline low, which may have something to do with the fact that I'm so tired most of the time, and also with the fact that I'm overweight. Sure. That's it. My weight has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I eat, and that I eat a LOT, lol. Anyway, I'm to go back in six weeks, and have the thyroid and urinalyisis re-done, so if you're a praying person, please include me in your prayers, ok? If the creatin level isn't normal, it means that my kidneys may be failing, and that's, well, that's kinda scary, y'know. Anyway...this is a food blog, so let's talk about soups, ok?

Both of these soups were cooked without using anybody else's recipe, altho I'm sure there are recipes for cauliflower soup all over the place. In fact, I know for sure that there's one in "Laurel's Kitchen." As for the "New England Boiled Dinner Soup," I don't think I've ever seen a recipe like it before. It came about because I realized that the cabbage in my 'fridge was going to turn bad, so why didn't I fix a New England Boiled Dinner, minus the meat, for dinner? Somewhere along the line I realized I could probably make a wonderful soup with the ingredients, so I did. And here's the "recipe," altho it's mostly one of those "to taste" sort of things.

New England Boiled Dinner Soup

Two or three good-sized potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and chunked into about 1/2" piece
Roughly a quarter of a medium-sized head of cabbage, diced.
Two or three good-sized carrots, diced very small.
About ten cups of water, with two vegetable buillion cubes and one big bay leaf.
1/2 large onion or 1 small one, diced very small.
As much garlic as you like.
One or two stalks of celery, diced very small.
Good dashes of dried thyme and tarragon, depending on how well you like them.
Salt and black pepper to taste.
Olive oil and margarine(vegans can use Earth Balance, I use Blue Bonnet)

Put about a tablespoon each of the oil and margarine in a large pot. When it has melted, add the diced onion, celery, stir and allow to soften, about five minutes or so. Add the carrots, garlic, and potato, stir to coat with the oil/margarine, and then add the water, buillion cubes, bay leaf, thyme, tarragon, and salt and pepper. Bring to a full rolling boil, turn heat to low, or whatever will keep the soup simmering gently, cover, and walk away. Cook this as long as you want to. For me, about 45 minutes to an hour is good, because I want the carrots to be extremely soft, and the potatoes to sort of "melt" into the liquid. I've read that if the potatoes aren't allowed to cook long enough to be extremely soft, that they have a tendency to make the soup a little "gluey." I don't know, I always cook my 'taters to death. Anyway, once everything is as tender as you want it, you can ladle it out just like it is, you can blend it in a blender...be very careful, don't put it all in the blender at once, and make sure to use a towel to hold the cover of the blender on tightly. You sure don't want to get burned. You can also use an immersion blender, or, like I did, just mash the whole mess with a potato masher. This thickened it up some, but still left some texture. And don't forget to take the bay leaf out and throw it away.

This made enough to feed me for about three days, if I remember correctly. All I had with it was some biscuits...yup, the box mix, lol. The soup was wonderful, and I'll make it again sometime.

By the way, for those of you who aren't from the New England area, and may not know what the Boiled Dinner is, this is for you: The New England Boiled Dinner has either ham or corned beef in it, along with potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Some cooks add beets to it, too, but I'm not a beet person. All of this is boiled(duh, right?)in one pot, making it one of the easiest meals to fix. The first day, it's served seperately, each person taking as much of each veggie and the meat as they like. The next day, the meat is simply served cold and sliced, but, oh, the veggies!!! The veggies are all turned into what's known as "Red Flannel Hash," which sounds dreadful, I know, but trust me, it's fantastic. I actually like the hash better than the actual first meal from this. Melt some grease in a large skillet(the thrifty New England housewife would no doubt use bacon grease that she had saved), and put all the leftover veggies in the skillet. As they heat up, start cutting them...my grandmother had a small juice can with both ends taken out that she used strictly for this hash...until they are smooshed up together. Let them fry until one side is brown, turn it over, and let the other side brown. Serve it with butter and, believe it or not, cider vinegar. The beets turn the whole thing reddish, hence the name of Red Flannel. Wonderful stuff, and it can be made without the meat, just boil the veggies together, and then hash them up the next day.

Cauli/Potato Soup
One head of cauliflower, washed, and broken into florets(I cheated and used a 1lb.package of frozen cauliflower, so you can, too, if you want to).
Two or three good-sized potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and diced.
1/2 large onion, or 1 small, diced.
One or two stalks of celery, diced.
One large bay leaf, or two smaller ones.
Thyme and tarragon to taste.
Salt and black pepper to taste.
About 8-10 cups water, and two vegetable buillion cubes.

You probably don't even need directions for this, right? So, I'll try to make this short and sweet.

Put some oil and margarine(vegans use Earth Balance or all oil, your choice)in your soup pot, get it hot, toss in the onions and celery, let them soften, add the cauliflower and potatoes, and then the water and buillion cubes. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer until everything is as tender as you want it. For me, that's about 45-60 minutes. Take the bay leaf out and throw it away, and then do what you want with the soup: blender, immersion blender, leave it the way it is, or mash with a potato masher, which is what I did with this soup, just like the last one. And that's all there is to that!!!

Good soup, and I know I'll make it again, because I've made it before...it's one of my favorites.

I've been doing some hunting for vegan/vegetarian St. Patrick's Day recipes, and hope to have some for you before the 17th, St. Patrick's Day. What I've found so far is Irish Soda Bread, which I made last night. It didn't turn out too well, so I'm going to have to try it again...whenever I get around to buying more flour. I also found a vegetarian recipe for "Beef and Guiness Stew," which is a challange for me, as I'm a teetotaller, which means I'd have to substitute something for the Guiness. Apple cider? Vegetable broth? Don't know yet. To go with it, of course I found Colcannon(cabbage and 'tatties together), which I actually cook for myself sometimes, and a Pease Porridge, which is green split peas. I'd prefer the yellow ones, but can't find any around here. And of course, Irish Coffee, which I won't make, and some kind of dessert, but I've forgotten what it was, lol.

Oh, well, right? So, until next time, Happy Eating!!!

Vegetarian Homemade Burrito(non-vegan)

It's a lot colder here than it was yesterday: 14.3ºF, and I don't care where you're from, that's downright chilly!! My homestate, Maine, is even colder, tho: -3ºF!! While I certainly sympathize with my Dad, and all the rest of my family way up there, I'm sure grateful to be here, lol. And, according to weatherunderground.com, we must might get some snow either Saturday or Sunday, which just tickles the fire out of me. I won't hold my breath waiting, tho, and as long as I don't get stuck at work, I hope it comes a blizzard!!!!

In spite of all the new recipes I'd like to try, last night I made a new old favorite, lol: homemade burritos. It's amazing how many different things I can eat now that I'm not putting meat in them. Evidently it was mostly the meats that were upsetting my stomach and giving me so much gastric distress. Even my chili doesn't bother me any more, whereas chili con carne(chili with meat in it)always hurt me, and quite badly, too. Pinto beans and other beans don't bother me like they used to, either. All of this just delights me, as you can well imagine. So the fact that I can eat a burrito, complete with sour cream(tofutti brand, of course)and a mild salsa, is just a wonderful, wonderful thing, believe me.

The last time I made a burrito, I made re-fried beans to put in it, but last night, I didn't use any beans at all, just some veggies, some fake cheese, and some goat cheese crumbles. 'Twas delicious, and I'll make it again sometime. There isn't really a recipe for it, but I can give you the general idea, and you, of course, can change it around any way you like. 'Twon't bother me at all, at all!

What I used for veggies were onions, mushrooms, celery, and roasted red peppers. I sauted these in olive oil, along with a heaping teaspoonful of minced garlic, until they were all nice and soft. While they were cooking, I cut two pieces of the fake smoked provolone cheese into strips. I poured a goodly amount of salsa on the middle of a tortilla, laid the cheese strips on top of that, spooned the veggie mixture on top of the cheese, and then spread the goat cheese crumbles over it all. Rolled the tortilla, but didn't fold in the sides this time, and heated the whole shebang in an ungreased skillet, just enough for the tortilla to warm up, not even long enough for it to brown at all. While that was warming, I poured some more salsa across my plate, and then laid the heated tortilla on top of it. It was so full and gooey from the cheese that I decided I should eat it with a fork and knife, lol. Get a forkful of tortilla, load it up with the soy sour cream, and chow down!!! Excellent, I tell ya, absolutely excellent! Dessert was a bowl of Kroger brand granola, without raisins. It was on sale, 2/$4, so I decided to buy it instead of buying all the stuff to make my own. I do have a lazy streak, y'know.

My intentions today are to make a Pumpkin "Cheesecake," but, my intentions don't always come to be. You may be sure that if I do make it, I will post the recipe here...even if I don't like it.

Until next time, Happy Eating...and stay warm, hear?