Homemade vegetable stock

I'm making vegetable stock from scratch for my Christmas dinner. Here's my recipe:

Vegetable Stock
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, quartered
1 stalk celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3-4 sprigs parsley, coarsely chopped
8 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
8 cups cold tap water

Heat the olive oil in a stock pot. Add the onions and saute until softened and starting to brown.

Add the celery and carrots. Continue to saute until fragrant.

Add the parsley and garlic. Saute until fragrant. Do not burn the garlic or it will turn bitter.

Add the water, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for one hour.

Strain. It's ready to use for making gravy and my cornbread dressing.

Lentil Loaf

 

I made another vegan dish called Lentil Loaf. This dish was based on a recipe on Allrecipes.com. However, I made quite a few changes to the recipe to accommodate my vegan fasting. Here's the original recipe.

Lentil Loaf

Rated:	Prep Time: 45 Minutes	Ready In: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
Submitted By: KDCG	Cook Time: 50 Minutes	Servings: 6

"A perfect dinner loaf, but would also would make great open-face sandwiches for lunch. This recipe is easy and after you've cooked the lentils, everything else is stirred into the pot, and transferred to a loaf pan to bake."

Ingredients:

1 1/8 cups green lentils 2 1/4 cups water 6 slices white bread, torn into small pieces 2 eggs 1 cup vegetable broth 2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon dried parsley 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 packet dry vegetable soup mix 1/3 cup dried bread crumbs

Directions:

1.	Combine lentils and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until tender, about 40 minutes.
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
3.	In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups cooked lentils, bread, eggs, broth, tomato paste, basil, garlic powder, black pepper, parsley, olive oil, and dry soup mix. Spread into prepared pan.
4.	Bake for 40 minutes. Sprinkle top with dry bread crumbs, and continue baking another 10 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 2/4/2011

Here are the changes I made to the recipe:

• substituted cooked brown rice for the white bread slices
• eliminated the eggs
• substituted whole wheat flour for the dry bread crumbs
• used tomato sauce because I didn't have tomato paste
• substituted sauteed, fresh, minced garlic for the garlic powder
• added sauteed, chopped onions
• increased dry seasonings instead of using the dry vegetable soup mix

Would all of these changes make it a totally different recipe? The verdict: yummy! 

My loaf turned out a bit dry so I poured some vegetarian gravy on topped of the cooked loaf and allowed it to soak in before serving it. I also served the gravy on top of the slice on my dish. Next time I'll reduce the amount of salt or add more water because the vegetarian gravy, which was salted, made the dish too salty.

 

Lavash bread pizza

I wanted to make whole wheat pizza dough for dinner tonight. But, I didn't want to go out in the icy cold to buy the missing ingredients. So, instead I used the Lavash bread that was in the frig.

I brushed a slice with olive oil and baked it plain in a 350 degree oven until it was just brown and crisp around the edge. Then I layered on pasta sauce from a jar, sauteed onions, garlic, sliced cremini mushrooms, spinach, and Parmesan cheese and baked it until the cheese started to melt.

Yummy!

Black bean burgers

I first fell in love with a black bean burger at the Renaissance hotel in Glendale, Arizona. They serve a huge, luscious black bean burger topped with melted jack cheese and smothered with freshly made guacamole. It was so unexpectedly delicious. I wanted that same burger back here in Maryland.

It didn't occur to me to try to make my own black bean burgers until I started on the Daniel fast. So, I went to my favorite online recipe source, Allrecipes.com. I found this recipe:

Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Rated:	Prep Time: 15 Minutes	Ready In: 35 Minutes
Submitted By: LAURENMU	Cook Time: 20 Minutes	Servings: 4

"Spiced up with chili sauce, cumin, garlic and chili powder, these quick and easy black bean burgers will make you forget all about frozen, packaged veggie burgers. They're great on the grill or baked in the oven."

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces 1/2 onion, cut into wedges 3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 egg 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon cumin 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

1.	If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2.	In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
3.	In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
4.	In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
5.	Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
6.	If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 1/26/2011

and also this recipe

Black Bean Rice Burgers

Rated:	Prep Time: 10 Minutes	Ready In: 20 Minutes
Submitted By: Laura Wimbrow	Cook Time: 10 Minutes	Servings: 4

"A salsa and sour cream sauce helps dress up these hearty vegetarian burgers. 'My fiance, who's a confirmed meat-and-potatoes man, loves these sandwiches and asks for them often,' relates Laura Wimbrow of Ocean City, Maryland."

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 cup cooked brown rice 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 egg, lightly beaten 6 tablespoons salsa, divided

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream 4 lettuce leaves 4 slices reduced-fat Cheddar cheese 4 hamburger buns, split

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, mash beans with a fork. Add the rice, onion, egg and 2 tablespoons salsa; mix well. Drop by 1/2 cupfuls into a large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until firm and browned.
2.	In a small bowl, combine sour cream and remaining salsa. Place a lettuce leaf, burger, sour cream mixture and slice of cheese on bun.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 1/26/2011

and I took a little bit of this and a little bit of that and made my own burgers. I topped it with grilled onions and had a side of sauteed mushrooms and asparagus. YUMMY!

This is definitely a keeper!

Yummy vegetable stir fry

Today I made vegetable stir fry for lunch. I dug out fresh veggies from the frig and the pantry.

 I had broccoli, carrots, cremini mushroom, green bell pepper, celery, yellow onion, scallions, garlic, and ginger. I prep everything.

If you're not familiar with fresh ginger. It's sold in the produce section and looks like this.

You have to peel it and you'll end up with a fibrous, yellow flesh underneath.

Here's what fresh garlic looks like.

I made a sauce from these ingredients and set it aside. I didn't measure anything. I just added this and that until it tasted good.

I don't have a wok. I also don't have peanut oil for stir frying. So, using what I have. Here's what I did:

• Heat a black iron skillet over medium high heat until hot.
• Add about a tablespoon of room temperature canola oil.
• Add sliced onions and stir fry until just soft.
• Add minced garlic and ginger and stir fry until fragrant.
• Remove the vegetables from pan, swish around hot water to clean, and wipe out any bits out. (Burnt garlic is just nasty.)
• Dry and reheat skillet until hot. 
• Add about a tablespoon of room temperature canola oil.
• Stir fry the broccoli florets until bright green and still very crunchy.
• Add celery and green bell peppers; stir fry about 30 seconds.
• Add carrots and mushrooms; stir fry about 30 seconds.
• Return the onion, garlic, ginger mix to the skillet; mix well.
• Add the sauce; mix well.
• Turn off heat and let the residual heat finish the cooking to the desired crunchiness.
• Mixed one more time to thoroughly blend the flavors, adding more sesame oil because I love the nutty flavor.

Serve over steamed brown rice.

That's my yummy vegetable stir fry! I hope you enjoy!