A Very Merry Sandwich

I had a wonderful Christmas, and looking over the pictures I couldn't help but feel blessed. I got to spend Christmas with a man that I love and two kids who make me smile and laugh every day. I can't think of anything that you could put under a tree that would even give me even a fraction of the joy that these people do, they, themselves, are a wonderful gift....but this is a vegetarian food blog right? So back to the vegetarian food...

I cook a big dinner on Christmas eve day, that way I can spend the entire Christmas day enjoying my family, playing games, watching my kids faces light up, and not worry about putting something in the oven or burning something on the stove top. We had acorn squash soup, cooked and served inside an acorn squash, cauliflower gratin, roasted potatoes (such a simple recipe and oh so tasty, I'll have to get around to posting that soon), biscuits, and gravy. Everything was delicious if I may say so, I will definitely be serving cauliflower again in the near future, I had forgotten how much I liked it....maybe in a stew or curry...hmmm. For Christmas breakfast we had cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, and leftover biscuits and gravy. Lunch was tacos, though they didn't take long to make, and weren't fancy or fussy they were enjoyed by all.

...But you're here for the sandwich right?...ok...I'll get on with it then. This sandwich was oh soooo tasty, but don't take my word for it, you should really make it yourself. It also looked so festive I highly suspect it will show up in our house next December. I think it would even make a great appetizer on a smaller scale to serve at parties, I can almost guarantee you it would go over well with carnivores too.

The sandwich is simply ciabatta bread smeared with garlic aioli, roasted red pepper dressing, and stuffed with chopped hearts of romaine. So good...give it a try...just make sure you have breath mints handy.

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season.

Roasted Red Pepper and Shallot Dressing/Sauce

I made this yesterday long before dinner time so that when the kids woke up from nap all I had to do was throw dinner together and throw it in the oven....big mistake...it was sooo good. I spread some on a slice of bread to make sure I got the flavors right, then I had another slice....and another...never adjusting the recipe one bit, just some good old fashioned stuffing my face with a savory sauce that was meant to be for dinner.

Now when my husband came home with a jar of roasted red peppers I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but when I saw portabella mushroom caps in the store I was inspired. I cleaned and degilled the mushroom caps then stuck them in a bag with a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of oil, a little salt, and one tsp of sugar. I let this mixture marinate until dinner. If I'd had, a clove of garlic I would have crushed and tossed that in there as well. When dinner time rolled around I put the mushroom caps in a baking dish and stuffed them with quinoa that I had cooked in veggie broth, and seasoned with salt and pepper. I baked this covered (to keep the quinoa from drying out) at 350 for about 45 minutes. Then I pulled them out and served them with the red pepper sauce over the top. I have a horrifically bad photo of this somewhere on my cell phone, I'll see if I can't get a better one when I make this again*. I'll follow with more serving suggestions after the recipe.

What you need

3 cloves shallots peeled and thinly sliced

oil for sauteing

dash of salt

2/3 cups roasted red pepper strips (don't drain, but try not to get a lot of liquid in the mix)

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp brown sugar

2 tbs coconut milk...or more for a creamier sauce

Heat the oil in a pan over medium low heat, add the shallots and salt and cook until transparent. You could probably caramelize these with tasty results, however I did not this time around.

Put the shallots and the rest of the ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth. Adjust to suit tastes.

This recipe doesn't make a lot of sauce, it was enough to cover our mushrooms (ehem...and a little extra), but if you are thinking of using it on a larger scale...say over a pasta dish, you may have to double the recipe.

Serving suggestions

Try this on a sandwich (tomato and mozzarella maybe? Yum!)

On toasted bread (rubbed with garlic?)

Add more coconut milk to make it into a cream sauce and add to pasta

Over stuffed portabella mushrooms

On top of salad

As a dressing for pasta salad

A dip for raw veggies

Smeared onto puff pastry with some cream cheese and crushed garlic, then rolled up for a pesto pinwheel style appetizer

pour over grilled veggies

*I will be making this again

Thai Inspired Soup

I am working once again on very little sleep. I called in this morning to see if I could take a personal day and the girl who answered the phone clearly didn't know what she was talking about.

"Hello"

"Hi, Mommy"

"Hi, I was just calling in because my kids kept me up all night, and seeing as I've worked nonstop for the past four years I was wondering if it was ok if I took the day off to get some rest"

"Mommy do you know what sound a bagpipe makes? It goes...beeeeeeeeeeaaawwaaaarrrrraaaaaaaaaaaahhh. It's pretty much my favorite sound"

this is where I started suspecting that she may have no authority to give me the day off

"Do you have a manager I could speak too"

"Bagpipe starts with B...buh buh Beee"

*crickets*
At this point I noticed the girl in question was talking into a plastic banana instead of a phone, clearly this conversation was going nowhere.

We reached a compromise though. I get to wear my pj's all day, and we are going to have canned soup and sandwiches for dinner because they require minimal effort. Also there will be much time cuddling on the couch with a story book. This job has it's perks.

What does that have to do with this soup....nothing. Thanks for putting up with it. I guess what I'm saying is if you notice extra typos, grammatical errors and confusing steps, it's only because my editor** has taken a leave of absence due to lack of sleep. :)

Here's that recipe you have all been waiting for.....right? It's a mild flavored soup that is full of summery ingredients like corn, yellow pepper, lemon and cilantro. It has almost no heat, you can surely up the amount of curry paste if you want a spicy soup. This recipe makes a lot, but I think it tastes even better the next day. It's excellent over cilantro rice. There are a lot of ingredients in here, don't be alarmed, you may be surprised just how many you have on hand.

served over cilantro rice. Yum!

1tbs oil
6 cloves of pressed garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tbs vegetarian oyster sauce*
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
3 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs Thai green curry paste
1 yellow bell pepper sliced into strips
1 potato scrubbed and diced
8oz extra firm organic pre-diced tofu...It will be packed in water, drain it thoroughly
1 cup frozen corn
4 cups of veggie stock
1 can of coconut milk
1 handful of baby spinach
1 handful of cilantro chopped
2 Meyer lemons
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the next six ingredients (from garlic to curry paste) and stir.

Add the pepper, tofu, and potato. Cook for five minutes. Then flip and cook for five more minutes. The potatoes should be tender.

Add the corn and veggie stock. Bring it to a boil.

Boil until the potatoes are done.

Lower the heat and add the coconut milk, spinach, cilantro and the juice of the two lemons. Heat through and add salt to taste.

Serve over cilantro rice if desired. I made this recipe and switched the white rice for brown, so the cooking times and proportions were different, but the flavors were still the same. It was fantastic, use whatever type of stock you desire. I think I may have also doubled the garlic....I do that.

*This is vegetarian oyster sauce, I believe I have also seen it called mushroom stirfry sauce. I'm not thrilled with all of the ingredients. Definitely a sometimes food. It adds a depth of flavor to Thai dishes that I have not been able to duplicate without using it. Find it Asian grocery stores.



** Editor, being my brain....she isn't really that great of an editor to begin with, but she's better than nothing.

Sorry about the funky font sizes, I was having trouble editing this. All the computer's fault I'm sure. In no way has to do with my lack of sleep. :)

Quinoa with Peppers and Onions

This is a very simple dish that we all loved. How can you go wrong with peppers and onions eh? Little man loved it too, and learned a new word, "peppa"....as in "More peppa, more peppa now. Now. NOW."....Toddlers are so endearing. :)

Here the quinoa is pictured on top of some very over cooked hearts of romaine. They certainly did not add anything to it as I threw them in a pan and walked away....and then forgot about them...for a good long while. I was probably doing something important like updating my facebook status. I think next time I might prefer this with a little marinara on top, or with some slightly less cooked hearts of romaine.


2 cups cooked quinoa*
2 onions, peeled, washed, and sliced
3 bell peppers washed and sliced
2 tbs butter
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove of garlic
grated parmesan cheese (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the butter in a large pan over medium low heat until melted.

Add the peppers, onions, salt, and vinegar. Stir together and walk away....set a timer for ten minutes, and try to avoid facebook. Check occasionally to make sure they aren't burning and lower heat if necessary.

Stir, set timer for another minutes.

When the peppers and onion are done to your desired...umm...doneness?...that doesn't sound right. Well anyhoo, when they are caramelized and tender remove them from the heat and toss in the quinoa, more salt, and pepper to taste. Add extra butter, and parmesan cheese to individual servings if desired.


*Make sure to rinse your quinoa before you cook it.