Almost Irish Stew

This was such a flavorful dish and made the house smell so good! That's a perk of using the slow cooker. The recipe is from the book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. Even though only a relatively small amount of potatoes were used, it was rather robust. The kale was put in about 10 minutes before serving and added such a nice chewy green-ness to the dish. It said to cook for 6 to 8 hours; we had to have at it a little after 6 hours. We'll definitely make it again.


Update 10/3/6 ~ got a comment asking for the recipe, so...here it is!

Almost Irish Stew
With the slow cooker doing all the work, you will have time to make a loaf of soda bread to accompany this “almost Irish” stew. Chunks of seitan may be substituted for the beans for a “meatier” alternative.

Slower Cooker Size: 4 to 6 quart
Cook Time: 6 to 8 hours
Setting: Low
Serves: 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 ½ cups baby carrots, halved lengthwise
6 very small white potatoes, halved or quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ cups slow-cooked or one 15.5 ounce can cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons tamari or other soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large kale leaves or other dark leafy greens, chopped, cooked in simmering water to cover until tender, and drained.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Transfer the onions to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add the carrots, potatoes, garlic, beans, stock, bay leaf, wine, tamari, and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.
About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the cooked kale. Serve hot.

Pasta with Fresh No-Cook Tomato Sauce

This was very fresh & clean tasting. Yet another recipe I downloaded from some un-recalled source but it's by Cait Johnson, inspired by The Tomato Festival Cookbook, by Lawrence Davis-Hollander. There is an absolute abundance of tomatos at our farmers market so I have been on the prowl for recipes to feature them in. We used both beefsteak and heirloom varieties (as you can tell by the beautiful striations in the image). The only other ingredients were basil, garlic, olive oil, a small amount of walnuts, and of course, the pasta. I'd like to make it again with an even larger variety of tomatos before they're gone for the season.

Summer Veggie Tacos

These tacos were outstanding. They were so flavorful and satisfying, words can't describe. I downloaded the recipe from somewhere I can't recall; it credits inspiration by The Rancho de Chimayo Cookbook, by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. The basic is this: grab a bunch of in season summer veggies (we used an ear of corn, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, green onion, jalapeno, cilantro, tomato) and cook them, or not, accordingly. I sauted up the peppers, zucchini & onion together, cooked the corn and used the rest cold. We used Amy's beans (the green chile one is yummy) and some premade shells. We elected to add cheese. All in all, they were really good and you can use any variety of veggies you want! We will be having them again in the near future

Spicy Fried Tofu with Basil

Although the dish is called Spicy Fried Tofu with Basil, tonight's version was without basil due to an oversight on my part during the last farmers market visit. However, the dish was still flavorful. The green beans add a nice splash of color against the tofu. I think the beans could have been sauted a bit longer as they were a bit crisper than we prefer. The recipe was taken from the January 1999 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. It was not overly spicy, but it did have a bit of a kick to it, which was nice. I'd like to make it again with basil; I bet the contrast it provides with the pepper is lovely.

Quick salad with Simple Summer Dressing

Tonight we had a nice easy salad with Simple Summer Dressing from the book Witch in the Kitchen by Cait Johnson. The dressing is a breeze to whip up and although simple, the flavor is quite wonderful. By the time I had put together the salad, my lady had the dressing ready.

Sweet and Sour Tofu with Vegetables

We made this dish again and it was still very tasty. My lovely lady and I started Weight Watchers this past weekend and this delicious dish is very low points. I think the one we made this evening was a bit different, as I don't remember having celery the last time we made it. There was enought to satisfy us and for us both to have leftovers to take to work.

White Chip Brownies

My lady made us some delicious brownies from scratch. Her first from scratch brownie venture and they turned out fabulous! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures for some reason, but we'll probably make them again. She got the recipe from her mother's Hershey's cookbook we photocopied; except we used Scharfenberger cocoa (yummy!) instead of Hershey's, although we did use Hershey's white chocolate chips.

Tomato Cucumber Salad with Mint

This salad was very tasty. My lady found the recipe at Allrecipes.com. It has such a nice flavor to it, especially the fresh mint. Prep took a little bit only in that the cucumbers need to marinate in the dressing for about an hour. We will be making this more during this summer I'm sure. We ate it as a meal; but it would probably be better as a side dish next time around. Would also be a great thing to bring to potlucks, etc. as well.

A Big Tomato Sandwich

This was a great sandwich, and just what the title implies ~ a big ole sandwich! We got the recipe from the cookbook Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison. It's a really great book. The sandwich was yummy. It was on a loaf of ciabatta bread and had tomatoes, bell pepper & mozzarella on it plus a tasty herb vinaigrette we whipped up. The loaf of bread we got wasn't as round as would have been ideal; it was more oblong, but it still worked out ok. I sliced the top off, took out some of the bread, put the dressing on and then added the items. The leftovers kept pretty good; just the bottom bread got a little soggy from the dressing, but not bad at all. I'm sure we'll have this again. Especially with all the nice big tomatoes and peppers that are available at our Farmers Market right now.

Soba Noodles with Sesame Seeds

This was an extremely simple dish to make and it tasted pretty darn good! The recipe is from the book Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson. The only actual cooking was of the noodles and the toasting of the sesame seeds; the rest was just a quick sauce and some scallions. Another great cold noodle dish. The only gripe I have with the cold noodle dishes is that they're not nearly as good as leftovers after refrigeration.

Sweet Glazed Tofu Cutlets

This glazed tofu had an excellent taste, and texture. I really really liked it. I got the recipe from on of my online vegetarian groups. I overcooked it slightly as the bottom of the tofu got a little burned, but other than that, it was delicious. Very simple to make too. I ended up just putting all the ingredients in the skillet and mixing them while it heated and then tossed the tofu cutlets in. We ate it as a meal but it would be probably be nice with something else on the side. I will definitely be making this again. I got a suggestion to double the glaze to use on some brown rice so I may try that too.

Eggplant Balls

This recipe came from one of my online vegetarian groups and it was, meh, ok. The directions were kind of vague as to what texture they should be/how to tell when they're done. The flavor was really good, but the inside didn't seem quite done to me and I couldn't get over the unpleasant texture. Fairly simple to make though; just steam the eggplant and mix it up with bread crumbs, parmesan, parsley, eggs, water, garlic and olive oil. I wonder if we would have made them patties instead of balls if they would have cooked more thoroughly...

Hasselback Potatoes

These potatoes were so yummy! The recipe comes from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson. When I went shopping, there were no fingerling or otherwise nicely ovaled potatoes so I hand picked the best baby reds available. I was a little nervous doing the cutting of them as I didn't want to cut all the way through and yet I wanted to make sure they were cut enough so they would fan out properly. Now that I have a better feel for them, I may cut deeper next time. The seasonings consisted of butter, olive oil and sea salt. A very unique potatoe dish and quite visually appealing; the texture was good too as they were not too crispy yet not too soft. We ate them with various condiments like BBQ sauce and ketchup. They kept pretty well as leftovers too.

Pasta with Butter, Sage and Parmesan

This very simple recipe came from the book How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I've been desperate to find recipes that highlight using sage and out of all the cookbooks we had at the time, this was really the only one with a sage recipe. It was basically just pasta with a sauce of butter, parmesan & sage, like the title says. However, I was really disappointed in it. It was good, but not outstanding like I had hoped. Just was a bit dry really. Oh well...may try it again or hopefully find a new sage based recipe.

Tofu Vegetable Curry

This dish was taken from a small magazine we have entitled Fresh Meals (from the editors of Organic Style magazine). It was ok. The tofu broke up more than I would have liked. The flavor was nice; but it definitely wasn't one of the better curries we've made. I think part of the problem was that we went with what the recipe said and used frozen veggies (a mixture of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots & snow peas) rather than fresh. What a difference! As much as I love broccoli, I don't think I ate any of it as it just didn't look right. If we ever make this again, we'd use all fresh ingredients.

Tortellini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Feta

This dish was taken from the book Recipes from a Vegetarian Goddess by Karri Allrich. I didn't care for it all that much, but my lady seemed to liked it and so did her family when we brought the leftovers over for a dinner. I think there was too much feta for my liking; I've been noticing that I don't care for feta in large amounts, just a small sprinkling. There was something else I wasn't accustomed to in it, perhaps the capers, a bit much for me I think. I was disappointed that I didn't care for it actually as I love pasta.

Vegetable Pizza Primavera

This pizza was excellent. I got it from Simple Vegetarian Recipes somewhere online. The veggies we had on it were yellow squash, tomatoes, broccoli, red onions, and artichoke hearts. We used a basil tomato sauce and a Boboli crust. Threw some fresh mozzarella, parmesan and basil on and yummy!! Will definitely make this one again. May even try making our own crust sometime.

Tomato Basil Soup

This recipe came from the book Recipes from a Vegetarian Goddess by Karri Allrich. It was really good! The only problem with it was that we cut the potatoes a bit big so they all didn't cook through. We've made a note on the recipe to amend that next time. Once we get out of summer, I'm sure we'll be making this again as it was quite tasty and hearty.

Vegetarian Hot Pot

This noodle and tofu soup had a fabulous taste. The recipe is from the Winter 2004 edition of Eating Well magazine. It was fairly simple to make and I really enjoyed the flavor. This is also the first time we cooked with bok choy so that was exciting too! The only thing missing was the carrots; all we had were baby carrots and I was trying to juilienne them and had a little meltdown so...no carrots. However, we went out & bought a julienne peeler so that won't happen again. I would like to make it again when the seasons change and we're not in 100 degree heat. The picture doesn't it do it justice either; doesn't make it look as scrumptuous as it was!

Penne Pasta and Artichoke Salad

This is a delicious cold pasta salad that my lady has taken to making. It's from the book 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon. The first time she made it was for a potluck with our pagan community and we liked it so much, she made it again just for us. This time we added some broccoli and feta to personalize it a bit. The vinaigrette dressing is pretty tasty and simple to make. This will definitely be a repeat dish in our house.