Dry Pan "Fried" Potatoes With Savoy Cabbage

I love reading the McDougall recipe forum because I learn so much. Like how to fry potatoes without oil.

How much more simple can you get. Cube/dice some potatoes and soak them in water overnight. This is supposed to remove the starch and keep the cubes firm when "frying".

Drain the potatoes and pat dry with a couple of tea towels to get rid of the excess surface moisture.

Fry in a non-stick pan along with some diced cabbage (or whatever veggie you like). I used a medium high heat and kept stirring occasionally as the potatoes started to brown. I let the potatoes and cabbage cook for about half an hour (you don't have to stand and watch it every minute). Depending on what vegetable you cook this with, you may have to add a little water if you find the potatoes start to stick.

I seasoned it with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. You could use a sprinkle of nutritional yeast as well.

The result. Lovely potatoes cooked all the way through and brown on the outside without losing their shape. And tasty too. And no added fat.

Vegan Sausages (No Added Fat)

I somehow wandered onto Vegan Dad's blog and saw this recipe for homemade sausages. After reading all the positive comments, seeing how simple these were to make and having all the ingredients on hand in my kitchen, I decided to give it a shot. Follow the link for Vegan Dad's recipe. Mine is similar but I cut it in half, mainly because I like to limit my intake of "processed" foods. Hubby and I find that we like these so much that if I made more at a time, we'd eat more. So for us, it's an occasional treat.

The photo above shows what they look like just after steaming. We will be lightly grilling them this afternoon for our hubby's birthday BBQ. We like these with an organic yellow mustard and full sour kosher pickles. Yum.

The original recipe called for a Tbsp of olive oil which I confess I did include the first time I made these. This time I omitted the oil and although I won't be sampling the sans oil version until this afternoon, I'm expecting that there will be no noticeable difference.

1/4 cup beans, rinsed and drained (I used white kidney beans)
1/2 cup cold water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp gluten flour (Vital Wheat Gluten)
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp fennel seed, crushed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp rosemary
freshly ground black pepper

Before mixing your ingredients, have your steaming equipments ready. Bring water to a full boil. This recipe comes together very quickly.

Have ready 2 or 4 sheets of tin foil, depending on whether you want to make 2 or 4 sausages. In a large bowl, mash the beans with a fork until there are no whole ones left. Toss together all the other ingredients in the order listed and mix. Divide dough in (2 or 4) equal parts. Place one part of the dough into tin foil and mold into about a 5 inch log. Wrap dough in tin foil (like a tootsie roll). Don't worry too much about shaping it as it will snap into shape while it's steaming.

Place wrapped sausages in a steamer and steam for 40 minutes.

If you want to make more sausages at a time, just double the recipe. Also I think it's very worthwhile to read the comments on Vegan Dad's blog for additional info.

Indian Bean & Dill Casserole with Zucchini & Mushroom

I have typed in my notes that this recipe was adapted from one by Bryanna Clark Grogan. I've had this recipe for a long time and I figure I must have made a few small changes to Bryanna's original recipe as I could not possibly have been so clever as to come up with this wonderful dish.

I love zucchini but hubby doesn't care for it as much as I do. So to make this more palatable for him, I serve this stew with brown rice pasta. Since he loves the pasta, this is how I get away with serving him zucchini.

Also, I think I halved the original recipe as I don't think hubby would go for zucchini leftovers. This recipe can be easily doubled.

1/2 can beans, drained and rinsed (any kind but black beans look good in this recipe)
1/2 large onion, diced
3 - 4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp red chile flakes
1/2 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
lots of fresh dill or 2 Tbsp dried dill
2 bay leaves
1 medium or large zucchini, diced
2 - 3 large mushrooms (chopped or sliced)
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp curry powder (or garam masala)
salt to taste

Add onion, garlic, cumin, mustard and chile flakes to a heated skillet. Stir fry, adding a little water as necessary to the mixture to keep from sticking and burning, over medium-high heat until the onion softens, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, zucchini, mushrooms, drained beans, dill, paprika and curry powder. Mix well and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, uncovered for 15 minutes or so. Taste for salt and serve basmati rice.

Bryanna's Persian Chickpea and Green Bean Stew

This is another simple but wonderful recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan. It's from her cookbook "20 Minutes to Dinner." I got the recipe from a post Bryanna made on the Vegsource New Veggies board. I always serve this with brown rice.

1 onion, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 lb frozen whole small green beans or trimmed fresh green beans (I use 2 and 1/2 cups frozen cut green beans)
28 oz can diced tomatoes and juice
1 can (or 1 and 1/2 cups cooked) chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup chopped celery leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large nonstick pot, steam fry the onion and garlic until it begins to soften. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes or until the green beans are tender.

Oil Free Tofu Mayonnaise/Dressing

Homemade tofu based creamy dressings are quite different from commerical dressings. I have to admit that when I first tried this recipe, I wasn't sure. It was OK but I wondered if I should bother posting it. Then the second time I whipped up my salad of mixed greens with this stuff I decided I did like it. The difference was that after I mixed my salad with the dressing, I added a sprinkle of nutritional yeast, freshly ground black pepper and some salt and gave the salad another toss. Perfection (at least according to my taste buds).

So maybe give this one a try and tweek it a bit to suit your own taste.

12.3 oz package Mori-Nu Silken Lite Tofu, firm
3 small garlic cloves
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar (or maple syrup)
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
water, if needed to thin

This ended up thick like mayonnaise. When I used it for my salad, I took about 2 tablespoons from the jar and put it in a small bowl and stirred in some water. By doing that, I was able to pour it onto my salad like you would a commerical dressing.

I just know this dressing is going to help get a lot of raw greens into me all summer long.

Bryanna's Homemade Tomato Salsa

This is the excellent tomato salsa recipe I have made over and over again. The credit for this recipe goes to Bryanna Clark Grogan who posted it on the Vegsource New Veggies board a few years ago. Since I found this recipe on a public forum and I am giving credit to Bryanna, I think it's OK for me to post it here. I have received a lot of compliments and requests for this receipe from friends.

8 garlic cloves
1 large onion
1 large green pepper, seeded
1/4 cup drained pickled jalapeño peppers OR 2 or 3 fresh seeded hot green chilies
OR use 1 Tbsp pureed canned chile chipotles
2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes, very well drained
OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup tomato paste
2 Tbsp lemon juice or red wine vinegar
1 - 2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 Tbsp fresh)
OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or Italian parsley
1 tsp dried red chile flakes (if you like it really hot--but remember that this salsa gets hotter as time goes on)

If you have a food processor, pulse the garlic cloves, then add the onion and green pepper, cut in chunks, and the jalapeños and pulse until minced. Add the drained tomatoes and the remaining ingredients and pulse until well mixed.

If you don't have a food processor, then you'll have to chop everything fine by hand.

Keep in tightly closed jars in the refrigerator. It will keep refrigerated for several weeks. Some clear liquid will rise to the top. Pour it off or stir it in, depending on the consistency you like.

Marinade and/or Salad Dressing

I used this recipe to marinate some portobello mushrooms for yesterday's BBQ. Well, actually hubby cooked some wrapped baked potatoes and beef burgers on the grill for our guests. For the vegetarians at our little gathering, I baked the portobello's in my little toaster oven. Our portobello burgers were wonderful and the meat eaters were happy with their burgers too.

Here are the ingredients for the marinade:

1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, grated

I love the combination of these flavours and often use this as a salad dressing. Tonight for dinner we had steamed vegetables on brown rice and I drizzled some of this dressing over the rice and veggies.

I make this in little batches as I need it. If you start making large batches that you can't use up right away, the red pepper flakes start getting hotter the longer you leave it sitting.