posted March 17, 2006 09:15 PM         

Please share your favorite vegetarian recipes too!

Vegans: substitute rice or soy cheese for cheese, or omit cheese all together.

Vegetarians: use your choice of cheeses

Vegetable Pesto
cooked brown rice pasta
steamed veggies, chopped*
*zuchini
*broccoli
*asparagus
*any other of your choice
fresh organic basil
2 large cloves garlic
extra virgin olive oil
dash veggie broth
real parmesano-reggiano cheese, freshly grated

Put basil and garlic in food processor and chop until fine. Put in small saucepan with olive oil and veggie broth over low heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Toss with cooked brown rice and steamed veggies in large serving dish/bowl. Top with shredded parmesano-reggiano cheese. Superb!

Mexican Bake
1 can refried beans
spanish rice (prepare ahead of time)
1 can black beans
1 can corn
salsa (drain water)
tortilla chips (some broken pieces but not too small)
cheese
sliced black olives
chopped green onion
sour cream
guacamole

Layer the ingredients in order in an 8 X 8 in. pyrex baking dish up until the sour cream. Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 minutes more.

Serve sour cream and guacamole on the side to dolop on top as desired.

Yummy!

Favorite Tostada
corn tortilla
refried beans, black beans or pinto beans
cheese
chopped cooked veggies
lettuce
salsa
sour cream
guacamole

Layer items on heated/warmed tortilla. Enjoy!

Favorite Salad
baby spinach
spring mix
minneolas (like sweet tangerines)
green apple, sliced small
bell pepper

I use olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper as my dressing, but you could use any dressing you want. This is my favorite salad lately, and the minneolas really make it!

posted April 11, 2006 04:57 PM         

Stuffed Zuchini

2 Medium sized zuchinis cut lengthwise, (into halves) & core out inside like a canoe (chop)
1 c. cooked rice (I like to use Trilogy which is wild, brown and long grain mixed)
small onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic
vegetable broth
olive oil
salt & Pepper to taste

Saute inside of zuchini, onion, and garlic in olive oil. Mix in cooked rice. Stuff zuchini. Drizzle w/ a little olive oil. Place in pyrex dish with about 1/4 in. veggie broth. Cover with tin foil. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 more minutes. Delicious!

posted April 15, 2006 09:23 PM         

For a long time I think people are nuts to eat McD*nalds, T*co bell, etc. I just don't get what people think they are doing - eating fake, commercialized, fatty, junk-laden food, not to mention how it contributes to animal suffering.

posted April 16, 2006 03:47 PM           

I love vegetable tempura dipped in sauce at Japanese restaurants . . . Mmh mmh. I've never made it at home. My guess is that the batter is made from rice flour (a lot of Asian food is made from rice flour). The traditional vegetables are sweet potato, russet potato, broccoli, and cauliflower. I personally like banana or plaintain. A similar dish is egg rolls. I was at a friend's house one summer and she (being Filipino) had sliced plaintains on a wrapper, spooned brown sugar on top, rolled it up and deep fried it. It came out great crispy and sweet.

I also like Vietnamese crepes. The rice flour is blended with a little turmeric to make a light batter. My mom made a batch over the weekend. She sauteed onions, tofu, enoki mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, and some sliced pork (you can leave this out), then poured a little bit of the batter into the pan. She cooks until the batter sets, adds some crunchy bean sprouts, then the bottom is brown and she folds the crepe in half. My brother makes a light sauce for dipping with soy sauce, lime juice, sweetner and some coconut cream (I think!).

There are a lot of vegetarians in Asia, mostly out of religious reasons. The vegetarian cuisines are really, really good. Like a rice tamale ~ sweet rice with a mung bean filling, wrapped in bamboo and tied with twine, then boiled for a while. The bamboo is unwrapped and you get a whole tamale cake, which you slice or cut into cubes. Sometimes my mom doesn't make a filling and mixes in black eye peas that had been soaking overnight. She adds some sugar to the mix to make it a little sweet. Delicious.

posted June 23, 2006 04:42 AM         

Yummy! This is a wonderful thread! With quite a lot of creative and mouth-watering recipes!

posted August 20, 2009 12:24 AM         

A very simple dish I make:

- a small package of green tea noodles
- a small pack of enoki mushrooms
- a spoonful or two of soy sauce

Boil the noodles with the enoki in a bit of water, add the soy sauce and stir. Usually done in about 5 minutes.