Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Potato Hash

Last night I made potato hash which I've been working on perfecting for awhile. I think I might have gotten it close enough to make a recipe. Let me know what you think. :)

Ingredients:
4-6 potatoes (depending on how hungry you are and how many you're feeding and the size of your potatoes)
1 medium onion
2-4 cloves garlic (or more if you're like me and LOVE garlic!)
1 Package smart ground crumbles (or 2 cups of seitan chopped very small - I haven't tried this, but I've been meaning too)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Italian seasoning (or whatever seasonings your family likes)

Method:
Dice potatoes, chop onions, and mince garlic.
Saute onions in a large non-stick skillet (or a large pot if you're making a lot)-about 8 minutes. I used water to saute them and it turned out great!
Add minced garlic - cook a few minutes until soft.
Add diced potatoes and put enough water in skillet or pot to cover the bottom. Cook covered until the potatoes are almost cooked through, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed.
Add the ground meat or seitan and cook until heated through.
Serve with ketchup and nutritional yeast. I sprinkle so nut. yeast on the top for added yumminess, but you wouldn't have to. I think the ketchup is a must (although I like ketchup almost as much as I like garlic). ;)

Happy eating!


Add diced potatoes

Monday, January 10, 2011

Cacciatore Noodles

This recipe is from Vegan on the Cheap, but I got rid of 2 ingredients, added a third and didn't follow any of the directions. I will say that you should go buy Vegan on the Cheap right this second. It's AMAZING!!

Ingredients:
Fettuccine (As much as you want to feed your people)
Olive oil - Enough to keep things from sticking in the skillet (You can use water if you're into fat free cooking)
Seitan cut into tiny pieces - About 1 1/2 cups
Onion - about 1/2 cup
Garlic - as much as you can stand (I used 7 small cloves and could have gone for more)
Dried basil - the recipe called for 1 tsp, I think next time I'll use 1 1/2 tsp
Dried Oregano - the recipe called for 1/2 tsp, next time I'll use more (1 tsp)
Dried Marjoram - about 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Canned crushed tomatoes - 1 (28-ounce) can
Canned Petite Diced tomatoes - 1 (14.5 ounce) can

Directions:
Cook the Fettuccine in a large pot.
In another large pot, heat the oil (if using) and cook the onions over medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and cook a until fragrant. Add seitan, tomatoes, spices and sugar and cook until heated through.
Serve spooned over the fettuccine.

The original recipe called for green bell peppers and mushrooms. We don't really like bell peppers and I had mushrooms that I forgot to add. Oops! I'm sure it would be good with the mushrooms, but it was pretty good without too. Meat man and I both thought it could use more spice, so taste and adjust as needed.

Update and Weekly Menu

I have been neglecting my blog recently. Here's a little update on what's been going on with me. :)
I am now 38 weeks pregnant and looking forward to welcoming a new little man into my life anytime now! Munchkin, my 4 1/2 year old daughter, has started leaning towards a vegetarian/vegan diet which is very exciting for me! She still likes Taco Bell tacos and sandwich meat occasionally, but that's about the only meat she eats. I would love to say that I had a well thought out plan to get her to become vegan, but it just kind of happened. We have started talking about where meat comes from and that the chicken that she eats is the same chicken that she looks at in books. She didn't like that very much! She has a vegan heart already! :)
Recently I've been trying a lot of new recipes. For Christmas I got Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson. I've tried her wheatballs (which I thought were fantastic, but my meat man wasn't too fond of), Big Stick Pepperoni (which is delicious), and Marinara Sauce (which meat man and I both enjoyed). It's been fun trying new things and figuring out what we all like and what we don't like (and how to modify them so that maybe we will all like them). I have an idea for Seitan balls in my head, I just need to find time to try it!
I think to help me get back to blogging, I'm going to start posting our weekly menu. If there are things that aren't self explanatory (like hot dogs and tots), I'll try to add recipes. Our goal every week is to try at least one new recipe so there should be at least ONE new recipe included every week.
Here's this weeks menu:
Sat: Lunch - Spaghetti with marinara and wheatballs (from Vegan on the Cheap)
Sat: Dinner - Seitan with Nutty Broccoli & Rice (Nutty Broccoli from How it all Vegan)
Sun: Lunch - Hot dogs and baked potatoes (although we ended up ditching the hotdogs and doing loaded baked potatoes)
Sun: Dinner - Breakfast (Scrambled tofu, garlic potatoes, biscuits and gravy)
Mon: Caccitore noodle Bake (from Vegan on the Cheap) NEW RECIPE
Tues: Potato Hash with green beans
Wed: Mac and Cheeze with broccoli
Thurs: Hot dogs & Tots
Fri: Pizza (with big stick pepperoni from Vegan on the Cheap)

I'll try to get recipes posted this week. I've changed up the seitan recipes that I've been using enough that I don't feel bad posting it as my own.

Hope everyone is doing great!
Happy eating!