It has been a while since we had a good food thread.

So, here we go.

Londongent is vegetarian. Who feels like sharing their best vegetarian dishes?

Caramelized Pear Salad with Blue Cheese

photo source

1 firm brown pea

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup pine nuts Arugula (I like baby arugula leaves)

Blue cheese crumbles

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and pine nuts.Slice pear into eight slices and add to butter/brown sugar mixture and 'scoot' around until pear is soft (about 5 minutes.) Place arugula onto plates. Top with pear slices and pan juices. Sprinkle blue cheese crumbles on top.

Tonight I'm attempting a sweet potato and black bean enchilada.

I've got onions, garlic and sweet potatoes in a pan with a little oil. I'll be adding black beans, corn, red pepper, chilis, cumin, chili powder and maybe some oregano. And maybe some cayenne.

Once it's nice and spicy I'll roll it up in whole wheat tortillas, put those in a pan for the oven and top 'em with enchilada sauce (I cheated - it's in a can) and a bit of shredded cheese and pop it in the oven at about 350 for 15-20 ish minutes.

I think it will be good.

Do you guys cook with gas stoves?

I'm not vegetarian but am trying to add more veggies into my diet. I really need some "go to" non-meat meals.

JuliePurplehead said:

Do you guys cook with gas stoves?

I'm not vegetarian but am trying to add more veggies into my diet. I really need some "go to" non-meat meals.

http://www.rawmazing.com/...gan-sushi/

They're amazing.

You can also create sushi wraps with dried seaweed (you can get at any asian supermarket), and your choice of veggies.

A simple dipping sauce can be:

1. soy sauce

2. honey

3. lime juice

JuliePurplehead said:

Do you guys cook with gas stoves?

I'm not vegetarian but am trying to add more veggies into my diet. I really need some "go to" non-meat meals.

Mine is electric and I HAAAATE it. It was the main concession I took moving into my condo. I'm a gas girl, all the way.

However, now that I'm used to it, it's not as bad.

Stir fries are my go-to meal. Throw rice in the rice cooker, chop the veggies and tofu/tempeh/mock duck while your electirc stove is heating up, add a teaspoon of a good wok oil and I usually make my own sauce - there are loads of easy recipes on the web and once you start you'll know what you like and how to adjust for your tastes. You can also often buy sauces and just use a little less (for fewer calories) and add your own garlic, ginger and onions for lots of flavor.

I can make a super yummy stir fry in 30 minutes or less usually. All from scratch.

Last night I did a test run of a quinoa and black bean salad that I'm making for a Mexican-themed dinner party I am going to on Sunday. It was delish!

The dressing was lime zest and juice, olive oil, butter (melted, then cooled), minced garlic, sugar, cumin, salt and pepper. I added steamed quinoa to that then mixed in black beans, roasted corn, tomatoes, scallions, avacado, and cilantro. I don't like spicy so I didn't add any peppers, but it would probably be fine with peppers or even a red onion.

(forgot the sugar which balances the acidity from the lime edit)

[Edited 11/3/11 9:01am]

jone70 said:

Last night I did a test run of a quinoa and black bean salad that I'm making for a Mexican-themed dinner party I am going to on Sunday. It was delish!

The dressing was lime zest and juice, olive oil, butter (melted, then cooled), minced garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. I added steamed quinoa to that then mixed in black beans, roasted corn, tomatoes, scallions, avacado, and cilantro. I don't like spicy so I didn't add any peppers, but it would probably be fine with peppers or even a red onion.

Yum!

I concocted a quinoa-stuffed squash a few weeks ago. Cut an acorn squash in half, rubbed some honey on and sprinkled salt on it and baked in the oven. Cooked some quinoa in veggie broth with golden sultani raisins and when it was almost done I sauteed onions, garlic and carrots (as it's what I had on hand) with some cumin, salt and pepper mixed it all together when it was done. Served it on the squash half and drizzled a little more honey on top.

Yay!

CarrieMpls said:

JuliePurplehead said:

Do you guys cook with gas stoves?

I'm not vegetarian but am trying to add more veggies into my diet. I really need some "go to" non-meat meals.

Mine is electric and I HAAAATE it. It was the main concession I took moving into my condo. I'm a gas girl, all the way.

However, now that I'm used to it, it's not as bad.

Stir fries are my go-to meal. Throw rice in the rice cooker, chop the veggies and tofu/tempeh/mock duck while your electirc stove is heating up, add a teaspoon of a good wok oil and I usually make my own sauce - there are loads of easy recipes on the web and once you start you'll know what you like and how to adjust for your tastes. You can also often buy sauces and just use a little less (for fewer calories) and add your own garlic, ginger and onions for lots of flavor.

I can make a super yummy stir fry in 30 minutes or less usually. All from scratch.

Same here.

My place was still under construction when I bought it. I asked if it would be possible to put in a gas stove and the builder said, "no." Personally, I think it was more a matter of "don't want to" than "can't" because all the units have individual gas furnaces. I think they just didn't want to run a gas line to the kitchen.

dJJ said:

It has been a while since we had a good food thread.

So, here we go.

Londongent is vegetarian. Who feels like sharing their best vegetarian dishes?

Caramelized Pear Salad with Blue Cheese

photo source

1 firm brown pea

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup pine nuts Arugula (I like baby arugula leaves)

Blue cheese crumbles

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and pine nuts.Slice pear into eight slices and add to butter/brown sugar mixture and 'scoot' around until pear is soft (about 5 minutes.) Place arugula onto plates. Top with pear slices and pan juices. Sprinkle blue cheese crumbles on top.

Nice

Actually though that's not really veggie , because regular cheese almost always contains animal rennet

(stremsel in dutch) , which is made of a calf's stomach

There's however vegetarian cheese made with veggie rennet

and i even found veggie Blue Stilton at the Coop (grocery store here in the netherlands)

I do wanna be vegan though really , because even if you only eat veggie cheese you still support the meat industry

[Edited 11/3/11 9:32am]

CarrieMpls said:

jone70 said:

Last night I did a test run of a quinoa and black bean salad that I'm making for a Mexican-themed dinner party I am going to on Sunday. It was delish!

The dressing was lime zest and juice, olive oil, butter (melted, then cooled), minced garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. I added steamed quinoa to that then mixed in black beans, roasted corn, tomatoes, scallions, avacado, and cilantro. I don't like spicy so I didn't add any peppers, but it would probably be fine with peppers or even a red onion.

Yum!

I concocted a quinoa-stuffed squash a few weeks ago. Cut an acorn squash in half, rubbed some honey on and sprinkled salt on it and baked in the oven. Cooked some quinoa in veggie broth with golden sultani raisins and when it was almost done I sauteed onions, garlic and carrots (as it's what I had on hand) with some cumin, salt and pepper mixed it all together when it was done. Served it on the squash half and drizzled a little more honey on top.

Yay!

I was really worried that it wouldn't be good -- a couple years ago I had tried to make some sort of black bean quinoa dish and it was so bland and lame. I found two recipes on epicurious.com and combined them based on the comments. I like quinoa but it's impossible to not get those little grains everywhere! The recipe called for steaming which was a little more involved than I have patience for -- cook the quinoa for 10 minutes, drain, put the sieve over an inch of simmering water, cover with a towel and lid, steam for 10 more minutes, let rest off the heat for 5 minutes. Ugh. I don't have a rice cooker (no room in my apt!) so I had to do it that way. And I didn't even think it was that "fluffy" which was the point of the steaming.

My dad says there is a gas line downstairs so once I get back on my feet, I'm so getting a gas stove!

Stir fry sounds like a good "go to". I love cooking with broccoli and garlic.

I'm not fond of sushi. I've tried it a few times. I keep trying hoping it's an issue of just finding the right one for me or finding the right dipping sauce. Some of those in the raw link look amazing and makes me wish I liked it.

Just to add a bit of Wierdness, my Wife makes a lovely Chocolate and Beetroot cake

http://uktv.co.uk/food/re...aid/573361

This Mac N Cheese recipe is very nice - Though I may add, the writer should have thought twice about having the Words "Food" and "Killer" in the same sentence

http://www.jamieoliver.co...c-n-cheese