Apple pancakes

The only kind of pancake that matters

Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 apples, cored and shredded
Directions
  1. Heat a griddle to about 250F
  2. Stir together dry ingredients (except cinnamon) in large bowl
  3. Stir together wet ingredients in small bowl.
  4. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture. Blend until slightly lumpy.
  5. Mix in cinnamon. Stir in apples.
  6. Butter griddle. Spoon mixture on to the hot griddle, creating pancakes that are about 4 inches in diameter. Wait about 5 minutes before flipping the pancakes. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Pancakes should be a golden brown. If they are too light or too dark, adjust temperature accordingly. A practice pancake is always helpful.

Baked quesadilla

An easy snack for when you are not feeling like doing much at all.

Ingredients
  • 2 tortillas of equal size, or one tortilla cut in half evenly
  • Enough cheese to cover the tortilla
  • other ingredients (follow your dreams)
  • Salsa for serving
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Get out a cookie sheet and line with parchment paper.
  2. Place one tortilla on the parchment paper. Put cheese on the tortilla. Leave a boarder of about 1/2″ to 3/4″ to avoid melty cheese spillage. Place the other tortilla on top.
  3. Add any other ingredients (ex: fresh onion, cooked taco “meat”, garlic, or salsa)
  4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven immediately and cut the quesadilla into triangles. This will help keep the warping tortilla in place and make the dish easier to eat.
  5. Serve with salsa or whatever sauce you want.

Banana Bread

Whenever bananas go brown in my house the first thing I turn to is banana bread. Also, I stopped measuring the bananas years ago. A little extra banana has never hurt anything.

Note: Brown, overripe bananas are going to give this bread a sweeter, better flavor. Also, feel free to use this recipe as a base. Adding a little cinnamon, a few chocolate chips, or some nuts can be great twists on this recipe.

Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened (margarine will work too)
  • 4 bananas, mashed (or 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas)
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2.5 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Pans

Use an 2 8.5-inch bread pans, or 4 5.5-inch bread pans

Directions
  1. Move oven rack so the tops of the pans will be in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease the bottom of the pans.
  2. Mix sugar and butter in a large bowl. Then stir in an egg until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla.
  3. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together separately. Then add to the banana-buttermilk-butter mixture. Mix until blended. The mixture might be slightly lumpy from the bananas. Pour into pans
  4. Bake 8 inch loaves for one hour, 5 inch pans for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pans. Cool completely.

These loaves can be refrigerated for up to 10 days and freeze well.

Toasted Brie Tomato Sandwich

This sandwich is particularly good in summer when tomatoes are in season. I highly recommend fresh tomatoes that are super ripe.

Ingredients
  • 2 slices of bread
  • Enough slices of brie to cover one slice of bread
  • Sliced tomato
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 F.
  2. Put the tomato slices and then the brie onto one slice of bread. Close the sandwich with the remaining slice of bread.
  3. Put the sandwich in the toaster for 5 minutes or until both sides of the bread are golden brown and the brie begins to melt.
  4. Open the sandwich and add salt and pepper to taste.

If the bread toasts faster and the brie has not yet melted, use parchment paper to prevent more browning.

Spinach artichoke dip

This version of spinach artichoke dip is extremely simple and worth experimenting with. A friend of mine gave me the recipe after I ate way too much of it at a Halloween party.

The amount of spinach and artichokes can vary depending on the store. A little more or a little less won’t hurt anything.

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can artichokes (hearts, quarters, whatever), chopped
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1.5 cups Parmesan, shredded
  • 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
  • 1 12 oz bag or box of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
  • dash of garlic salt, to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 12 inch pie pan.
  2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl until well mixed.
  3. Scrape mixture into pie pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until top has a little golden brown to it. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with crackers or pita chips. This dish refrigerates and reheats well.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

This recipe is based off of a Cookie + Kate recipe. That recipe can be found in the book Love Real Food (highly recommended). I never made the Cookie + Kate recipe correctly since I only had a 9×13 pan.

Ingredients

Roasted Vegetable
  • 1.5 – 2 lb eggplant (or cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
Tomato sauce
  • 15 oz tomato sauce
  • dash of dried basil or a couple leaves of fresh basil (chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • dash of garlic (to taste), or 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Spinach-Cheese Mixture
  • 24 ounces low-fat cottage cheese
  • 1 table spoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 10 ounces (or more) spinach (optional)
  • lots of fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Other ingredients
  • 9 boiled lasagna noodles
  • 2 cups mozzarella
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Slice the chosen vegetable in to 1/4 inch slabs. If using egg plant, remove the pieces covered entirely by skin.
  3. Brush both sides of the slice vegetable in olive oil and place on the baking sheet in single layer. Add salt and pepper to taste. You might need more than one baking sheet to complete this process.
  4. Roast each side for 10 minutes. The eggplant or zucchini is done when golden brown. The broccoli or cauliflower is done when it offers no resistance when poked with a fork.
  5. For the sauce, in a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients for the sauce.
  6. For the spinach-cheese mixture, pour all of the cottage cheese in a large bowl.
  7. Then put a large skillet on medium heat. Heat olive oil for 1 minute. Add onion, cook until translucent (4 minutes). Add a dash of salt. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
  8. Add spinach to pan a bit at a time, stirring constantly until all spinach is wilted.
  9. Using slotted spoon, add spinach mixture to cottage cheese. Stir. Add pepper to taste. (I prefer a lot of pepper in this mixture.) Mix well.
  10. To assemble:
    1. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce over the bottom of the pan.
    2. Place 3 lasagna noodles on top. The will probably not overlap, but will fit side-by-side nicely.
    3. Spread half the cottage cheese mixture.
    4. Add half of the vegetable slices evenly
    5. Add half of the remaining tomato sauce and 3/4 cup of mozzarella
    6. Add 3 more noodles, then the remaining cottage cheese, then the remaining vegetable slices.
    7. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of mozzarella
    8. Add 3 more noodles, then the remaining sauce, and the remaining mozzarella
  11. Place in the oven and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the lasagna to prevent the top from browning too quickly. Bake for 22 minutes. Uncover and bake for 12-15 minutes more.
  12. Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

This dish is great reheated, it can be frozen and it works well for meal prep. The vegetables, sauce, and cheese mixture can be prepared a day in advance, as necessary.

Macaroni and Cheese

This macaroni was made by a dear friend who just made it until “it looks right”. She uses a strong white Vermont cheddar. I have also used any number of good cheddar cheeses as long as they are aged at least 3 years.

  • 1 lb strong cheddar cheese
  • 1 lb macaroni
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • at least a half gallon of milk on hand
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • salt, to taste
  • pepper, to taste
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a casserole*
  2. Make macaroni pasta according to the directions
  3. Cut cheese into quarter inch cubes
  4. Mix noodles, flour, cheese, some salt and some pepper. (I’d recommend about a half teaspoon of salt and some pepper)
  5. Dump cheese and pasta mixture into a casserole dish*. Add milk until it gets close to the top of the pasta or your dish. (Don’t completely cover the pasta though. The crispy noodles that will result are yummy)
  6. Dot with small butter chunks
  7. Put in oven for 35-45 minutes. Or until the top is starting to get golden brown.
  8. Let cool for 5- 10 minutes.

* – indicates that a casserole is a dish like a Corning Ware dish. I used a 2.5 quart Corning Ware dish

If it’s bland, add more pepper and salt. Next time use a stronger cheddar cheese.

Mushroom Stroganoff

This recipe is based off of Tasty Mushroom Stroganoff. I found is a good secondary main dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas meals for your vegan/vegetarian family members. Everyone will enjoy this dish, so it can be increased in volume for larger gatherings. It is a simple weeknight meal that is great for 1-2 people who might like some leftovers as well.

Serving size: 4-6 servings (if using 16 oz of mushrooms, you will get about 6 cups of stroganoff)

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 12-16 oz cremini mushroom, sliced
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • ½ teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)
  • ¼ cup white wine
  • ½ tablespoon (vegan) Worcestershire
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 ½ cups almond milk, or regular milk
  • 8 oz fusilli or bow tie pasta, uncooked
  1. Use 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan over medium heat to cook the onion. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then throw in the garlic. Cook another minute.
  2. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the salt, pepper and thyme. Stir.
  4. Add the wine and Worcestershire, stir until well-mixed.
  5. Stir in the flour, until well-mixed.
  6. Pour in the broth, milk, and pasta. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover. Stir often. Allow to cook for 10-15 minutes. The resulting sauce will be creamy.

The white wine can be exchanged for more vegetable broth as needed.

Vegetarian Cooking for Me

I became a vegetarian about two years ago after slowly moving away from meat over the course of several years. The most difficult thing for me was finding new versions of my comfort foods while also exploring new possibilities.

I also found that many of my friends and family wanted to eat vegetarian food that resembled what they were used to. I needed to find solutions for Thanksgiving and Christmas while also maintaining my weekly meals and habits.

Most of the recipes I found had an emphasis on healthy eating — which I appreciated. However, I also wanted to find plain old boring foods for when I felt ill or comfort foods for when I was homesick. Further, I wanted to ensure that my friends and family would enjoy the food I made without meat almost as much as (if not more than) their usual dishes.

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