Peas and Cheese Tortellini

I got this recipe from Rachael Ray’s magazine. I was going to serve a salad with it, but it and the bread were enough. I think next time I will get a different tortellini (store only had one brand), but all in all, this was really good. I used Silk soy milk instead of regular milk, and it turned out fine. I was able to have this and garlic bread ready within 20 minutes. I will def. make this one again.

rating: 7

Peas and Cheese Tortellini
(from Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine)

1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tbsp butter
5 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced separately
2 tbs flour
1 2/3 cup milk
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

1. In a large saucepan of boiling, salted water, cook the tortellini until al dente; drain.
2. Meanwhile, add the peas, butter and scallion whites to another large saucepan and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the scallion greens and season with salt and pepper.
3. Stir the tortellini and 1/3 cup cheese into the sauce. Divide the pasta among 4 serving bowls and sprinkle with more cheese.

Grilled Barbeque Tempeh

I printed out this recipe almost 7 months ago, and am just now getting to it. It only calls for 4 ingredients, so how hard could it be? It was good, but seemed like it was missing something. I would probably try it again, but would tweak it somehow. Toby liked it, but thought that the onions on top didn’t go well with it. I served this with potato pancakes and a green salad.

rating: 5.5

Grilled Barbeque Tempeh
(from the Weight Watchers website)

10 ounces tempeh, sliced into sizteen 1/2″-thick pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 cup barbeque sauce

Steam tempeh for 20 minutes to prevent it from drying out when grilled. While tempeh is steaming, saute onion in sesame oil over medium-high heat until very tender and golden, about 10 minutes.

Preheat grill. Brush tempeh slices with barbeque sauce and grill for 5 minutes on each side, brushing generously with sauce as it cooks.

Top tempeh with onions and serve with additional sauce on the side. Yields about 4 slices tempeh plus 1/4 cup onions per serving.

German Fladle Soup

Ok, this isn’t really a new recipe from me, but we had to use the leftover crepes MIL left for us. This is a common soup in Germany (so says Toby), but it usually contains meatballs I believe. It’s really easy to make, but when I asked Toby for the recipe, he says he never measures. SO- you have a bunch of leftover crepes (come on, you know you ALWAYS have that problem- what do I do with all of these crepes??!). You cut them into strips, so that they look like spaghetti. Then you make the soup- it’s basically veggie bouillon, water, a little bit of Knorr powdered veggie bouillon, and some Maggi. If you don’t know about Maggi, you have to try it. It’s basically a bottle of concentrated veggie bouillon, and you add it to anything to make it taste better. So you have your soup base, then you add the cut-up crepes (say “Fladle”), and voila! We enjoyed this simple yet wonderful soup with a green salad.

rating: 9

Dick Clark’s Corn Fritters

Sorry, I’ve been gone…MIL left last Thursday. Whew! We had to order in Chinese food right after she left so that we could detox from her heavy German cooking! She used so much butter and oil and sour cream and eggs….Anyway, I am back! Although we are going on vacation on Friday and I will be gone all of next week. But I will be posting this week, and then after we get back. Last night I tried a recipe I tore out of Rachael Ray’s magazine a long time ago. Basically you just mix up all the ingredients and fry them up like pancakes. I found that the batter seemed really watery, so I added more flour to it, like about 1/4 cup. I also found that if you don’t spray the pan with the cooking spray for each new batch, they will really stick. This recipe made a heap of these pancakes…in fact, that’s what I’m having for lunch today! They had a nice slightly sweet taste. I liked them. Toby didn’t really say. I didn’t serve them with the melted butter. I served them with some Quorn stuffed with Gruyere cheese, sweet peas, and a green salad.

rating: 6

Dick Clark’s Corn Fritters
(printed in the magazine “Everyday with Rachael Ray”)

4 servings

1 15-ounce can creamed corn
4 large eggs
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup flour
cooking spray
unsalted butter, melted, for serving

1. In a medium bowl, combine the creamed corn, eggs, frozen corn and sugar; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the flour gradually, whisking constantly to avoid lumps, until just combined.
2. Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Drop tablespoonfuls of the corn mixture into the pan to form small pancakes. Cook until lightly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Serve with the melted butter.

Taco Soup

Believe it or not, this was the first time I have ever cooked tofu! I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years, and I’ve never cooked it. This soup wasn’t hard to make (especially if you have a little gizmo that chops your veggies for you- my immersion blender came with a chopped attachment- I can chop an onion in like 5 seconds). I did NOT use all of the garnishes this recipe calls for (lettuce, tomato, cheese). I was going to sprinkle some cheese over the top, but I forgot. I did use a little dollop of sour cream and a couple of tortilla chips. Toby said the soup was “good, really good!”, so I guess I will have to make it again.

rating: 7.5

Taco Soup
(from the cookbook “Better Than Peanut Butter and Jelly” by Marty Mattare & Wendy Muldawer)

1 package (10.5 ounces) tofu, extra-firm, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 package taco seasoning mix, such as Old El Paso or Taco Bell
1 bottle (1 qt.) tomato juice
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1 cup tomato, chopped
1/2 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, grated
baked tortilla chips
low-fat sour cream (optional)

Spray a medium saucepan with vegetable cooking spray. Cook tofu, onion, and green pepper over high heat until slightly browned, about 6-10 minutes. Stir in seasoning mix; cook 1 minute. Stir in tomato juice and salsa. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Ladle soup into bowls; garnish with shredded lettuce, green onion, chopped tomato, cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips. Top with sour cream, if desired. Serves 6.

Lucky Pockets O’Green

I found this recipe in a little weekly circular that we get, and it sounded good. But really, you could probably wrap up anything in a crescent roll, and it would be good, right? I only used about 3/4 the spinach they call for, since Toby isn’t a huge spinach fan. These weren’t hard to make, but they were messy. Maybe I filled the little pockets too much, I don’t know, but they were kind of oozing out the sides when I put them in the oven. I served them with Quorn Naked Cutlets (which I doctored up with some olive oil and lots of pepper), and a green salad. Even with spinach in them, Toby liked them.

rating: 7

Lucky Pockets O’Green
(from the March/April 2008 copy of Virginia Home & Family Magazine)

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach
1 1.4-ounce package dry vegetable soup mix
1 8-ounce carton low-fat sour cream
1 3-ounce package low-fat cream cheese
1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 8-ounce cans crescent roll dough, divided
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thaw spinach and press to remove moisture. Blend together spinach, soup mix, sour cream, cream cheese, water chestnuts, and green onions. On lightly greased baking sheet, spread out 1 can of crescent dough into 4 separate rectangles. Spread spinach mixture on top of rectangles, then sprinkle with chopped eggs and top with remaining 4 rectangles from second can of dough. Cut each rectangle in half and seal all edges with a fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm as a vegetable side dish.

Potato “Beetles”

Yay- I’m back! MIL cooked some good food, but I kind of missed cooking and blogging. I thought I would ease back into things with a simple recipe from Vegan Lunch Box. If you’ve never read this woman’s blog, it’s awesome. She makes these great lunches for her kid to take to school, and it inspired me so much, I bought her cookbook she recently put out AND the lunchbox she packs the lunches in! Check out her blog:

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

This recipe was pretty painless, and I thought it was pretty good. Toby said that they were good, but they needed something. I thought that the little crunch they had was good. I served these with a grilled cheese and a big salad. I will make them again.

rating: 6

Potato “Beetles”
(from the cookbook “Vegan Lunch Box” by Jennifer McCann)

medium-sized white new potatoes
olive oil
kosher salt

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, drizzle the parchment with olive oil, and set aside. Fill a medium saucepan with water, sprinkle with salt, and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, peel the new potatoes and cut in half. With a small paring knife, cut narrow slits about 1/8″ apart across the rounded top of each half, without going all the way through. Place the potatoes in the boiling water and cook, boiling, for 5 minutes. Drain. Place them upright on the baking sheet and brush all over with olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt. At this point you can cover the potatoes and refrigerate until the morning, if desired. Roast the potatoes in a preheated 400 degree oven until they are tender on the inside and slightly golden and crunchy on the outside, about 35-40 minutes.