Buttermilk-Garlic Dressing

This dressing takes no time at all to make, and I thought it was really good. Toby, on the other hand, said that it tasted “like a watered-down ranch dressing.” Don’t listen to him. I think all the years of eating super-spicy foods have damaged his taste buds. He added Creole seasoning to his dressing and proclaimed it “great.” Whatever. Try this one.

rating: 8

Buttermilk-Garlic Dressing
(from the Sept. 2009 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, pressed
salt and pepper

Whisk together the buttermilk, mayo and garlic; and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

makes about 1/2 cup

Seitan with Lemon Caper Sauce

I get Gwyneth Paltrow’s email newsletter called Goop. I like it. It’s full of recipes, fashion tips, tips on parenting, etc. I saved this recipe, and I am glad I did! Seitan basically is wheat gluten. This recipe calls for 1/2″ wide medallions, but the seitan that I found (at Wegman’s) came in little chunks. It still turned out great. The only white wine I had was Sangria, so I just omitted it. It still turned out great. If you can find seitan, try it! With this we enjoyed a baked potato, some jazzed-up green beans, and some rolls. Delish!

rating: 9

Seitan with Lemon Caper Sauce

(from www.Goop.com)

*  8 ounces seitan
* ½ cup flour, plus 1 teaspoon
* 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
* 2 pinches salt
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* ½ scallion or 2 garlic cloves
* 1 onion, sliced thin
* 2 lemons, juiced
* 2 tablespoons capers, drained
* 1/3 – ½ cup white wine (I omitted)
* 1/3 – ½ cup water or light vegetable broth (I used veggie broth)
* salt and pepper

Slice the seitan into ½” wide medallions. Fill a covered dish or a baggie with flour, breadcrumbs and salt. Shake the seitan around. Sprinkle off the excess flour mixture as you put them in a pan with two tablespoons of the olive oil and garlic. Fry till golden. Set on a plate and cover to keep warm.

Add the onion, garlic and two more tablespoons of olive oil to the pan you just used to cook the seitan. When the onions soften, add the lemon juice, capers, white wine and broth. Add the liquids slowly and reserve a little in case you need to add more. Cook for a few minutes and then thicken with a teaspoon or so of flour.

Top the seitan with the lemon caper sauce and serve with a grain and a vegetable for a complete meal.

Chickpea Cakes Piccata

I had an awesome Piccata dish at Sublime restaurant in Florida (http://www.sublimeveg.com/home.html), so when I saw this recipe I thought I would give t a whirl. For the chickpea cake recipe, I substituted lite soy cause for the tamari, minced onion for the onion (it’s like a spice), and then whole wheat flour for the chickpea flour. These were easy to make, and it did indeed make exactly 6 cakes. The cakes turned out a little dry and crumbly. I am wondering if it’s because of my substitutions? As for the sauce, I did not use any lemon zest. I think that the sause was actually a little too oniony for me. I will keep looking for a Piccata sauce like Sublime’s. These were ok, but not great. I served these with some roasted asparagus, leftover cole slaw, and mashed potatoes. Note, Toby liked me to roast the asparagus until it practically disappears! rating: 6

http://happyherbivore.com/2009/03/chickpea-cakes-piccata/

Honey-Cinnamon Vinaigrette

Last night I really wanted to have the “Chicken” Salsa Verde Bake again (made it last Oct. and loved it!), so I thought maybe we could have a salad with it, and I would make a new dressing. So I chose this dressing, even though Toby isn’t too into sweet salad dressings. This is a cinch to make, and I think it turned out well! Toby tried it with just lettuce, but I added some dried cranberries and walnuts to my salad. It was good! It was sweet, but good! I think maybe if you also added something like goat cheese to your salad it would be even better! I probably won’t make this again, just because there are so many dressings to try, but you should try it and see if you like it.

rating: 8

Honey-Cinnamon Vinaigrette
(from the Sept. 2008 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil

1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Add oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly until smooth. Serve immediately, or cover and chill until ready to serve. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Gnocchi with Pumpkin Cream Sauce

This recipe actually calls for penne pasta instead of the gnocchi, but I had some gnocchi I needed to use, so I substituted. This recipe is pretty simple, but it’s very rich! Of course Toby added hot sauce to his (I really think his taste buds have been dulled down!). This was good, though, and I saved the rest for lunches this week. I think this sauce would be good with pretty much any pasta (mmm, ravioli!). With this we had a salad.

rating: 8.5

Gnocchi with Pumpkin Cream Sauce
(from the magazine Every Day with Rachael Ray)

1 lb gnocchi (note: the recipe originally calls for 1 lb. penne)
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
salt and pepper
one 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (I used dried)

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the gnocchi just like the package says. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking water.
2. In the same pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin and heavy cream and bring to a boil. Return the gnocchi to the pot along with the reserved pasta cooking water and toss. Stir in the Parmesan; season with salt and pepper.
3. Top the gnocchi with the parsley and more Parmesan.

Mock Hollandaise Sauce

This is not the recipe I had planned to make at all. I was going to make this polenta dish that had eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and asparagus in it. Then I started thinking about how Toby wasn’t going to like it, because he hates eggplant and yellow squash, and could eat zucchini about twice a year. So I decided to start weeding things out of my pantry. I found a couple of things and went to plan b: veggie loaf, mushroom and almond rice, and grilled asparagus with this Mock Hollandaise Sauce. How much easier could the sauce be? It tasted a little like hollandaise, but on its’ own, it’s really good! I even ate some of my veggie loaf with it! This is a good sauce to whip up in a minute and is very versatile. I am glad I found it.

rating: 9

Mock Hollandaise Sauce
(from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 10th edition)

1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise (or salad dressing)
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp prepared mustard

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until hot. Makes 1/2 cup.