I went blueberry picking the other day and I was thinking of what to do with them. I don’t have a muffin tin, so that’s out of the question. Answer-SCONES. I used the extremely easy and extremely quick recipe at What Do I know? What I liked about this recipe is that it is not the overly sweet and overly dry recipe that plague many scones in the United States (cough*Starbucks*cough). This recipe yields moist and only slightly sweet blueberry scones. It is a nice quickbread for the summer.

RECOMMENDATIONS: I used one (1) cup all-purpose flour and one (1) cup whole wheat. I was also just about out of vanilla extract. So I had about one (1) tablespoon left and the other tablespoon I used lemon juice. I don’t usually have almonds on hand (although, I wish I did),  so the scones were sans almond. Besides that, I did the recipe as is.

This a really simple recipe for Mushroom and White Wine Sauce. You can serve this with anything or just eat it as a side. I sautéed sauce while cooking the risotto, and added the risotto to the pan at the very end. I don’t really have measurements for this but I will put approximations next to the ingredients list.

• mushrooms, sliced or whole (try a variety of different mushrooms if you can)
• olive oil/oil-based butter (~1-2 Tbsp)
• Italian seasoning (thyme, basil, oregano, etc.)
• dry white wine (~1/4-1/2 C)
• garlic, minced or pressed (a lot!)

1. Heat olive oil in pan. Add mushrooms and saute. White sauteing, add Italian seasoning.
2. When the mushrooms start to soften, add white wine and then garlic.
3. Continue to reduce.
4. Serve immediately.

Photos of the mushrooms in the white wine reduction.

I should preface by saying that I am only reviewing the Monterey Jack flavor and not the others. With that said, I thought this was so disgusting! It was so disgusting that I threw it away (which I really don’t do). It says it melts, which it doesn’t. Although, I have heard some people say that you have to cook it at a really high temperature (400+ degrees). I can really only imagine doing that for a pizza. After tasting this and throwing it away, I looked up on Veggie Boards what others had to say. I think these people are deluding themselves. However, a few people were reasonable (and by that I mean they agree with me ).

The Monterey Jack smelled disgusting, tasted disgusting, and felt disgusting. It smelled like cottage cheese, tasted bland like eating a raw block of tofu, and it felt like tofu just removed from the water. GROSS! I guess real dairy cheese is just too hard to replace/imitate. It wasn’t cheap either. It was a little over $3. I might as well just bought a block of tofu for half the price. I guess what I am trying to get across is how disgusting and disappointing this was. I didn’t even assume it would be close to cheese but I thought it would still have its own tasty, unique flavor. It’s a shame because Follow Your Heart makes Vegenaise which is quite good, maybe even better than egg-based mayo.

AVOID

Chicken Francese (sometimes spelled Francaise) can be found on some Italian restaurant menus. I used to order it all the time. So here is my vegetarian/vegan version. I have made it twice: 1) tempeh 2) chik’n strips. I prefer it made with the chik’n strips (tastier and quicker to prepare). The tempeh was okay; I used a multi-grain tempheh which I don’t think was suitable for this light sauce. If you are using chik’n strips, the whole process will take the time the water boils + pasta cooking time, this is why I am including this as a quick meal. The ingredients are limited and you would probably already have most, if not all, in your kitchen (well, at least in my kitchen). A lot of Francese/Francaise recipes call for a TON of butter. I cut back but still have devised a recipe that keeps that buttery-lemony taste. For a thicker sauce, add a touch of flour. There are a bunch of photos at the bottom.

chik’n strips or tempeh, sliced into strips
pasta of choice
olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 C dry white wine
1/2 C vegetable broth
juice of 1 lemon
parsley
salt & pepper
garlic (optional- - this is probably the only time I will say to go light on the garlic; one pressed clove at the most. You don’t want to overwhelm this sauce. Don’t even think about using garlic powder.)

• TEMPEH: If you are going the tempeh route, you will need to dredge the strips first and cook them in an oiled pan. You won’t need to use the bread crumb/cornmeal step.
• CHIK’N STRIPS: Cook according to directions and set aside.

1. Cook pasta according to directions.
2. In a pan, add butter over low heat and melt completely.
3. Add broth, wine, and lemon juice to pan and bowl until reduced. STIR FREQUENTLY.
4. By the time, the pasta is done cooking, the sauce should be reduced (less than 10 minutes). Add tempeh or chick’n strips to sauce and cook for about 1 minutes.
5. Season with salt & pepper and parsley.
6. Serve hot over pasta.

*Chik’n Strips (I forgot to put on the parsley before the photo was taken)

*Tempeh

The other day, I decided to make seitan. I used the Post Punk Kitchen’s recipe. I realized (by going through a few of their recipes) that they really like salty food (soy sauce, broth). So, I cut down on the salt. Quite frankly I was a little disappointed. The seitan was mushy. But considering that one batch yields a lot, I would feel bad throwing it all away. So here is my Asian-inspired meal. I got the idea for the sauce from TofuParty. The sauce would be great if you added a splash of orange juice, too. The seitan could be substituted with cubed tofu or just leave it out altogether and just stir fry up some veggies.

I am included this recipe as a Quick Meal because it takes about 5-10 minutes to make.

seitan
vegetables
oil
garlic
sauce

1. In a small pan, saute some garlic and mushrooms (add any other veggies of choice).
2. Once the garlic and mushrooms cook, add in the seitan. Cook for about 20 seconds at a low-medium heat.
3. Finally, add noodles and sauce. Cook for another 20 seconds.

**The cooking times are all estimated.

The photo isn’t terribly appealing, but it was still tasty.

BONUS PHOTO OF RUPERT: He is trying to get a better look at the food.

I have been away for awhile, visiting my mom and now I am back. I have a few recipes that I need to post, so to get back into the swing of things, here is a Quick Meal. This is straight from The Frugal Gourmet. It is a great book to have (most of the ingredients you would have in your kitchen or you can easily buy at the local grocery store). The majority of the recipes are very easy and quick to make. The back cover even advertises: “exciting ideas for vegetarian meals” and it does live up to its word. You can find a copy easily for under $5.

With that said, here is a delicious and simple sauce to accompany your favorite pasta. While you are boiling the water and cooking the pasta, you can make the entire sauce. I pretty much followed the exact ingredients list; the only thing I changed was the amount. The recipe serves 4 and I made 2 servings. I didn’t measure anything but here is an approximation (about half of the original recipe).

• 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (my new favorite garlic press; just as good as the Pampered Chef but way cheaper).
• 1-1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 C whipping cream/soy milk
• salt & pepper, to taste
• parsley, to taste (optional)
• lemon juice, to taste (optional- - I added this to the recipe)
• pasta of choice

1. While the pasta is cooking, make sauce: Saute garlic in olive oil until not quite browned.
2. Add cream. Season with salt & pepper if desired
3. Simmer and then reduce heat. I added lemon juice at this step.
4. Toss with the hot pasta. Garnish with parsley.

**This whole process takes the time that you are cooking the pasta (~9-15 minutes). This is why I am including it as a quick meal.

Today, I bought a container of strawberries from a local farmer at the weekend market. They smell great. I decided to make a cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberries. This recipe I concocted after reading many different recipes for basic white/vanilla cake. I definitely altered some stuff, so feel free to do that as well. I call this a “thin cake” because it doesn’t have a lot ingredients and does not make a lot. To the point- - it is smaller. I recommended it for coffee or tea time.

• 1 1/2-2 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 C [chocolate] soymilk (I bought commercially sold but make it yourself or just use plain)
• 1/4 C lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• egg replacer (=1egg)

• strawberries
• frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl.
3. Beat in soymilk, lemon juice, vanilla, and egg replacer.
4. I used a 13×9 in pan, but use what you want and bake for 25-30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
5. Take out of oven and cool.
6. Frost with desired frosting (I used whipped cream frosting) and cover with halved strawberries.

I made the chickpea cutlets and mustard sauce last night from Veganomicon. I have heard that a lot of people really like the chickpea cutlets, so I decided to make them. To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. They were dry and just a little too chewy. There are barely any wet ingredients in the recipe and the directions call for these to be baked at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Perhaps if they were baked at 350, the problem could be skirted. This happened when I made another batch of bean balls. I found out that they should be baked at 375 (not 350 like in my post) and they came out a little too dry. I might try making the chickpea cutlets one more time and see if I can’t get them a little moister.

With the mustard sauce (it was recommended to be served with the chickpea cutlets) I was also disappointed. It was SOOOO salty. There was no plain salt in the ingredients list, but it had a bunch of salty ingredients: vegetable broth, soy sauce, capers (with brine). If I do make this again, I think I will substitute water for the vegetable broth and leave out the soy sauce. Too much saltiness.

I made the cutlets and sauce, and the boyfriend made a side of garlicy shells. This was incredibly heavy (maybe because we accompanied it with a glass of stout beer each).

Cutlets: chickpeas, olive oil, vital wheat gluten, bread crumbs, vegetable broth/water, soy sauce, garlic, lemon, dried thyme, Hungarian paprika, dried rubbed sage

Mustard Sauce: cornstarch, vegetable broth, garlic, thyme, olive oil, cooking sherry, soy sauce, dijon mustard, lemon juice, capers

NOTE ON INGREDIENTS: If you have a local health food store/ co-op, try going there first and check in their bulk section for items like vital wheat gluten, Hungarian paprika, rubbed sage. My supermarket sells wheat gluten for over $6 (the co-op: $1.95, Hungarian paprika (not at supermarket, co-op $0.76), and rubbed sage at the supermarket was $4 (co-op: $0.62).

This recipe comes straight from the Food Network’s website. It is definitely a keeper. This is so simple and really only takes about 20-25 minutes total, so I also included it as a quick meal. This recipe makes enough for 4 servings, leaving me with extras for the rest of the week. I stayed pretty close to the recipe. Instead of low-fat mayo, I used Veganaise and I did add a little extra dijon mustard to the mayo spread. Also, next time around I would add a little more adobo sauce to the mayo spread to give it extra spice. I think an avocado slice or two would be really good, too!

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I checked-out from the library Veganomicon. I will post a review of the book later once I make more recipes from it. But here is the first one I made last night: Spaghetti and Bean Balls (well, I didn’t use spaghetti). I did change a few things up. It called for Vital Wheat Gluten, but the recipe said you could substitute whole wheat flour, which I did. Instead of lemon zest, I just used lemon juice. I also added a dash of parsley to the mixture. One thing that I read about online was that there are A LOT of typos in this book and information is just missing, or too much added with no resolution. I decided to bake the bean balls instead of fry them, and when I got to the baking directions there was no temperature. I just baked these at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and that was perfect. By the way, these were delicious. When they came out of the oven, I just kept eating them. I could see them being great for a bean ball sandwich. I have leftovers, so who knows? One thing I liked about them besides the taste was that store bought vegetarian meat balls sometimes can be disgusting, so it is nice to have this pretty easy recipe on hand.

INGREDIENTS: kidney beans, soy sauce, tomato paste, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, bread crumbs, whole wheat flour, dried oregano, thyme, parsley