Category Archives: Vegetarian

Main Dish, Recipes, Vegetarian

Celebrate the Harvest with this Meat-free Quiche

Image: Harvest Quiche

For many years, I’ve made my quiches with ricotta cheese. It adds firmness and texture to the mix so the egg doesn’t seem so much like custard.

This crustless, meatless quiche has plenty of fall vegetables, including a nice serving of mushrooms, to satisfy your hunger. Nearly every plant I used came from my garden in the almost last harvest of the year, and you can find them all in grocery stores now if you don’t have an outdoor source of your own.

I used Bakesquick for my flour to give the quiche a little more body and fill in for the missing crust, but it is optional. The recipe works quite well without it. Likewise, chili spices are optional, but I like a little kick in my food.

Feel free to substitute other vegetables if you don’t like one. Just be aware some vegetables may be a little higher in carbs, but most will come in close to the same amount. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Photo: Harvest Ricotta Pie, top view

Harvest Spinach, Zucchini, & Ricotta Quiche

3/4 cup Spinach, fresh and torn (about 2 handfuls)
1 cup Zucchini, sliced
1 1/2 Tomatoes, ripe, 6 slices
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese, whole milk
2/3 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Irish Cheddar Cheese (Or other sharp cheddar), shredded
4 Eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Mushrooms, sliced
3 Mini-Peppers, sliced down the middle
1/4 cup Low Carb Flour (optional)
1 teaspoon Garlic and Herb seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Chili Spices (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F.) Prepare a 9-inch deep dish pie plate by spraying with cooking spray.

Slice all the vegetables and set aside.

In a large bowl, add the ricotta cheese, the beaten eggs, and seasonings and whisk together until well mixed. Stir in the low carb flour if you are using it and mix until smooth. Set aside.

Line the bottom of the pie dish with sliced zucchini. This should make a fairly solid base for the pie. Top with mushrooms and spread them evenly. Put the torn spinach over the top and press it down a little.

Pour the egg mixture over the top, using a spoon to spread it evenly over the spinach. Place a slice of tomato at equal intervals around the edge to mark each slice. Place one-half chili between each tomato slice.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the pie is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

Makes six servings.

Image: Nutrition Information for Harvest Quiche

Asian Recipes, Condiments and Sauces, Recipes, Vegetarian

Quick Vegetable Stir-fry

Photo: Vegetable Stir Fry

Ready for “Meatless Monday?” Here’s a quick to make rice-less fried rice. This replaces the starch with a variety of crumbled or riced vegetables to give you a deliciously satisfying Asian-flavored vegetable stir-fry. To make this even easier, you can start with a bag of Green Giant’s Cauliflower Crumbles “Fried Rice” Blend, which is cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and onions. If you are on phase 1, you might want to make your own riced vegetables and omit the carrots.

If you can’t find the mix at your grocery, you can use your food processor or grater to process cauliflower, broccoli stems, carrots, and onions to make your own mix. You’ll need three cups for the recipe with about 2 cups of it being cauliflower with the rest split between the broccoli, carrots, and onions.

I added in mushrooms and my adapted recipe adds in fresh spinach, but I didn’t have any in the house. I’ve listed even more possible add-ins at the end of the recipe.  Even on Monday, you can add any seafood to the stir fry. Shrimp is a great option. Any other time you want to make this, you can add chicken, beef, or pork to it.

For my friend and others who are trying to keep sodium low, I’ve included a recipe for a substitute soy sauce. It doesn’t taste like soy sauce, but it brings flavor to the dish without a lot of sodium.

 

Vegetable Stir Fry

3 cups (1 package) California Crumbles Fried Rice Blend (GG)
2 Eggs, beaten
1 cup Mushrooms, sliced (optional)
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Ginger paste
1 cup Spinach, fresh (optional)
2 stalks Green Onions, chopped
1 tablespoon Oil

In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add garlic and ginger and stir for a minute or two. Add in the fried rice blend and mushrooms. Stir them in. Cook and stir for about 5 to 7 minutes until the vegetables are almost tender.

Stir in the beaten eggs and mix them into the vegetables, continuing to stir until the eggs are cooked. Add soy sauce or Non-Soy Sauce, which is much lower in sodium. Stir to mix. Top with chopped green onions if you wish.

Makes four servings.

Optional add-ins: peanuts, almonds, cashews, shrimp, any greens chopped, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, chopped celery or chopped peppers. Add Hawaiian flare on a non-meatless night by stirring in 1 cup of diced SPAM and 1/4 cup of chopped fresh pineapple. (The pineapple will boost those carbs a bit, but it really adds the island vibe.)

Just add in the carb counts for the additions.

Nutrition Information for Vegetable Fried Rice

Non-Soy Asian Sauce

For those with worries about low sodium or gluten or soy allergies, here’s a soy sauce substitute that adds flavor to the stir fry or anywhere else you might use soy sauce.

1 Beef Bone (sometimes butchers have these under soup bones)
3 cups of Water
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
A pinch of garlic powder, ground ginger, and white pepper
Or Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning

Put water in a small pot and add the beef or soup bone. Bring to a boil, then lower to a low simmer. Cook for about one hour for the bone to flavor the meat. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Continue to simmer until the mixture is reduced to about two cups.

Let cool, then pour into a jar. If you have more than you can use within 10 days, pour the rest into an ice cube tray and freeze. When frozen remove the blocks to a plastic bag to store until you need them. Each cube will be about one tablespoon.

Makes 32 1-tablespoon servings.

Nutrition information for Non-Soy Asian Sauce

Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian

Fantastic Low Carb Veggie Chili

Photo: Low carb veggie chili

Ready for another meatless Monday? As the weather is turning cooler in my part of the world, I’m looking at a tricky beast to manage to make a low carb vegetables-only chili. While most of the root vegetables that give this dish some substance are lower in carbs than potatoes, the amount used to replace the meat option adds in quite a few carbohydrates into the overall dish.  So this offering checks in at a little under 11 net carbs per serving. If you only have 20 or 25 net carbs to spend, this could really push your limit. But if you plan for it, you can have a nearly 0 carb breakfast (omelet with cheese) and lunch (green salad with cucumber) to free up those carbs for the chili.

While this is a meatless option, it doesn’t lose any of the spicy and delicious chili flavor of the meat version. The vegetables are delicious with the butternut giving a hint of sweetness in the dish, and they are firm enough to satisfy.  If you want a short-cut on the seasonings, Mrs. Dash Chipotle Seasoning is very good and includes almost all of the spices listed. The Jalapeno seasoning is also good.

One other thing, this chili would work well as a filling for a meatless omelet and you would only need about 1/2 cup for it. Or make a burrito with a low carb tortilla and 1/2 cup of filling.

Low Carb Veggie Chile

1 3-1/2 oz. can Jalapeno chiles, chopped
1 15 oz. can Tomatoes with chile
1 cup Butternut Squash, cubed
1 cup Kohlrabi, cubed
1 cup Turnips, cubed
1 can Baby Corn, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
3 stalks Celery, chopped
1 cup Pumpkin Puree
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon Chili powder, or to taste
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 tablespoon dried Parsley or Cilantro
1 tablespoon dried Oregano
2 tablespoon chopped Basil
1 teaspoon Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop your butternut squash, kohlrabi, and turnips to about the same-size cubes. The bigger they are, the longer they will take to cook. If you can’t find kohlrabi, you can substitute in zucchini or cauliflower.

In a large pot, add oil and heat, then add garlic and onions and cook until they are fragrant. Add the chopped celery, stir, and cook about two minutes. Then add all the other ingredients except the pumpkin puree. Add enough water to just cover the vegetables.

Stir everything in the pot and bring to a boil then reduce heat to a low cook, just above a simmer. Cover and cook for an hour. Check on the vegetables to see if they are fork-tender, If not, add more water if needed, then cook another 20 minutes. Test again. Check your seasonings. If you need more spice, add it now. If the vegetables are fork-tender, then add the pumpkin puree, stir in, cover, and cook another 10 to twenty minutes. The pumpkin will help thicken the chile.

Serve in bowls with a little cheddar jack cheese and sour cream if you wish.

Makes eight 1-cup servings. If you want a little fewer carbs, a 3/4-cup serving will bring the carb count down to 8.5 nc per serving.

Photo: Nutrition Information

Give this a try and let me know how you like it and/or any other ways to serve it.

Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian

Thinking About Going Meatless?

Photo: Baked rellenos with sauce

With many people thinking in terms of doing a “meatless Monday,”  I thought I’d start putting out recipes on Sunday for a meatless option on Monday. While doing a low carbohydrate life style, going without any meat in your meals could be challenging since the dishes often involve other things we don’t normally eat, such as grains, rice, and pasta. So, my goal is to give you alternatives that are satisfying and tasty while avoiding those things we don’t eat.

To kick this off, I’m offering my chile relleno  with zucchini recipe. If you don’t care about going meatless, you can add chicken to it or serve a grilled breast as a side dish.

For my dish, I used Anaheim peppers from my garden along with home grown zucchini. I chose to use Irish cheddar cheese in it since it is sharper than American cheddar, but any sharp variety will work. You can also use Poblano peppers. I used Herzes Taquera Salsa with a few cherry tomatoes from my garden to make the sauce.

Chile Rellenos with Zucchini

4 Anaheim or Poblano Peppers, charred and peeled
Or you can use canned whole chiles
4 to 6 thick strips of Kerrygold Irish Cheddar or other cheddar       cheese
1 cup sliced Zucchini, slightly cooked
3 tablespoons of Heavy Cream plus 3 tablespoons of Water
1/3 cup low carb Flour (I used Bakesquick)
1/3 teaspoon Baking Powder,1/3 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Egg, beaten
1/3 teaspoon Salt
1/3 teaspoon Cumin
!/3 teaspoon Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Garlic Herb Seasoning

For the Sauce:
1 Small can Mexican-style Tomatoes with Chiles
Or 1 small can Taquera Salsa or other Salsa of your choice

To char and peel the peppers, put the peppers under the broiler on a sheet of aluminum foil for about three to four minutes until they are blackened on that side, then turn them, and cook on the other side. If they are large, it may take three turns to blacken the whole pepper.

Transfer the peppers to a plastic bag and let them sit for fifteen to thirty minutes. Run them under cold water and the charred part should peel off easily. Cut them open and remove the seeds and cut the top off.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.)

Photo: Baked relleanos
Cooked and ready for a topping sauce to serve.

Put the peppers in a baking pan or a oven-friendly skillet (cast iron or copper). Place cheese strips within the middle of each of the peppers.

Cook the zucchini slices for a two or three minutes in the microwave or in a pan of boiling water to partially cook. Spread the zucchini over the top of the peppers.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, cumin, pepper, and herb seasoning. Stir in the beaten egg and stir together the well. The batter should be easily spreadable, so add a little extra water if needed. Spread over the top of the zucchini.

Bake for 25 minutes.

While the peppers are baking, prepare your sauce. This can be any kind of sauce you would like to use. Traditionally, I’ve usually seen a hot tomato salsa-type sauce. Put the tomatoes in a pan, add chile powder and cumin to make it spicier and cook until it begins to thicken.

For my dish, I used Herdez Taquera Salsa and added six cherry tomatoes cut in half to cut the spice a little. Heat for about 10 minutes to cook the tomatoes and reduce the sauce.

You could also put a cheese sauce over the top that has been spiced with chopped green chiles and taco seasoning.

Serves 2 large portions or 4 smaller portions.

Nutrition Info for Chile Rellenos with zucchini

Main Dish, Poultry, Recipes, Soups and Stews, Vegetarian

Delicious Turkey Ragout feeds the soul

Photo: Turkey & Vegetables Ragout

A rainy night or two ago, I pulled a package of frozen turkey from the freezer and pondered what I could throw together with it that suited this chilly night. I had canned tomatoes, an eggplant that needed to be used, and some of the mini-peppers in my fridge. So I threw this saucy dish together. It’s not quite a ragu nor is it a ragout exactly, but it’s closer to the latter, so that’s what I decided to call it. It’s a lovely combination of meat, vegetables, and sauce with Italian seasonings.

For my seasoning salt, I used Emeril’s Essence, but any seasoning salt will work. I also used red onion, which brings a bit more sweetness than a white or yellow onion, but any of them will work. In fact, this is a versatile recipe, so if you don’t care for eggplant, substitute in another vegetable, such as summer squash or mushrooms. Of course, you can also use ground beef in place of the turkey. For a vegetarian option, omit the meat and add in more vegetables, like the aforementioned mushrooms or chopped kohlrabi. Be aware that replacing the turkey with additional vegetables will increase the carb count a little.

Turkey and Vegetable Ragout

1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 15-oz. can Diced Tomatoes
1 tablespoon Garlic, minced
1/4 cup Onion, chopped
1 cup Eggplant, cubed
3 Mini-Peppers, sliced
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/4 cup Water or White Wine
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon ground Pepper

In a large saucepan, brown the ground turkey, chopping into small pieces as it cooks. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent.

Add the eggplant and peppers and continue to cook another few minutes, stirring a few times, then add the canned tomatoes and 1/4 cup of water (or white wine). Add all the seasonings and stir the whole pan together.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for about 20 to 30 minutes until the liquid is reduced to a delicious sauce and the vegetables are tender. Taste the sauce and adjust any seasonings.

Serve with cooked zucchini noodles. You can either buy these in the frozen food section or make your own with a spiralizer or a vegetable peeler. Or you can do a wide shred with a food grater.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info for Turkey Vegetable Ragout