My Vegetarian Recipe of the Day

Is Dad a bit adventurous? Does he long for a trip to the Islands? Well, you may not have a trip to Jamaica in your budget (We don’t— sorry, dear), but with this recipe, you can help him FEEL like he’s in Jamaica. This great recipe comes from Vegetarians in Paradise, which is a nice website with a lot of interesting recipes.

JAMAICAN SPICE PORTABELLA

Marinade

1 1/2 C. (355 ml) unsweetened pineapple juice
1 3/4 t. salt
1 3/4 t. ground allspice
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
3/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 t. dried thyme
1/4 + 1/8 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/3 C. (79 ml) fresh ginger, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 to 4 serrano chiles, cut in half, seeded, and finely minced
1/2 C. (118 ml) chopped onions
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. fresh lime juice
2 T. maple syrup
4 large portabella mushrooms

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a 9” x 13” (23 cm x 32.5 cm) shallow pan and stir well.
Cut stems of mushrooms flush with the base so mushrooms will lie flat. Put mushrooms and stems into the marinade, turning to coat evenly. Marinate several hours or overnight, turning several times to flavor evenly.
Remove mushrooms from the marinade, and grill them over hot coals about 5 to 10 minutes, turning frequently and basting with marinade each time you turn them. Watch carefully to avoid burning.

So, I’ve been negligent posting here. I’ve been busy working on a new homeschooling wiki that my husband and I have started. So, as a sign of penitence, today I’m going to post three vegetarian sides to accompany your Father’s Day barbecue.

Paradise Couscous Salad (from Fabulous Foods)

1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups couscous
2 cups fresh orange sections
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onions
1 cup packed baby spinach
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Apricot Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

In a medium pot, bring orange juice, water, and olive oil to a boil. Stir in couscous, cover; remove from heat and let stand for 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Add orange sections, cranberries, red pepper, red onions, and spinach, mixing well.

In a small nonstick skillet over medium heat; add pecans. Sprinkle with the sugar and cayenne; sauté several minutes or until pecans begin to brown. Remove from heat and cool, set aside.

Before serving, toss couscous mixture with Apricot Vinaigrette, mixing well. Toss with sugared pecans. Refrigerate until serving.

Apricot Vinaigrette

1/3 cup apricot nectar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sugar

In a small bowl, whisk together apricot nectar, olive oil, vinegar, mustard and sugar.

Grilled avocado, tomato, and red onion salad (From Food Network)

10 tomatoes, quartered
4 avocados, peeled, halved, and pitted
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 red onion, sliced
1/2 lemon
1 cup pesto sauce
1/2 cup pine nuts
Parmiggiano-Reggiano

Preheat a grill over medium heat.
Cover a large tray with tomato quarters, and set aside.
Place avocado halves in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Place each half on a hot open grill for about 30 to 45 seconds. Remove and place on top of the tomatoes arranged on tray. Drizzle with olive oil again.

In another bowl, cover the red onion slices with the juice from the lemon half and olive oil. Place onions in the empty avocado pit holes. Cover with the lemon/olive oil mix. Then, top with pesto, distributing generously on all sides. Sprinkle pine nuts and cheese on top, to taste.

Grilled vegetables with chipotle dressing (From Epicurious)

1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped canned chipotle chilies
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup olive oil
3 plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
1 medium zucchini, trimmed, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 medium-size yellow crookneck squash, trimmed, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 Japanese eggplant, trimmed, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 red onion, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices
1 chayote squash, peeled, cored, cut into 12 wedges

Whisk first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Add oil and whisk until well blended. Season dressing with salt and pepper.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Place all vegetables on 2 large baking sheets. Brush vegetables with 1/4 cup dressing. Grill vegetables until tender and beginning to brown, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes for tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant and onion and 15 minutes for chayote squash.

Separate grilled onion slices into rings. Arrange all grilled vegetables on platter. Drizzle remaining dressing over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You’d think with all these great recipe ideas I’d be making him some fantastic meal. Well, what he really wants is egg with cheese. So, I’ll be making… eggs with cheese. Then one of our sons turns 4 on Monday, so we’ll be going to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. I’m not sure what our dinner plans are yet, but we may be going to a Tomato Festival tomorrow, so that may mean eating out for dinner, as well. So, I’d love to be able to say I’m going to be busy tomorrow feeding my sweet hubby, but, well… that’s just not the case. Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads. And a special Happy Father’s Day to my sweet husband.

Do you dread Fourth of July gatherings because you just can’t stand to look at one more veggie burger or veggie dog? Well, not to fear. We’ll include plenty of recipes that you can enjoy at home or take for potluck if you’re getting together with a group.

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vegetarian recipes

I’m sure there are plenty of great ways to eat watermelon. Chilled in a lake comes immediately to mind. But I read lots of recipes for watermelon that are, well, let’s just say interesting (watermelon with parmesan anyone?— eww). But I have a dear friend who doesn’t like watermelon. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, she doesn’t like the official summer fruit. So, what’s she supposed to do on Fourth of July? How can you have Fourth of July without watermelon? Well, now even watermelon haters can include a little watermelon in their Fourth of July vegetarian celebration with these Faux Watermelon Cookies (they’re really just sugar cookies decorated to look like watermelon slices, but they sure are cute). I got the recipe from Fantastic Foods, and you can see pictures there, as well. Now, onto the recipe:

Faux Watermelon Cookies

Sugar Cookie Dough
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened (not melted!)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 drops red food coloring
1 cup miniature semi sweet chocolate morsels

Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons water
15-20 drops green food coloring

Cookies
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. Beat butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and red food coloring in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture and stir with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for two hours.

Preheat oven to 400° F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter or other round object, such as a glass or round plastic container. Place circles on ungreased cookie sheet. With a butter knife, carefully slice circle in half and separate by at least 1/2 inch to allow for expansion during baking. Gently press miniature semi sweet morsels into each semicircle. Bake for 6-8 minutes, checking after 6 minutes. Cookies will be done when edges are lightly browned. Do not allow cookies to get too brown.

Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove from cookies sheets to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Glaze
In a small bowl mix together all ingredients to form a glaze. You may add drops of water to thin glaze if it is too thick. To decorate the cookies, roll the round end of the cookie in the glaze, allow excess to drip off into bowl. Place cookies back on rack until glaze dries.

This is a fun little fruit salad, perfect for the 4th of July.

Layered Fruit Flag Salad
16 oz. pineapple tidbits in juice
2 med. bananas sliced
6 cups fresh strawberries
2 cups vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 c. frozen whipped topping or whipped cream
3 T. powdered sugar (optional)
4 c. cubed cantaloupe, well drained
3 c. blueberries

Drain pineapple, reserving juice in small bowl. Pat pineapple dry with paper towels to remove any excess liquid. Toss banana slices in pineapple liquid; drain well. Reserve 18 to 20 strawberries for flag stripes; cut remaining strawberries into quarters.

In medium bowl, mix yogurt, whipped cream and powdered sugar until smooth.

In ungreased 13×9 glass baking dish, layer cantaloupe and quartered strawberries. Reserve 50 blueberries for flag stars. Layer remaining blueberries over strawberries. Top with bananas and pineapple. Press fruit lightly to make a smooth top. Spread yogurt mixture evenly over fruit. If desired, at this point, salad can be covered and refrigerated up to 4 hours.

Up to 1 hour before serving, complete the salad. Sprinkle reserved blueberries in corner to resemble stars on flag. Cut reserved strawberries into quarters. Arrange strawberries in rows to resemble stripes of flag.

(Note: I don’t worry about layering the fruit. I just dump it all in the bowl. It’s going to be covered with the topping, anyway, so no one can really see any effort you put into layering. Also, it works without adding the yogurt to the whipped cream, but it’s a little harder to spread.)