Portobello Tenderloin with Tomato Comfiture

I wanted to make a nice celebratory dinner for my mom, as her business of 13 years is moving locations. She, along with her staff, have been hard at work this week moving 4,500 square feet worth of medical equipment and supplies. The new place is beyond gorgeous! It is built out exactly how she's wanted it and it is impeccably designed. She built the business from the ground up and I couldn't be more proud of her and her accomplishments. She came home and I surprised her with this delicious dinner, of which she couldn't stop raving about. It was inspired by a recipe from the Sublime Restaurant cookbook.

1 1/2 pounds tomatoes
5 large Portobello mushrooms
1/4 cup vegetable oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

Cut an x at the bottom each tomato. In a stock pot add water and bring it to a boil, once boiling add your tomatoes. Prepare an icebath that they can be transferred to in the meantime. After 2-3 minutes the tomato skin should begin to crack, pull the tomatoes out and submerge them in the ice bath until completely cool. Once cooled rub the skin off the tomatoes and discard them. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and remove the cores and seeds. Set aside the seedless tomato quarters.

Preheat the oven to 375, on the convection setting if you have it. In a bowl combine the oil, garlic cloves, salt, and pepper. Carefully clean and de-gill the mushrooms. Lightly oil the mushrooms with the mixture you just prepared, scooping out some of the garlic and placing it in the middle of each mushroom, place the mushrooms on a baking sheet and stick in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan add your tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, thyme, and stir constantly over high heat for 20 minutes. The liquids will cook out and eventually it will become 'jelly-like'. Once finished, divide the comfiture up equally and spoon into the center of each mushroom, return the mushrooms to the oven for another 10 minutes. Serve alongside colcannon or mashed potatoes.

Colcannon (aka mashed potatoes and greens)

Must I continue to remind you how much of a carb girl I am? Potatoes? Oh my god yes! I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I still wouldn't be sick of them. These are phenomenal. Colcannon is an Irish dish that is incredibly easy to make and so delicious. I'm guilty of eating a huge bowl of this cold straight from the fridge in the middle of the night. If you've never had this before, it's similar to a mashed potato, except better in my opinion.

2 pounds Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup vegetable broth
Salt, to taste
8 ounces kale, stemmed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons plant-based butter or olive oil
1/2 cup plain unsweetened nondairy milk, warmed (I used almond, but soy works too)
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Oil the bottom and edges of the slow cooker, or spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Add in the potatoes, broth, and 3/4-1 teaspoon salt (depending on the saltiness of your broth). Cover and cook on low until the potatoes are soft, afbout 4-5 hours. While your potatoes are cooking, steam the kale until tender, 5-7 minutes, set aside. Once the potatoes are done use a potato masher to mash the potatoes right in the crock pot, use a wooden spoon to stir in the reserved kale, vegan butter, warmed milk, and pepper. Adjust for seasonings and serve.

*You can substitute the kale with chard or spinach

Recipe by Robin Robertson

French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme

After being on vacation for one and a half weeks I was dying to get back in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I've eaten some great food while on vacation but there is nothing like a home cooked meal.  Soup was exactly what I needed, something light and healthy, hearty and homey.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
5 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried tarragon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
6 cups vegetable broth or water (I did half and half)
2 cups French green lentils 
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Ground pepper to taste

I divide up leftovers and freeze them, this way I always have something to take for lunch

Heat the oil in a stock pot and saute the onions and carrots for about 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown a little. Add in the garlic, tarragon, thyme, and paprika, saute for 2 more minutes. Add in the tomatoes and a splash of water to deglaze the pot, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the water/broth, lentils, bay leaves, salt, and pepper- cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook for 45 minutes. If the soup looks too thin, uncover and simmer for a few more minutes, if it looks too thick, add a little more water. Serve with a piece of crusty bread that has been drizzled with olive oil and toasted to perfection!

Recipe from Veganomicon, serves 6-8 portions.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Who can say no to a stroganoff? Clearly I can't. I can't say no to anything that falls into the comfort food category. This is so ridiculously easy, and creamy, and delicious! It can be made with or without gluten just by replacing a few ingredients. I made it GF, because I was accommodating someones diet, and it came out perfect.

12 oz box of egg-free ribbon noodles (I couldn't find any that were egg-free so I used brown rice casarecce pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small white onion, diced
16 ounces portabella mushrooms, sliced thick
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups vegetable broth, preferably vegan beef flavored if your health food store carries it
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce (whole foods carries it!)
1/4 cup all purpose flour (I used garbanzo bean flour)

1 cup cashew sour cream (to make this you will need 3/4 cup raw cashews, 3/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar)

Cook your pasta and set aside. In a saute pan over medium heat add the olive oil, once hot add the onions and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are translucent and the water from the mushrooms cook out. Add garlic to the pan and saute for another minute. Pour veggie mixture into a bowl and set aside. 

In a blender combine the cashew cream ingredients, blend until smooth. You want it to be the consistency of heavy cream, or slightly thicker. It's not an exact science, you may need to adjust the amount of water, etc. 

In the same pan that you used for the onions and mushrooms add the broth and bring it to a boil. Add salt to taste, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk in the flour and continue to cook until the sauce thickens. Lower the temperature, stir in the mushroom mixture from earlier along with 1 cup of the cashew cream. Serve over the pasta.

Recipe from worldmom12

Celery-Green Apple Juice

The other day I bought a whole head of celery because my split pea soup recipe called for one stalk. Let me be honest here, I'm not the biggest celery fan, but I know how important it is to consume a variety of produce and yes, that includes celery. So I juiced it. And honestly when pairing it with the green apple it's not in the least bit offensive, and quite pleasant actually.

I used a ratio of 2 stalks of celery to 1 green apple. If you're making this for kids I'd do a ratio of 1 stalk celery to 1 green apple and they won't suspect a thing.

Just run these through the juicer. I have the omega masticating juicer and I couldn't recommend it enough. I'm not the biggest fan of centrifugal juicers because the clean up to me is time consuming compared to the masticating juicers. And the quality of juice is poorer, as well as the nutritious properties since centrifugal juicers oxidize juice much more quickly than masticating juicers. Find the juicer that's right for you, whatever that may be, and juice away!

Celery-Green Apple pairing recommended by Anna Bailey

I Can't Believe It's Not Bacon: Split Pea Soup

Yeah, yeah, yeah- my picture of this soup may be subpar... but I can assure you the soup is not! It all started Tuesday when a friend and I traded lunches after class. I brought her some green curry and she brought me some split pea soup. I warned her before taking a bite: I'm not a fan of the split pea... But then something magical happened. Spoon to mouth I instantly fell in love. It was incredible! I kept saying "How?! It tastes like its been cooking for days in bacon fat, it's so meaty and delicious!". This is definitely the soup you make for the carnivores, just don't tell them it's vegan until after they have a bite- they won't believe you! Oh, and it gets better: it's a crock pot recipe!!

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 medium to large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
7 cups vegetable broth
1 pound split peas, picked through and rinsed 
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (I used hickory) 

In a pan add the olive oil, once hot add the diced onion, carrot, and celery, saute for five minutes. Add your sauteed veggies to the crock pot along with the remaining ingredients, except for the liquid smoke. Cook on low for 8 hours (turn it on before work and wah-la, dinner awaits when you get home) or cook on high for four hours. Turn off the crock pot and stir in the liquid smoke and salt to taste; serve up!

Makes roughly 8 serves and freezes excellently

Recipe adapted from Fresh From the Vegan Slower Cooker by Robin Robertson

Green Curry: the cheating way

I made this green curry when I was in a hurry and in a pinch. It's totally cheating because I had green curry paste on hand, I did not make the paste from scratch. The good news is it is that much easier to make.

12 new (baby) potatoes
1 tomato
1 green pepper
2 yellow peppers
1 small head broccoli
2 small boxes baby portobella mushrooms, quartered
2 cans coconut milk
1 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
3-4 tablespoons green curry paste, found in the Asian aisle at any supermarket

Cut the potatoes into wedges, then steam them until they're tender. Wash your rice thoroughly, then place it in a small pot with 2 cups water and a pinch of salt, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and pop a lid on it- cook for 20 minutes, then set aside. While your rice and potatoes are cooking: cut the broccoli into florets and saute until al-dente, set aside in a large bowl.  Next saute the mushrooms until tender, then add them to the bowl along with the broccoli. Do the same with the peppers, make sure you don't over saute them, you want them to have a nice bite to them still. Add all sauted veggies plus the steamed potatoes into a stock pot, pour in the coconut milk and add the green curry paste, simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper, you may even want to add some more curry paste if you prefer a stronger flavor. Spoon curry over rice and serve.

Makes roughly 6-8 portions

Raw Zucchini Noodles with Checca Sauce

It's been forever since I've posted something! School has completely taken over my life the past few weeks. I had my 1st year comprehensive exam on Tuesday, which was by far the most stressful exam I've taken yet in my entire college (both undergraduate and graduate) career, and now that it's behind me I feel like I can finally get back to the fun stuff! Like cooking!

This not only has super intense flavor for such a simple dish, it's really filling. If you don't have a vegetable spiralizer you can use a vegetable peeler with teeth, if you don't have that you can just use a regular vegetable peeler and then cut the strips into long thinner pieces. Honestly though, they're so much fun to use. You can get really decent ones from Amazon under 20 bucks!

1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
Wedge of lemon
2 large tomatoes (I used one yellow one and one red one because that's what I had on hand)
2 small garlic cloves, minced
Handful of basil, cut into thin ribbons
Good quality olive oil, I eyeballed it- roughly 1/4 cup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

Cut your tomatoes in half and squeeze them over the sink to remove the seeds, then cut the flesh into 1/2 inch pieces, place in a bowl along with the garlic, basil, oil, vinegar, and sun-dried tomatoes. Give it a stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. Leave on the counter for at least 20 minutes to marinate. In the meantime spiralize your zucchini and squash. Take a wedge of lemon and squeeze it over the spiralized veggies, along with a teaspoon or two of olive oil- give it a good toss. Divide the veggie noodles into four separate bowls, then divide the sauce into four portions and spoon over noodles. Serve and enjoy :).

Makes 4 small portions, recipe adapted from Chef Mel