Mujadara (Lentils & Bulgur)

In one of my trips to visit my parents, my  mother asked around for vegan recipes. Apparently she'd had this at my sister's house, so she got the recipe. My sister had gotten it from refugees she volunteers with. I added carrots, just to fill out the dish a little more just because it was about the only item I ate during that trip.

Ingredients:
1 cup small brown or green lentils
4 cups water, divided
1/4 cup safflower or canola oil
2 large onions, diced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup course bulgur (#3 or #4 grade)
black pepper

Directions:
Boil lentils with 2 cups water, reduce to simmer (about 5-10 minutes).
In a large skillet or saute pan with lid, heat oil. Add onionss and cook until a dark golden brown, stirring frequently. Sprinkle onions with salt as they cook.
Carefully pour remaining 2 cups water into saute pan. Bring to a boil.
Add bulgur and lentils with liquid.
Cover and bring back to a boil. 
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook until lentils and bulgur are consistency you like (al dente). (About 10-15 minutes.) You may need to add water as it cooks.

Butternut Squash and Sage Oven Risotto

My mother made this for me when I was in recovery from surgery. I liked it. It makes a lot, though. Short-grain is in bold because it really needs short grain rice.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 onions, diced
1 tsp sea salt
5 - 7 cups vegetable broth
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven.
3. Add onions and salt, stirring frequently, cook until the onions are translucent and slightly caramelized, about 10 minutes over medium heat. Add a little broth if the pot becomes too dry.
4. Stir in the garlic and sage, cooking until fragrant.
5. Add the squash, rice, and 5 cups of the broth.
6. Stir well, cover, and transfer to the oven.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. After 20 minutes, stir once and check liquid levels. If the broth is not still covering the rice, add 1 cup or so of the broth, then cover and return to baking.
9. Check every 15 minutes or so until the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy and loose but not runny.
10. If the risotto seems too stiff, stir in a little broth to loosen slightly.
11. The risotto should cook for about 90 minutes.

Notes:

• Serves 8.
• You can pre-soak the rice overnight. Cook time will reduce to 60 minutes.
• Recipe was adapted from the Omaha World Herald newspaper recipe page.

Tomale Pie

If you know me and my family, you might be as surprised as I am for something called "Tomale Pie" to make it onto the Codex. It was one of the meals from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor. I changed some of the measurements to be less spicy.

Ingredients:
oil
6 tbsp fine cornmeal
1/2 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup corn
1 tbsp diced green chilies
7-oz diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. Make polenta: Bring 3/4-cup water to a boil. Reduce to low. Slowly whisk in cornmeal, stirring to break down clumps. Add more hot water (about 1/4-cup) to thin out. Salt to taste.
2. Preheat oven to 375F and set aside a square 8 or 9-inch glass casserole dish.
3. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add oil and saute onion and garlic until translucent.
4. Add spices, stirring to coat well, and cook another minute.
5. Add beans, corn, green chilies, and tomatoes.
6. Mix well and cook for a minute or so, then transfer to the casserole dish. 
7. Spread polenta mixture on top and bake 30 minutes, or until polenta is firm.
8. Allow to cool for 15 minutes while the polenta firms. 

Notes:

• Serves 2.
• Per serving: 387 calories, 3.8g fat, 70.1g carbs, 15.6g fiber, 6.7g sugar, 19.5g protein.
• If you like spice, double the chili powder to 1/2 tsp, and add as much as 2-oz of diced green chilies. You can pour hot sauce on top, too.
• Top with guacamole or sliced olives for more flavor.

Onion Roasted Potatoes

This is something I've been making since I was a kid and cooking when I got home from school to make dinner for the family. This is so easy.If you are a new cook, this is about as easy as it gets.

Ingredients: 
1 envelope dry onion soup mix 
4 medium all-purpose potatoes, cut into large chunks (about 2 lb.) 
1/3 cup olive oil 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 425. 
2. Combine ingredients in a 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Shake. 
3. Pour into a 13 x 9” baking or roasting pan. 
4. Bake, stirring occasionally, 35 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown. 

Notes:

• Vegan if you use a vegan onion soup mix.
• Since I was a little girl, we used Lipton onion soup mix. Probably someone is going to tell me that one isn't vegan but it looked like it upon review when I made it tonight.
• Serves 4.
• Prep Time: 10 Min. Cook Time: 40 Min.

Tofu Scramble

I have learned that I love tofu scrambles. There's very few that I don't like. Given that I keep adding potential scrambles to this page, I should probably break them out into individual ones, but the thing about tofu scrambles is you can do a little of this and a little of that. You never have to follow exactly any given recipe. 

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion or 3 scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 bell pepper (red, yellow, orange, or green), finely diced
One 16-ounce package extra-firm tofu (previously frozen and thawed), drained and rinsed
1 cup loosely packed spinach leaves, rinsed and patted dry
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until the onion and peppers are tender and turning a little brown.
2. Meanwhile, using your hands, crumble the tofu into a bowl to create the consistency of coarse bread crumbs. Add to the saute pan and stir to combine.
3. Add the spinach, brown rice, turmeric, cumin, paprika, and nutritional yeast, and saute for about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tofu is a bright yellow color (from the turmeric) and thoroughly heated.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

• Yields 2-4 servings
• Great use for leftover rice
• You can add mushrooms (crimini)
• Adapted from the book the 30 Day Vegan Challenge (book).
• Make Mexican Scramble by adding 1 cup of salsa after the tofu is cooked, and allowing it to heat through. Put into a breakfast burrito by wrapping the scramble in a tortilla and serving with tortilla chips, avocado.
• For an Italian twist, add fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, and/or parsley.
• Adapted from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor, you can also do a Kale Scramble (shown right): 7.5 oz extra-firm tofu, 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 0.5 tsp garlic powder, 0.5 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, pinch turmeric, handful of kale. Follow directions above starting at step 2, adding everything except kale. Add in kale at the end, and cook down. Serves 1.
• Adapted from the Happy Herbivore Meal Mentor, you can do another Italian Scramble (shown below): 1-4 garlic cloves minced, 1 diced roma tomato, 15-oz extra firm tofu (drained), 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric. Saute garlic and tomato until mostly dry, add in tofu and all the seasonings, cooking over medium until warm and well combined. Serves 2. 

Onion Strings

I'm going through the Codex to find what I can make vegan. For my birthday, I thought onion strings would go well with my BBQ sandwich. So I took Ree's Onion Strings and easily changed it to vegan by making 1 alteration.

Ingredients:
1 whole Large Onion
2 cups Coconut Milk (So Delicious)
2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Canola Oil (enough to create a decent fry depth)
Black Pepper To Taste

Directions:

1. Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with coconut milk and soak for at least an hour. The longer the better - be sure your onions are well separated for soaking.
2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Heat oil to 375 degrees.
4. Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tap to shake off excess, and place into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown.
5. Repeat until onions are gone.

Other Details:

• Be sure your fry oil is fresh for these.

Side: Sweet Onions

We've been making these for several years now. They make a great topping for your grilled meat (brats, burgers, steak) or veggies (baked potatoes).

Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 white or yellow onion
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 Tbsp butter
white wine or beer

Directions:

1. Chop and slice the onion into half rings.
2. Put olive oil into a saute pan over medium-high heat.
3. Cook onions until soft. Throw in a couple pats of butter. Cook until caramelized.
4. Deglaze the pan with some wine (or beer if you don't have a white wine.)
5. Serve as a topping.

Entree: Ree's Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Potatoes and Strings

Watching a cooking/restaurant show on one of the food/cooking networks one day, we saw a bacon-wrapped meatloaf on a piled of mashed potatoes topped with onion strings. This sounded so good to us that day, so I looked up a bacon-wrapped meatloaf recipe. The Pioneer Woman's recipe came up. Already loving most of the recipes she provides, we tried hers. We decided it would become 1 of the 3 meatloaf recipes in a Codex, only with a few changes. Click the link for the original recipe in other details to get hers, this one reflects the changes (in size and sauce) that we made for our own family's taste. We call it's Ree's Meatloaf (Modified).

I direct you to last week's posted recipe for Ree's Onion Strings, which top the meatloaf. I've also included here our basic mashed potato recipe, which are plated first.

Ingredients:
Meatloaf
1/2 cup Milk
3 slices Bread
1 pounds Ground Beef
1/2 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/8 teaspoons Seasoned Salt
3/8 teaspoons Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/6 cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
2 whole Eggs Beaten
5 slices Thin/regular Bacon (you can wrap, but on the side is good as well)

Mashed Potatoes
4-6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3-4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, parmesan, mix, any will do)
half-and-half or milk, probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup - we eyeball this

Directions:

Meatloaf

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.
2. Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.
3. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain.
4. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)
5. Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
6. Bake for 60 minutes. 
7. Slice and serve with mashed potatoes (& onion strings).

Potatoes

1. Boil potatoes about 20-30 minutes until fork tender. 
2. Drain water. Transfer into bowl for mashing and serving.
3. Cut the butter up into a couple chunks and add to the potatoes. Add the cream (milk, half-and-half) until the bottom of the bowl between the potatoes chunks is covered about a half inch. Mash with the hand masher. Throw in the shredded cheese and continue to mix and mash. If the potatoes are too dry, add a little more cream. 

Other Details:

Meatloaf

• Original Meatloaf Recipe 
• Potatoes serve 4-8. Meatloaf serves 6-8.
• Nutrition for 8 servings on meatloaf.
• Nutrition for 6 servings of potatoes. 
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Potatoes

Side dish: Ree's Onion Strings

The Pioneer Woman's Onion Strings get made in our house fairly often. She's right, it's hard not to eat them as you make them. However, I find her suggestion that it only feeds 2 people a little low. We usually get our family of 4 fed with one onion, and have leftovers. These are a great addition to so many dishes, and I'll be posting these on an entree next week.

Ingredients:
1 whole Large Onion
2 cups Buttermilk
2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon (scant) Salt
1/4 teaspoon (to 1/2 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
1 quart (to 2 Quarts) Canola Oil
Black Pepper To Taste

Directions:

1. Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk and soak for at least an hour.
2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Heat oil to 375 degrees.
4. Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tap to shake off excess, and PLUNGE into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown.
5. Repeat until onions are gone.
6. Eat before your family sees them.
7. Repeat with another onion, because they’ll be really mad they didn’t get any.

Other details:

• Original Recipe
• Prep Time: 1 hour 
• Cook Time: 15 minutes 
• Difficulty: Easy 
• Serves 2 (Although I'm pretty sure we get 4+ servings out, although it's possible the husband has used 2 onions and I just didn't pay attention.)
• Also, we don't usually measure most of this out. We cut up an onion, and fill with Buttermilk, and dredge in as much of a combination of flour, salt, and pepper as needed and the ratios look good.
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