Veggies & Wine

I’m struggling a bit with recipes that don’t include oil, flour or cheese. Everything is starting to taste the same anymore.  I’m in desperate need of new vegan low fat recipes.

SUNDAY: Golden Potato Soup 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 168 UPDATE: VERY Good. Minimized the oil to 1T. Great topper for baked potatoes

MONDAY: Spinach Twice Baked Potatoes; UPDATE: Bit dry due to ‘McDougalling’ the recipe (i.e. took out butter)

TUESDAY: Steamed Veggie Dumplings with dipping sauce 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 42 UPDATE: Complete and utter failure. Need steamer for this one to work.

WEDNESDAY: Potato Pancakes with vegan sour cream 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 377

THURSDAY: Veggie Fried Rice 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 268

FRIDAY: Roasted Potatoes with Tomatoes UPDATE: FANTASTIC RECIPE!!! Reduced the oil to 1T

I had a slip up today after drinking too much wine and staying up late playing rock band — bagel with cream cheese My first slip up and I’m sure I will have more but I must brush myself off and get back on the vegan wagon starting now! Here’s my menu for the week.

Sunday: Green Potato Soup – McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Plan page 235

UPDATE: Awesome with revised recipe.

Monday: Veggie Fried Rice – 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 268

Tuesday: Spanish Style Veggie Casserole – McDougall Cookbook page 241

UPDATE: Would’ve been good without the peas

Wednesday: Grated Potato Bake & Green Bean Medley McDougall Cookbook page 311 & 324

UPDATE: Green beans were PERFECT! Grated potato bake too mushy so made Scalloped Potatoes with corn. Would’ve been good if I had cooked them long enough.

Thursday: Brown Rice & Lentil Pilaf 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 270

Friday: Hearty Brown Stew – McDougall Cookbook page 169

Saturday: Spinach Twice Baked Potatoes

O.M.G. this recipe turned out so freaking good! This recipe is adapted from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. The recipe calls for basil but I didn’t have any being that it’s January in NJ so I replaced with spinach. I gave these an A. My husband wanted the potato slices thicker (I sliced mine using the food processor slice blade) so they would be more ‘meaty’.

This is a low fat vegan pizza that totally satisfies my pizza cravings without missing animal products at all!

SPINACH AND POTATO PIZZA

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium potato, peeled and cut int 1/4″ slices
• salt and pepper to taste
• oregano to taste
• basic whole wheat pizza dough
• 1/2 cup baby spinach, washed
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 roma tomatoes
• 2 tbsp white wine

Directions:

1. Place the oven rack on the lowest level of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Arrange the potatoes on a lightly oiled baking sheet and season with salt & pepper to taste.
2. Bake until soft and tender, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
3. In a large skillet saute the onions in the white wine until carmelized, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and season with oregano, salt and pepper and set aside
4. Spread the onions over the prepared pizza dough. Top with spinach and tomatoes, then arrange the potatoes on top.
5. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 12 minutes.
6. Cut the pizza into 8 wedges and serve

Nutritional info: Calories: 330; fat: 4.7 g; carbs: 65.5 g; fiber: 10.5 g; protein: 10.8 g

Well I can’t believe I’m on my final week of the Vegan Kickstart! It has gone very well so far. I haven’t lost any weight but I think my addiction to flour products (bread) might be limiting me. So I have decided to make this week’s menu a McDougall Maximum Weight Loss friendly menu. You’ll note there is one exception and that is on Saturday and Friday. I bought some tofu and I’m eager to try it because I have never had tofu in my life. Hope it doesn’t come out like my seitan. Typically, I want to have only Saturday be my ‘cheat’ day with flour.

Saturday: “Vegan Pizza-Off” between me, my husband and our 12 year old daughter. We are all making our own vegan pizza’s and deciding who’s is the best. Mine will never win because it will be low fat.

Sunday: Mexican Rice from The New McDougall Cookbook page 258

Monday: Sweet & Tangy Veggies over brown rice – The New McDougall Cookbook page 217

Tuesday: Texan Veggie Casserole –   McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss page 273

Wednesday: Wild Spinach Rice – McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss page 254 ** I am sprouting my own beans for this one!! First time ever …

Thursday: Italian Garbanzo Stew – McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss page 267

Friday: Lasagna Pinwheels – 1,000 Vegan Recipes page 258

This is a heavily modified recipe from allrecipes.com. The original recipe is Zucchini Potato Bake. Didn’t have zucchini and my husband doesn’t care for it too much so I actually improvised and it was a resounding success. Approval from everyone — finally! Very good and easy and of course low-fat vegan.

Spinach Potato Bake

Prep Time: 15 mins; Cook Time: 1 hr; Ready in 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cups packed spinach ** My family requested even more spinach **
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 bell pepper (any color)
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (I used homemade whole wheat bread and threw it into the food processer for a few minutes)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• paprika to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Boil potatoes in large pot until tender (about 30 minutes)
3. In a large saucepan, saute onions and garlic in wine until tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Add spinach to onions and garlic to wilt
5. In a baking dish toss together the potatoes, onion/garlic/spinach mixture, bell pepper, bread crumbs.
6. Season with red pepper flakes, paprika, salt and pepper
7. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and lightly brown.

Nutritional Info: Calories: 163; Fat: 1.2 g; Carbs: 32.2 g; Fiber: 5.3 g; Protein: 5.4; Cholesterol: 0

My husband has been on me to learn to make “Italian gravy” like his grandmother for years but I’ve never been able to replicate his grandmother’s sauce. Last night was a stroke of luck so I must document the recipe. My husband actually said “this sauce is good”. Holy crap!

The red wine adds a lovely flavor and also keeps the sauce low-fat.

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup red wine
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3/4 – 1 cup red wine (depending on how thick you like your sauce)

Directions:

1. Saute garlic in 1/4 cup red wine until fragrant – about 1 minute.
2. Add remaining ingredients except additional red wine. Bring to boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. I don’t like a heavy bay leaf taste so I remove after ~15 minutes.

That’s it .. pretty easy and taste great and doesn’t take all day to make!

This is a basic pizza dough recipe using whole wheat flour. Most recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of whole wheat flour to all purpose flour. I don’t follow this and just put in a smaller amount of the all purpose and the dough has turned out great. Very hearty pizza dough that will add fiber and keep you full longer.

Pizza Dough

Yield: 1 12″ pizza crust

Serves: 4

Ready in 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• small amount of oil

Directions:

1. Proof the yeast by combining the warm water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Let sit for ~10 minutes until the yeast is foamy  **
2. While the yeast is proofing, combine the remaining ingredients except the oil.
3. Very lightly oil a bowl for your dough and set aside
4. Combine the yeast mixture with the flour mixture. Mix well until the dough holds together. Knead for 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth.
5. Put dough in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a wet cloth. Let rise for 1 hour (or until dough has approximately doubled in size) in a warm, draft free area **
6. After dough has risen, punch down to release the air. Roll out onto pizza baking sheet and let rise for another 10 minutes before adding toppings.

** For proofing the yeast I like to put the bowl in the oven (oven off of course) and turn the oven light on. This is a warm area that allows the yeast to foam correctly. For rising the dough I read a great trick online — boil a small pot of water while you are kneading the dough. Once hot and boiling place in the oven (off of course) with your bowl of dough which is covered with the wet cloth. This additional heat and moisture helps the dough to rise since whole wheat dough tends to take longer to rise than white flour.

Nutritional Info: Calories: 210; Fat: 1.1g; Carbs: 45.5g; Fiber: 7.5g; Protein: 8.2 g

Well I successfully completed my first week vegan! I am anxious to try out these new recipes from 1,000 Vegan Recipes cookbook. I was trying to do the McDougall plan with is low-fat vegan and excludes flour. I just can’t go there yet. Giving up oil and cheese is hard enough plus I think my family would revolt against me.

Saturday: White Pizza with Potato & Onion (page 131)

Sunday: Golden Potato Soup (page 168)

Monday: Zucchini & Potato Bake

Tuesday: French Onion Soup (page 149)

Wednesday: Polenta with Spicy Tomato Ragu (page 277)

Thursday: Yellow Dal with Spinach (page 263)

Friday: Roased Veggie Stromboli (page 134)

I really want to try to make seitan but I think I’ll do that when I’m cooking only for myself.

This recipe is modified from the 1,000 Vegan Recipes cookbook. I doubled the amount of potatoes because the ratio of potatoes to oil was not good — way too oily. We had this for our main dish with a huge salad. This is definitely more of a nice light summer recipe vs the middle of winter dinner. I gave it an A- … my husband gave it a B- (he liked the taste but wasn’t convinced it was very healthy). Forgot to take a picture yet again. I probably won’t be making this one again until the summer … but it is very good!

French Style Potato Salad

Serves: 6-8 for a main dish – more as a side dish

Prep time: 15 mins; Cook time: 30 mins; Ready in 2 hours

Ingredients

• 3 lbs potatoes, scrubbed & unpeeled
• 2 tbsp minced parsley
• 1 tbsp chives, minced
• 1 red onion, diced
• pinch of tarragon
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp sugar

Directions

1. In a large pot boil the potatoes until tender but still firm, about 30 minutes
2. Transfer to a large bowl and add the parsley, chives, onion and tarragon. Set aside
3. In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. Pour the dressing onto the potato mixture and toss.
4. Chill 1-2 hours before serving

I used to make this smoothie with kefir but since going vegan that is a no-no so the replacement is soy milk. Packed full of vitamins and minerals! Great for a late morning breakfast after coffee.

Green Smoothie

Serving: 1-2 (my husband and I split this)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• Frozen banana (if you use a non-frozen banana add a few ice cubes so your smoothie is nice and chilled)
• 2 additional fruits of your choice. I change this up from frozen blueberries, apple, orange, melon. Any fruit that is starting to go bad just throw it in the there.
• 1 tbsp Flax seeds
• Spinach (about 1 cup)

Directions:

1. In a blender (or food processor) add in this order .. banana, soy milk, fruit, flax seed then stuff as much spinach in as will fit.
2. Blend up. This takes me awhile and you might have to take a wooden spoon to shove everything to the bottom if you are using a blender.

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