Vegan Potato Dumpling Soup

Ingredients

Soup

• 2 tbls olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 shallot, thinly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced small
• 2 stalks celery with leaves chopped
• 2 lbs potato - peeled and cubed
• 2 - 14 oz cans vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp thyme
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
• 1/3 cup almond milk

Dumplings

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tbls chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup almond milk

Directions

1. Sprinkle the bottom of a stock pot with sea salt and heat oil over medium-high heat
2. Sautee onion, shallot, garlic, carrot and celery with leaves until tender
3. Add potatoes, broth, water and thyme -bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until potatoes are tender - about 20 minutes
4. Using the back of a spoon or fork, slightly mash potatoes to thicken soup
5. Add frozen corn
6. In a separate bowl combine ingredients for dumplings
7. Spoon dumpling mixture by small spoonfuls into soup
8. Cover and allow dumplings to cook about 10 minutes or until cooked through
9. Sprinkle in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste
10. Before serving, stir in 1/3 cup almond milk and heat through

Black Bean Turkey Chili

This chili recipe was inspired by the recipe Black-Bean Salsa Chili that appeared in Cooking Light this month.

Ingredients
4 cans black beans, rinsed, drained and divided
1/2 cup water
2 tbls dark brown sugar
cooking spray
1 pound ground turkey
2 small yellow onions diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
8 turkey bacon slices chopped into pieces
3 tbls chili powder
2 tbls cumin
2 teasp paprika
2 teasp oregano
2 teasp garlic powder
1/4 teasp red pepper
3 cups mild salsa
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced green chilies
2 cans fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teasp fresh lime juice

Directions:
-Combine 2 cans beans and 1/2 cup water in food processor and process until smooth
-Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat, and coat pan with cooking spray. Add turkey and cook for 5 minutes or until browned and crumbled, remove turkey from pan
-Add onion, garlic, peppers, bacon and cook until bacon and onion are slightly brown
-Return turkey to the pan and add chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder and crushed red pepper to pan - stir well
-Stir in bean puree and remaining two cans of beans, salsa, chilies, tomato paste and broth
-Bring to a boil
-Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes
-Taste and adjust seasoning
-Combine sour cream, cilantro and juice in a small bowl.
-Serve chili with sour cream mixture

Stuffed Eggplant - Vegetarian

As ususal - an experiment.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggplants cut in half lengthwise
• 2-3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 rib celery - chopped
• 1 carrot- chopped
• 1 small zucchini - chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms -chopped
• 1/2 small red onion -diced
• 2 roma tomatoes - diced
• handful of golden raisins
• 1 cup dry couscous
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• salt & pepper
• olive oil
• Ras el Hanout seasoning - http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1185359
• crumbled goat cheese
• parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Fill the bottom of a large skillet with about 1 inch of water and place sliced eggplant skin side down in the water - cover and let steam approx. 5-10 minutes or until eggplant is soft
• While eggplant are steaming, prepare couscous: bring 1 cup of water to a boil with handful of golden raisins and about 3 tablespoons chopped red onion - when water boils, add couscous and 1 tsp Ras el Hanout seasoning, stir quickly, cover and remove from heat - let sit for about 5 minutes
• When eggplant is soft, remove from skillet and set on paper towels, drain water
• When eggplant is cool enough to handle, scoop out the inside - leaving about 1/2 an inch of flesh around the shell -place shells on a baking sheet - cut up the eggplant that was removed and set aside
• in the same skillet heat 1 tbls olive oil - brown pine nuts - about 30 sec - remove pine nuts to a separate bowl
• in the same skillet heat 1-2 tbls olive oil - toss in garlic, vegetables (all but eggplant), about 2 tablespoons Ras el Hanout, salt and pepper to taste and sautee until tender
• Add pine nuts, chickpeas couscous, and eggplant to skillet and heat through
• Spoon the mixture into the eggplant shells, top with a little goat cheese and parmesan, cracked pepper
• Bake for about 10 minutes -or until filling and eggplant shells are heated through

Jambalaya

I haven't made this for a while - so hopefully I don't forget anything!

Ingredients
1 (5 -pound) chicken trimmed of fat and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound andouille sausage sliced (Kroeger Meats at Findlay has a mild andouille that is out of this world)
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
1/2 teaspoon (+) cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons cajun seasoning
1 can chopped tomatoes
2-3 dashes of tabasco/hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3-4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon thyme
2 quarters chicken broth
3 cups white rice
1 pound small shrimp - peeled and deveined (you could use the frozen kind that is already peeled)
handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

• season chicken pieces with salt and pepper
• heat olive oil in a large stock pot
• add the chicken and sear each side for about 3 minutes
• remove from pot and drain
• add sausage to the oil in the pot and cook until browned
• add onion, peppers, celery, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1.2 tsp cayenne, 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning - stir often until vegetables are soft
• add tomatoes, tabasco, garlic and bay leaves until tomatoes give off juice
• add thyme, chicken stock and chicken pieces - bring to a boil
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 50 minutes
• remove chicken from pot and let cool, cut chicken remove skin from bone and shred (discard skin and bones)
• add rice to the pot and bring back to boil, reduce heat and cover until rice is tender
• return shredded chicken to pot
• season shrimp with remaining tablespoon of cajun seasoning and add to the pot with the chopped parsley
• return pot to a simmer and cover until shrimp is cooked
• Taste and adjust salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

Roasted Jalapeño Dip

This was inspired by a recipe I saw in a magazine. The real recipe calls for Jalapeno halves to be stuffed, then grilled, but with some ingredient additions, I thought it was easier to take the dip cold in a bowl to share as a dip.

Ingredients

• 10 Jalapenos
• 1 cup diced and seeded tomato
• 3 green onions sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 teaspoon + cilantro
• 5 oz goat cheese
• 4 oz softened light or fat free cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees
• Cover a baking sheet with foil
• Cut jalapenos in half and carefully de-seed them
• Place peppers on baking sheet and roast in oven until sides begin to brown (10-15 minutes) - half way through flip peppers over
• Once peppers have cooled, dice
• In a medium sized bowl combine peppers with all other ingredients and refridgerate
• Serve with tortilla chips or crackers

Banana Nut Bread - Experiment 1

I need to work on making this a little healthier - maybe with some wheat flour, flax seed, whole grain etc.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packet
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 ripened bananas mashed
• 1 small package of chopped pecans (or other nut of choice)
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Combine all ingredients until smooth and bake @ 350 in a pre-greased/sprayed loaf pan for 40-45 minutes...or in muffin tins for about 25 minutes

As a topping you could combine 1 tbls butter, 1 tbls sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and pour on top while the bread is still warm

Bourbon Marinade

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light soy sauce
3 Tabl vegetable oil
2 medium onions, sliced
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tabl minced fresh ginger root
2 Tabl dark brown sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup bourbon

Instructions:
1. In a heavy-duty gallon size plastic bag with a zip top, mix together all ingredients. Add the meat and marinate overnight.
2. Makes about 1 3/4 cups.