Vegetarian Twice Baked Potato with Bacon

Oh yeah, you read that right - with bacon! Ok ok, so they're bacon-bits -- crunchy bits of soy protein artificially flavored to taste like bacon, but hey, in this recipe, they actually work better than real bacon because they're SO crunchy before they're mixed into the potato mix, and don't get rubbery like real bacon can. This is one of those eye-ball and taste recipes, so my measurements are approximate.

P.S.: DO NOT try to make this a low-fat recipe; this is a splurge dish. I cannot vouch for the results if you use low-fat/non-fat substitutes.

mmmm yummy twice-baked potato stuffed with goodies.

4 russet baking potatoes, scrubbed clean
4 scallions (green onions) sliced very thin, 1 Tbs reserved
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper (I omit)
3 Tbs butter
1/4 cup sour cream (give or take)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup artificial bacon flavored bits
3 cloves of garlic, crushed (or 1 Tbs garlic powder)



Bake the Potatoes, The First Time:

1) Heat your oven to 450ºF.

2) Pierce the potatoes with a fork about six times on each side - this will allow moisture to escape and make the insides nice and fluffy.

3) Cook directly on the rack for 45 to 60 minutes until the potato "gives" when you squeeze it with a hot pad.

4) Turn the oven heat down to 375º. Remove potatoes from oven and cut all potatoes in half length-wise like boats (see photo above) and allow to cool until they can comfortably be handled.

Mix up all the good-stuff:

1) Carefully scoop out the soft flesh of the potatoes into a mixing bowl, leaving enough to hold the shape of the potato and not collapse the skin. If you scoop out too much (ha) you can shape some foil around the potato skin to give it support til you refill and bake the skins. Sprinkle a little salt and/or pepper into the skins for flavor if you like to eat potato skins when all the good stuff is gone.

2) Gently mash with a fork; it shouldn't be too smooth, but fluffy and a little lumpy. You want to work kind of quickly so that the warmth of the potato flesh melts the goodies together in the bowl.

3) Cut your butter into little cubes and toss into the bowl with the salt and/or pepper and gently mix through the potatoes.

4) Throw in the scallions, garlic, bacon bits, and sour cream, and mix. If the mix is dry and crumbly, add a little more sour cream and taste.

5) Finally, add almost all of the cheese and stir. At this point, taste again to see if you need to add more salt. I used salted butter, and of course the bacon bits and cheese were salty, so I didn't have to add much at all. I really just used a pinch or two of coarse sea salt from our own Sonoma Coast.

6) Refill your potato skins and top with more scallions, bacon bits, and of course, CHEESE.

7) Arrange in a 9x13 baking pan and cook in the 375º oven for about 20 minutes. Serve while piping hot.

Tips and Adjustments:

If you serve both halves per person with a side of steamed broccoli, it can serve as a main dish, or you can serve just one half as a side to your favorite dish.

Try mixing up the cheese that you put into the mix; a nice pepper-jack or a creamy blue-cheese would make a great addition. I wanted to use parsley but I forgot to get fresh herbs, and the dried parsley just doesn't seem proper for this recipe.

**Note: Vegan cheese may or may not work in this recipe - I have heard that true vegan cheese does not contain casein, the protein that helps cheese to melt.

Meatless Shepherd's Pie

I love Shepherd's pie. It's a great way to use up veggies that are still ok, but looking a little wilty, to create a hearty dinner that is similar to a pot pie. By doing this, you're cutting down on the waste in your kitchen as well because they may not be PRETTY vegetables, but because they're cooked down into a hearty sauce, it doesn't much matter. My mom and I decided to do some creating in the kitchen on this because we had a frozen Marie Callendar's pie crust that puffed up when we were making pies for her office for Pi Day (a post for another time).

As a vegetarian, it takes some creative cooking to make foods taste like they're "supposed" to taste. For this recipe, I use a vegan beef flavored base. Check out the review on my blog here.

This is a "use whatever vegetables you have on hand" recipe which basically makes a vegetable stew in a pie crust topped with herbed mashed potatoes. My favorite would be a mushroom mix (crimini, white, portobello, and trumpet) with garlic, leeks and yellow onions.


This one used the following for the filling:



Filling:
*Crimini Mushrooms (sliced)
*Yellow Onions (half moon slices, then quartered)
*Garlic (6-8 cloves, roughly chopped)
*Red bell pepper (diced)
*haricots vert (fresh green beans) (rough chop)
*carrots (sliced into "chips" or coin shapes)
*celery (rough chop)
*frozen peas (add at the end)
*frozen corn (add at the end)

Gravy
2 -3 cups boiling water
2 Tbs. Better than Bouillon Vegan No Beef stock (more or less based on your personal tastes)
1-2 Tbs corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water or broth

Topping:
1-2 lbs of potatoes (new, red, yukon gold, peeled russets, whatever you like for mashed potatoes), boiled in salted water
4 Tbs butter or margarine
1/4 cup sour cream or sour cream substitute
1/4 cup reserved boiling liquid
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh chopped scallions or chives
salt and pepper to taste
Paprika

Crust:
Lazy way 1 - buy a vegan frozen pie crust and pre-bake it according to the directions. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't puff up in the middle.
Lazy way 2 - make a box of vegetarian stuffing, put it in the bottom of a round dish and up the sides, then bake it off for about 20 minutes at 350.

1) Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil, add your chopped potatoes, and cook til fork tender; drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the water, and place in a mixing bowl or back in the pot to be mashed. Mix in the water, the butter, sour cream, scallions, and parsley, and mash til smooth enough to feed through a piping bag with a large tip.

2) Over medium-high heat, sautee all but the frozen vegetables in some olive oil and sea-salt until they are soft, but not mushy.


3) Mix the vegan beef base into the hot water, and pour over the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Ladle out 1/4 cup of broth (give or take) into a small bowl and stir in the cornstarch. Pour back into the vegetables and broth, and cook til it has thickened up like a stew or gravy. Repeat this step if you need to thicken it more. Just be sure to cook out the cornstarch taste.(I think a little thicker is better since it won't soak the pie crust). At this point, stir in your frozen corn and peas.

4) Pour the veggie-gravy mix into the cooled pie crust. Using either a cookie scoop or a piping bag (I used the cookie scoop on this one) start topping the mixture with the mashed potatoes in a decorative design. If you scoop the potatoes, you can gently press them down and make them look like scallops on top of the pie.

5) Top the potatoes with a generous dose of paprika to aid in browning. I also sprayed a little bit of Pam on top to help it get a crunchy golden-brown color.


6) Bake at 375º for about a half hour or until the potatoes are golden, and the gravy is bubbling around the edges.



Serve up with a dollop of sour cream and any left-over chives/scallions/parsley.

Add vegetables of your liking; I think eggplant would be good in this. You can, of course add meat or the meat substitute of your choice (Gardein supposedly makes a delicious meat crumble). By changing the beef base and certain veggies, you could make this a "chicken" pot pie instead.

Some shredded sharp cheddar cheese in the potatoes would be yummy too.

You could also put these in small ramekins and bake individual sized pies for each family member.

Best White Bread for the bread machine

I love my bread-maker. It is so convenient and easy. I love the smell of baking bread. I love that when I put the ingredients in the little metal bucket, I know a beautiful, smooth, wonderful loaf of bread is going to come out. And seriously, what could be easier?

I tweaked this recipe from AllRecipes.com last night before I went to lay down to rest. The result was a delicious loaf of bread that looked and tasted like a professional baker made it. The secret? I didn't have bread-flour on hand but I did have All Purpose Flour and my vital wheat gluten from the seitan post. So...I substituted in about 3/4 cup of vital wheat gluten into my flour and it came out beautifully. I also substituted grapeseed oil (from Trader Joe's, $3.49 for 16 oz) for the vegetable oil. It's lighter and healthier for you, and organic evaporated cane sugar because it hasn't been (possibly) refined with charred animal bones to make it bright white. I buy mine in the bulk section of my market for a little over $2 a pound, versus upward of $5 to $7 a pound pre-packaged.

* 1 cup warm water (~110º F)
* 2 Tbs. organic evaporated, unrefined cane sugar

(if you have to buy packaged, Florida Crystals is supposed to be a good one. Click on the link and go to page 3 for a 55 cent off coupon)

* 1/4 cup grapeseed or safflower oil (or canola if you must - do not use corn or olive oil)
* 2 and 1/4 cups all purpose unbleached flour
* 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten (all good vegans/vegetarians should have this on hand anyway)
* 1 teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt
*1 (.25 oz) package of dry active yeast - don't use the rapid rise

(these directions are specific to my bread machine; if yours has different directions, please follow them)

1) Add the water, sugar, and oil to your bread machine pan.

2) In a bowl, mix the flour, the wheat gluten, and the salt, and whisk together; your flour will now be light and silky (it's kinda fun to feel that smooooooth feeling), and carefully add it to the top of the water/oil mix.

3) Make a small well in one of the corners of the flour being careful not to allow the water to come through, and pour your package of yeast into the well.

4) Shut the lid, and use the Basic or White bread setting with the lightest crust color. Walk away.

5) When the bread is done, use a pot holder to remove the pan and turn the bread out. Slice and spread with butter and/or jam, honey, etc. Snarf it down. Repeat.

Million Dollar Mac and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese. Cheese and Macaroni. It's a delicious treat. It's a comfort food. It can also be made really, really badly. I mean, who hasn't in their life eaten a box of THIS STUFF? Yellow death. Loaded with preservatives and salt, it's horrible for you and in all honesty, doesn't really taste that great unless you doctor it up with some real melty gouda, some scallions or shallots, and a bread crumb topping. Even then, it's still pretty foul.

In this post, we'll learn how to make REAL homemade Mac and Cheese with quality ingredients. It's delicious, gooey, cheesey, and has a lot of FLAVOR and really doesn't take much time. It uses a French technique, but never fear. It just sounds impressive. I guarantee your family will want to lick the casserole dish when you're done with this meal.

(for a family size meal):

• 1 lb. Pasta (rotini, mini-penne, rigatoni, Macaroni shells or elbows - something bite-size that will hold on to the sauce)
• 1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheese (sharp cheddar, smoked gouda, pepper jack, Parmesan, Romano...choose something with a strong taste that will stand up to the pasta - make a mix if you want to)
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 2 Tbs. all purpose flour
• 1 cup non-fat or low-fat milk
• salt
• pepper
• panko bread-crumbs

1) Prepare the Pasta
Bring lightly salted water [you need to salt the water to infuse a little flavor into the pasta since we won't be doing anything else to it] to a boil and add16 oz (by weight) dry small pasta - I used mini-Penne pasta, but you can use traditional macaroni, shells, or small rotini, rigatoni, or another smaller pasta. Cook to desired doneness. I like mine a little beyond "al dente" which literally translates to mean "to the tooth." It means the pasta is not hard, but has some resistance and is a little chewy. I prefer mine softer than that.

2) Make your cheese sauce
This sauce starts with a béchamel, one of the Mother Sauces of French cooking. Don't be intimidated, however; it is surprisingly easy to create this sauce.
You will need
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of All Purpose flour
1 cup of non-fat milk (warmed in the microwave)
1 cup (or a little more) of your favorite shredded cheese* [I used shredded colby/jack]
Salt and Pepper to taste.
*Note: The stronger cheeses, like sharp cheddar or smoked gouda will give a cheesier taste, but the Colby/Jack mix works well too.

We start this sauce with a roux, which is just equal parts butter and flour. Over medium heat in a non-stick pot, melt the butter, being conscious not to let it burn! Once the butter is melted, use a wisk and blend the flour into the butter. Keep stirring, being sure not to let the roux darken, otherwise your sauce will take on the wrong color and perhaps a burned taste. It should take on a very light caramel color.

After about 2 minutes, we turn the roux into the béchamel by SLOWLY adding the milk, about a quarter cup at a time, into the roux. KEEP WISKING or you will get a lumpy sauce. (Note, this sauce will be thick, so if you like it thinner, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup more milk). Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir often, especially the bottom of your pot, until it thickens and JUST begins to boil (anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes). At this point, I add my pepper and salt.

Pull off the heat and add 1 cup of your cheese, a couple handfuls at a time, stirring vigorously to melt it. It will be thick, and cheesy and gooey (mmmm gooey). You may be asking about the other 1/2 cup of cheese. HOLD ON!

3) We Move to the Oven

Spray an oven safe dish with cooking spray. Pour your cooked pasta into the dish, and spread the cheese sauce over the pasta, stirring it together to incorporate all the pasta into your sauce. Smooth it out and top with a very thin layer of bread crumbs. Spread the last 1/2 cup of cheese on top, then load it into a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. It is done when topping is golden brown and sauce is bubbly.

Let set on the counter for about 5 minutes so everything is cohesive and cools enough to be safe, then dish up. Waiting on this gooey treat is the hardest part!

TIPS/Add Ins:

Add frozen peas, spinach, finely diced cooked carrots, small florets of pre-cooked broccoli or cauliflower, etc. when you mix the cheese sauce into the pasta to increase the vegetables in this dish. Your kids will eat it up because who doesn't love veggies smothered in cheese sauce?

Add 1/4 cup of silken tofu to boost the protein in this dish. (Blend 1/4 cup of the milk and tofu in the blender before mixing it into your roux)

Add 1/4 cup of diced chicken or ham if you're into that kind of thing; I don't eat meat.

Healthy Eggplant Parmesan

Hi guys. Thanks for stopping by. In future posts, I'll try to take photos and post them, especially for difficult or tricky steps of recipes, and of course, a photo of the finished product.

So I love...LOVE...LOVE Italian food. But much of it is really food that is meant to be eaten for celebrations or, in other words, from time to time or special occasions. There are ways to healthify these delicious dishes, however. This recipe doesn't use any frying, and incorporates some fresh veggies (or fungi and fruit, I guess).

Ingredients

• 1 medium to large Italian eggplant, peeled, then sliced in rounds about 1/4 inch thick (TIP: get rid of the end pieces - you want to see seeds in all the rounds because this is the tender part)
• 3/4 cup unflavored PANKO breadcrumbs (click here for a 75 cent off coupon)
• 2 Tbs. Italian seasoning
• Kosher salt
• 1 to 2 eggs beaten (or 1/4 cup egg beaters)
• 1/2 cup flour
  
• 1 jar of Prego Fresh Mushroom Italian Sauce (or your favorite flavor)
• 4 to 6 oz mozzarella cheese (Precious or Kraft taste best)
• 2-3 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese**
  
• 1 roma tomato, diced
  
• 1/2 cup chopped crimini a.k.a. "baby bella" mushrooms (or white, if you prefer)
  
• 1 tbs butter or olive oil
• cooking spray
• FRESH Basil (8-10 large leafs, cut on a chiffonade)
  

Tools

• sautee pan
• 9x12 rectangular pan (or smaller if you can fit all the eggplant rounds)
  
• wooden spoon
• 2 shallow bowls (one for panko and one for the egg)
• 1 quart size zip-top baggie
• a sharp knife (duh, but you'd be surprised!)
• vegetable peeler (duh, redux)
• cookie pan lined with foil or parchment paper
• colander
• paper towels or clean flour-sack (ie lint free) towels
  

The Pre-Steps (Mise en place/Everything in Place)

1. Peel and slice the eggplant. Sprinkle both sides lightly with Kosher salt and place in the colander in the sink. This process is called "sweating" the eggplant. It draws the excess moisture out of the eggplant, reducing the bitterness, and allowing for a crispy "oven-fried" eggplant. Walk away for 2-3 hours. Come back and rinse your eggplant then thoroughly dry them with the paper towels or flour sack towels.
   
2. Season your breadcrumbs with 1/2 tsp. of salt and all the Italian herbs. Place in one of the shallow bowls.
3. Beat your egg/s with a little water, and place in one of the shallow bowls.
   
4. Put the flour in the zip-top baggie.
5. Spray the lined cookie sheet with cooking spray.
6. Preheat your oven to 375º.

Ok, Let's COOK!

1. Put the eggplant in the bag with the flour and *shake shake shake* til they're all evenly coated.
2. Working with one "wet hand" and one "dry hand", gently dip each round into the egg batter, then coat each side with Panko bread crumbs and place on your cookie sheet. Lightly spray the top of the coated rounds with cooking spray and bake for 8 minutes. Flip them over, and cook for another 8 minutes.
3. While the eggplant is baking, heat oil/butter in your sautee pan and add your mushrooms and a pinch of kosher salt. When the mushrooms have softened, toss in the diced tomato and cook til heated through. (I love this part, it smells soooooo good)
4. Pour some of the jarred sauce into the bottom of your pan, and if necessary, thin with 1 to 2 Tbs. water*, then mix in the mushrooms and the tomatoes, and a sprinkle of the Parmesan.
5. Lay out the rounds of the eggplant on top of the sauce, then spoon more sauce on top of each slice of eggplant. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese, the fresh basil, and either lay very thin slices or sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the entire pan of eggplant.
6. COVER with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes at 375º.
7. Dish up and devour while hot and gooey.

TIPS:

*I found that the sauce was a LITTLE thick, and definitely needed thinning so that the eggplant would soak up all the flavors

**Please please please don't use the green can of shelf-stable Parmesan; invest $3.99 for an 8 oz container of FRESH grated Parmesan from the refrigerated pasta section - it will last a long time and reduce the amount of salt you have to add to your food because of the natural flavor of the cheese.

***You could also bread and bake zucchini or yellow long-neck squash with this method, but it still needs to be sweated like the eggplant though probably not as long (30 minutes to an hour). I would also cut it in half, then into 3 inch long, 1/4 inch thick strips, and I would NOT peel it.