Drunkenatheist attempts to cook!

This is totally an eyeball recipe. I should have paid attention to measurements! I threw this together on a whim to go on top of fried polenta after I was inspired by this recipe. Although the corn kernels might sound like a little too much, I thought the sweetness of them might nicely tie in the polenta with the sorta meaty mushroom taste. We really liked it. I'm incredibly critical of my own cooking and I was practically licking it off my plate! :D

I think we're going to keep using this one.

1.5-2 T Olive oil
1 package of dried wild mushrooms (found at Trader Joe's; I think they are around 3-4 oz.), reconstituted in about 1-1.5 cups of hot water. RESERVE THE MUSHROOM WATER!
White wine (I think I used Frey NV Organic Natural White)
1-2 cups of veggie broth
Fistful of corn kernels
Soymilk with about two heaping teaspoons of flour whisked in (should be a runny consistency)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder & thyme

1- Put olive oil and some salt in small saucepan and heat on medium/medium-high. After pan is heated, saute reconstituted mushrooms for about 4 minutes.
2- Splash in some wine to deglaze pan and scrape off any bits of mushroom that may have stuck to the bottom of it. Cook for another two minutes or so, until mushrooms have absorbed most of the liquid.
3- Add about half of the "mushroom water." (SEE TIP BELOW.) Cook until mushrooms have absorbed about half of the liquid. Add about 1/1.5 cups of vegetable broth and continue to cook. Add the rest of your "mushroom water." At this point, your mixture should look a bit like a chunky soup. If it isn't liquid enough for your taste, add more vegetable broth.
4- Stir in corn kernels.
5- Whisk in the soymilk/flour mixture. Stir until it is fully incorporated. Add seasonings to taste and serve over fried polenta.

TIP: After you have pulled dried mushrooms out of their liquid, line another small bowl, drinking glass or coffee mug with a coffee filter. Pour the liquid into the filter and use it to strain the liquid into your bowl, glass or mug. Throw out coffee filter. Voila. No sand or other undesirable stuff will make it into your food, but you can still get all the yummy mushroomy goodness. :)

Ok, so this is more assembly than actual cooking, but I must share! These measurements are probably wrong (I'm trying to recall how much I used of each thing), so feel free to mess around with them. I used a pretty, multi-colored pasta assortment from the bulk bins at Whole Foods.

1 lb. uncooked pasta
4 slices veggie deli ham slices
1/3 cup shredded carrots, chopped
1/2 cup raw broccoli florets, chopped
Small can sliced black olives, drained
Drew's All-Natural Garlic Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup shredded Veganrella
1/2 cup frozen peas
Salt & pepper to taste

1- Cook & drain pasta. Put in a large bowl.
2- Add ham, carrots, broccoli and olives to pasta. Stir until everything is evenly mixed. Add salad dressing a few tablespoons at a time until you get the right consistency (not too dry, not dripping with oil). By this point, your pasta should be slightly cooled down. Add the Veganrella and peas. Season to taste.
3- Refrigerate and devour.

Veganized version of this.

Filling for peppers:
1 cup white instant rice + 1 cup of water (adjust water depending on instructions)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 pouches Boca crumbles
Salt and pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
Approx. 1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Chopped flat leaf parsely to taste

1- Cook instant rice according to package instructions. (I usually microwave this while the rest of my meal is cooking.)
2- Heat a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and Boca crumbles and season with salt and pepper. Cook crumbles for 2 or 3 minutes. Add onion, garlic and bell pepper. Cook together 5 to 7 minutes, until veggies are just tender. Add tomato sauce, cloves, cumin and parsley. (Mixture should be moist but not as wet as chili - you may have to adjust tomato sauce.) Bring mixture up to a bubble and reduce heat to low.

4 peppers (poblano, mild Italian cubanelle or bell are all fine)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling
1 cracked clove of garlic
10 ounces triple washed spinach, stems removed and coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper
2 cups shredded soy cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar or pepper jack cheese)

1- Preheat a griddle or grill pan. Seed and halve peppers. Drizzle peppers with a little oil and grill over medium high to high heat 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until tender. Transfer peppers to a broiler pan or baking sheet, hollow side up.
2- Place a small skillet on the stove top and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and a crushed clove of garlic. Heat over medium flame and add spinach in bunches until it is all wilted and is giving off liquid. Season greens with salt and pepper. Remove spinach and drain. Set aside.
3- Preheat broiler to high.
4- Put a layer of wilted spinach in each pepper shell and then add filling to each pepper, mounding them up in the center. Top liberally with grated cheese and melt cheese under broiler 3 to 5 minutes, then serve.

Olive oil
2 T Earth Balance
2 carrots, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
8 oz. baby bella/cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 t rosemary
1 t sage
1 t marjoram
1 t thyme
8 oz. jar or can of roasted peeled chestnuts packed in water, coarsely chopped/broken
1 lb. loaf of day old dense bread (i.e., Italian bread), cut or torn into cubes/chunks and placed in a large bowl or stock pot
8 oz. cooked wild rice (Trader Joe's pre-cooked wild rice works really well for this)
1 cup (or more) faux chicken broth
Salt and pepper

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15X10X2" glass baking dish and set aside.
2- Put a splash of olive oil in a heavy skillet on medium heat. Add margarine and melt. Once margarine has melted, add carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic and a dash of salt. Put a lid on the pan and drop heat down to low. Cook veggies down until onions are very soft. Add rosemary, sage, marjoram and thyme; gently add stir in chestnuts and remove from heat.
3- Add wild rice and veggie/chestnut mixture to bread. Add enough broth to mixture to moisten and adjust seasonings to taste.
4- Transfer stuffing to dish, top with a few pats of margarine and cover with foil or a lid. Bake for 30 minutes, remove covering and bake for another 15 or until top is browned and crispy.

Non-vegan version here.

1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons oil (read NOTE*)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1. Place the ingredients into the bread baking pan as recommended by your bread machine's manual. Use the DOUGH cycle setting.
2. To hand shape the roll, once the dough cycle is complete remove the dough to a lightly floured cutting board. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Place the rolls into greased muffin tins, brush lightly with melted butter or butter substitute. Cover with a piece of wax paper and a clean cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 15-20 minutes.
3. Bake the rolls at 375 degress for 15-20 minutes.
4. Refrigerate leftovers.
5. *NOTE: Here's a trick to measure the maple syrup and molasses easily. By measuring the oil first, the oil coats the measuring utensil. Then when you measure out the honey and molasses the two ingredients slide off easily into the bread machine pan.

I added a handful of flaxseeds to the flour. These rolls came out SO YUMMY and they freeze really well, too! :)

Ingredients:

1 lb. elbow macaroni
Olive oil
Water
2 T Earth Balance margarine
2 T flour
2 cups of plain, unsweetened soymilk
Nutritional yeast
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper
8 oz. package of Veganrella cheddar flavor
3 slices of Tofutti American style
Canola oil spray
Bread crumbs

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2- Using a box grater, shred Veganrella into a large bowl. Tear up the Tofutti into small chunks and put into the same bowl. Set aside for now.
3- Fill stock pot about halfway or so with water, put in a splash of olive oil and a dash of salt. Put on high heat (to boil for macaroni).
4- Using a small pot - 2 quart size should be sufficient - melt margarine on medium heat. As soon as it has melted, whisk in flour and cook until it smells nutty (a minute at most). Be very careful to make sure it doesn't burn! Once the flour has cooked, whisk in soymilk, making sure there are no flour lumps.
5- By this point, your water has probably started to boil. Dump in macaroni and cook according to package instructions. Once it is cooked, drain it and keep the stock pot out (you're going to use this again).
6- Continue to cook the soymilk mixture until it thickens. Add a few shakes of nutritional yeast, a dash of nutmeg with salt and pepper to taste. Start whisking in soy cheese by the handful. Once all of the soy cheese has melted, taste and add more seasoning if necessary. Remove from heat.
7- Put drained macaroni back into the stock pot and mix cheese sauce onto macaroni until it everything is fully coated.
8- Lightly spray a casserole dish with canola oil spray and spoon macaroni mixture into dish. Top with bread crumbs.
9- Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for another 5-10 to brown the bread crumbs slightly. After removing it from the oven, let stand for a few minutes.

If you live in my house, you'll scarf down as much as you can and keep the rest for leftovers, but in healthier households, you could have this as a side dish with baked tofu, a meatloaf substitute (i.e., Gardenburger cutlets or a nut loaf) or salad.

One thing I miss more than anything is a greasy, nasty, drippy cheesesteak. Last night, I had an epiphany and realized I could just veganize it! When I went to Philly, I'd get an American with. In Jersey, I'd get a mushroom cheesesteak with bacon and sweet peppers. (Even though I grew up in south Jersey, I don't think I could respect myself if I ordered that monstrosity in the city.)

Obviously, a lot of this can be tweaked to your own preferences.

Your favorite crusty rolls.
Olive oil
Sea salt
1 onion - sliced
1 bell pepper - chopped or sliced
1 13.25 oz can of sliced mushrooms packed in water - drained*
1 package of Lightlife "beef" strips
5 slices of Tofutti American "cheese"

Slice your rolls. Put them aside or set your oven to 350 and put them directly on the rack.

Get out a large omelette pan/skillet and a large bowl. Throw your onion and pepper slices in the bowl and toss with a tablespoon or so of olive oil & a few shakes of salt.* Put your pan on medium heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil to it. When the pan is heated, add onion/pepper mix. Saute until veggies are nice and soft. Add the can of mushrooms. After about a minute, pull everything to the sides of the pan and dump in the Lightlife strips. Cook for one minute, set a timer for two minutes and lay the Tofutti slices on top on the mix. (Be careful to keep the "cheese" as far away from the sides of the pan as possible so it doesn't scorch.) Put a lid on the mix until the 2 minutes are up and pull your rolls out of the oven. Make sandwiches and eat at warp speed. :)

* You could probably use 6-8 oz. of your favorite fresh mushrooms instead of canned. If using fresh, add them to the bowl with the onions & peppers. I used canned because that was all we had.

Yum! This is my food (as in recipes, food pics, shopping lists, etc.) journal. I'm the jerk otherwise known as drunkenatheist. Hopefully, I haven't made a donation to Livejournal for nothing. :(