"Accidential Vegan" recipe

I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but I AM lactose intolerant. That being said, sometimes I wind up making a dish that is meat, dairy, animal by-product free.

Coconut rice pudding:

-2 cups water
-1 cup brown rice
-1 pinch salt
-1 can light coconut milk
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp nutmeg
-1 cup dried cranberries, cherries or raisins

In a small-ish saucepan, bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the rice, turn the heat to low and cover the pan without stirring. Let simmer for 25 minutes.

Stir in the coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and dried fruit. Let simmer on low for 10 minutes uncovered.

It should be slightly soupy. Serve warm.

Slow-Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

A new take on the pumpkin oatmeal from this past fall!

-1 c steel-cut oats
-4 c water
-1/2 c no sugar added applesauce
-3/4 c agave nectar (you can use honey as a sub)
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp nutmeg
-2 small apples, peeled cored and diced into small pieces

Combine all ingredients in your crock pot, and set it for 8 hours on low. Cook overnight and enjoy!

Turkey and Lentil Meatballs

Nothing says cold-weather cooking like "balls n sauce"!

I like to bake these until the they start to form almost a crispy crust on the outside, then finish them in a large pan with sauce.

Very low-calorie, they work out to be about 1 point each on Weight Watchers. It seems like a lot of work just for meatballs, but if you cook the mushrooms while the lentils simmer and assemble the rest of the ingredients while the they cool, then it doesn't take that long.

3 whole bay leaves
1 whole clove garlic, gently smashed
1 1/2 dry lentils, rinsed and picked through
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup mushrooms, finely diced
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 pound ground turkey, extra-lean

Add the lentils and spices to a medium-sized saucepan and add water until they cover the lentils by an inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove garlic clove and bay leaves, let cool, then mash with a potato masher.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a smaller saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, sweat for several minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add mushrooms and sautee over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until very soft. Let cool.

In a large bowl, assemble your meatballs! Combine lentils, mushrooms and all remaining ingredients and mix well with gloved hands. Form into approximately 30 meatballs. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

These freeze really well, too, just let them cool at room temperature for at least an hour before sealing in an air-tight baggie.

Southern Tomato Pie

{photo above is pre-cooked}.

1 refrigerated pie crust
1 cup mayo
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup sliced scallions
8 to 10 medium plum tomatoes or roma tomatoes


heat oven to 350, place one oven rack on the very bottom shelf of oven.

line a 9 inch pie pan with the crust and crimp the edges with a fork. prick bottom and sides of dough with a fork.

bake 10 to 12 minutes until crust looks slightly puffed and dry.

meanwhile in a bowl mix mayo, 1 1/4 cups of cheese and the black pepper.

sprinkle bottom of partially baked crust with 1/2 cup of the remaining cheese.
top with a layer of tomatoes.
sprinkle with scallions.
spoon some of the mayo mixture on next in dollops, you don't need to spread it, just drop it in clumps.
do another layer of the above tomatoes, scallions, and mayo mixture.
(recipe calls for several layers. we only did 2).

sprinkle top with cheese.

bake 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is golden and juices are bubbling.
cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.

(good with a side salad).

Pumpkin Oatmeal

I'm pretty excited to try this tonight. You cook it on low heat in the crock pot overnight!

-1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
-1/2 tsp kosher salt
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 c honey
-1 1/2 c steel-cut oats
-3 c raw pumpkin, cut into cubes (use sugar or pie pumpkin)
-6 c water

Combine all the ingredients in a crock pot. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. Enjoy!

Edit:

I re-made this last night (11/1) using an additional 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and I shredded the pumpkin with a food processor instead of cutting it into cubes. MUCH BETTER this way!

Flatbread Pizzas

Easy to make, easy on the diet! One of the reasons that my posting has slowed way down is because I joined Weight Watchers about 4 weeks ago. 12 pounds down and I'm convinced the plan works. Of course, this means I will have to say goodbye to about 90% of the recipes on my blog (sigh)...

Hopefully, this means I'll be gathering up, testing and sharing lots of healthy alternatives!

Flatbread Pizza

-Several small or medium tomatoes, sliced thick and seeded (I used 6 small heirloom)
-3 small zucchini, sliced thick
-5 or 6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thick
-2 tbs olive oil
-Pinch of salt and pepper
-2 cups sliced mushrooms
-1 tbs butter or butter alternative
-Pinch of salt and pepper
-4 large pieces of flatbread (I used Flat-Out Light)
-1 cup fresh basil leaves
-1/2 cup low-fat or fat-free mozzarella

Toss together the tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper into an oven-safe baking dish, and roast at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Set aside.

(Mushrooms optional!) In a medium sautee pan, combine the butter, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Sautee for 5-10 minutes, until soft, add to tomatoes.

Lower heat in oven to 400 degrees, pre-heat pizza stone for 10 minutes. Add the flatbreads and heat for an additional 5 minutes.

Assemble your pizzas! Load up with the veggies, top with basil leaves and cheese. Add grated parmesan if you feel like it.

Bake on the pizza stone for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Enjoy!

(I estimated about 6 points per pizza, if you keep count)

Pumpkin Butter Spice Cake

I would share a photograph, but we've managed to eat half of it already.

The secret ingredient is something that Ina would approve of...Williams-Sonoma Organic Pumpkin Butter, left in my pantry for at least a year and a half. Martha would NOT approve, since I didn't make the pumpkin butter myself. Or, you know, slap around my staff for not making it right.

This is the perfect experimental recipe - as long as you don't mess around with the key cake-making ingredients (butter, eggs, sugar, baking soda and powder, flour, salt), you can really play with the flavor and texture. Keeping the proportions the same, try other flavors of fruit butters, different spices mix up the sour cream and yogurt, maybe sub in some applesauce...have fun with it!

-1/2 c butter, room temperature
-1 c sugar
-2 eggs, room temperature
-1 jar (8 oz) apple butter
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 c sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
-2 c flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp nutmeg
-1/2 tsp allspice
-1/2 tsp salt

With your mixer on medium-high speed, whip together the butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Turn speed down to low and add the eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Add the pumpkin butter, vanilla and sour cream (or yogurt), mix for another 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, sift the next 7 ingredients together (flour through salt). Add to wet mixture, a little at a time, until just mixed.

Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.