Summer Orzo Salad

This is my version of "Herb Orzo Salad with Feta and Cucumbers" from an article in The Commercial Appeal last month. It's perfect for picnics or for summer evenings when you don't want to eat anything heavy. You could serve it as a side dish or put it over a bed of lettuce for an elegant main dish.

1 lb. dry orzo (Orzo is rice-shaped pasta. It nearly triples in size when cooked.)
1 4-oz. log goat cheese (Vegetarians should be sure to check cheeses to make sure they are not made with rennet or animal-derived enzymes.)
1 pint (or more, to taste) grape tomatoes, halved (Or you can quarter the larger cherry tomatoes.)
1 large cucumber (or more, to taste), peeled and chopped
1/4 cup dried parsley (or 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped)
1/4 tsp. dried thyme (or 2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped)
1 Tbsp. dried oregano (or 1/4 c. chopped fresh oregano)
1 c. (or to taste) balsamic vinaigrette (I used Newman's Own Light.) or other Italian-style dressing of choice
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cook the orzo according to package directions. Rinse under cold water to cool the orzo, then set it aside to dry. (I stirred this occasionally to expose new surfaces to the air.)

Mix everything except the goat cheese together, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Crumble the goat cheese over the salad, and mix it in. Serve immediately, or store in refrigerator until needed.

Tuscan Beans with Tomato Sauce and Sage

This is a recipe I adapted from Ursula Ferrigno's Truly Italian cookbook - an excellent Italian vegetarian cookbook. It is highly recommended not only for the recipes, but for the beautiful photographs of Italy. This particular recipe is deceptively simple. The leftovers can be eaten atop crusty European bread as a snack. YUM!

2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance.)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 T. dried/rubbed sage (more, if you prefer)
1 can chopped tomatoes with juice
2 cans canellini or Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Heat the oil and butter together in a medium saucepan. Add the sage and garlic and fry in the oil/butter mixture for 1 minute.
2. Add the tomatoes and tomato juice, the beans, the salt, and the pepper, and simmer together for 5 minutes until heated through.

Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I know what you are thinking. Brussels sprouts. EEeew! But if you like cabbage or broccoli, it's fair to try this out. They're healthy. They're good!
You may have noticed that I like to give credit where it's due, so for the record, the recipe that this comes from was from Wild Oats (before they got bought out by Whole Foods). It is, as always, modified to suit my tastes.

1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
juice of one lemon
salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put Brussels sprouts in roasting pan. I actually put mine in a cast iron skillet. It is beneficial to vegans and vegetarians (disclaimer: I am not a doctor!) to cook in cast iron, b/c the food picks up iron from the cookware. Either way, put the sprouts in there, and toss with the olive oil. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, turning once with a spatula, until tender and browning. Toss the sprouts (I do it right in the pan, but if you are doing it properly, it'd probably be in the serving bowl.) with the lemon juice and salt to taste.

Carrot Mashed Potatoes

Here is one of my own making. I'm so proud, b/c it is not only yummy, but it looks beautiful on the table, and it's healthy to boot. Pale orange mashed potatoes! Now...I'm really relying on you to be experimental and adventurous (isn't that what this blog is about?) and have a sort of sense of what mashed potatoes are supposed to be like. Here goes...

* potatoes - You pick the variety and quantity. Peel them, and chop them into equal-ish sized pieces.
* carrots - about 1 carrot to every 1 medium-large potato, carrots peeled and chopped smaller than potato pieces
*garlic cloves - (optional) peeled - about 1 per every 2 potatoes used
*rice milk or reserved potato cooking water - Yes, you can use cow's milk or goat's milk or whatever you like. I use rice milk or reserved potato cooking water.
*vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance - no trans fats and no hydrogenated oils!) - Yes, you can use real butter, if you prefer.
*salt and freshly ground black pepper


Put the potatoes, carrots, and garlic (if using) in a pot that will hold them plus water to cover them plus another couple of inches to handle boiling over possibilities. [COOK'S TIP: If you are using butter, open a stick and, with the paper still on the half you're holding, run it around the rim of the pot. This will prevent it from boiling over onto your stove if you are not paying attn. I have not tried this with margarine, but I bet it would work.] Boil everything until they are soft enough to be easily pierced with a fork (check a potato and a carrot). Once they are "done," take them off the heat, and drain out either (1) all of the water if you want to just use rice milk or another type of milk to obtain mashed potato consistency or (2) most of the water, leaving just enough [or slightly under enough, and you can use rice milk to add later, if necessary] to obtain the propr mashed potato consistency. Either way, it takes practice to know how much liquid you need in there to get the consistency right (for you). Leaving too little is better, b/c you can add later, but you can't take it back once you're mashing.

Using a hand mixer, add enough rice milk to get things going (if you did not leave potato water in there) along with margarine to taste. Use the mixer to get out all lumps. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep mixing. Taste it. Add more margarine if necessary. Add more rice milk if the potatoes are too thick. Add rice milk and mix and keep repeating until you have the right consistency.

Serve your beautiful (and don't forget HEALTHY) pale orange potatoes while still hot. Enjoy!

Roasted Asparagus

Seems obvious and simple, right? I agree! But sometimes we need someone to remind us how lovely the simple things in life can be. ... This recipe is from "The Commercial Appeal" (daily newspaper in Memphis). As you can see, it is so simple, there is nothing to modify!

1 lb. fresh asparagus
1 1/2 T. olive oil (I prefer extra-virgin olive oil. The really fruity kind.)
1/2 t. sea salt (Yes, any old salt will do.)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash asparagus and break off the tough (non-bud) ends. (The trick here is that the asparagus spear will do the work for you. Bend it, and it will pretty much break in the right spot for you.)
Put the oil in a 7 x 10-inch pain (or one close to that size). Put the asparagus in a single layer in the pan and sprinkle with salt. Shake the pan around to coat the asparagus.
Put the pan in the preheated oven, and cook for 15 - 20 minutes. Check asparagus every 5-ish minutes and shake the pan to recoat everything. When the spears are done, you should be able to bite through without it being stringy. Start checking at 15 minutes.

Cabbage - The Poor Man's Doctor

Did you know that cabbage has been called "the poor man's doctor?" It is THAT healthy! Here is a recipe that, in its original form, came from the very cool cookbook Down Home Wholesome by Danella Carter, modified to suit my tastes (as usual). If you don't think you like cabbage, at least give this one a chance. You might change your mind!

1 head cabbage, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, peeled, bisected lengthwise, and sliced into half-moons
1 bell pepper, deseeded and deveined, thinly sliced
1 t. crushed red pepper (more if you like!)

In a large pot (enough to hold all that stuff!), sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until transparent (several minutes). Add carrots, bell pepper, and crushed red pepper, and sauté a couple of more minutes to let the crushed red pepper flavor the oil. Add cabbage, and cover. Cook until the cabbage is soft but slightly crunchy still (not wilted), 15 - 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Renee's Vegan Roasted Root Vegetables

Roasted Root Vegetables (vegan recipe, and I seriously don't even remember what magazine I cut this out of...This is a perfect earthy, autumn dish. Maybe serve it with a big salad or sauteed kale, crusty European bread, and glasses of red wine!)

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 turnips (or rutabagas), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 beets, peeled and cut into halves or quarters, depeneding on size

2 onions, peeled and cut into quarters

6 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly mashed with the side of a knife

extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

fresh or dried herbs (like rosemary!)

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Put all root vegetables and the garlic cloves in an uncovered roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil over all for a crispier luster and to keep vegetables from sticking to the pan; mix to distribute oil, then sprinkle with herbs. Cook in the lower 1/3 of the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until deeply browned. Don't be alarmed if the beets turn almost black, which is normal. Every 20 minutes or so during cooking, remove the pan from the oven and use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the starchy vegetables.