Quick and Easy Vegetarian Dishes

OK! For all my little grass eating, carrot juice-drinking, stairmaster-climbing friends, I promised you a vegetarian recipe page this week and here it is. Hope you all stocked up on Gravy Train for the mutts, cause there won't be enough left on the plates after dinner even for them to have a TASTE! Here are a few of our favorite veggie dishes (our boy-child is NOT a fan of meat, so we are experienced at this kind of cuisine, I assure you).

TEN MINUTE MUSHROOM MARINARA

Ingredients:

• 1 large can of whole tomatos (sliced and seeded; reserve the liquid)
• 1/2 cup of chopped garlic
• 1 large fresh tomato (diced and seeded)
• 2 cups of mushrooms
• 1 small onion
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• Fresh Basil to taste
• Salt and Pepper to taste

In a HOT skillet, pour in olive oil, then garlic and onions. Sautee until onions begin to look transparent. Add the mushrooms, then the fresh tomato, then the basil. Turn the heat down to simmer and add the canned tomatos with half the reserved juice and the seasoning. Cover and let simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add more juice at this point if needed and cover to simmer for about three minutes more. Serve on your choice of pasta!

VEGGIE-BOB

Ingredients:

• Mushrooms
• Cherry Tomatos
• Summer Squash
• Garlic Cloves
• Bell Pepper
• Onion Quarters
• 1 small bottle Italian Dressing

Cut the veggies in 2 inch cubes. Marinate the veggies in Italian Dressing for at least 4 hours. Skewer the veggies and either roast over a barbeque grill or broil in the oven in a shallow pan. Serve with couscous or rice (I flavor mine with sesame seeds and curry) or buttered orzo.

PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS

Portobellos are a favorite substitute for steak in our house. We like to marinate them in Worchestershire, Soy Sauce, Dijon Mustard, half an envelope of dry onion soup mix, a shot of white wine (or wine vinegar) and olive oil, then grill them over charcoal just like steak! Serve them with salad and potato at your next cookout to your vegetarian friends! They are also good pan fried after soaking in this marinade, or try some A-1 sauce. Their hearty, meaty texture is very much akin to a tender, juicy filet mignon.

PORTOBELLO FAJITAS

Ingredients:

• Portobello mushrooms (amount is depending on how many you plan to serve...1&1/2 for each person)
• Red & Green Bell Pepper
• Diced Vadalia Onion
• Diced Tomato
• Eggplant (peeled and diced)
• Avocados (peeled and sliced)
• 1/2 envelope of dry Taco or Fajita seasoning
• Olive Oil

Slice all ingredients to bite sized slivers. Stir-fry ingredients in a HOT pan with olive oil. Add avocados last and only allow them to warm up before serving the fajita filling on hot fajitas. Serve with Frijoles or Black Bean Salsa (below).

BLACK BEAN SALSA

Ingredients:

• 1 can of black beans
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 1 bell pepper (diced)
• 1 small tomato (diced)
• 1 jalepeno (diced) (optional)
• 1/2 cup of jarred salsa
• cilantro

Rinse and drain the beans, then toss with all the ingredients. Serve over avocados, rice, tortillas (with melted Monterrey Jack). Or, mix with shoepeg corn for a tasty succotash. We like it with tortilla chips and as a side dish to almost any meal.

OK! HAPPY? Check back next week for more recipes....I dunno what I'm cookin' yet, but I'm sure SOMEBODY out there will tell me! Try these out on your friends. They are NO FAIL. If you can boil water, you can do these veggie dishes. And if you're a carnivore, check out my previous weeks recipes HERE and HERE!

See ya Next WEEK!