Vegetarian Moussaka

You need:

3 small potatoes
2 medium eggplants
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded carrots
one 28 oz. can of tomatoes
one 8 oz package of mushroom (we used portobellos)
8 oz. feta
olive oil
parsley
oregano

& for the Béchamel Sauce:
5 tbsp butter
8 tbsp flour
4 cups milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt to taste

To prep the eggplant, cut into thin slices, salt them in a colander and let sit 15 minutes or so. Rinse and dry. (This process pulls liquids out of the eggplant that make it taste bitter.) Once it's ready, you can bake, sauté, or grill it- we baked ours in two batches in the oven for about 10 minutes each (at 425). Once the eggplant is prepared, you can set it aside until it is time to assemble the dish.

While the eggplant is being prepared, begin sautéing the onion in olive oil in a large pot or pan. Add the carrots and mushrooms and cook until they start to soften. Add the garlic and chopped herbs and sauté a minute or so before adding the tomatoes. Cook this mixture down until it is a thick, chunky sauce.

Meanwhile, slice the potatoes in thin slices, toss them in olive oil, and use them to cover the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Bake in the oven until they're soft (about 15 minutes at 425). When the potatoes are done, layer the sauce, feta cheese, and eggplant in the dish like you would a lasagna. (From the bottom up: potatoes, eggplant, feta, tomato sauce, eggplant, feta, sauce. The béchamel sauce will go on the very top.)

For the béchamel sauce: melt the butter in a large pot and make a roux with the flour. Add milk, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk constantly until the sauce thickens and pour over the top of the moussaka and bake until the top begins to turn a golden color. Let sit and cool a little before serving!

Hopefully you enjoy this dish as much as we did. Enjoy!

harvest vegetable squares

This original recipe was found by my dear friend Bess on the Vegetarian Times food blog. It took us something like three or four hours to complete, but wine and vodka were involved, as well as a short business meeting and photoshoot, so I really don't think we're to blame? Anyway. The end results were absolutely amazing, and we had a few revelations, listed at the bottom of this post, that will make it easier on you if you decide to try this shit out. (Which, you should, because they're awesome.)

bess cooking stuff

• VIA VEGETARIAN TIMES
• 
  
• Ingredients:
• 1 large head cauliflower (2 ½–3 lb.), broken into small florets, divided
• 1 medium onion, sliced (1 ½ cups)
• 3 Tbs. plus ½ tsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 ¼ tsp. salt, divided
• 3/8 tsp. ground black pepper, divided
• 2 heads elephant garlic
• 2 tsp. vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, divided
• 3 Tbs. white wine
• 1 Tbs. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (chopped if they look large or tough)
• 10 Brussels sprouts, halved
• 10 baby carrots, halved on the diagonal
• 10 small button mushrooms, halved
• 6 shallots, peeled and quartered, root end left intact
• 1 17.3-oz. pkg. frozen puff pastry, thawed (2 sheets)
• 1 large egg, beaten, for brushing dough, optional

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Set aside 20 cauliflower florets in bowl. Toss remaining florets and onion with 1 Tbs. oil; season with 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Spread on large baking sheet. Cut tops off garlic heads, place on foil square, and drizzle with 1/2 tsp. oil. Close foil around garlic. Place foil-wrapped garlic and cauliflower-loaded baking sheet in oven, and roast 30 to 45 minutes, stirring cauliflower occasionally, until cauliflower and onion are browned and garlic feels soft.

2. While garlic is still warm, squeeze garlic pulp from each clove into bowl of food processor. Add cauliflower mixture and 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, and purée until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Set aside.

3. Combine wine, cornstarch, remaining 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, thyme, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, remaining 1/8 tsp. pepper, and 1/2 cup water in small bowl until cornstarch has dissolved. Set aside.

4. Heat remaining 2 Tbs. oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add Brussels sprouts, carrots, reserved 20 cauliflower florets, mushrooms, and shallots, and stir-fry 5 to 7 minutes, or until vegetables begin to brown. Add cornstarch mixture, and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes more, or until most of liquid has evaporated and vegetables are coated with sauce. Remove from heat, and cool.

5. Meanwhile, roll each sheet of puff pastry into 12-inch square on floured work surface. Cut each sheet into 4 squares, and place on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill 15 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spread 1/4 cup cauliflower purée in circle in center of each pastry square. Stir cooled vegetable mixture to coat with sauce, then scoop 1/2 cup vegetables in center of square, making sure each portion contains a good mix of vegetables. Fold corners of pastry squares over vegetable filling and into center, pinching corners to seal. Brush each square with egg (if using), and chill 15 minutes. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown, checking bottoms of squares with spatula to make sure they are browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

pastries and boobs

NOTES:
Well, we followed this recipe pretty religiously except that we added a dash of sage along with the thyme, annnnd we totally forgot to brush the pastry squares with egg before putting them in the oven (blame vodka) but they still turned out great. Oh, also we realized that elephant garlic is fucking four dollars a head at the store, so we just used six heads of regular-sized garlic (compare at like $1.50, duh) and holy shit guys that is a lot of garlic, just in case you were wondering (that is to say, it was perfect).

sautéing the hell out of these veggies

POST SCRIPT
If the smoke alarm in the kitchen won't stop going off- because, most likely, there is something terribly old and crusty being set on fire in the bottom of your oven -you can always just take out the batteries. This also applies to smoke alarm #2 in the hallway.

boom

vegetarian sushi binge

I learned that, contrary to popular belief, the word sushi does not have anything to do with the raw fish most people associate with the word, but rather, it simply describes the rice used in 'sushi' items. Sushi rice appears to be the key to successfully making sushi, beyond that you can combine it with anything in the world that you think would be delicious and you'll probably have a decent meal. NOW YOU KNOW.

SUSHI RICE:

First remove starches from 4 cups of short-grain rice. Basically just soak and rinse off. Be sure to strain the rice for 10-15 minutes after rinsing. Bring the rice and 4 cups of water to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cover, stirring often, until the rice has soaked up the water and is a soft consistency.

Once you have your rice ready you must turn it into sticky rice. Combine 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and one teaspoon of salt, pour over the rice and mix thoroughly. Some people add a squeeze of lemon but not me.

So now that I think I have perfected the art of sushi rice, I took it one step further and made sushi millet. It isn't as crazy as it sounds- it's actually healthier than rice and tastes delightful. You can find the recipe for it HERE. The sushi I prepared this particular evening was a happy variety of rice and millet (5 rolls each!).

VEGGIES:

Once you have your rice ready to go, the fun starts. You can put fucking anything in a sushi roll, given it is the right shape. We created a smorgasbord of vegetable strips so everyone could pick and choose what they wanted in their rolls. Things that are awesome raw include cucumber, asparagus, red peppers, avocado, jalapeno, and carrots. Throw some cream cheese on for good measure, if you're into that sort of thing. I boiled strips of sweet potato and shiitake mushrooms in a pan with water and soy sauce and once they cooled off they were PERFECT in the rolls.









ROLL:

Assembly is a snap once you get it down. Smooth a thin layer of rice (or millet!) over a nori sheet (that's seaweed, don't panic, they have that shit at Kroger) like in the picture I have so kindly provided you. Place assorted veggies lengthwise in strips, all the way across, and roll carefully, beginning with the side closest to you.

Once you've got your roll, you can slice it into lovely little pieces. Don't forget the sriracha, wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce on the side if you want to do it right.

no-pants-brunch coffeecake muffins

Yes, no-pants-brunch is a real thing. It was born from a hungover resolution among a few friends to only apply the bare-minimum (pun intended) amount of clothing for breakfast, regardless of out-of-town guests, and as it turned out said company was totally okay adhering to the new norm of my home. It is indeed freeing after a long night of partying to simply wake-up (kinda), enjoy a cup of coffee, and eat a ton of food all before restricting the nether-region to dreaded denim constraints. Regardless, pants or no pants, these coffee-cake style muffins were a delightful brunch treat, and BONUS they weren't very difficult to make- even in my weakened state I managed to succeed with this recipe.

apparently the attendees of said brunch will remain anonymous

YOU NEED:

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch squares and chilled

3 eggs

1/2 cup plain yogurt

DO THIS:

Preheat the oven to 350. You can grease a muffin-pan OR do what I did and just use the little paper cups. In a food processor, mix the regular sugar, 1/2 cup of the flour, and 1/4 of the brown sugar. Put 3/4 cup of this mix in a bowl and add the rest of the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside- this is the streusel topping! With the remaining sugar mixture, add the rest of the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and mix in the food processor. Add the butter to the mixture slowly and continue blending the mix. Add the eggs and yogurt and blend until everything is combined.

Portion a little more than a tablespoon of the batter into each muffin cup, add 1 1/2 tbsp of the streusel mix, and cover with another spoonful of batter. If there is any streusel left you can sprinkle the rest on top. Bake 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean- you know the drill.

If you want to make these muffins reeeeally pretty

part of a pretty balanced breakfast

you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar. But who are you trying to impress, anyway? Serve with copious amounts of coffee and do yourself a favor and drink a glass of water while you're at it. Enjoy!

heavenly breakfast strata

This meal takes a little extra effort but, LISTEN, it's all worth it in the end! It is so delicious, and will impress in any special-occasion brunch-situation. Unless you're like me and you just want to make something badass to eat on your day off. It's good for that too. Just plan ahead for chilling and what-not.

You need:

half a loaf of slightly-stale french bread, cubed
1/2 tsp butter
4 minced shallots (onions will do)
2 cups fresh spinach, shredded
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar or gruyere)
6 eggs
1 cup cream
salt and pepper

Do this: bake the bread cubes at 225 in the oven until they start to crisp just a little- like 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onions until they begin to brown. Add the spinach and cook for about two minutes. Mix in salt, pepper, and place it all in a separate bowl to cool. Add the wine to the same skillet, reducing over medium heat for a few minutes, and take it off the heat to cool as well.

 Now, get out an 8x8 baking dish and layer half the bread cubes in the bottom. Sprinkle with half the spinach mixture and a third of the cheese. Add another layer of bread, mixture, cheese.

Whisk the eggs, reduced wine, and cream together. You can add more salt and pepper as desired. Pour it evenly over the top of the baking dish. Wrap in saran wrap, weight it (I simply placed a bag of sugar on it), and refrigerate 12-24 hours.

When ready to bake, remove the saran wrap and add the last half cup of cheese to the top of the strata. Let the dish sit at room temp while the oven preheats (10-15 minutes) and bake at 325 for 50 minutes.

Congratulations- YOU JUST MADE A FREAKING STRATA.

cauliflower and quinoa tacos

What to do with that leftover quinoa? PUT IT IN A TACO!

Pick some vegetables. Saute them. Here I used cauliflower, fresh corn, jalapenos, onion, and fresh spinach.

Fill some flour tortillas and top with greek yogurt and salsa.

Food.

easy quinoa and veggies

Several months ago, for some reason, my mother sent me something like ten pounds of uncooked quinoa in the mail. (Why she spent $8 to ship it instead of sending me a check with a note that said "use this to buy quinoa," I'll never know.) So, it's time to eat a LOT of quinoa, and what better way to start than knowing simply how to cook it and a basic formula for adding good things to it.


You will need:
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water
1 head broccoli, chopped
assorted peppers, diced
1 yellow or zucchini squash, cubed
bragg's liquid aminos

Do this: Cook the quinoa. I let it soak in the 1.5 cups of water for a few minutes, put it in a pot with a lid, bring to a boil, and then simmer 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, saute the veggies in a frying pan. When the quinoa is ready, toss it all together with a few sprays of Bragg's and any other desired spices. THAT EASY.