Collard Greens in Phyllo, Avocado Shooters and Parsnip Fries

I grew up eating collards. I know people who turn up their nose at anything remotely spinachy looking. Not me. Must be a Southern thing.

However, I bet that even if you are one of those that shudder at the thought of dark green leafy things, you will like these.

Collard Greens in Phyllo

One bunch of fresh collards
One shallot
Olive oil
One elephant garlic clove
1-1/2 t. balsamic vinegar
Phyllo dough sheets, thawed
One pear, sliced thin

Tear the collards from the stem and compost the stems. Add the collards, shallot and garlic to a food processor and pulse until everything is chopped. Saute this mixture in olive oil until tender. Stir in the vinegar and a dash of salt and pepper. Set aside.
Coat a cookie sheet with a cooking spray. Lay out a sheet of the phyllo and brush with olive oil. Top with another sheet and brush with olive oil again. Do this a third time. Spoon a heaping spoonful of the collards mixture in one corner of the stacked and oiled phyllo sheets. Top with a slice of pear. Begin folding in a triangle until all of the phyllo has been used. Lay this triangle on the cookie sheet, and begin the process again until you have used up all of the collards mixture. I got about five. Brush these triangles with more olive oil.
Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Avocado Shooters

2 cloves of garlic
One jalapeno pepper, seeds removed
3 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
2 T. lime juice
1/2 t. hot sauce
2 c. plain rice or soy milk
1/2 c. fresh cilantro
1/4 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped

Add everything but the olive oil and onion to a blender and blend on high until everything is smooth.
In a skillet, saute the onion in the olive oil until softened. Add the avocado puree to the onions and gently simmer until it is heated through. Serve in shot glasses with a dollop of vegan sour cream on top.

For those of us who love guacamole, this is like hot guacamole, sipped instead of scooped.

Parsnip Fries

3-4 parsnips
Olive oil
1/2 T. ground coriander
1/4 t. ground cloves
1 T. ground turmeric
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Using a potato peeler, shave off strips of parsnip lengthwise. In a ziploc baggie, add the parsnip strips, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Massage the parsnip strips to coat well. Bake for 10 minutes at 400.
Combine the spices and sprinkle on the parsnips strips. Continue to bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir to make sure everything again is well coated.

Let the Days of Grilling Begin!

You know the weather is warming up when the familiar smell of charcoal permeates the air. You decide you want to throw something on the grill but before you even start you can tell your neighbors have the same idea. Nothing really says it's the weekend like that smell.

We actually have two grills - one charcoal, one gas. Hubby likes the charcoal grill, but I'm seriously considering designating the gas grill as mine and vegan only. I should probably learn how to use it first.

Hubby is really good about it, though - he scrubs the grill before he cooks our stuff, and always cooks the vegan stuff first. He announces his desire to grill and follows it with a directive to me to find something for the vegans in the house to grill, so we can join in on the grilling goodness.

I am particularly fond of The New Vegetarian Grill, and adapted the following recipe from it:

Grilled Veggie Salad

One eggplant, sliced thickly
One zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
One yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise
Two large tomatoes, sliced thickly
One red bell pepper, cut in half lengthwise
One large sweet onion, cut in quarters and skewered
1 T. balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh basil, chopped

Over a medium hot grill, place the veggies. Brush liberally with olive oil and grill until nicely done. When cool enough to handle, cut the veggies up in bite sized pieces and place in a large enough bowl. Add balsamic vinegar, basil and salt and pepper. Mix well and let set for about 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Enjoy!

To accompany our salad, I marinated some tempeh strips in some bourbon laced barbecue sauce. After hubby grilled the tempeh, I chopped it up fine with some onion and had myself a delectable sandwich. It was a great Sunday afternoon meal for a beautiful day.

Juicy Portobello Steaks

I live in cattle country. You can find steakhouses and barbecue places everywhere. Seriously, they are darn near spaced about a mile apart. And if not those, burger joints. I swear, I can hear the mooing as I pass. Makes me sad, makes me angry. When you are surrounded by all that death, the very least I can do is come home and make my dinner cruelty free.

Juicy Portobello Steaks

1/2 c. almonds
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. Braggs Aminos
1/2 c. water
2 T. balsamic vinegar
3 cloves, garlic, chopped
1 t. dried rosemary
1 t. dried oregano
4 large Portobello mushrooms, stems removed
1 onion, sliced

In a food processor, whir the almonds until powdered. Add oil, Braggs, water, vinegar, garlic, rosemary and oregano and blend until well mixed. In a baking dish, lay the mushrooms upside down. Pour the sauce over the top, lay some onion slices on each mushroom. Bake at 250 for 25 minutes.

OMG, these are so juicy and delicious! It makes a wonderful gravy that you can pour over rice or mashed potatoes.

Since hubby had grilled some potatoes recently, I took a few of those and scooped out most of it, leaving the skin intact to form a shell. I mixed in some green onions, Daiya cheese, vegan butter and some herbs until it was all mixed well, scooped the mixture back into the potato skins and baked them alongside the mushrooms.

This was very elegant and would be perfect for dinner guests. Throw together a salad or cook some greens of your choice, and you truly have a winner here.

Quick Pasta Special

We all have them - those days when we are just so busy and fast food beckons to us. So convenient. So quick. So yucky. I don't know about you, but I get tired of going to a fast food restaurant and having to special order. And even then not being sure about how it was prepared. Ugh!

These times call for something quick and easy to prepare, that still tastes good!

Quick Pasta Special

12-14 oz. pasta of your choice
4 c. broccoli florets
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1/2 c. chopped red or green onions (or a mixture of both!)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
2 T. lemon or lime juice
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1-1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t. curry powder
pinch of black pepper, cayenne pepper and salt
dash of Bragg's Aminos or soy sauce

Cook pasta, but before draining, add the broccoli. Let set together about 5 minutes, then drain together. Toss in the tomatoes, onions and walnuts. Mix remaining ingredients together, then add to the pasta. Serve. Enjoy!

What the heck is balsamic vinegar? I remember when I first started seeing it used in recipes and thought, wow, this is fancy stuff! I'd thought I was being upscale by using red wine or white wine vinegars! How does a lowly vinegar come to reap such praise?

The ancient art of making a sweet condiment from grape juice dates back centuries. Romans invented the art of making ’sapa,’ a mixture made from boiled down grape juice. As far back as 900 years ago, vintners in the Modena, Italy region were making balsamic vinegar which was taken as a tonic and bestowed as a mark of favor to those of importance. In earlier days, the families cared for the vinegar, perfected it over years and passed it on as a treasured heirloom. They presented small vials to their special friends and even bequeathed it to their daughters as a valuable part of her dowry.

Although it is considered a wine vinegar, it is not a wine vinegar at all. It is not made from wine, but from grape pressings that have never been permitted to ferment into wine.

Sweet white Trebbiano grape pressings are boiled down to a dark syrup and then aged under rigid restrictions. The syrup is placed into oaken kegs, along with a vinegar "mother," and begins the aging process. Over the years it graduates to smaller and smaller kegs made of chestnut, cherrywood, ash, mulberry, and juniper until it is ready for sale. All of these woods progressively add character to the vinegar. As it ages, moisture evaporates out, further thickening the vinegar and concentrating the flavor.

Some balsamic vinegars have been aged for over 100 years. It is this aging process that makes true balsamic vinegar from Modena in Northern Italy so expensive. Luckily, a little balsamic vinegar goes a long way.

In Medieval times, balsamic vinegar was valued for its healing properties. The word balsamico *(from Latin balsamum , from Greek balsamon*) means "balsam-like" in the sense of "restorative" or "curative". During the later part of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era, the nobility enjoyed the different varieties of vinegar as a refined drink. They believed the vinegar was a natural remedy for the plague. Balsamico was stored in the family attic and tended to as meticulously as an other facet of the family estate, as it slowly matured into a liquid gold. Balsamico came to be a symbol of peace and an extension of the hand of friendship from one family to another, and from one friend to another.

All I know is I like using it in my dishes. Not sure how my daughter would feel if I were to give her a bottle on her wedding day. She'd probably look at me funny. Once I told her it was made from grapes, though, she would totally understand!

These Vegetables are Very Gay

That's happy for those of us that remember the word differently!

I'm not sure how I found it. Probably looking for something else, and it popped up in a search. However I found it, though, it was fun to watch.

I'm talking about the Hardcore Vegan Chef and his cooking dvd. Language warning! The recipes were simple and delicious sounding, the cooking tips handy and all done in an entertaining style - if you are in your early twenties. I'm not, but that didn't detract from the recipes for me.

It was a day or two later when I realized I needed to take a dish to the potluck we always have when my women's group gets together. A delicious vegan soup and salad were already being planned, so I wanted something that would work with it. I remembered one of the recipes I saw whipped up by the Hardcore Chef, and voila! Instant success! He titles it Vegetable Medley of Hardcore Gaiety. I just call it yummy!

2 cucumbers, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
2 cans chickpeas, drained
2 cans whole black olives, drained
A handful of fresh parsley, minced
2 T. olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
Pinch of oregano, celery salt and thyme

It's all very simple; mix the veggies together. Mix the olive oil, vinegar and seasonings until well blended and pour over the veggies. Stir until all are well coated. Serve.

It was quite a hit at my meeting, and even a bigger hit back home. We served it atop mixed greens with some extra dressing and literally devoured it. It was so simple to throw together and yet very tasty.

Try the recipe. Check out the dvd. You won't be disappointed!