Vegetarians: Week One

Monday: Lentils and Potatoes with Curry, Tortillas, steamed broccoli
Tuesday: Tomato Tortilla Soup, Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
Wednesday: Dinner Party at a friends house. We took Greek Salad, Homemade Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, and Pita
Thursday: Leftovers, with a fresh baguette
Friday (planned for tonight):  Greek frittata, salad, pita

Our temporary vegetarianism has been a great opportunity to discover some great and some not-so-great recipes.  Here are a couple from this week.

Lentils and Potatoes with Curry

From my friend Katy, an actual vegetarian

By far my favorite.  The yogurt on top was delicious and was the perfect counterpoint to the sumptuous curried lentils.  Perfect for a cold day.  When I'm done being a vegetarian I would serve this with a chicken skewer.  Yum. 

1 cup dried brown lentils

3 1/2 cup water or coconut milk or vegetable stock (or a mix)

1 tablespoon curry powder

2 medium russet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Thick greek yogurt for garnish (The best part)

minced fresh cilantro for garnish (totally optional)

Combine lentils liquid and curry powder in a spot and bring to ta boil over med high. Turn the heat down to med low so that the mixture bubbles gently, cover partially and cook stirring occasionally until the lentils start to absorb the liquid - about 15 minutes.

Add the potatoes and cover the pan completely. Cook undisturbed for 10 min or so then stir gently and check to make sure the lentils aren't too dry. If so add a little more liquid. Add salt as the lentils become tender. 

Cover and continue cooking until the lentils are soft and beginning to turn to much and the potatoes are tender at the center another 5-10 min. add liquid if necessary. The mixture should be moist but not soupy. Add lots of black pepper stir. 

Garnish with yogurt and cilantro.

 Tomato Tortilla Soup
Adapted From Moosewood Restaurant's Simple Suppers

Only so-so.  Not a full flavor.  We added some black beans the second day which made it better.  But I did like the flavor of chipotles in a tortilla soup.
 
3 cups diced onion
2 t olive oil
2 t cumin
1 t dried oregano
1 quart vegetable broth
1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes
2 t minced chipotles in adobo sauce
1/3 C polenta

Cook the onions in a soup pot in oil until softend.  Add the cumin and oregano and stir.  Add the broth, tomatoes, and chipotles, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the head and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Whisk in the polenta.  Let simmer until the polenta is soft and the soup is thickened, stirring occasionally so that the polenta doesn't stick to the bottom.

Greek Salad
From Moosewood Restaurant's Simple Suppers

Very good.  Not a super original recipe, but it did make me go out and buy the olives and cheese, which make this salad.  To make it a main dish in the summer I would add a can of garbanzo beans and/or artichoke hearts. 

4 cups (or more) lettuce
1 cucumber peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 red onion
12 kalamata olives
1/2 cup feta cheese

dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 T red wine vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t dried oregano
pinch of black pepper

Arrange all the ingredients in a bowl and pour on the dressing.


Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
adapted from a whole lot of recipes
I love hummus and this is what I came up with.  Landon usually takes some to work and dips vegetables in it for snack.  I also love it with homemade pita bread.  So good and so easy.

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 T olive oil
3 T tahini (tahini is just a paste made of sesame seeds.  But you can use peanut butter, a few tablespoons of sesame seeds, or some sesame oil)
2 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
2 roasted red peppers from a jar
salt
pinch of dried oregano
1/2 t cayenne

Put all the ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and blend until creamy and smooth.  I read that if you blend up the tahini first (until creamy) that it makes a creamier hummus.


Homemade Pita Bread
From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day 
This dough recipe is our go-to dough for pitas, naan, pizza, rolls, etc.  Everything but sandwich bread.  We just keep a bucket of it in our fridge and use it as we need it. These pitas are easy to make and SO much cheaper than buying them. 

3 Cups warm water
1 1/2 T yeast
1 1/2 T salt (or less)
6 1/2 C flour (you could substitute some whole-wheat flour to make it healthier)


World's easiest and most delicious bread dough.  Put all the ingredients in a container with a lid.  Mix a little until it is all incorporated.  Let it sit in your fridge for four hours to up to two weeks.  Just use as much dough as you need to.  If you are making something immediately (without letting it sit in the fridge), just knead the dough.  I used a grapefruit size piece of dough for the pitas.  

Seperate the dough into four tennis-ball sized balls of dough.  Let them sit for 20 to 30 minutes.  While they are resting, heat your oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone in it.  If you don't have a pizza stone, just put them on a cookie sheet, they won't cook quite as well, but they will still be good.  Roll out the balls of dough about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick.  Slip  the rolled out dough onto the hot pizza stone.  Bake for five to seven minutes.  They should puff up into beautiful pitas.  When you take them out of the oven, wrap them in a dishcloth so that they get nice and soft.  When they are cooled you can cut them in half, open them up, and stuff them with whatever you want. 



A few thoughts on being a vegetarian for a month:

*I love that if I'm not buying meat, I feel like I can spend money on things like roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.  Yum.
*Vegetarians can't go to dinner parties.  We had one on Wednesday and I un-apologetically ate the roast beef.  I'm not an actual vegetarian so I have no regrets.  I don't know how real vegetarians navigate the social world.
*We are definitely eating more vegetables, which is exactly what I wanted to do.  You have to fill the plate with something if you aren't filling it with meat, and I find that it is pretty easy to fill it with vegetables if you put a little effort into it.