Category Archives: Vegetarian

Mains made without meat but may contain dairy. I bake with eggs but there aren’t any eggs in my Mains.

Double Cheeseburger Ring

Oh my goodness! I clipped this recipe out of the Vancouver Sun a gazillion years ago and made it quite often when the kids were growing up, though minus the Mushroom Sauce. ( I have two kids who have a strong dislike for mushrooms…one, because the underside looks like gills! ) No worries there though because you can easily sub in another flavour of condensed soup: Cream of Celery, Broccoli Cheddar, Cream of Asparagus, Cream of Broccoli.
Don’t eat meat? No worries there either; sub in Yves Just Like Ground Round.
Don’t do Dairy? Sub in Soy Cheese, Salsa for the Cream of Mushroom Soup, add a few Tablespoons of Sliced Black Olives, a Tablespoon of Adobo Seasoning omit the Chopped Celery and sub in some Corn Niblets and you have yourself a Mexican Style Fiesta Ring! Too easy!

Now the original recipe called for the biscuit ring to be made from Bisquick mix….I think I bought that stuff once! I just use my resourceful Baking Powder Biscuit Recipe! Especially easy if you have a Kitchenaide Mixer! Throw everything into the mixer (by everything I mean all the powdery stuff) Mix on low to incorporate; add cubed, cold shortening or butter and turn on low again for about 2 minutes until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, then add milk (soy milk) and stir on low speed JUST until combined. Turn out onto floured surface and knead gently about 10 times and roll out dough. Easy peasy.

Oh, and you will see in the photo that I cheat and add Frozen French Fries right on the same baking sheet as the Cheeseburger Ring…just make a salad while this is baking and call dinner preparation Done!

Cheeseburger Ring - A nice twist for using Ground Beef
Cheeseburger Ring – A nice twist for using Ground Beef

Biscuit Dough using Baking Powder Biscuit Recipe or:
3 cups Bisquick Mix
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Soy Cheddar)
3/4 cup Milk (Plain Almond or Soy Milk)
Filling:
1/2 pound Ground Beef (1 package Yves Just Like Ground Round)
1/4 cup finely chopped Celery
1/4 cup diced Onion
2 Tablespoons each finely chopped Green and Red Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Pepper, to taste
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese (Soy Cheddar)
1/4 cup Cream of Mushroom Soup
Mushroom Sauce:
Remaining Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup Milk (Plain Soy or Almond Milk)
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce (Omit if Vegan)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Biscuit Dough:
Mix Bisquick and cheese together.
Gradually blend in milk, stirring with a fork to make a soft, slightly sticky dough.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently 8 to 10 times.
Roll into a 14″x10″ rectangle.

Filling:
In a large skillet, with a bit of olive oil, saute onions until soft.
Add chopped celery, finely chopped peppers and ground beef (Just Like Ground Round) breaking up meat with a wooden spoon.
Cook and stir frequently until evenly browned.
Stir in remaining ingredients and heat until cheese melts.

Turn oven on to preheat to 400F.
Line a baking sheet with Parchment paper or spray lightly with vegetable oil spray and dust lightly with cornmeal.

Carefully spread onto prepared dough.
Roll up like a jelly roll, starting from the longer side.
Shape into a ring.
Place on prepared baking sheet.
Slash with a sharp knife, 3/4 of the way through ring, at 1inch intervals.
Bake in 400F. oven for 15 – 18 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot with Mushroom Sauce.
Serves: 6

Mushroom Sauce:
Combine mushroom soup, 1/2 cup milk, salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce in a small saucepan and heat through. Oh, I often add fresh Sliced Mushrooms to the sauce.

If Vegan, omit Mushroom Sauce altogether and serve with a Salsa and Avocado Slices.

Pizza

After a hectic week at work it is nice to unwind with a ooey, gooey slice of home made pizza fresh out of the oven. As you well know, I usually make my own pizza crust but sometimes it is nice to rely on Helpers! I bought some Pizza shells at Real Canadian Superstore, I had some Yves Pizza Pepperoni and an assortment of cheeses on hand but truly lacked in the veggie department except for one yellow and one red pepper. Normally I would also use green pepper, spinach and tomatoes. Oh, but I did have a handful of mushrooms tucked away in one of the crisper drawers; I know, shocking that they weren’t in a Tupperware container, right? I blame it on lack of space in the very impractical fridge in my current kitchen.

Anyway, I had enough ingredients to throw together three pizzas so there will be some tasty cold pizza for lunch tomorrow!

 

Pizza Shells
1/2 425g can Tomato Sauce
3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon of “The Mix” or Italian Seasoning
1 package Yves Pizza Pepperoni
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan Cheese

Olive Oil
1 large Onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoon Garlic, minced
1  each Yellow Pepper, Red Pepper, sliced into thin strips
6 large Mushrooms, sliced
Basil
Oregano
Chili Flakes

Preheat oven to 450F.
Line pizza pans with LFoil for super easy clean up. Sprinkle with a bit of cornmeal.

In large skillet, saute onion in a bit of olive oil, over med-high heat for about 3 minutes.
Add garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes.
Add sliced peppers and cook until tender crisp.

While onion/pepper mix is cooking, mix together in a small bowl the tomato sauce, tomato paste and herbs.
Evenly spread the sauce over each of the pizza shells.
Top two of the pizzas with Yves Pizza Pepperoni.
Top one pizza with loads of the pepper/onion mixture along with the sliced mushrooms; reserve a little of the pepper/onion mixture to top the other two pizzas.
Top each pizza with some of each cheese.
Spread remaining pepper/onion mixture evenly over the other two pizzas.
Top each pizza with a sprinkling of dried basil, oregano and chili flakes.

Bake each pizza for 15 minutes in 450F preheated oven.
Slide pizza off baking tray, let cool for about 5 minutes then slice into wedges.

Serve hot!
Though cold Pizza is always pretty decent too!

 

 

 

“Beef” and Broccoli with Yves Beef Strips

A great meal in a matter of minutes!Teriyaki "Chicken"
Teriyaki "Chicken"

Throw on a pot of rice.

While the rice is cooking sautee:

Onion, for a few minutes
Add some minced Garlic; cook for another few minutes.
Grate in a bit of Ginger root.
While that is cooking away, thinly slice a few peppers: red, green, yellow
Slice a handful of ‘shrooms.
Break flowerettes off of a head of Cauliflower as well as some Broccoli

Wash all under cold running water, drain well.
Throw into pan and cook over high heat until tender crisp.
Add strips of  Yves “Beef” Strips

Add a generous amount of bottled Teriyaki Sauce (1/2 cup) and heat through.

Serve immediately on a bed of hot Rice with Sesame Seeds to garnish.

 

 

 

 

 

Quesadillas

It has been a long day at work and the last thing you want to do is cook, right? Quesadillas are a quick fix, add a handful of not-s0-g00d-for-you Tater Tots, a side salad and consider dinner done in the amount of time it takes to bake those Tater Tots!

Quesadillas
Quesadillas

Turn oven on the 425F.
Lightly spray baking tray with vegetable oil spray.
Put tater tots on tray, put them in the oven; when the oven reaches 425F turn timer on to 20 minutes.

In large Skillet, sautee:
1 Onion, thinly sliced; cook until soft and translucent
While Onion is cooking, de seed and thinly slice:
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
Add to onion and cook over high heat, stirring often.
Add:
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Cook for a few minutes, while grating about
1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese

Heat Griddle to 350F.
I have one of those long Griddles and can cook 3 – 4 Quesadillas at a time.
Place 3 – 4 Flour Tortillas, slightly over lapping, on Griddle.
Put about 1/2 cup of the Pepper mix on one half of the end Tortilla, sprinkle with Grated Cheddar and fold in half.
Proceed until all 3 – 4 Tortillas are “stuffed” and folded over.
Cook until lightly browned, turn over and continue cooking until second side is lightly browned.
Continue with remaining Flour Tortillas and Pepper Mixture.
As the Quesadillas are removed from Griddle, cut each into wedges.
Serve with Tater Tots, a Side Salad and some Salsa on the side.

Rice and Bean Burrito

Sometimes I end up with a lot of leftover rice. I do a lot of baking already so I don’t always want to make Rice Pudding.  Yes, sure,  Fried Rice is always an option but I don’t always have the rest of the ingredients that I would like to use on hand. Then I came across this idea on vegetarian.about.com and knew I had to try it! I didn’t follow the given recipe much but it gave me a great starting point and I went from there to create my own version of Rice and Bean Burritos.

Rice and Bean Burrito
Rice and Bean Burrito - a spicy blend of flavours to liven up leftover rice!

1-425gm can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced Garlic
1-425gm can Crushed Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup prepared Salsa
1 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground Coriander
1 1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 teaspoon dried Basil
1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper, to taste
1 3/4 cup leftover Rice
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

6 – 8 Flour Tortillas

In a large skillet, over med – high heat saute onion until soft; add minced garlic and continue cooking for a few minutes.
Add tomato sauce, salsa and the spices; bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
Stir in leftover rice and shredded cheddar, heat through.
Heat 3 tortillas in the microwave, on HIGH, for 45 seconds.
Spoon about a cup of the rice and bean mixture onto a single heated flour tortilla; wrap.
Repeat with remaining tortillas, heating tortillas, 3 at a time, in the microwave before filling and wrapping.
Top each tortilla with some shredded cheddar, a dollop of sour cream and serve on a bed of lettuce.

*I made up 8 burritos, wrapped them in cello wrap then l-foil and put them in the freezer for ready to go lunches in a hurry.

A variation of the recipe I found at:
Rice and Bean Burrito