Ever Run out of Meatless Meal Ideas?
*Chuckles* I love Blogger! It's Saturday as I'm writing this, but I can post it so's it looks like I posted it on Friday! He he he!
Anyway, am I the only person who can't keep coming up with wholesome meatless meals for Fridays? I mean, after 4 consecutive Fridays of macaroni and cheese for lunch. . .and then leftover macaroni and cheese for dinner (might be slightly exaggerating), I kind of feel like I should try to broaden my horizons a bit. . .beyond just plain bread and water. :)
So, I would like to share some of my meatless meal recipes, and perhaps any readers out there could share some of theirs. Maybe we could do a recipe swap for Fridays. . .like one of those, "This is what my Family is having Today" type recipe club thingys.
This Friday we had (are having?) 12 minute Fako Minestrone Soup, a soup of my own creation (I know someone thought of it before, but as I threw things into the pot and thought up the name, it did seem like I was the first brilliant cook to ever come up with such an idea;) ). Don't worry, it came out really good, unlike some other experiments. Recipe follows:
12 Minute Fako Minestrone Soup-Should serve 4 Big Bowl-fulls
Ingredients:
4-6 Herb-ox vegetable bouillon cubes
8-10 cups water
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (Hunt's and Del-Monte carry organic canned tomatoes btw)
2 15 oz cans mixed vegetables (includes celery,corn,green-beans,peas,limas,carrots,potatoes)
3 Big Cloves of Garlic
4 Tbspns. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 6 oz or half a 12 oz bag or box of any kind of small, soup kind of pasta (Barilla really is the best)
4-5 generous handfuls of clean, picked over spinach
12 Large, fresh Basil Leaves
Parmesean cheese, grated
Okay, so, first you crumble the bouillon cubes into the pot of water; put that over high heat so that it boils asap. Put the whole can of diced tomatoes in the pot and cover. Drain the cans of mixed veggies into a colander, let sit in sink while going to the next step. Dice the garlic into tiny pieces, put into med. frying pan with olive oil, some salt (I use sea salt in a salt grinder, so I just give the grinder a couple of cranks) and some pepper. Heat this over med. heat; when hot, add the mixed veggies and stir them in the hot oil for a couple minutes. Toss it all in the pot, scrape out every last drop of precious olive oil. Dump the pasta into the pot and watch the pot, because when it starts boiling, and the pasta is al dente, then the soup is done. This should take about 8 minutes from when the pot starts actually boiling. When the pasta is done, coarsely chop the spinach, throw that into the pot, cover and turn off the heat. While the spinach is wilting, take 4-5 Basil leaves at a time, roll them up into a "cigar" and slice them crosswise, then toss them into the pot too. Ladel soup into bowls, and shred parmesean cheese over them to whatever amount you like (or use that pre-shredded stuff. . .ew). Serve soup with some toasted bread and butter. And it really does take only 12 minutes or so.
Okay, now what have you ladies got up your sleeves?
Anyway, am I the only person who can't keep coming up with wholesome meatless meals for Fridays? I mean, after 4 consecutive Fridays of macaroni and cheese for lunch. . .and then leftover macaroni and cheese for dinner (might be slightly exaggerating), I kind of feel like I should try to broaden my horizons a bit. . .beyond just plain bread and water. :)
So, I would like to share some of my meatless meal recipes, and perhaps any readers out there could share some of theirs. Maybe we could do a recipe swap for Fridays. . .like one of those, "This is what my Family is having Today" type recipe club thingys.
This Friday we had (are having?) 12 minute Fako Minestrone Soup, a soup of my own creation (I know someone thought of it before, but as I threw things into the pot and thought up the name, it did seem like I was the first brilliant cook to ever come up with such an idea;) ). Don't worry, it came out really good, unlike some other experiments. Recipe follows:
12 Minute Fako Minestrone Soup-Should serve 4 Big Bowl-fulls
Ingredients:
4-6 Herb-ox vegetable bouillon cubes
8-10 cups water
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (Hunt's and Del-Monte carry organic canned tomatoes btw)
2 15 oz cans mixed vegetables (includes celery,corn,green-beans,peas,limas,carrots,potatoes)
3 Big Cloves of Garlic
4 Tbspns. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 6 oz or half a 12 oz bag or box of any kind of small, soup kind of pasta (Barilla really is the best)
4-5 generous handfuls of clean, picked over spinach
12 Large, fresh Basil Leaves
Parmesean cheese, grated
Okay, so, first you crumble the bouillon cubes into the pot of water; put that over high heat so that it boils asap. Put the whole can of diced tomatoes in the pot and cover. Drain the cans of mixed veggies into a colander, let sit in sink while going to the next step. Dice the garlic into tiny pieces, put into med. frying pan with olive oil, some salt (I use sea salt in a salt grinder, so I just give the grinder a couple of cranks) and some pepper. Heat this over med. heat; when hot, add the mixed veggies and stir them in the hot oil for a couple minutes. Toss it all in the pot, scrape out every last drop of precious olive oil. Dump the pasta into the pot and watch the pot, because when it starts boiling, and the pasta is al dente, then the soup is done. This should take about 8 minutes from when the pot starts actually boiling. When the pasta is done, coarsely chop the spinach, throw that into the pot, cover and turn off the heat. While the spinach is wilting, take 4-5 Basil leaves at a time, roll them up into a "cigar" and slice them crosswise, then toss them into the pot too. Ladel soup into bowls, and shred parmesean cheese over them to whatever amount you like (or use that pre-shredded stuff. . .ew). Serve soup with some toasted bread and butter. And it really does take only 12 minutes or so.
Okay, now what have you ladies got up your sleeves?
posted by Therese_Rose_Morning at 6:46 PM
4 Comments:
Nothing fancy but I like Tofu cut into cubes (use the extra-firm kind) with a little walnut oil, sliced peppers, diced garlic, mushrooms and to top it off a meatless red sauce. Simply sautee veggies to your taste, add to the tofu, heat together for a bit and voila! Good protein source and totally Catholic!
Cool! My husband, however, refuses to eat tofu :-P One thing I do to fool him though, is in things like spaghetti sauce, thick soups, things like that, I blend up a couple slices of softer tofu into the sauce. . .makes it thicker and adds some protein. Plus, he can't taste it, he he he.
Have you ever found an appetizing way to prepare tempeh???
I'm going to ask my rosary group this week for their ideas. I feel I am in a rut too. Here are some I do already:
Spinach Calzones
Clam Chowder
Veggie Pizza
Spinach noodles in a cream sauce with tiny shrimp, peas and parmesan cheese.
Mellie
First of all, thanks for sharing such a nice and unique meatless meal recipe with us. and yeah, i would share it with my friends too.:) You wrote this recipe in a comprehensive way. I liked it. Have a nice day!
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