Vegan/Lactose Free Manicotti

Every Wednesday I will be bringing you what I will be calling Cutting Board posts.  I will be creating and showing recipes that cut back costs and calories.  Healthy food does not have to be expensive!  So here we go...

In another desperate attempt to get my family to open up to the idea of tofu as an edible food option, I turned to my latest copy of Everyday with Rachel Ray, which was showing a vegan stuffed shells recipe in the early pages of the issue.  The recipe below is an adaptation of that recipe.  Believe it or not, this is actually cheaper to make than the cheese version!  The tofu cost $5.98, while the 4 cups of mozarella and the ricotta would normally run me approximately $9.00. The tofu is much lighter on the calories, and you also will not have the calories from the eggs, which normally get blended with the cheeses! 

I serve stuffed shells way too often, and my family knows the taste like the back of their hands, so I opted for manicotti, which I don't make too often - mostly because I hate filling them (there is a tip down in the recipe)! I figured they wouldn't notice the new flavor and will just think that I am seasoning them differently. 

I nearly got away with it this time.  They scarfed them down piping hot, and dad went back for seconds!  They later realized, I suppose upon reflection, that something was not "right" and forced the secret out of me, because, well, I am just a horrible liar!  What it comes down to, is that these were delicious, especially piping hot out of the oven!  My family would have loved them, and I could have made them again if they hadn't been so suspicious...oh well!

Vegan/Lactose Free Manicotti
Yields 5 - 6 servings

Ingredients 
2 pounds firm tofu
2 sprigs fresh oregano
4 medium garlic cloves, chopped
Juice of two lemons
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
1 jar of meatless spaghetti sauce
1 package of manicotti noodles, cooked, drained, and run under cool water.
1 Ziploc bag with a corner cut off, or a piping bag


To Prepare the Manicotti
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor, puree 1 pound of tofu, the leaves of 1 sprig of oregano, 2 garlic cloves, and the juice of 1 lemon.
3. Repeat the process in step one with the remaining tofu, oregano, garlic, and lemon juice.
4. Combine both batches of tofu in a large bowl, and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Pour half of the jar of spaghetti sauce into a large casserole dish, and spread it out evenly. 
6. Pour the tofu mixture into the Ziploc or piping bag, and squeeze the tofu into the manicotti.  The most effectively way to fill the manicotti is to fill the pasta half way from one side, and then fill in the other side.
7. Continue this step while laying them in the saucy casserole dish.
8. Once you have filled all of the manicotti, top them with the sauce.
9. Bake them for 20 - 30 minutes, or until they are bubbling and hot.
10. Sprinkle the entire casserole dish with some fresh oregano before serving!

Vegetarian Stew

Last night my grandmom had our family over for dinner.  We had a DELICIOUS enchilada casserole, and will be posting that recipe soon!  That being said, Meatless Monday had to be put off until tonight!  This week, for Meatless Monday, I made a vegetarian stew.  With my favorite produce store going out of business, I was forced to buy frozen vegetables.  When I am put in a bind like this, I always opt for frozen over canned.  Frozen veggies are a smidgen better for you and retain a good portion of their nutritional value!  If you are using frozen veggies for this recipe, be sure they are defrosted, and if you are using canned veggies, be sure to strain the excess liquid off of them before adding them to the pot! 

Vegetarian Stew 
Yields 6 generous servings


Ingredients 
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 large potatoes, washed and cubed
1 carrot, washed and diced
8 ounces corn kernels
8 ounces green beans
8 ounces peas
28 ounces pureed tomatoes
3 cans water
8 ounces of whole wheat pasta (I used fusilli) 
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

To Prepare the Stew
1. In a large stew pot, add the onions, carrots, and potatoes.  Heat them over medium heat while constantly stirring. 
2. When the onions have started to become translucent, add the corn, green beans, and peas. 
3. Stir everything together well. 
4. Add the pureed tomatoes and 2 cans of water. 
5. Cook over medium heat.
6. When the liquid comes to a boil, season with the salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. 
7. Add the pasta. 
8. Add the last can of water as needed to make the stew as thick or runny as you prefer it to be.  
9. When the pasta has cooked through and the potatoes are soft, your stew is ready!

Cranberry Sauce and Meatless Monday

Over the years, I remember my mom and I having a few failed attempts at making delicious tasting cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.  We always ended up reverting back to the classy stuff that jiggles out of the can for the big day!  This year I finally got smart about it, and got it to not only work, but also taste pretty delicious!  I have actually ended up serving cranberry sauce more since figuring out how to make it, and love roasting chicken breasts in it - in fact, that is what I made it for tonight!  We will be enjoying it tomorrow night alongside some chicken and a salad.  This sauce is best served the next day after it has chilled in the fridge overnight!

Cranberry Sauce 
Yields approximately 3 cups of sauce

Ingredients 
Approximately 12 ounces of cranberries
2 cups of orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
6 ounces of Craisins
1 teaspoon of cornstarch or flour

To Prepare the Sauce 
1. Pour the cranberries, sugar, and orange juice into a saucepan and turn on high heat.

2. Boil and stir it.  You will start to see and hear the cranberries pop!
3. Once most of the cranberries have popped and started to break down, pour a few teaspoons of the liquid from the pan into a small bowl and mix it with the cornstarch or flour until it makes a paste.

4. Add the paste to the saucepan and stir well.  This will help your sauce thicken and turn a nice consistency.

5. Cook over medium heat for a few more minutes, and then stir in the craisins.
6. Turn off the heat and leave on the stove to cool off.  Your sauce will thicken and turn that deep, clear color as it cools!  Cover it and move it to the fridge overnight! 

Tonight was also our forth Meatless Monday.  So far, they have been going well, and there have been no complaints from my dad or sister!  This week, I let my sister pick the meal and she asked for a huge garden salad!  I mixed 3 kinds of lettuce - iceberg, green, and red!  We used provolone cheese as our protein.  We had bell pepper, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, red onion, tomato, broccoli, mushrooms, and black olives as our toppers!

Eggplant Parmesan

Many of my favorite vegetarian dishes revolve around pasta!  I knew when I started the menu for this week, the one dish that my dad would totally be ok with was eggplant parm!  He LOVED having this at home,  my sister (the veggie hater) on the other hand, was not happy at all.  I guess 2 out of 3 isn't bad haha.  I liked this recipe because it actually came out with a crispy crust and didn't get soggy.  I think eggplant parm tends to go wrong when you feel like you are chewing on rubber...yuck!  I will certify this as a rubbery free recipe! 

Eggplant Parmesan 
Yields 6 servings

To Prepare the Eggplant 
1. Peel 1 large eggplant.
2. Cut the Eggplant into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
3. Place the rounds into a sieve and sprinkle some salt on them.  This will make the eggplant wilt, which essentially means that we are removing excess moisture, and they are going into a sieve so they are not lying in the juices!

4. After the eggplant has wilted for approximately 30 minutes, take it out the sieve and pat the pieces dry with paper towels.
5. While the eggplant is drying, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. Beat 3 eggs in a bowl, and set aside.
7. Pour 1 cup of bread crumbs onto a plate.  I used plain bread crumbs and seasoned them with some dry herbs, but you can definitely use the pre-seasoned!
8. Pour 1/4 inch of olive oil into a frying pan and start heating it on low heat.
9. While the olive oil is heating, dredge approximately 4 slices through the bread crumbs, and THEN coat them in egg.

All set up for dredging! From left to right: Eggplant, bread crumbs, egg, frying pan, casserole dish!

10. Fry the coated eggplant in the oil, and be sure to flip them once they brown on the first side!  When they are brown on both sides, remove them from the oil and place them in a casserole dish. Repeat this process until all of the eggplant is fried and in the casserole dish.

11. Evenly coat the entire casserole of eggplant with pasta sauce (it only should take 1 jar of sauce!).  If you want your eggplant to stay SUPER crispy, place it on a baking sheet, spoon a little sauce over the top of each piece, sprinkle with some cheese, and then bake it!

12. Top the sauce with 1/2 to 1 pound of shredded mozzarella, depending on how cheesy you want it!  I love cheese, so I used 1 pound!

13. Bake this in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

I served mine over pasta, but it would be good as an eggplant parm sandwich, or along side of some fresh steamed veggies!

Savory Nut Loaf with Cheddar Bechamel Sauce

Oh the infamous nut loaf!  I realized a few years ago that it is a bit of a staple in a lot of vegetarian's diets, and despite that fact, has become a bit of a punch line amongst the meat eating community.  After growing up in a meat and potatoes household, I explored vegetarianism when I went to college (I know, shocking stuff).  I would do ok for a few months, and then retreat back to meat either at Thanksgiving or the 4th of July.  I just cannot resist roasted turkey and juicy burgers!  Despite my weakness for meat, I do still enjoy vegetarian dishes, and usually try to incorporate 1 a week into our dinner menu. The real trick though, is getting my dad and sister to enjoy them.  I tend to run into a lot of problems because my sister HATES lots of vegetables, and my dad, while he will eat just about anything, he is just not very open minded about meals that completely omit meat.  Meatloaf is his favorite dinner, so here's hoping!

Savory Nut Loaf
Yields 6 servings

To Prepare the Nut Loaf
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. 
3. Dice 1 small onion, and add it to the frying pan.

4. Dice 1 cup of shitake mushrooms, and add them to the frying pan.  You don't have to use shitakes, but I would avoid the canned mushrooms!  This recipe is a delicate balance of wet and dry, and the moisture will throw your end result!
5. Dice 2 cloves of garlic, or if you are using the pre-diced add 1 tablespoon. Add it to the frying pan.

6. Chop 2 cups of nuts.  I chose cashews and walnuts!  You can either chop them by hand, or you can pulverize them in a food processor.  I went the route of hand chopping, which gives them a texture ranging from sand to small pebble.  If you want more consistency, go with a food processor or magic bullet!  If you suffer from a nut allergy, you could use soy nuts.

7. Pour the chopped nuts into a large mixing bowl.
8. Pour the frying pan mixture in with the nuts once the onions have turned translucent and the mushrooms have started to brown.

9. Add 1 cup of cottage cheese to the bowl.  You can use any cheese you like...don't feel obligated to go this route if you don't like it!  If you would like to make this recipe vegan, you can use a vegan cheese! 

10. Add 2 cups brown rice to the bowl.

11. Add 2 large eggs to the bowl, and mix everything together well!

12. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, or grease it with a little butter.
13. Pour the mixture from the bowl, into the greased loaf pan.  Even out the top of the loaf mix and place it in the oven.

14. Bake the loaf for approximately 1 hour, until the loaf is firm and golden brown!

To Prepare the Bechamel Sauce
1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small pan.
2. Once the butter is melted, thoroughly mix in 1 tablespoon of flour.

3. Once the butter and flour is bubbling and thick, mix in 1 cup of milk.
4. When the milk has come to a boil, mix in 1 cup of shredded cheddar and mix continually until they cheese is melted and fully incorporated into the sauce!

Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage

I know a lot of you would not necessarily consider baked ziti a casserole, but this is how I look at it: A casserole is usually some sort of meat (sausage), a grain of some sort (ziti), sauce/veggie (tomato sauce), and cheese (mozzarella and ricotta).  Let us just say it is Italian casserole hehe!  

Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage
Yields 6 - 8 servings

To Prepare the Ziti
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees! 
2. Open a one pound tube of sage flavored sausage.  You know the stuff...the breakfast sausage that you cut and fry!  Brown the sausage in a frying pan, and break it up a with a spatula.  It will break down more and more as it cooks!

3. Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook 1 pound of ziti.  Don't cook it all the way, but just a little bit past the al dente state!
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and leave it in the sieve.
5. Using the empty pot you cooked the pasta in, mix together approximately 25 ounces of pasta sauce, 1 pound of shredded mozzarella cheese (hold back some of the mozzarella to top the casserole), 1 pound of riccotta cheese, and 2 large eggs.

6. Once all of these ingredients are mixed, add the pasta and sausage in!
7. Pour the mixture into a glass casserole dish and top with the mozzarella you left out of the sauce. I sprinkled a little dash of parsley flake on top of the cheese, but you could also top it with a basil leaf, some fresh oregano, or some fresh parsley if you want to!

8. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the cheese on top has melted and is just starting to brown!

Cinnamon Chicken with Vanilla Raisin Yogurt Sauce over Polenta

This is one of those amazing dishes you have at a restaurant, and then when you go back to have it again, the restaurant has changed owners, and it is mysteriously the ONLY dish that is no longer on the menu...but I'm not bitter about it (<-- that would be the sarcasm lol)!  I had a very similar dish at a restaurant in the town I went to college in, and loved it!  I have found nothing like it since, but have found a way to replicate it closely enough at home.  I do cheat and use pre-made polenta, mainly because I do not have the tolerance to figure out the balance of liquid to cornmeal, or want to risk burning it in a pot...it can be an excruciating process!   If you are looking for the pre-made stuff, it can be found either with refrigerated vegetarian products (such as veggie burger patties), or in the Italian aisle of your grocery store! 

Cinnamon Chicken with Vanilla Raisin Yogurt Sauce over Polenta
Yields 3 servings

To Prepare the Chicken
1. Rub 1 pound of chicken with cinnamon.  It takes approximately 1 tablespoon of cinnamon to coat all of the chicken!  I like using thin sliced boneless, skinless chicken breast for this recipe!

2. Heat a frying pan coated with non-stick spray over medium heat.
3. Add your chicken to the pan once it is coated.
4. Flip the chicken once the underside has turned white and is starting to turn white up the sides.

To Prepare the Sauce 
1. Mix 1 single serve sized container of vanilla yogurt (approximately 6 ounces) and a serving sized box of raisins together in a sauce pan.

2. Heat over very low heat, being sure to stir occasionally while preparing the rest of the meal!

To Prepare the Polenta
1. Heat some oil or non-stick spray in a frying pan.
2. While the pan and oil are heating, cut the polenta into 1/2 inch wide slices.

3. Add the polenta to the pan.

4. Flip it when the bottom begins to brown.
5. The polenta is done when the second side has also browned!

To Serve
1. Place the polenta on the plate and top with the chicken.
2. Drizzle some of the yogurt and raisin sauce on top of the chicken.

Pecan Encrusted Pork Cutlets with Salted Apple Caramel Cream Sauce

Fall is, by far, my favorite season, and with that comes the flavors of fall!  I have always been a fan of pork and apples, but wanted to put a new spin on it this year.  Salted caramel has been something I have been encountering a lot this year at restaurants and in recipes, and wanted to marry that flavor with the pork and apples.  The pecans add the right amount of savory and nutty flavor to balance out this sauce!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!


Pecan Encrusted Pork Cutlets with Salted Apple Caramel Cream Sauce 
Yields 4 - 5 servings


To Prepare the Sauce
1. Add 2/3 cup of heavy cream to a sauce pan on VERY low heat.  The burner should barely be on!
2. Add 2/3 cup of T. Marzetti caramel dip to the sauce pan.  T. Marzetti is the most commonly found brand of straight forward caramel dip.  You should be able to find it with the apples in the produce department of your grocery store!

3. Add 1/2 a teaspoon of sea salt to the pan, and gently stir all of the ingredients together until the color and texture is even.

4. While the mixture continues to cook over low heat, slice 1 Granny Smith Apple into very thin slices.  They should be approximately 1/8 inch thick, but no thicker than 1/4 inch!

5. Add them to the sauce pan and continue to simmer it and occasionally stir it over low heat while you prepare the pork!

To Prepare the Pork
1. Put 1 pound of pecan pieces on a piece of parchment paper on your counter or a table.

2. Using a rolling pin, break down the pieces just a little bit more by rolling them and pressing down with some force.

3. Spray a little non-stick cooking spray into a glass casserole dish. 
4. Take a pork cutlet and press it into the pecan pieces.  Do this to both sides, and then place it flat in the casserole dish.  I used 1 pound of pork cutlets! 

5. After all of the cutlets are coated and in the dish, bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.

To Serve
1. Plate your pork cutlet and top with a little bit of the sauce!

I served mine along side green beans and some homemade smashed red potatoes!  It was beyond delicious...all I had hoped for and more!

Hand Grenades

My great grandfather (on my mom's paternal side) was what I guess you could classify as a "character".  He always kept us guessing, watching out for his next prank or joke, and always had a quick comeback when ever we thought we were finally going to get the best of him.  You can only imagine my confused little kid face when he announced that we were eating hand grenades for dinner!  Now, at this point in my life, I had watched a few episodes of MASH, and I knew what a hand grenade did...let us just leave it at this dish gets its name because it...uhhh errr...has a similar effect on one's digestive tract.  As for the origins of this dish, there is some controversy, mainly because Europe, in its entirety, would like to take individual credit...Poland, Hungary, Germany, Sweeden...you get the point, and know what countries are in Europe!  In the end, my dad, sister, and brother wait for fall with baited breath, knowing that hand grenades will come out of the oven with in the first few cool weeks.  As irony would have it, it is miserably hot out, for fall, today and I type this as I sit in front of the air conditioner with the cat! 

Vinnie loves to help cook...especially if there are veggies involved!  Don't worry...his paws aren't in the food...he just likes to watch and try to steal veggies!

My great grandpa and my brother...circa 1991!

Hand Grenades
Yields 5 servings

To Prepare the Cabbage

1. Carefully peel whole leaves off of a savoy cabbage.  The leaves will break off at the stem with a little force! I like using savoy cabbage because, unlike the green cabbage, it does not need to be cooked before making the actual rolls.  This type of cabbage can be found at your local grocery store.  It is green, but has a more pliable leaf that has a lot of texture to it!

2. Wash the leaves and pat them dry with some papertowels.

To Prepare the Beef and Rice 
1. Make a large box of white quick rice.
2. While the rice is cooking, add 2 pounds of ground beef to a bowl.  If you do not want to use beef, ground pork and chicken work well with this recipe!
3. When the rice is done cooking, add 2 cups of it to the beef.

4. Mix the beef and rice together, carefully, as the rice is still hot!  I am not liable for burnt fingers hehe!

5. Leave the left over rice in the pot with the lid on, as it will be what the cabbage rolls are served on!

To Finish the Dish
1. Pour 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce into a large casserole dish.

2. Lay out cabbage leaf so it resembles the shape of a bowl, with the veiny end closest to you.
3. Make a large meatball (2-3 inches in diameter).
4. Place the meatball in the stiff, veiny end of the cabbage and roll the cabbage over it until the cabbage is touching cabbage again.

5. Fold in both sides of the cabbage, and continue rolling it the rest of the way closed.

6. Place it in the casserole dish.  Continue with this process until you have run out of beef!  If you do not like cabbage, or have company that will be joining you for dinner that does not like cabbage, you can make regular sized meatballs out of the meat and rice mixture.  Our family calls these porcupine balls!

7. Once all of the rolls are in the casserole, cover them with another jar of sauce.

8. Bake them in the oven at 350 degrees.

When you are ready to eat, serve 2 or 3 rolls over some of the rice.  Be sure to get some of the sauce out of the pan and spoon more over the top!