Saturday night was at my house. the menu: red peppers stuffed with quinoa and cremini mushrooms with asparagus braised in butter and lemon juice. a vegetarian night! note: if you're going to pair these together, make the asparagus second while the peppers are in the oven, or you'll risk over-cooking it.
Sunday night was a potluck, and i brought vegan sweet and sour meatballs. (the meatball recipe is stolen: i will provide the link! but the sauce is mine.)
Stuffed Peppers
ingreeds:
4 well-sized red peppers
1 cup of quinoa
1 small onion, diced
1/2 bulb of roasted garlic
5-6 cremini mushrooms, diced
1/4 cup butter
cumin to taste
roast yer garlic. ( http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_garlic/ ) start the quinoa next: one cup dried to two cups of water in a pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. while that's boiling away, heat up the butter in a pan and throw in the diced onions, and cook 'em until they're translucent. add the diced mushrooms to the pan. once the quinoa is finished (ie. all water absorbed), throw in the garlic, and onion/mushroom mix, add cumin, stir it up! now slice the tops off the peppers and rip out the seedy parts. dice up the tops you just removed (not the green part, obvi) and toss that into your quinoa mix. stuff the mixture into the peppers... it's ok to have some over-flow! place them on a baking sheet and throw into the oven at about 300 until the peppers start to roast a little. i take less time because i don't like my peppers to soften too much, but that can also make them super delicious. i feel it's a personal issue. if you feel like adding a lil' something extra grate some fresh parmesan cheese on top... or get creative! bread crumbs! pecans! whatevertheheckyouwant!
note: stuffed peppers also work really nicely on the bbq; just wrap them in foil and throw them on the grill, yo.
Braised Asparagus
the asparagus is ridiculously easy: trim off the bottoms (as they can get hard sometimes and i like my fronds to be supple tender), and fill a deep sauce pan or a pot with enough water to cover the asparagus. simmer until asparagus is easily pierced with a fork, then drain the suckers. keep them in the pan, but add enough butter to coat them. once the butter is melted, squeeze some lemon juice all over them, toss them around in the pan a bit, and serve!
Vegan Meatballs
stolen from this awesome website: http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/homemade-meatless-meatballs-made-with.html
super tasty, although i need to try something next time to get them bind together better... they were a titch crumbly this time.
Sweet & Sour Sauce
basically i was playing a game of "what do i already have in the house" and this is what i came up with:
two table-spoonish scoops of apple jelly
a few squirts of chili sauce (careful vegans because a lot of them contain fish paste. check ingreeds!)
a splash of cider vinegar
apple cider (enough to create the volume needed to cover the balls)
flour to thicken. (probably 2-4 table spoons, max.)
throw is all in a little pot, stir it together with a whisk, and pour it on your balls. totally tasty!
update: tonight, although i did not create it, was spinach lasagna. so effing tasty i went back for seconds. because i need more food in my face.
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