Sweet Potato Fritters

Fritters are delicious bundles of fried happiness. These fritters are made from sweet potatoes, so you can even pretend they're healthy!

• 1 large cooked, peeled, mashed sweet potato (about 1 pound) Bake in the oven for about an hour or heat in the microwave for 8-10 minutes until soft. After it is soft, the peel should come off pretty easily- just and try not to burn your fingers!
  

• 3 tablespoons canola oil (or what is needed to fry your fritters)
  
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 15-oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• egg replacer for one egg (I used Ener-G)
• 1/4 cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes
3. Add beans, 1 teaspoon paprika and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 2 minutes. Separate into two portions. Cover and set aside.
4. Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, the remaining teaspoon paprika and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Add the mashed sweet potato and combine.
5. Add egg replacer and water to half the bean/onion mixture. Add this to the cornmeal mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Heat the oil in a pan. Form the mixture into 8 circularish fritters- about 1/4 cup of the mixture each. Fry each fritter in the oil for about 2 minutes on each side until browned.
   
7. Place the fritters on a baking sheet and bake about 8-10 minutes until firm. Serve with the remaining onion/bean mixture and a nice salad.

Makes about 8 Fritters

Calories 314

Calories from Fat 58
Total Fat 6.5g
Saturated Fat 0.6g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 20mg
Total Carbohydrates 51.6g
Dietary Fiber 10.4g
Sugars 3.3g

Cucumber Onion Dill Salad

Apparently I am on a salad kick. I blame the heat. Who wants to eat hearty, heavy food when it's hot? Leave those until the sun goes down! In the mean time, here is a simple salad to get you through your day.

• 2 cucumbers sliced into thin circles- I've always partially peeled these- meaning I partially remove the peel in lengthwise strips using a vegetable peeler leaving a little skin between each strip. I have no idea why I do this other than it's what my mom did. If anyone knows the reason behind this, I'd love to hear it!
• 1 red onion cut in half and then into thin slices. Separate the layers of the strips so you are left with thin half moon shapes
• 6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Add the vinegar, sugar, dill, salt, and pepper in a bowl (with a lid) and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Mix in cucumber and onions.
3. Put the lid on the bowl and shake, shake, shake! You can eat this right away, but I find it's better if you let it sit for a couple hours before eating.

4 Servings Amount Per Serving

Calories 54

Calories from Fat 2
Total Fat 0.2g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 6mg
Total Carbohydrates 12.4g
Dietary Fiber 0.9g
Sugars 8.9g
Protein 1.1g

Perfect Picnic Potato Salad

Today is hot. It is the first day it has felt like summer. The A/C is on and Buster is sprawled out on the wood floor. It's a perfect time for salads- and I don't mean healthy, greens based salad. I'm talking rich, gooey, tangy potato salad. This salad is great for barbeques, picnics, etc. If you can get it out the door without eating it all, that is.

• 5 lbs potatoes (I've used several different varieties of potatoes in this recipe and I like red potatoes the best)
  
• 3-5 stalks of celery cut into slices
  
• 1/2 cup Vegenaise or other vegan mayo- I like Vegenaise the best
  
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
  
• 1/4 -1/2 cup dill pickle relish
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Boil these in water for 20 minutes or so- until they are tender enough that a fork easily goes into them but not so tender that they fall apart.
2. Drain the potatoes and cool- I am impatient and end up putting them in the freezer to help them cool faster- you want them to be room temperature or colder (but not frozen)
3. Put potatoes in a bowl (I use the bowl I'm going to serve them in so there aren't more dishes to clean). Add all the ingredients and mix it all up. This is definitely the kind of recipe you should make how you like it- all of the ingredients can be tweaked until you get the combination that takes you to food heaven. You can also add things like Bac-o's Bacon Flavor Bits (yes- they are vegan), onions, and anything else you think would be good.
   

10 Servings Amount Per Serving

Calories 243

Calories from Fat 70
Total Fat 7.8g
Saturated Fat 0.9g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 198mg
Total Carbohydrates 39.3g
Dietary Fiber 6.0g
Sugars 4.5g
Protein 4.2g

Lentil Soup

There is something comforting about parsley in soup. It's sort of earthy and homey and just plain delicious. I recently planted my very first vegetable garden- and one of the things I planted was parsley. This hearty, filling, healthy soup is made using this parsley- the very first product from my garden. Hopefully everything I make with ingredients from my garden is this good!

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
  
• 1 cup dried lentils (soak in cool water for a couple hours before using)
• 1 smallish white onion, diced
  
• 4-5 carrots, diced
• 4-5 stalks of celery, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (like I said- I love parsley- you can use less if you want)
• 4 cups veggie broth (I used 2 Not Ckick'n cubes because it's my favorite)
• Salt and lots of fresh ground pepper to taste
  

1. Saute the onions, garlic, celery and carrots in the olive oil until soft (about 5 minutes)
2. Add the parsley and saute until you can smell the parsley
3. Mix in the lentils, broth, salt and pepper
4. Let this all simmer for about 45 minutes until the lentils are soft. Done!

4 servings: Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 240
Calories from Fat 37
Total Fat 4.2g
Saturated Fat 0.6g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 64mg
Total Carbohydrates 38.0g
Dietary Fiber 17.2g
Sugars 5.0g
Protein 13.6g

This recipe brought to you by the Freelance Whales album "Weathervanes"

Strawberry Rhubarb Birthday Pie

Happy Birthday Kara! I have always had trouble with pie crust and it is nearly impossible to find a good vegan frozen one (and who would want to anyways??). I finally found a good, easy recipe that does not require cutting margarine into ice water and then praying the heat from your hands doesn't ruin it while you're rolling it out. Something that is cool about this pie crust recipe is that you can just pour all the ingredients in the pie plate and mix them in there- no bowls to clean! I did make extra crust and roll it out for the top, but this recipe is just for the bottom crust. If you want to make extra crust for the top, just double the recipe.

Crust

• 1.5 cups all purpose four
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons soy milk (I bet almond milk would be really good!)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
   
2. Put all ingredients in pie plate
3. Mix
4. Use your fingers to push out from the center layering the crust along the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Poke holes in it with a fork (so it doesn't bubble up when you bake it)
5. Bake for 15 minutes and then use in your favorite recipe.

Filling

• 3 cups strawberries (cut into bite sized pieces)
  
• 3 cups rhubarb (also cut into bite sized pieces)
• 1/4 cup sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like your pie- Kara likes a sort of tart rhubarb pie, so I did not add a lot of sugar)
  
• 2 Tablespoons flour
  

1. If you are using fresh ingredients, just mix them together in a bowl and add to pie crust
2. If you are using frozen ingredients, add them to a saucepan and warm them up over high heat. Make sure to mix the flour in with some cold water before adding it so it doesn't clump. Stir over medium high heat until the liquid thickens up. Otherwise you end up with soggy pie. And no one wants soggy pie.

Once you have added the filling to the crust, cover with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Take the foil off and bake for another 10-15 minute until it is all bubbly.

Spinach Corn Chili Mac

What do you do with the spinach you purchased with the intention of eating more salads (and is now about to go bad in your fridge)? You wilt it and put it in chili mac!

• 2 cups elbow macaroni
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 15-ounce can tomato sauce
  
• 1 1/2 cups water
  
• 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder (more or less depending on how you like it)
  
• 1 tablespoon cumin
  
• 10 ounces frozen corn kernels
  
• 16-ounce can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 5 cups washed and chopped spinach
  
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook the macaroni
   
2. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until they are soft.
   
3. Wilt the spinach with the onion and garlic. Wilting greens is very easy- you just throw them in a sauté pan and stir them around until they wilt. Easy Peasy.
   
4. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir and eat!

Amount Per Serving (8 servings)

Calories 344
Calories from Fat 31
Total Fat 3.4g
Saturated Fat 0.5g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 319mg
Total Carbohydrates 63.4g
Dietary Fiber 12.2g
Sugars 5.9g
Protein 18.1g

The very best lasagna ever

I'm not going to lie- this lasagna was hard work. Luckily, my good buddy Christian helped! Both of our spouses had to work on a Saturday, so we decided they would enjoy a good home cooked meal when they got home. It was also a good excuse to get the dogs together in the backyard for a couple hours while we cooked!

• 10 tomatoes, peeled (the easiest way to peel tomatoes is to cut out the stem and put them in boiling water for 30 seconds- 1 minute. Then dunk them in ice water so you can handle them- the peel should come right off!)
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• fresh basil, thyme, and oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• mushrooms
• red pepper
• whatever veggies you want to add
• cooked lasagna noodles- enough to make 3 layers in your casserole dish. I think we used about 12
• Vegan mozzarella cheese (we used a package and a half of Daiya cheese)
  

Sauce: This was the part that took the longest. We wanted to make a sauce from scratch- and man, it was totally worth it!

1. Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil until they are soft and a little brown.
2. Add the balsamic vinegar and reduce down while you are peeling the tomatoes
3. Put the peeled tomatoes in a bowl. Use a potato masher to mash the tomatoes a little- there can still be big chunks- we're going to blend it all together in a bit
4. Add the tomatoes and fresh herbs to the saute. At this point you want to let it all reduce together for as long as you have- we let it all boil together for about 2 hours- it made the house smell AMAZING.
5. After the sauce has boiled for as long as you want it, use an immersion blender to blend everything so it's smooth- its fine if there are some chunks.
6. Add the mushrooms, peppers, and whatever veggies you want to add. Sauce is done and delicious
   

PUTTING THE LASAGNA TOGETHER

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Put one layer of sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish
3. cover this layer with noodles
4. Add another layer of sauce, followed by a layer of cheese, and then a layer of noodles.
5. Repeat. End with a layer of sauce covered in a layer of cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes more. Top with remaining fresh herbs right before serving. ENJOY!