My mission:

Left Over Cheese Au Gratin Potatoes

2010-03-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

Not a very inspired title, but this is an excellent and hardy one dish meal. What does a carnivore love next-best to meat? Potatoes.

INGREDIENTS:

Several large POTATOES with thin skins, washed well
I medium sized yellow ONIONS, sliced.
2 cloves GARLIC, minced
Three links of apple vegetarian SAUSAGE sliced thin, (for a sweeter taste), or 1/2 package Gimmee Lean sausage
1/2 stick MARGARINE
1/2 cup FLOUR
6 cups MILK
All the leftover CHEESE you can find in the fridge (within reason) and of any variety, the more mix the better! Shred it. About 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese is a good amount.
1 Large "head" of fresh BROCCOLI, most of stalk discarded and florets sliced in half.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place broccoli in steamer, start steaming. Keep an eye on it, you want it about 80% cooked.

Meanwhile, in 1/4 stick of margarine saute sausage until a little golden, add onion and saute over medium heat until carmalized. Add garlic, saute another minute or two. Put aside.

Melt remaining 1/4 stick butter in good sized pot over medium heat. Pour 4 cups milk in with melted butter and when it is heated but not boiling, add cheese and stir while melting. In separate bowl or large measuring cup whisk flour into 2 cups cold milk until dissolved into a thin paste.

When all the cheese is melted, slowly pour flour/milk mixture into the pot, whisking as you go to incorporate and thicken milk/cheese sauce. Remove from heat.

Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. Put down a layer thick enough to cover bottom. Spoon all of broccoli onto the layer of potatoes in the casserole. Next, put down another layer of potatoes.

Spray deep casserole dish well with Pam on bottom and sides. Ladle some cheese sauce evenly over potatoes. Add all of sausage and onion mixture and spread out evenly. Ladle generously with sauce. Add one last layer of potatoes, ladle remaining sauce over it, allow to soak down through the layers. Look at sides of casserole. If there is not enough sauce to reach almost to the top layer, slowly pour in 2% or whole milk so that it comes up enough to see it touch the bottom of that last layer of potatoes.

Place in oven, bake an hour or more until the top is golden and the sauce bubbly. Probe to the potatoes in the inner center layers with a fork to make sure they are cooked soft and poke easily. If they are not done and the casserole is looking dry, add some more milk and return to the oven, cover top with tin foil if it is danger of burning.

Let set a few minutes after removing from the oven and serve. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Tofu Lo Mien

2010-02-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

:-( High fat, high sodium
:-) High protein, low sugar

Ingredients:

1/2 cup organic TAMARI
2 Big blocks very firm TOFU
2 lg cloves GARLIC or to taste
8 oz whole wheat LINGUINE NOODLES
1 tbsp ALMOND OIL
2 tbsp SESAME OIL
1 bunch SCALLIONS
1 cup smooth low fat PEANUT BUTTER
1 cup WATER
1/4 cup SOY SAUCE
1 tsp THAI CHILI PASTE or to taste
2 healthy handfuls fresh SNOW PEAS, clip ends and pull the fibrous spines out.
1 cup unsalted PEANUTS

Dice the TOFU into 1" cubes, place into a container with a cover along with the tamari. I usually coat the tofu by putting the top on and gently overturning the container a couple of times. You will want to marinate the tofu for at least a half hour, an hour would be good.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and brush a very thin layer of almond oil over the surface of a cookie sheet. While waiting for the oven, put a pot of water on to boil for the lo mien noodles.

Spread the marinated tofu cubes out on the cookie sheet, spray the tops with Pam, and put into the oven to bake. Watch them carefully, you want them to brown to a golden hue but if they start puffing up you have the oven too hot. Keep watching and turning them as you follow the rest of the steps. Don't forget every time you turn them to spray them with Pam.

While the tofu is cooking and you're waiting for the water to boil, slice up the scallions, crush and dice the garlic and mince the peanuts. Set them out to the ready.

When the water is ready, cook the noodles until almost but not quite done, according to the the package instructions. These types of noodles cook very fast, so be vigilant. When they are done, pour into a colander and rinse with cold water.

Set the cup of water to the ready in a small saucepan, and get the soy sauce and peanut butter ready to go.

In a wok or large non-stick saute pan add the snow peas and noodles to the sesame oil and saute on medium high until nicely golden in places.

Start the small pot of water to boil.

Back to the saute, add the garlic and scallions, saute a little longer. Turn heat down to low.

Take the boiling water off the heat, immediately add the peanut butter, whisk until smooth. You will want a smooth thick yet spoon-able sauce but if it seems not rich enough, add more peanut butter a couple of TBSP at a time. Whisk in the soy sauce.

Gently toss the tofu and the peanut sauce into the saute mixture and when coated divide out onto four plates, sprinkle with a a generous amount of minced peanuts and serve immediately.

If this is allowed to set long before serving, the peanut butter will thicken and spoil the texture.

Makes for good left-overs, cold as well as heated.

Nutrition information: Calories: 387, fat: 22.63, saturated fat: 4.5g, cholesterol: 14.29mg, sodium: 281.5mg, total carbs: 27.75g, dietary fiber: 5.61g, sugars: 4.82g, protein: 13.49g.

Gimmee an Egg Pie

2010-02-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

High protein, moderately high in fat and cholesterol. Serves 4, see nutritional information below.

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg reduced fat Pillsbury or generic CRESCENT ROLLS, intact
1/2 cup sliced or diced ONION.
2 Tbsp OLIVE OIL.
4 oz GIMMEE LEAN! SAUSAGE style
4 EGGS, whipped up for scrambling
2 slices SWISS CHEESE
PAM spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with Pam.

Using as little oil as possible, fry up the sausage, then add the onions and eggs and cook til done.

Open the crescent rolls, DO NOT break them apart. Unroll them into one long rectangle. Cut into 8 squares. Spoon out the sausage and egg mixture onto four of the squares, trying hard to keep the very edges of the square clean. Place a half slice of cheese over each, breaking up if needed to keep edges clean.

Of the remaining four squares, gently flatten them out a little larger than the first squares. Then lay those squares over the filled ones. Try to squish the edges closed together, it will crack on the center in at least on place. That's OK.

Put in oven, it will not take long to cook so watch carefully. The top will get lightly golden just like regular crescent rolls. Pull out, let sit a couple of minutes and serve.

Nutritional info: calories: 338, total fat: 18.8g, saturated fat: 7.8 g. Cholesterol: 122.5mg. Total carbs: 30.4g, dietary fiber: 1.8g, sugars 5.3g. Protein: 15.2g.

Eggplant Lasagna Stack

2010-01-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

:-) Very high in Protein, high in Fiber, low in sugars
:-( very high in saturated fat, sodium.

Ingredients:

serves 4, see below for nutritional information.

2 cups canned organic no or low sodium diced TOMATOES.
2 medium sized EGGPLANTS
2 cups Fiber One low fat high fiber COTTAGE CHEESE
16 oz Fresh or part skim MOZZARELLA CHEESE sliced
1.5 cup low sodium or sodium free SALTINE CRACKERS crushed fine
3 tbsp whole FLAX SEEDS
4 cloves GARLIC, diced tiny
1/2 tsp SEA SALT
1 tbsp OLIVE OIL
16 pitted CALAMATA OLIVES
PAM or similar fat free olive oil spray
2 tsp OREGANO
1 tsp BASIL

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. When it's fully heated, use potato peeler to scrape off the skin (unless you prefer it on) and slice into 1/2" thick rounds. Brush a very thin layer of oil on a large cookie sheet. Put saltines and flax seeds into a shallow bowl, large enough to accommodate the largest of eggplant slices, and toss to mix. Wet each slice individually under faucet, immediately set it into the saltines, press down and flip over to do the same. It will not coat entirely, that is OK. Place rounds on the cookie sheet, spray tops liberally with Pam, slide it into the oven.

Saute garlic in remaining olive oil a couple of minutes over medium high heat, add olives, salt, oregano, basil and tomatoes, let simmer on low while eggplant is cooking. Stir frequently.

Bring out the eggplant which should now be a light brown on the bottoms and semi soft. If they are cooking too darkly, turn the oven temp down to 350. Spray tops with Pam again and then turn them carefully so as to keep as much crumbs on them as possible. Spray the tops with Pam, put back into oven.

Bring out the cottage cheese and the mozzarella. Slice the mozzarella thin if you have not yet done so.

Spray 4 LARGE muffin tins (preferred) or small (approx. 4" round, 4" deep) oven safe casserole or flan dishes. The four need to be separate from each other, not connected.

When eggplant is soft, or to taste, bring them out of oven. When stacking the ingredients, keep in mind you will want to use smallest of slices to the bottom of the tin, growing large as you go up. Stack as follows:

A tbsp of tomato mixture first, then a slice of eggplant, then a tbsp of cottage cheese. Then a slice of the mozzarella. Keep layering as far as you can go to the top of the tin, top with the largest of eggplant slices.

Bake for 20 minutes, keeping watch for burning.

Bring out, let sit for a full 5 minutes.

To serve, run a butter knife between the tin and the stack to loosen. Lay a plate face down over a tin, invert it carefully, wait a few moments, carefully remove the tin. Hopefully some resemblance to a stack will occur. If it falls over a little, that's OK. Garnish as preferred, serve with a side salad.

Nutrition info (seems off, I'll try and use another gadget to confirm numbers): Calories: 913, Total fat: 45.6 g, Saturated fat: 18.8g, cholesterol: 105.2mg, Total carbs: 93.1g, Dietary fiber: 10.1g, Sugar: 48.7g.

Hot as Hell Curried Tofu & Asparagus

2010-01-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

:-) Very high in Protein, moderately high in fiber, low in saturated fats. very low in cholesterol.
:-( A little high in total fat, high in sugars.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 4, nutritional info below.

4 cups TOFU, or 2 large blocks. Use very dry type or tofu you have pressed dry. Cut into 2" long, 1" wide and 1" high blocks.
3/4 cups 2% MILK
1 med. RED ONION sliced
4 cloves FRESH GARLIC, diced small
CURRY Powder, red or yellow, 1 Tbsp or less to taste
1 tsp ground GINGER
1 tsp CUMIN
32 spears ASPARAGUS
1.5 bags BROWN RICE, whole grain, boil-in-bag type
1 tbsp low sodium SOY SAUCE
1 tbsp OLIVE OIL
1 tbsp SESAME SEED OIL
2 tbsp FLAX SEEDS
3 tbsp MARGARINE - don't use low fat
3/4 cup GOLDEN RAISINS
PAM or similar fat free spray oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the meantime, snap off stiff stalk parts of asparagus, start steaming of spears (I use a pot with steamer layer and cover). When water starts to boil, add the rice. Put raisins in small pot of boiling water.

Brush a large cookie sheet with a very thin layer of olive oil and add tofu. Spray tops of tofu with Pam. Put into oven. (While tofu bakes turn occasionally, spraying Pam on top before turning each time. Be on the alert for it to turn dark brown or to puff up big. That means you'll need to turn the oven down to 350 degrees and turn more often. When at least two sides are a light golden brown, take out of the oven)

While asparagus, rice and tofu are cooking, saute onions in sesame oil.

When asparagus and rice are cooked and the raisins are soft and plumped up, strain each and keep warm. If tofu is finished, put that aside and keep warm also.

Add flax seeds and garlic to onion, saute a couple of minutes, reduce heat to medium then add cumin, ginger, raisins and curry. Stir well. Add milk slowly, stirring as you go, until you have integrated it well. Let simmer a few minutes, stirring often and being sure simmer is slow.

Add tofu to onion/curry mixture, toss to coat.

To serve, place asparagus spears on plate and spoon the rice in long trail the length of and parallel to asparagus spears, leaving a 2 or so inch valley between. Spoon tofu mixture into the valley, (it will spill over onto the other items a little) and a little of the extra sauce dribbled over it all.

Serve hot.

Nutritional information per serving (remember this includes all ingredients, entire meal):
Calories: 923, Total fat: 38.6, Saturated fat: 3.8g, Cholesterol: 3.8mg, Total carbs: 99.9g, Dietary fiber: 8.6, Sugars 26.0g, Protein: 39.4g

Vegetarian Sausage with Spinach & Ravioli

2010-01-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

:-) Moderately high in Protein, low in sugars and calories, very low in cholesterol, moderately low in total fats and sodium.
:-( High in total carbs and low in fiber.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 4, see nutrition information below

4 large handfuls of fresh baby SPINACH
1/4 cup ALMONDS - Sliced
RAVIOLI - Butternut squash, very much recommend Rising Moon organic ravioli, 1.5 packages
4 large links of vegetarian SAUSAGE - must be sweet, with apple especially recommended. Sliced in 1/4" slices.
1/2 cup SCALLIONS, fresh, sliced
4 cloves GARLIC or to taste, diced small.
1 tbsp ALMOND OIL
2 tbsp OLIVE OIL
1/4 cup PARMESAN CHEESE fresh, finely grated

Add ravioli to boiling water. Stir, reduce heat to a gentle boil.

Add sausage slices to pan with almond oil and saute on medium heat. In the meantime, keep an eye on the ravioli (done when it's floated to the top for a couple of minutes and all pillowy), and prepare the garlic and scallions, set aside.

When ravioli is done, strain in a colander, put aside.

When sausage has begun to carmalize, add olive oil, garlic and almonds, saute on medium high heat, stirring to keep from burning. After a few moments, add the ravioli, be careful for it not to stick to pan. You'll want to keep it moving, until almonds and ravioli show a little light brown.

Add spinach, keep tossing until spinach has fully wilted.

Serve with a generous sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top.

Nutrition info per serving (makes 4 servings):
Calories: 489, Fat: 20.6g, Saturated fat: 3.8mg, Total Carbs: 51.1g, Dietary fiber: 1.3g, Sugars: 7.4g, Protein: 20.5g.