Modified Moosewood

Last garden bounty
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

If you've ever been a vegetarian, chances are you had a copy of the original Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. Yellow pages, handwritten type, weird indexing, interesting recipes with not a lot of flavor... Yes, I know, it's a classic, I'm not supposed to criticize it. I own a copy and cook from it semi-regularly. In fact, we used to have two copies. (We kept the hardcover.)

1970s vegetarian cooking was seriously lacking in spices. I'm not sure if spices weren't really readily available like they are now, or people's palates weren't up to them, or if vegetarians were just trying to go for ingredient "purity," but I own several 1970s vegetarian cookbooks, and the Moosewood is not unique in this.

That said, if you punch up the recipes, they're pretty awesome. The Mexican Pepper Casserole is one of my favorites, but the original needs a little modification. The first time I made it, I wasn't sure what exactly was Mexican about it, it was so bland.

Tonight's Pepper Casserole was inspired by the last batch of vegetables from the garden- there have been two frosts in the past two weeks, and I don't think I can let them ripen any longer. We picked a TON of peppers- mostly green & red bell peppers, but also a lot of Zavory peppers, which have the flavor of habenero, but are not as hot.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Sliced garden peppers
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

6 sliced peppers- I like using a variety of colors- today's was made with the last of my garden peppers, so colors were limited
1 small hot pepper, chopped (more if you're into more heat)
1.5 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
2 T oil or margarine (original calls for butter or oil)
1 t each salt, cumin, coriander
1/2 t dry mustard (honestly, I skip this)
1/4 t each black and red pepper (add way more, to taste)
modification- 1 t chili powder
You can also add crushed red chili pepper in the spice sauté.
2 T flour
4 eggs
1.5 cups mixture (dairy free) sour cream and (dairy free) yogurt- I usually use 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup Tofutti sour cream- I use more yogurt than sour cream because fake sour cream has a TON of calories.
1/2 lb cheese- sharp or mild goat cheddar - grated, not sliced like the recipe calls for

Mix eggs with yogurt/sour cream until smooth.

Slice peppers in rings. Heat oil and saute onions with spices & garlic until onions are translucent. Add chopped hot peppers and saute for a minute or two.

Add peppers. Saute over low heat for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and mix well. Saute until the liquid from the peppers is gone.

Oil the casserole, spread in half the pepper saute, add a little less than half the cheese, then add the rest of the saute and almost all the cheese. Pour the egg/sour cream/yogurt mixture over the top, and sprinkle the last of the grated cheese on top. Garnish with paprika.

Bake covered at 375F for 30 minutes, then 15 more minutes uncovered. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

Serve with chips & salsa.

Enjoy!!

More Pizza, of the frozen variety

If you have a lot of food allergies like I do, you know that pre-packaged foods are often 1) impossible to eat, 2) completely disgusting when they are possible to eat.

As my post earlier this week proves, I love pizza. Most days, I prefer to take the time to make a tasty pizza with good ingredients. But some days, all you have the energy to do is turn the oven on and stick something in it. These are the days when the Tofurkey Pizza steps up.

Now, the problem with fake cheese products (in my own very personal taste opinion) is that they don't taste like cheese. I guess this is OK if this is a limitation you've chosen, but when it's one your body imposes on you, it's not so great. I've now tried two varieties of the Tofurkey Pizza, and while the plain "cheese" was OK, the Pepperoni Pizza was by far the winner. Maybe because I like the taste of fake meat products better than fake cheese products? I don't know. But it was pretty good.

A little zingy, melty, pizza-like. And clearly produced by stoners, for stoners, since you have to preheat the oven to 420. Easy to make, yummy to eat, best when you don't feel like cooking and just need a frozen pizza.

I'm even having the leftovers for lunch!

Pizza!!I

I love pizza

Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

I really love pizza. One of the sad things about being allergic to cow's milk is the utter lack of pizza delivery.
I make up for this by spending a little extra to make an awesome pizza at home.
I've recently discovered that Pillsbury (of all things) makes two kinds of dairy free pizza dough- the kind in the tube. I've tried both kinds, and prefer the "Classic" to the "Thin" because the thin is really hard to unroll and get on the pan evenly. I also pre-bake the dough- it seems to cook better pre-baked with the toppings on it.
This particular pizza has all sorts of garden goods on it- tomatoes, red peppers, and fresh basil. I also chop up spinach and mix it in with my tomato sauce, so it's well coated and doesn't burn.
I also advocate $$ cheese- in particular, water buffalo mozzarella. Tasty, delicious, not too strong (I realize that goat cheddar, which is also what I use, is an acquired taste.) Think of it this way- you're spending the money on cheese instead of delivery and tip!

So, this pizza recipe:
Pillsbury Classic Pizza Dough
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 medium red pepper, sliced
5-6 leaves of fresh basil, sliced
1 package fresh buffalo mozzerella
4 oz sharp goat cheddar, grated

Grease the pan, and pre-bake the pizza dough for 8 minutes. Chop the spinach and mix it in the tomato sauce, and spread the tomato sauce mixture on the pizza dough and add the toppings.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the dough edges are toasted.
Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!!