Vegetarian Frugal Housewife

Well, amidst a firestorm over the last post that I made, I will endeavor to return to the intended value of this blog and present you with yet another yummy vegetarian recipe.

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.”
~George Orwell

This one is good for the time of year that we are in right now (flaky, weird springtime) because it is equally tasty whether served cooked and piping hot or uncooked and freshly cooled.

Serving this chilled on a veranda conjures up for me visions of sweet-tongued Southern ladies in wide 19th-century hoop-skirts surrounded by lace fans and tea tables. I don’t know why, but there you have it. Nothing is more emotional for people than food. :)

This is essentially a funny little green soup, SO some diners might need convincing to try the first bite. But once they do, no further convincing will be needed. ;)

Anyways, Avocado Soup

Ingredients:
4-6 large avocados
1 clove garlic, sliced fine
2 medium green (or red) tomatoes, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled and diced
1 tbsp cooking sherry
2 cups rice or soy milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp of curry powder
pinch of chili powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp chives
sea salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon of white pepper

Optional:

1 small green bell pepper, diced
2 tbs of coconut milk or 1 tsp coconut oil
pinch of dried mint

1. Cut and scoop the insides from the avocados, slice them into pieces if possible.

2. Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil and set them aside.

3. Dice all veggie ingredients and set them aside.

4. Heat the water and soy milk to near boiling. (Or keep them cool, in a large mixing bowl.)

5. Place the avocado pieces into the liquid and stir vigorously until they break apart some.

6. Add all of the remaining ingredients and spices to the soup.

7. Using a blender or electric mixer, puree the soup as best you can.

8. Let cook or chill for about 20-30 minutes.

9. Serve with a nice selection of breads and crackers. :)

Check it out: avocados are cool. And they think that you’re cool. They like being on your table, and in your body, no matter what the neighbors think about you. Avocados are love.

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
~Albert Einstein



1. Dairy, though tasty, makes me instantaneously sleepy and usually results in 10-24 hours of extreme stuffiness and excess mucous. Yuck!

2. Fish is a good substitute for beef/chicken/pork cravings but if it’s fried fish then the trade off in fat and bad breath is not worth it.

3. Prepared meat substitutes are very helpful in the beginning for creating “transition” recipes, but as you become more confident in your vegetarianism, they begin to feel very heavy. I use them only occasionally now.

4. Organic veggies do not last as long as those waxy store-bought ones. They are best used quickly and that’s okay, since they taste best when very fresh anyway. :)

5. Organic veggies need dirt washed off them, supermarket veggies need CHEMICALS washed off them. ;)

6. Veggies = energy. Meat = lethargy.

7. No one likes a preacher. Keep your ethical reasons to your own creature. :P

8. Cookbooks are 50% useless, Experimenting is 100% helpful.

9. Dogs and Cats like meat. End of story.

10. Chopsticks are the best tool for mindful eating. And they aren’t THAT hard to use.

11. Not every country has embraced vegetarianism and veggie friendly products to the same degree. The USA has great meat substitutes, the UK has better veggie burgers and France, well…they’re French.

12. Being vegetarian is not difficult at all. And since I am the Queen of Picky Eaters, that IS saying something.

13. Eating with a veggie friend is nice and makes you feel like less of an outcast. It’s the conversation that counts though, so just be laid back, no matter what kind of eater you’re sharing your meal with, and you’ll enjoy yourself. :)

Many people, when they first go vegetarian, tend to rely too heavily on salads. Over time, as they experiment more with vegetarian cooking and ethnic foods, they branch out. Once they’ve branched out, some are by then so loathing of salad that they never return it to their diet.

Others still, like some that I’ve met in online forums, say that salad is unhealthy, specifically because of the oils that we tend to slather it in.

Actually a salad, with or without oils and vinegars, is a great way to get some essential nutrients into your diet.

I have been a vegetarian for several months now and love the fact that my daily salad is an excellent delivery system for natural liquids that have been proven to be highly beneficial to the vegetarian diet.

Every day I choose one item from each of the follow three lists and make a dressing out of it in the blender or just mixed in a bowl….

Oils
Olive
Hemp seed
Flax seed (my fave)
Walnut
Peanut
Sesame
Basil/Olive

Other Liquids
Balsamic vinegar
Red Wine Vinegar
Cider Vinegar (the healthiest one)
Apple Juice
Orange Juice
Pineapple Juice
Tomato Juice

Solids
Peanuts
Raisins
Blueberries
Strawberries
Jalepeno Peppers
Sesame Seeds
Sun-dried Tomatoes
Hemp Hearts

Have fun with your dressings. You can make your own at home by mixing any healthy/yummy garden herbs with fruits and nuts and storing them for 30 days in vinegar, then mix with oil over greens and voila! home-made salad dressing.

My favorite is mint and strawberries kept in white wine vinegar for 30 days, strained and mixed with olive oil, to make an absolutely delicious dressing!!!

Don’t worry about oils, if they are not the trans-fat, saturated fat variety, you will have a hard time eating too much of them.

Oils are healthy fats in general, as long as they are natural oils.

~

I LOVE APPLE CRISP! And I have always been mystified by it. By the seeming complexity of it and by the way that no two ever seem to taste the same.

Some people like cranberries in it, some just apples. Some people even put cocoa powder on top.

As a kid, I always thought of apple crisp as Great Grandma territory and, thus, after she passed away, I just thought that no good apple crisp would ever enter my life again, much less be able to make one myself.

And so it remained a misty dream, a thing that came from the realms of fairies and elves.

Then I got a college job, doing costumed reenactment at a living-history museum, cooking in hearths and cauldrons. And that was when, as a work assignment, I first attempted my own apple crisp.

After years of putting this food on a shrine, on display in my mind but never touchable, I came to a realization: APPLES CRISP IS DARN EASY. It is just plain simple!

Revelation complete, I have since experimented with several historic and modern variations to arrive at what is my own favorite version.

Simple Apple-Raisin Crisp

Ingredients:

4-6 apples, I prefer Granny Smith or Mackintosh
.5-1 cup raisins
1.25 cups brown sugar
.75 cups raw sugar
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cinnamon
.5 cup flour
.75 cup oats
1.5 cup walnuts
1 cup margarine
pinch salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbspn oil

1. Core, peel and chop apples into large chunks.
2. Mix lemon juice, apples, raisins in a bowl.
3. Add half of the white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix and set aside.
4. Grind walnuts into fine pieces using a blender or mortar and pestle.
5. Mix oats, flour, walnuts, spices and remaining sugars in a bowl.
6. Cut in the butter or margarine.
* Cutting means use a fork or pastry cutter to slice the butter in with the rest of the crumble mix. You are covering it with flour and other ingredients until it is small bits that no longer look like solid butter. :)
7. Place apple mixture in a deep pan, greased with oil.
8. Cover evenly with crumble mixture until all apples are covered.
9. Bake at 375° F (190° C) for 25-35 minutes.
10. Cool for 15-20 minutes and serve with ice cream, whipped topping etc.
~
See, isn’t that easy? ;)

Mmmmmm, yum. I just adore sloppy joes. They were not a regular staple in my life before I became a vegetarian but they always remained a special treat, a once-in-a-while thing that occurred mostly during summer and autumn.

But I have to admit that I am so excited about all the cooking and exploration that I have been doing since I became a veggie-head.

I would never go back to the old hamburg-and-Manwich type of sloppy joes!

Now, I am a New Englander (a.k.a. Yankee) by birth and so I prefer a sweet sloppy joe as opposed to a spicy one. And I prefer to serve it over a nice SWEET corn bread.

So here is a simple, quick and oh so tasty veggie version of Sloppy Joes. (Corn bread recipe to follow soon.)

PS. Papa and Mama are finally engaged!!! How to plan a veggie wedding? Hmmmm….

Meat-Free Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:
1-2 lb Veggie Mincemeat (ie. Lightlife Smart Ground or Quorn mince)
2 whole cloves garlic
1 lrg or 2 med green bell peppers
16oz tomato sauce
1 medium diced onion
4 tbs soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs mustard
2-3 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
6 tbs ketchup
1 tbs salt
3 tbs cider vinegar
1/2 cup tomato paste (or fresh tomato chunks)
pinch nutmeg
pinch oregano
3 tbs olive oil

1. Chop onions, garlic and peppers.
2. Fry mince in pan with olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Add spices and soy/worcetershire sauce.
4. Add chopped items and fry a bit more until onions soften.
5. Add ketchup, vinegar, tomato paste and tomato sauce.
6. Stir. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes on low.
7. Test flavor and add more spices as needed.
8. Simmer 5 more minutes and serve over buns or bread.

I really like this either as a sandwich, on a bun, or just ladled over corn bread on a plate.

If you have it as a sandwich, you can experiment with toppings, going for bean sprouts, fresh avocado slices, vegan cheese or even hot chili peppers.

It all depends on your mood!!!

Everyone loves Sloppy Joes and if you’d prefer them spicy you can just throw in Tabasco sauce and cayenne pepper where I have added brown sugar and nutmeg. ;)

Enjoy.