Mom's Oven Stew

I adapted this recipe from the Real Mom Kitchen cookbook. This is a super easy crock-pot meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cups potato, diced
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 2 cups carrots, sliced
• 1 (10 3/4 oz) can tomato soup
• 1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups water
• 2/3 c. quinoa (uncooked)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into a crock pot. Cook on high for 3 hours, stir occasionally. Serves about 8. 

 Notes about this recipe:

1. After making it once I thought it might also be yummy to add some corn and green beans or peas to the mix as well. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet though.

Veggie Pot Pie

This recipe was sent in by Katie M. She found it at All Recipes.

Ingredients:

•  2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced 1/4 inch wide
• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 recipe pastry for double-crust pie

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Cook onions, mushrooms, and garlic in oil for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in carrots, potatoes, and celery. Stir in cauliflower, green beans, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are barely tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Stir into vegetables, and cook until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
4. Roll out 1/2 of the dough to line an 11x7 inch baking dish. Pour the filling into the pastry lined dish. Roll out remaining dough, arrange over the filling, and seal and flute the edges.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown.

Notes about this recipe:

1. I didn't follow the recipe exactly as written when it came to the veggies, but it still turned out great (seems like most pot pie recipes are flexible like that). I would say that the mushrooms and potatoes though are pretty important to give it that thick, filling texture.
2. For the crust I used my basic pie crust recipe but used half whole wheat flour and half white to up the nutrition value a bit as it is a dinner dish. The dough was slightly more fragile than normal but overall tasted and worked great for this.

Potato Pot Pie

While we were adjusting to life with a new born a friend brought us a chicken pot pie for dinner one night. I wondered as I ate it (it was yummy, by the way), how I could make a veggie version and still retain the yummy flavor of a pot pie. After a mediocre first attempt, I came up with this recipe. My hubby agrees--it was delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 large potato, diced small (you can choose to leave the peel on or take it off)
• about 1 Tb. olive oil
• 1/2 c. frozen peas
• 1/2 c. frozen corn
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• about 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme 
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1 c. rice milk (or milk, or other milk substitute)
• 1 c. vegetable broth
• 2 Tb. fresh chopped parsely
• 2 pre-made pie crusts (or you could make your own)
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tb. water

Directions:

1. Saute carrots, celery, onion, and potato in the olive oil for 10-15 min. You want the potatoes to start getting tender.
2. Meanwhile, prepare an 8x8 baking dish by putting the first crust down on the bottom of the dish.
3. Once the veggie mix has cooked for about 15 min. add the peas, corn, salt, pepper, and thyme. Stir into mixture and cook a few more minutes.
4. Add the flour and stir to coat.
5. Pour in the rice milk and veggie broth. Simmer until thick.
6. Add the parsley.
7. Pour/spoon the veggie mix into your prepared dish. Cover with the 2nd pie crust. Mix one egg white with 1 Tb. of water. Brush the egg wash onto your pie crust. Place baking dish onto a baking sheet (just to be safe if there are any drips as it cooks). Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes. If the crust is browning too quickly cover it with foil.

Veggie Lentil Soup

This is another meal my mom, Tracy G., made for us while she was in town meeting the newest grandbaby. We needed something to supplement our salad and rolls, and we had some left over lentils from a different meal. This was delish! She whipped it out of no where so that is why some of the ingredients have a range in the measurement; just add how much you prefer!

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 3-4 stalks of celery, sliced
• Herbs/seasonings of your choice, to taste
• thyme
• sage
• oregano
• salt
• cracked pepper
• 2-4 cups vegetable broth or water, depending on how thick you want your soup
• 1 can of green beans (no salt added), or frozen
• 1/2 can of corn, or frozen
• 3-4 potatoes, cubed
• 1-2 carrots, sliced
• 1 or 2 cans of diced or stewed tomatoes
• Your choice cooked legumes, about 1 cup
• lentils
• black beans

Directions:

1. Peel & cube potatoes and carrots. Cook in a pot of boiling water till just cooked. Set aside.
2. Blend tomatoes in blender till smooth.
3. Saute onion, garlic, and celery in a tiny bit of olive oil till onion is clear. Add herbs and seasonings of your choice. Cook for 1 more minute, then add vegetable broth/water, green beans, corn, cooked potatoes and carrots, blended tomatoes, and legumes. 
4. Simmer about 15 minutes.

Vegan Black Bean Soup

(Picture from Allrecipes.com.)

This recipe was sent in by Katie W. She found it at Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 pinch black pepper
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 4 (15 ounce) cans black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes  

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, celery, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. Season with chili powder, cumin, and black pepper; cook for 1 minute. Stir in vegetable broth, 2 cans of beans, and corn. Bring to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, process remaining 2 cans beans and tomatoes until smooth. Stir into boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Notes about this recipe:

1. I'm not a huge fan of celery so we leave that out. 

2. I usually use chicken broth instead of the veggie broth and stewed tomatoes just because that is what we have on hand.

3. I add a can of hominy since my husband loves the stuff. 

4. The best part is that you can pretty much make it all out of canned goods so it's great for food storage too.  

5. It's really great by itself with or without cheese, with or without tortilla chips and also really good on salad.

Ants on a Log

SO...I've been having a lot of dinner flops lately. Trying new veggie recipes that taste so-so instead of so-amazing-I've-got-to-put-it-on-my-blog. This means I need more of you to send me your tried and true amazing recipes! (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

In the meantime, I've been coming up with some more yummy green smoothie mixes (which will be forthcoming) and today's blog post is on my latest go-to snack. I'm pretty sure I've had it almost everyday for the past week. Crunchy, nutty, sweet....hits the spot for me every time.

Ingredients:

• celery stocks
• raisins
• creamy peanut butter

Directions:

Wash celery sticks and cut to desired length. Spread peanut butter in the valley of the stalk. Put the raisins on the PB.