Black-eyed Pea Spinach Pie

Even after some research I could not find where this recipe originated from. But it has been so modified that it is a true Ross recipe. I do not like black-eyed peas. I don't much like any peas, but my husband does. And this recipe is my one annual promise of peas on New Year's Day. It is a great dish for pot-lucks or holiday meals too.

Black-eyed Pea Spinach Pie

2 cans black-eyed peas, preferably organic

1 bag spinach

2 pie crust shells, such as Pillsbury

5 oz pepper-jack cheese, shredded

1 egg, beaten

1 white onion, diced

garlic

cilantro

Preheat oven 350 degrees. In a 9 inch pie plate fit one pie crust. Stab with a fork and bake for 8 minutes and let cool. Saute onion and garlic in 1 tsp oil. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese, egg, cilantro, salt/pepper and peas. Fill the pie dish and top with the second pie crust. Cut slits in the top layer to vent. Bake 45 minutes. Cool before cutting.

Mama added three links of chicken sausage to the frying pan before mixing in the spinach. The sausage makes this dish a meal in itself, but it works better as a vegetarian side dish.

Super-Satisfying Vegetarian Breakfast Sandwich

Subway's new low-fat breakfast sandwiches had me inspired to try to use them toward my weight-loss goals. I wanted to take a picture of the sandwich I made, but by the time I thought to post this on the blog, our meal was gone.

I was again blown away by how much I liked this meal. I was most skeptical because this is not a revised recipe but something I put together off the cuff. This breakfast sandwich is very filling, all vegetarian but probably not the healthiest of my breakfast recipes. To reduce fat even more, cut back on cheese and mayo portions.

Vegetarian Breakfast Sandwich

2 whole wheat english muffins

3 eggs (cage free or organic)

1 handful of spinach

4 green onions, whites only

1/3 cup shredded white cheese

1 tomato, thinly sliced

2 tbsp mayonnaise

When choosing eggs, I had to consult my husband on this one. I have no idea if free range, cage free, vegetarian fed, etc are any better than the rest. I know I should always buy organic but you can get a dozen white eggs for $1.50 v. organic eggs, which are typically smaller, for $4.99. So I normally buy in the middle range. My husband used to work on a chicken farm and he said vegetarian chickens are a myth. Even if they are only fed vegetarian, chickens like animal product. Free range means they are able to get around but cage-free means they have access to outside. Short of organic, but the most humane-raised chickens are free range.

Sauté sliced green onions with spinach in small frying pan. Add a tbsp water to help wilt the spinach. Remove from heat and coarsely chop. Whisk eggs, add spinach and cheese and salt and pepper. I used a mixed bag of swiss and Gouda, which made the sandwich very smoky and savory. But any white cheese is efficient. Try to stick to reduced-fat cheeses but not fat free.

Using a small frying pan, add egg mixture. My smallest frying pan is between 6 and 8 inches and perfect for omelets. When the edges start to set, pull the egg away from the pan and tilt the pan toward the opening to let the raw egg seep underneath. Fold the egg over to make a half moon and squeeze any excess. Continue to fold over until all egg is cooked and you have an omelet. Remove from heat.

Toast English muffins. Beware when buying English muffins and look at the ingredients. Since the new craze is "whole wheat" products are now being colored with molasses to look like wheat. Make sure that the ingredients include WHOLE grain or that it is advertised as 100% whole wheat. It is more crusty but lightly toasted really brings out the flavor.

Spread one side of the muffin with mayonnaise. We have had this conversation before about what mayo is best. I hate Miracle Whip but Dukes real mayonnaise is not worth the calories. I am most dedicated to Kraft Mayo with olive oil. It is reduced-fat but has all the flavor of real mayo. Smart Start also has a good brand of mayo.

Top muffin with tomato and cut omelet to fit muffin. I had a little more than two muffin-sized omelets, but we were happy to finish the rest of it 'naked'. For a complete breakfast, serve with a side of fresh fruit (we had pineapple) or chicken sausage.

To reserect this sandwich for during the work week, freeze as soon as the sandwich is at room temperature. Only freeze omelet with the English muffin, and leave off tomato and mayo. Once at work, wrap sandwich in a paper towel and defrost for 60 seconds. The heat on high for 60 seconds. Add mayo and tomato after heated. Only reserect within a between 1-3 days or the sandwich will taste bland.

Broccoli side

This photo has nothing to do with my recipe, but it's so cute. I want to enjoy my broccoli as much as this little hamster.

I went to a friend's pot luck party a few weeks ago and someone had sautéed broccoli that was out of this world! Since my CSA is now distributing broccoli, I went to look for a recipe. I didn't find much that didn't have some kind of cheese sauce, so I experimented with this idea.

Sautéed Broccoli

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

chili powder

crushed red pepper

grill seasoning, such as GrillMate

1 head broccoli

Steam broccoli first with either a steam basket over boiling water or in the microwave. After water starts to boil I let broccoli steam about 5 minutes or until broccoli is bright green and tender.

Add oil to skillet and turn stove to medium heat. Make sure oil is hot before adding broccoli or the florets will absorb too much of the oil. Sauté garlic first until golden and add broccoli. Season with chili powder, red pepper and grill seasoning. I used a grill seasoning intended for steaks, but it doesn't have any animal product so it is still vegetarian. The grill seasoning adds a lot of flavor without added oils or ingredients. Sauté broccoli until starts to brown.

I served this dish inside a vegetarian burrito and fish tacos, but you can have it on it's own. I also served it over rice pilaf for a very light dinner. This is my new favorite side dish! Plain vegetable sides are difficult for me because I want massive flavor and, of course, I want to add cheese to everything. This side dish is good because it is so flavorful and works stand-alone.

If you have other ideas for this broccoli side please post! I would love to hear ideas from you too!

Light Carrot Cake

Because of a grocery store mishap I found myself with a ton of carrots and no planned meals for them. Carrots are a rock star on the vegetable list, although I don't care for them much, so I needed to find a way to use them. Racheal Ray has a reader recipe section and recently came out with a great carrot cake recipe.

Carrot cake is not the worst cake for you, but it does have a lot of sugar and oil. This recipe substitutes the texture and juice with pineapple for a lot of the oil. The sour cream also helps to enrich this cake without having to depend on fats as much. I was able to substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream inside the cake, but the icing definitely requires real sour cream. Daisy makes a good lite sour cream.

Light Carrot Cake

2 big carrots, cleaned and shredded

1/2 cup pineapple (4oz can, drained)

1/2 cup walnuts (toasted are better but you can use raw)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream ( or 1/4 cup yogurt and 1/4 cup sour cream)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

ground cloves

ground cinnamon

ground ginger

3 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

If you are toasting your nuts, preheat oven at 400 degrees and toast nuts for 7-10 minutes. As soon as you smell them, take them out of the oven or they will burn. I skin my carrots before shredding them to get as much of the moist carrot as I can plus you get the cleaner carrot. Mix nuts with pineapple and carrot.

Mix flour, baking ingredients and spices. Recipes always underwhelm me with spices, so I don't use measurements for spices in my recipe. Average about 1/2 tsp, but I sprinkle until I get a good color in the flour mix. I don't believe you can over-spice carrot cake, but my sister has a great story about confusing 1/4 tsp of cloves for 1/4 cup of ground cloves. Those were some black cookies.

In a large mixing bowl cream sugar with 1/4 c sour cream, oil, vanilla and egg. Stir in carrot mix and then flour mixture. I made this cake in my new bunt pan for a prettier presentation, but you can also use a regular cake pan. Bake on 350 for 55 minutes. Be sure the cake is cooled before trying to get it out of the pan.

When mixing the icing, be sure that the butter is soft. The butter and sour cream (1/4 c.) will dissolve the sugar so be patient when trying to get a cream consistency. Let cake cool before pouring the icing on the cake. I kept the icing in a separate container to use later. The cake will stay moist for most of a week.

Gorgonzola Grits

There is a family tradition in my house that mostly focuses on the men: Dijon chicken and Gorgonzola grits. I was told it was a Williams-Sonoma recipe, but then I thought it was a Cooking Light recipe, but now I think it is just a Ross-family recipe. I may not be able to afford the kitchen tools, but W-S has some great recipes for those of you looking to expand your recipe base.

These grits are very fancy and almost take the Southern out of grits, but they are worth sharing because I think they are good enough to stand alone or match with other vegetarian dishes since they are so flavorful. Cooking Light also has a goat cheese grits recipe for those of you stinky-cheese lovers like me.

Gorgonzola Grits

4-5 packets of instant grits, butter flavor

1 bullion cube, chicken or vegetable

4 oz gorgonzola cheese (about half the carton)

4-5 green onions, whites and greens separated

1/3 cup sour cream (don't substitute Greek yogurt)

coarse salt and pepper

Cook grits according to package instructions but add bullion cube to water being used. Stir in cheese, sour cream and white onions until smooth. Season with salt (very little since cheese will supplement a lot of the salt) and pepper. Let grits sit for a bit until set. Serve grits with green chives for garnish.

I usually serve this with chicken, but you can also make it a filling side for a brunch or substitute for creamy polenta or potatoes for a richer side dish. Please post some more ideas. I love this side and want to use it for more vegetarian meals.

UPDATE: another foodie has posted a recipe for fried green tomatoes over cheesy grits. She used goat cheese but I think either of these recipes would go great with fried tomatoes. Check our her blog - she has some great recipes and even better photos of her meals.

Southern Tomato Pie

Sorry to those of you who are getting a repeat of this recipe. I meant to post this at a later date i.e. today.

This is the only Paula Deen recipe I have ever made, but it is a big hit. To be honest, I've never had a bite of it myself, but I constantly bring it to pot luck dinners and it is a big talk among guests, so I trust their judgment. Just be sure to bring more than - one pie feeds about six people.

I am not going to even try to play this off as a healthy, vegetarian side dish. However, there are some things you can do to cut back on the amount of calories you add to this party favor.

Tomato Pie

2-3 large tomatoes
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 refrigerated pie shell, such as Pillsbury
1 cup grated white cheese
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup lite mayonnaise, such as Kraft Olive Oil or Smart Balance (NOT Miracle Whip)
coarse salt and pepper

I highly recommend buying your tomatoes at your local farmer's market or getting them from your garden. This recipe does not do well with tough, white tomatoes. You do want to seed your tomatoes, although I didn't skin them as the recipe recommends. Cut off about one inch of the bottom of your tomato and take a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds. If you are using several tomatoes-on-the-vine or Romas you can just squeeze and work the seeds out with your hand.

Roll out your pie dough into a 9-inch pie pan. I have used the frozen pie dish for this recipe, but it doesn't work as well. Stab dough with a fork and bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

When choosing mayonnaise, do not assume that low fat means "just as acceptable". I will promote Kraft products all day, but you cannot cook with Miracle Whip. I'm not even sure what it is. Duke's makes a great mayonnaise, but I cannot justify the calories. You can make your own from Martha or a lite recipe, but I haven't tried that yet. As soon as we get our chickens and have more eggs than we know what to do with I will let you know how the mayonnaise turns out. The best reduced-fat mayonnaise I have cooked with is Kraft's Mayo with Olive Oil with half the fat and calories but all the 'body' of full-fat mayo.

When choosing your cheese, you can have a lot of power over cutting back calories. Nurtrition Action found that low-fat Cobot and low-fat Sorrento are the best low-fat cheese that still include nutrition. For this recipe I used 75% less-fat Cobot white cheddar and Sorrento low-fat mild cheddar. Paula Deen's recipe calls for mozzarella, which Sorrento makes in low-fat as well. Amounts will vary, apparently. In my kitchen laboratory 8 oz is one cup. But when you buy the shredded cheese packages, 8 oz is two cups. I start with one cup mayonnaise and mix cheese until well blended, no more than 16 oz total. Season with coarse salt and pepper and let sit.

Layer slices of tomato into the bottom of the baked pie crust. After each layer spread basil leaves and green onions over tomato before adding another layer. I could only put two full layers into the pie dish before it started to get too full, but you may have a lot more room if you are using smaller tomatoes. If you feel your basil is not being spread enough across the pie, use some dried basil. I forgot the green onions the last time I made this, which didn't seem to make a difference in taste. I love onions, but if you are without don't feel the need to make an extra trip to the market to buy them.

Cover your sliced tomatoes with the mayo-cheese spread. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn oven to broil and keep an eye on your pie until the cheese starts to brown, within 3 minutes. Do not eat this pie alone; you must have company to help you.

Vegetable Pad Thai (Quick Meal)

This is a recipe I found in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I was actually somewhat disappointed in the description of "vegetable" which only consists of three scallions. So we had to fix that.

Continuing my excitement over my CSA vegetables, I picked up a pound of pak choi, which is a kind of baby bok choy with more leafy greens and less stalk. They could be related, but I am not sure. I also picked up some summer onions, which look like over-sized green onions. The ones I picked up even came in red onion. So cute. So this was my first real CSA dinner.

Vegetable Pad Thai

8 oz (half a box) of linguine pasta or flat rice noodles

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 bunch spring onions (more or less depending on the size)

1 tsp garlic or one minced garlic clove

1 pint whole mushrooms

2 eggs, beaten

1 lb bok choy or pak choi (about 2), lightly chopped

cilantro

cashews or peanuts, roasted and salted

Wisk together brown sugar, lime juice and soy sauce and let sit. Boil pasta or noodles until aldente. Drain and keep covered to retain moisture and heat.

Heat oil in skillet and add garlic and onions. I used six spring onions and about 4 scallions I had leftover in the fridge. I had a good bunch of onions. Trader Joes sells huge scallions so you can get a lot of onion from those too. The State Farmer's Market sells big spring onions as well.

Stem and half the mushrooms. A trick a friend told me was to keep the mushrooms rather big so they have a meatier texture to them. Add mushrooms to pan and sauté. Once vegetables look soft add beaten eggs and slowly stir until eggs are almost set, maybe 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan and keep in a bowl. Add another tsp of oil to pan and add leafy bok choy to pan. I did not chop very deep into the root so I had just the tender leaves. Sauté until vegetables are reduced to 1/3 original size. Add bok choy to vegetable bowl.

Add warm pasta to pan and pour soy sauce mix over pasta, mixing well. Make sure pasta is coated with sauce and add vegetables back to pan. Mix thoroughly but remove from heat quickly. Leaving the meal on stove top too long will dry out the pasta. Serve with roasted nuts and cilantro. I don't keep peanuts in the house (one of the few nuts/legumes I don't keep in stock), but I did have cashews, which I think matched the meal better.

I have seen versions of pad thai with chicken and shrimp. You can also garnish with chives from your green onions, but I think that is a tad too much onion for me. I thought the mushrooms and the eggs gave this meal a meaty taste. I was really surprised how much I liked it. I only made it because pak choi was with my CSA and it looked like it would be a good add-in.

Not to mention how fast this meal takes. I was rushing to cook for some company coming in and it was done in 15-20 minutes. The pasta took the longest at 9 minutes. Everything else sautés fast and then you just mix.