Creamy, cheesy "grits" with grilled corn

Roasted acorn squash "grits" with grilled corn.

I think some form of grits may become my version of morning oatmeal from now on. Who cares that the "grits" I made this morning contained no cornmeal at all. 


This morning I started with this:

The other half of the roasted acorn squash from yesterday and one ear of roasted corn.

No real recipe today just some simple instructions:

Put 1 cup of roasted acorn squash in a pan with the corn (kernels cut off the cob) and add in 2/3 of a cup of chicken broth and bring up to a simmer.


Stir in 1 tsp of Tofutti cream cheese, 2 Tbsp of Parmesan and 1/2 tsp of Earth Balance spread. Feel free to substitute cream cheese and butter - I just used what I had on hand.


It turned out creamy and just a little bit sweet with an occasional sweet crunch from the corn.

I enjoyed my bowl topped with a drizzle of Sriracha sauce.

I think I am all squashed out at this point. I am going to have something completely different for lunch :-)

Savory mashed potato pancake

My non-stop craving for veggies seems to have abated a bit.

Thank goodness.


This morning I wanted pancakes.

Mashed potato pancake.

I will let you in on a secret. I have, in the past, been fairly obsessed with the mashed potatoes they make at Draeger's.

Their mashed potatoes (which can be picked up at the deli counter) are creamy and rich with a nice onion bite from a generous addition of green onions.

While I love those potatoes they do contain cream AND cream cheese (which is why they are so wonderful) but now a days they are, unfortunately, a little too rich for me. 

So I decided to make a mashed potato pancake using the ingredients (the ones I could remember) that make the Draeger's mashed potatoes so wonderful.

Mashed potato pancake with a side of sauteed broccoli rabe.

I threw some things together and ended up with a crispy pancake that was deliciously rich and creamy in the center. Wow! It was amazing!.

The recipe made a huge pancake and I only used one medium/small red potato.

Shallot, red potato, Tofutti cream cheese, Tofutti sour cream, broccoli rabe, green onion and eggs.

The pancake looked a bit lonely sitting on the plate so I topped it with a poached egg and added some broccoli rabe sauteed in some olive oil.

Then the egg looked a little too naked.

Black pepper and fresh chopped parsley.

And you can guess what happened next...

I enjoyed all this with a small espresso with soymilk.

The potato pancake is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. 

I also think this would also make a great dish to bring your significant other when you bring them breakfast in bed:-)

 Savory mashed potato pancake

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 medium red potato, chopped
1 shallot, minced
1/4 of a green onion, chopped
1/2 tsp of fresh chopped parsley
1 egg white
1tsp of All Purpose Flour
1 tsp of Tofutti sour cream
1/2 tsp of Tofutti cream cheese
a pinch of salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp of olive oil

Instructions:

Chop up the potato and place it in a steamer over med-high heat for 10 - 12 minutes. Obviously you can skip this step if you have some leftover mashed potatoes. I would suggest using about 1 cup of mashed potatoes.

When the potatoes are tender mash them with a fork and stir in the shallot, onion, parsley, egg white, flour, Tofutti sour cream, Tofutti cream cheese, salt and pepper. It will be a slightly sticky mixture.

Put a skillet on the stove on medium heat and add in the olive oil. Take the mixture and flatten it between the palms of your hand. You want a thick pancake at this point. Place the patty into the pan and use the back of a fork to gently press the mixture till it is approximately 1/4" thick.

Flip the pancake when you see the edges begin to brown. Flipping the pancake can be tricky if you went with one big pancake so make sure to have your largest spatula handy. Cook the pancake until the other side is brown.

Plate your delicious golden brown pancake and top with anything you like. 

Suggested toppings: a poached egg, a dollop of sour cream or if you are feeling very decadent a dollop of sour cream with a spoonful of caviar.

Note: You can easily substitute regular sour cream and cream cheese in this recipe.

The apples and eggs connection

What do apples have to do with eggs?

Ta da!

An egg coddler with pretty pictures of green apples.

My sister is moving soon and she is clearing out her kitchen. When I was over visiting the other day she offered me a couple of egg coddlers. 

Since coddled eggs was on my re-make list, I said, "Yes!"

I like my coddled eggs extra cheesy and extra herby (I am officially making that a word, if it isn't already).

First, I put in some mozzarella and a pinch of chopped fresh basil and chopped fresh parsley.

Then one egg went into the coddler.

This is when I realized that my old egg coddler must have been a small size because one egg would fill it up all the way. So, the coddlers my sister gave me were definitely medium sized - that or somehow I managed to buy the teeniest, tiniest eggs on the planet...

So, in went egg number 2.

A little more mozzarella and herb mixture on top.

This is the point where most cooks add in cream but I just whisked together 1tsp of unsweetened soy milk, 1tsp. of Tofutti cream cheese and 1/2 tsp. of Tofutti sour cream. I added in a pinch of the herb mixture and a dash of salt.

With this much 'cream' added the eggs, the eggs will have more of a loose custard-like texture. If you like your eggs more set add less of the soymilk mixture.

I screwed the lid on the coddler and set it in a pan of boiling water (covered) for 6 1/2 minutes. Leave it in for 7-8 minutes if you like your eggs more set.

This dish was outstanding!!

The white stuff running over the yolk - that is not egg white - that is melted mozzarella - Yum!

 I also grabbed one of the tortillas from the leftover taco and crisped it up in a skillet and then dusted it with Parmesan.

You can either scoop out the eggs with a spoon

Or use the tortilla strips for dunking and scooping

Five minutes later it looked like this:

All gone!

I always like to enjoy some kind of fruit with my breakfast so this morning I ate this succulent beauty.

A juicy red pear.

 Happy Saturday everyone!

Vegan scalloped potatoes

Vegan scalloped potatoes.

Wow, what a morning it has been. I was up all night with Abby trying to figure out some way to make her feel more comfortable.

We had an appt. to see our regular vet early this morning. And she took one look at Abby (we have been going to her for over 15 years so she knows us well) and said a big upping of pain medicine was needed immediately. Oh.thank.goodness!

The vet seems to think it may be back pain instead of tooth pain. All I know is that Abby, for the first time in days, is relaxed and sleeping like a log. 

But back to the really interesting stuff - the potatoes.

I started off with a mix of yukon gold, red and russet potatoes.

Slice them nice and thin.

Grease a pan with some Earth Balance spread.

The ingredients for the layering: Shallots, garlic and nutritional yeast.

And the layering begins:

A sprinkle of shallots, garlic and black pepper.

A sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

Ok, right here is where I would have changed things. I went way too overboard on the nutritional yeast. I would use a light sprinkling not the avalanche of yeast that I used. Don't worry I corrected for it in the recipe included below.

Then I made what is essentially a white sauce with soymilk, Earth Balance spread, Tofutti cream cheese and salt and pepper.

This is also where I would change things. I carefully tried to pour the sauce so I wouldn't disturb any of the precious nutritional yeast.

And, meh, there is really no need to be fussy at this step. You, of course will only have put a light sprinkling of nutritional yeast on top so you can feel free to just dump it on top.

I didn't end up using the whole pot of sauce because I thought it was going to be too much (and, yes, I was wrong about this too).

Into the oven went this and out came this:

Garnished with a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

 Now I do think it came out looking quite pretty. And I am sure most people would be very happy with it at this point. 

I was not. In my opinion this should be a comfort dish and it just wasn't creamy enough for my tastes. Yup, I should have put in the whole pan of sauce. The potatoes soaked up a lot more than I expected while they were cooking.

So this morning I made more sauce, this time adding some white wine and other seasonings, poured it over what was left of the scalloped potatoes.

And, yes, I went a bit overboard on the sauce. But this sauce came out really, really good. The recipe I have included should put your dish right in the middle between a little dry and too over sauced. In other words, hopefully, it will turn out perfect.

Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 large russet potato
1 large yukon gold potato
1 large red potato
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast
2 cups of unsweetened soymilk
1/2 Tbsp. of all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. of Tofutti sour cream
1 Tbsp. of Tofutti cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp. of Earth Balance Spread
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
1/2 tsp. of onion powder
1/2 tsp. of dried parsley
2 Tbsp. of dry white wine
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Finely slice the potatoes and the two shallots. Finely mince the garlic. Grease a 61/2"X81/2" pan with some of the Earth Balance spread (if you are using a 9"X12" pan you will need to increase the amounts a little bit).

Start your first layer by overlapping the potato slices to cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with a bit of the shallots and garlic and add a pinch of ground black pepper.  Sprinkle on 1tsp. of the nutritional yeast and then begin the next layer. After the third layer is complete, top with a light sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

Next, pour the soymilk in a pan and whisk in the flour. Add the Tofutti sour cream, Tofutti cream cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, white wine and a dash of salt and pepper. Let the mixture come to a simmer and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to thicken. Pour the sauce over the potatoes. The sauce should come almost to the top of the potatoes. It is fine if the sauce covers them a bit.

Cover the dish with tin foil and place it in the oven for 1 hour. After 1 hour, uncover the dish and sprinkle with any vegan cheese of your choice. I chose to just dot the top with some Earth Balance spread. Let it continue to cook for 5-10 more minutes. Take it out of the oven and let cool. When the dish is no longer hot - serve up with a sprinkle of sweet paprika for garnish.

Enjoy!

Salmon and cream cheese quesadillas

What I really wanted this morning was this:

Bagel and lox.

But I didn't have any bagels, let alone poppy seed ones. I also did not have any dill.

So, instead I used white corn tortillas to make salmon and cream cheese quesadillas.

White corn tortilla with Tofutti cream cheese and smoked salmon.

I used plenty of my favorite smoked salmon.

I sprinkled some shredded cheese over the salmon and topped it with another tortilla.

It went into a pan on medium high heat until it was nicely browned on both sides.

It came out gooey and cheesy and I loved the salty bite of the smoked salmon. 

This was a great way of getting in my weekly dose of salmon. 

 I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!
 

Coddled egg for one

Coddled egg for one with buttered toast.

 
This morning I wanted coddled eggs. 

Coddled eggs is a dish that seems very indulgent and in the traditional version it is since it uses butter and cream.

I still wanted all the texture and flavor but made in a way that trimmed down the heaviness of the dish.

The first step to trimming down the recipe was using a sandwich thin instead of regular bread to line the ramekin and using Earth Balance spread instead of butter to coat the inside of the ramekin.

Next I used some finely shredded cheese so I could get good coverage over the bread without using a lot of cheese.

 And keep in mind that this ramekin is small.

To replace the cream, I combined 1 tsp. of Tofutti cream cheese and mixed it with 1 tsp. of unsweetened soymilk. 

2 tsp. of the 'cream' mixture went on top of the egg along with some fresh chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and some black pepper.

 

Then I placed the dish in a shallow pan that I filled with 1/4" of water. The steam from the water is essential in making these eggs. 

Then the whole thing went into a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cook for a little less or a little more depending on if you like your eggs runnier or firmer.

This dish turned out great! 

The egg was cooked through but still had a silky texture. The combination of the gooey-ness of the cheese with the richness of the 'cream' and the bright herb flavor of the parsley made this dish a winner.

Coddled egg for one
 Serves 1

Ingredients:  

1 egg
1/2 of a sandwich thin
1/2 tsp. of Earth Balance spread
2 tsp. of shredded cheese
1tsp. of Tofutti cream cheese
1 tsp. of unsweetened soy milk
1 tsp. of chopped fresh parsley
1 pinch of salt
ground black pepper to taste


Instructions:

Line a single serving size ramekin with the Earth Balance spread. Cut the sandwich thin to fit the bottom of the ramekin. Press the bread into the bottom of the ramekin.

Top with the cheese and crack one egg on top.

Whisk together the Tofutti cream cheese and the soy milk until the mixture is smooth. Spoon 1 - 2 tsp. of the mixture over the egg, depending on how rich you want the dish. Sprinkle the top with the parsley, salt and pepper.

Place the ramekin in a shallow baking dish and fill the bottom of the baking dish with 1/4" of water.

Cook in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!