A Few of My Vegetarian Recipes

Yesterday I shared information with you about what a vegetarian is and why I am a vegetarian.  I also told you that my husband is not a vegetarian and I enjoy cooking for him.  Making a meal for my husband is like giving him a present.  It's fun to make it for him and it's more fun to see how much he loves and appreciates it.

Although he's not hard to please, he does not like a lot of the same vegetables that I do.  The only thing he likes in the basket here are the tomatoes!   I try to do at least one meatless meal a week for him, which is not hard to do.

The easiest way to serve him a meatless meal is when I make a large pot of beans.  Most of the time I make a bean soup with a mixture of pinto beans, navy beans, lentils, black beans, great northern beans and lima beans.  I never presoak my beans.
My recipes are not exact measurements, just cook what amount you want.

For Bean Soup just wash and sort your beans and set aside.  Heat up some extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or vegetable oil in a large soup pot and saute some chopped onions, garlic, carrots, celery and green peppers if you like. Add a dash of salt and pepper.  Then add seasonings to your taste.  I add in the saute mixture, cumin, coriander, and sometimes chili powder.  Then after about five minutes add your beans, a can of chopped tomatoes, a bay leaf and more spices to your taste and water to cover the mixture about two inches.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until done.  Sometimes I add diced potatoes, too.  Check periodically to see if it needs more water.  The beans are usually done after about two hours, however I like my soup real creamy so I usually cook it longer.  

I like this recipe because I can put in on early in the afternoon and pretty much forget about it.  For the meal sometimes I make cornbread,  potatoes fried with onions or sometimes we eat the soup with rice.  You can prepare any kind of salad you like and depending what's in season I just make a fresh vegetable tray.

One of my varieties of basil.

When I make spaghetti I make a marinara sauce and cook some sausage in a separate pot for my husband.  For my Marinara Sauce saute some onions and garlic in EVOO or vegetable oil until limp, add chopped carrots and saute until moist, then add a pinch of hot pepper flakes and saute for about another minute.  The carrots give the sauce a good sweetness without adding sugar.  Add two or three cans of chopped tomatoes, depending on how much you are making, a small can of tomato sauce and a small can of tomato paste.  Season with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, parsley and add a bay leaf or two.  Let this cook for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle.  Just before serving taste for seasoning and if you have it, add some fresh basil.

I serve my marinara sauce just like this because I like my sauce lumpy.  You can put this in a blender or food processor and process it until it is smooth. 

You can make a very large amount of this sauce and freeze any extra in canning jars or freezer containers to have for quick dinners in the future.  Then serve this sauce with any pasta you like.  I even use this on my pizzas, eggplant parmesan, lasagna and other baked pasta dishes.

For our mexican style meals I make beef enchiladas for my husband and cheese enchiladas for me.  But we both like black bean tacos.  Black Bean Tacos are very easy and fast.  Just wash and drain a can of black beans heat them up in a small skillet in some oil with cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.  Sometimes I add a small can of chopped chilis.  Serve these in some heated taco shells just as you would beef or chicken tacos with chopped tomatos, lettuce, cheese and salsa.

I also make Huevos Rancheros.  Fry some corn tortillas until crispy and set aside.  Heat up some refried beans and season with your favorite seasonings.  Spread the refried beans on a tortilla, add some shredded cheese, add the fried egg, put heated enchilada sauce over it and top with shredded cheese.  That's the way we like it!  Very good.

As you have seen here, I have not used any canned or frozen vegetables.  These are meals I've made for years only I have modified them for my vegetarian lifestyle.  I use canned and frozen vegetables more in the winter when fresh vegetables are out of season.  I make all kinds of soups and stews which I will share with you another time.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and please let me know if you have any requests or questions about other recipes you may want to see.

May you feel the presence of the Lord with you today and know that He is with you always.

SPG