In regard to actual food, I've only made a couple of swaps but they were fairly big ones. for lunch I had meatless chicken wings. I've had plenty of meatless things before but not this particular brand or their wings. The brand was Gardein and let me tell you these look just like boneless wings that you'd get from anywhere. Unfortunately it's hard to say how they really tasted because they were so hot I thought my face was actually going to melt off. However, my brother (who conveniently loves really hot stuff like that) really enjoyed them. He was shocked by the fact that they weren't chicken but he came home and ate all of them after lacrosse last night. So, on the "chicken" wing front- if you love spicy stuff then go for Gardein but if your more mild (at least when it comes to spices) then Morning Star makes some that are a little more crispy and not so spicy. I'm yet to find a good vegetarian or vegan swap for ranch or blue cheese to slab on the wings though but I'll work on it.
The biggest swap i've made was for the biggest meal of the day which was dinner last night. It was tough to find a veggie recipe that my family would actually enjoy- i e-mailed my dad a few recipes and all he wrote back was "where's the beef?"- despite the fact that they were pretty traditional things. The first was a mushroom stroganoff, then spaghetti squash at a close second, and then a veggie baja taco thing last. Stroganoff won out in the end and let me tell ya, it was amazing. It was stuffed full of baby bella mushrooms (some of my favorite) and then dried (but revived) shiitakes and then I put it over quinoa pasta as opposed to regular pasta or whole wheat pasta. Lets just say that it was so good that my dad actually said "Wow I'm impressed and I don't even miss the meat!" WOOHOO! It was a downright veggie-victory and I will definitely be making it again.
So swaps aren't bad and so far im not even missing anything too much. I'm trying a bunch of new tofu things though for the next couple of days so I'll keep you updated on how everything is going. Over-all though I'm really enjoying getting a little bit outside of the box with my food especially since I'm finding the swaps to be really great. Hopefully, seeing how well this has gone I'll be able to be more accepting to other changes in my life, big or small :).
Happy Friday!!!
-A
Recipes:
Muffins:
Ingredients-
3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup oil or melted margarine
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
optional: add a handful of walnuts, oatmeal, raisins, dried cranberries or other fruits, chocolate chips, currants, or coconut.
Directions:
mash bananas (overripe are best). Add oil/margarine and sugar. Mix well.
sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and add to the banana mixture. Mix until the flour is blended (do not beat). Add in any of the optional ingredients you choose.
pour into muffin pans or bread pan and bake at 360 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.
makes approx 12 normal muffins or 6 large ones.
Stroganoff:
Yield 2 servings.
Ingredients:
10 oz. fresh baby bella mushrooms, sliced.
1 oz dried porcini OR shiitake mushrooms (I used shiitake)
1 small onion, sliced.
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 oz butter
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup creme fraiche
a few shakes of quick mixing flour like Wondra
salt and pepper to taste.
Directions:
Start by soaking the dried mushrooms in warm water. the package should say how to revive them properly. I did mine in about 250 mls of warm water for about 30 minutes and then put a water bottle on top of them to make sure they wouldn't just float to the top. After the mushrooms have soaked pull them from the warm water and rinse them slightly in cool water and pat dry. set aside. Strain the mushroom water through a coffee filter and then set it aside. DO NOT THROW IT AWAY.
Melt the butter in a large, heavy based pan and gently fry the onion and garlic until it is soft and translucent.
Add all of the mushrooms in, including the water that the dried mushrooms were soaked in. Stir well and add the wine.
Allow to cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced. (I had some trouble getting it to reduce so thats when i added a few shakes of the Wondra quick mixing flour.
Just before serving stir in the creme fraiche.
serve over pasta or rice, whichever you prefer, and ENJOY!