Gazpacho Salad (January 2)

Gazpacho Salad. Yup. And why not? The soup it refers to is a bunch of vegetables and fruit with liquid. Replace the liquid with the salad greens and presto - Gazpacho Salad.

Here is your inspiration to convert any soup into a salad. Pretty simple idea, right? I'd love to take credit, but I believe I saw the idea while cruising through a cookbook - a Robin Robertson one, to be exact. It is the avocado that caught my eye. Throw avocado anywhere in a recipe and I'll give it grave consideration. During the summer I have to weed through all the avocado recipes, since I probably add at least three onto each week's menu. Although very healthy for the kids, I encourage them to eat as many as they would like, I'm too old to handle too many, as much as I love them.

That certainly does not mean I never eat the fruit and here it is in this salad.

There are two key components to a good salad:

The Dressing

The Size of the Veggies

I'm sure we are all aware of how important the moisture on the lettuce is - whether it is just a squeeze of lemon or a favorite dressing like Ranch - but, is it really well-known how important the cut of the veggies is?

Dice or thinly slice cucumbers, peppers, onions, tomatoes (after seeding them) and they take on

a-whole-nother appeal for the diner. Big, clunky veggies are okay, but to really get someone to dig in, consider how you cut them.

My diced veggies and fruits were tossed with a little walnut oil (which has Omega-3) and lime juice. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic (minced) and cilantro and tossed them with chopped lettuce.

A bit of Summer in the middle of Winter.

Cost Breakdown

lettuce: $3

onion, pepper, cuke, tomato: $4

garlic, cilantro: $1

avocado: $2

walnut oil, lime: $1

Total for 4 large servings:

$11.00

Gazpacho Salad Recipe

Etouffee (December 30)

Etouffee is a Creole dish consisting of seafood, sausage and a sauce thickened with roux.

I had some Sea Seitan left over from the Emeril Fish Taco dish, so I defrosted it and used it as the protein in my Etouffee.

I have also made a How-To for this meal since roux can be one of the more complicated culinary procedures since there are so many different kinds of roux, anything from a blond to a dark chocolate - I utilized the latter in this dish. The darker the roux, the longer it takes to cook, the deeper the flavor, the less thickening power it has.

The Sea Seitan really gives this a unique flavor, very unlike any other seitan - which is kind of the point of making it.

This dish was very flavorful and different. We really liked this one a lot.

Serve this with rice.

Cost Breakdown

seitan: $3

herbs, spices, flour, oil: $1.50

onion, green onion, celery, garlic, pepper: $2.50

vegan sausage link: $1

 Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce: $.75

veg. broth, tomato paste: $1.50

rice: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$11.25

 

Etouffee Recipe

How-To for Etouffee

Crepes with Shiitaki and Cabbage (December 29)

Crepes make great desserts, but they also make wonderful savory dishes.

Finding a vegan crepe recipe seems to have garnered quite a bit of headache as I've read many recipes where the authors try valiantly to create a vegan crepe.

 Honestly I don't understand all the fuss.

As a Hungarian, crepes were a dessert staple at our home, made with the eggs that most crepes call for. However, having been around a few crepes in my lifetime, the crepes I made for this meal were just as thin, as light, as tender as any made with eggs - and much simpler. You really only need flour and water. I used whole wheat pastry flour for these.

When making your crepe just keep your pan medium-hot but not burning hot and tilt the pan as you pour in the batter to get the thinnest possible crepe. I used a well-seasoned cast iron pan and had no difficulty. I brushed on a very thin layer of oil to keep them from sticking and when the edges were dry and curled up, flipped it.

I stuffed these with sauteed shiitaki and Brussels sprouts and baked them with a bechamel sauce.

I then finished them by topping them with sauteed red cabbage.

The CSA box got quite a workout and the crepes were delectable.

Cost Breakdown

flour: $1

vegan milk: $1

Brussels sprouts, garlic, onion: $3

cabbage: $2

shiitaki: $4

Total to make 10 crepes:

$11.00

Crepes Recipe

Leek- Parsnip Soup (December 26)

We all know of Leek-Potato Soup, but how about using something other than potato? Any white vegetable would be fine here, but I had parsnips delivered in my CSA and that sounded scrumptious to substitute for the potato.

Of course, if you don't mind changing the color of the soup, substitute whatever vegetable you have available; I can't think of anything that would clash with an onion (leek).

The parsnip worked really well with the leeks and the added chives as a garnish gave it a wonderful garlic accent. Very easy, quick and delicious.

Cost Breakdown

parsnip: $3

leek, garlic: $4

chives: $.50
vegetable broth: $1
Total to make 5 main servings:
$8.50

Leek-Parsnip Soup Recipe