Vegetarian Comfort Foods

Comfort Food

by Adrienne Ehlert Bashista

My mother became a vegetarian at age fifty. Her own mother died of colon cancer a few years earlier, so a good part of why she quit eating meat was for health reasons. Another reason was also that finally, after twenty-five years, her children had all left the house. My four siblings and I had all hit or surpassed the magic age of twenty. For the first time in practically all of her adult life she had no one to cook for except herself and my stepfather.

Despite working full time as an engineer when we were growing up, my mother almost always made our meals from scratch. I have fond memories of her baked chicken with mushrooms and pot roast with juice-soaked potatoes and stewed onions. She made a mean pork chop and the crispiest, tastiest fried chicken north of the Mason-Dixon line. Thanksgiving turkey was always fantastic. Much to my pickiest sister's disgust, my mom would cook the giblets and chop them up into her homemade gravy. I loved the tiny chunks of heart and liver floating in the flour-thickened pan drippings. She even made her own deep-fried eggrolls, twenty-five at a time. Everything was in massive quantities; it had to be, to feed five teenagers and a husband. Everything was comforting. Everything was good.

My mother is still an excellent cook, but the food she serves doesn't give me quite the same level of pleasure as it did when I was a kid. She didn't just replace the meat-based meals with non-meat alternatives, but she's revamped her menu so everything is super healthy. No more grease, no more fatty pork chops with the bones still in. No more crispy, well-basted turkey skin. No more giblet-filled gravy. Now, all her meals feature five different vegetables, quinoa, brown rice, and beans. Chewing, and lots of it, is required. She's discovered a meat substitute made out of corn fungus that bears some resemblance to chicken, if cooked the right way, and has flirted with becoming vegan. I've asked her not to. I worry that if she gives up eggs and dairy, too, she'll lose her last two percent body fat.

I see her often as she and my step-dad 'retired' to North Carolina a year or so before my son was born. I say 'retired' because she and my step-dad both started new careers once they'd given up their old ones. He has become a high school math teacher for behaviorally challenged kids, and she bought and refurbished a giant old house into a bed and breakfast. Why, you ask, did she want to return to cooking and cleaning for masses of people, just as she'd gotten out from under it? It's a mystery to me. My only theory is that maybe she enjoys getting paid for something she once did for free.

In any case, the guests at her B&B get the comfort cooking I am denied. She makes breakfast bread pudding, smothered in stewed apples and sweetened ricotta cheese, and breakfast burritos with cheddar and fresh salsa. They get tiny sweet potato pancakes with fresh fruit and real whipped cream. They get homemade blueberry waffles. Need I say more?

Last year, when central North Carolina was hit by an ice storm and our house didn't have power for a week, she gave us a room at the B&B and we ate her breakfasts every day. We were in heaven. Then the ice melted, our electricity returned, and we were back to being family. Recipients of the healthiest, most nutrient-filled meals you can imagine, with desserts of fat-free soymilk frozen yogurt topped with a few organic berries, if they're in season. It's food made with love, to be sure, just not the food that I crave.

Nor does my husband. Here's a secret about my mother's cooking: my husband doesn't like it. He is picky: he doesn't like onions or garlic or cooked tomatoes or big chunks of vegetables. He is always asking my mother, 'What's in this?" before he puts a bite in his mouth. He eats her cooking because he's polite and she's his Mother-in-Law, but almost every time we eat dinner at her house he comes home and eats a sandwich or some leftovers, 'just to tide him over.'

So last September, when we returned from the trip to adopt our second son, Jamie, from Russia and my mother called us to say a casserole was waiting for us at home, you can imagine my husband's reaction. We'd just flown for eleven hours with a good-natured but brand-new-to-us toddler in tow, and we were exhausted, dirty, and hungry.

"A casserole?" he groaned. "How about a pizza?î

But I turned him down. All I wanted to do was get home and sleep. I didn't care what I ate, as long as it was something.

"Let's just eat what she made," I said. "You can pick out the vegetables."

"Nothing will be left if I do that," he grumbled, but he drove past the pizza place.

When we got home, I went directly to the refrigerator. "Let's see what she made for us," I said, pulling out a casserole dish. "looks pretty basic," I called to my husband, who was busy bringing our bags in from the car. I stuck it in the oven to warm up.

"You hungry?" I asked Jamie, who only understood about four words of English at that point. "Do you want to eat?"

He started to scream. 'Eat' was a one of his words, and because food had been in short supply at his orphanage his response to food was an anxious one: a frightening, high-pitched vocalization, clenched fists, and a purple face.

"Guess so," I said, and I sat him at the table. I gave him a couple of crackers. He crammed them whole into his mouth, making the sign we'd taught him for 'more.' While the casserole heated I sat down next to him, handing him crackers one at a time, making exaggerated motions with my mouth, trying to get him to chew.

The buzzer went off on the stove. "Food's ready,î I called out to Mark.

The casserole was simple: whole wheat noodles, kidney beans, sautéed onions, garlic, broccoli, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes. "Do we have any cheese?" my husband asked, jumping up to see what was in our refrigerator. "I wonder if barbecue sauce would taste okay on this?"

"Wait. Look," I said, pointing to Jamie. My husband turned around to see.

As quickly as he could, Jamie was shoving pieces of the casserole into his mouth. A noodle, a chunk of onion, a stewed tomato, a kidney bean disappeared. In minutes his serving disappeared and he was asking for more. It was astonishing.

We'd spent the past five days with this child and had been impressed by his appetite in that time, but it was as if now that he was at home - a place five thousand miles from where he'd been born - his hunger let loose with true abandon. It was almost as if he knew that now was the time to relax.

At one point he paused to take a breath, picked up a cooked mushroom and held it out to me. I expected him to throw it down in rejection, like any American toddler would do when faced with that bit of cooked vegetable. Instead, he showed it to me, smiled, and opened his mouth wide. He put the mushroom inside. "Mmmm," he said. Yummy, in any language.

This basic, vegetarian food, so bland and unexciting to my husband's and my spoiled palates, was exactly what our little boy needed. My mother knew what she was doing. Her super-healthy, low-fat, whole grain vegetarian casserole was truly comforting: food made with love.

About Adrienne: Adrienne Ehlert Bashista is a writer, librarian, and mother of two boys who lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Her picture book about Russian adoption: When I Met You, will be out in May, 2005 through DRT Press.

To veganize the recipe, simply replace the butter with olive oil, and omit the Parmesan from the orzotto.

Serves 6

Osso Buco

2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced onion
3 bay leaves
1 Tbs. thyme
1 Tbs. oregano
1 Tbs. parsley
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 13 oz pkg. chicken-style soy meat substitute
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 cup white or red wine
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

Asparagus-Mushroom Orzotto

2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 asparagus spears, trimmed and sliced on bias into thirds
6 oz. cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 cup orzo
3-4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, warmed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsely
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional

To make the Osso Buco:
Heat olive oil and butter in large pot over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and parsley, and cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add garlic, and saute 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste, and cook 5 minutes. Add meat substitute, broth, wine, and lemon zest, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes, or until sauce thickens and meat substitute is heated throught.

To make Asparagus-Mushroom Orzotto:
Heat olive oil and butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute 10 minutes, or until soft. Add garlic, and saute 2 minutes. Add asparagus and mushrooms, and saute 5 to 7 minutes, or until mushrooms start to release their juices. Add 1/2 cup orzo and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add remaining orzo, and cook 3 minutes more, or until all pasta bits are browned. Stir in 1/2 cup vegetable broth, parsley, and thyme, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, or until orzo has absorbed all liquid, stirring often. continue adding broth to orzo 1/2 cup at a time until all liquid is absorbed and orzo is al dente. Remove from heat, and stir in Parmesan, if desired. Serve with Osso Buco.

Jennifer Warren, the Canadian daughter of restaurant owners, has created a cookbook designed for those of us who have left our omnivorous roots behind but still miss the kinds of foods that mom and dad used to make. Vegetarian Comfort Food offers many alternatives to traditional foods, many of which are typically prepared with meat.

If you miss eating spaghetti and meatballs, try preparing Warren's Meatless Meatballs made with Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP). She also has recipes for Hearty Chili, Shepherd's Pie and The Colonel's Tofu, for those of you who miss fried chicken from time to time.

Being a full time college student with three part-time jobs, I decided to try something simple. I went with the Avocado-Tomato Melt. While I did deviate slightly from the original recipe, I tried to remain true to the measurements given, at least for the first round. The meal took about a half an hour from start to chow time, and it was absolutely delicious. How can you go wrong with avocados, garlic, rosemary and havarti?

Besides delicious recipes, the book offers a number of other benefits. These include basics like the difference between chopping and dicing, "the stuff you should buy," kinds of utensils and cookware needed, notes on types of oil, tomatoes, herbs and more. She also includes a section that makes notes on substitutions and gives suggestions for vegans.

Vegetarian Comfort Food includes a glossary of ingredients and cooking terms, including such terms as MSG, nutritional yeast, kosher and tahini.

The book is the product of several years of Warren blazing her own trail. When she made the decision to be a vegetarian she had no idea how to do it. She explains in the introduction that she gathered contemporary cookbooks for vegetarians, but to her it was all new and difficult to make or find the ingredients for creation. She longed for the food that, for her, was comforting.

Warren tries to stick to easily available ingredients and low hassle recipes, which is especially helpful for college students. I recommend this book most strongly for those of you who may be new at the vegetarian thing. Having been at it almost four years now, I can remember that first year or two of not really knowing what to eat and figuring it out on my own.

This book will make your transition from omnivore to herbivore a successful one, eliminating much of that first-year starvation and torture that many of us had to endure.

Serves 6/Gluten-free

You do't need a magic spell to turn a pumpkin into the edible serving dish for this satisfying autumn recipe. If you can't find a large pumpkin or squash, bake this stew in two samller ones.

2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked and quartered
1 15 oz. can hominy, rinsed and drained
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3 to 4 lb. pumpkin, or sugar pie, cheese, red kuri, kabocha, or buttercup squash
2 oz. grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 1 Tbls. oil inpot over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute 7 minutes, or until softened. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and oregano, and cook 3 minutes more, or until spices darken.

Add tomatillos, hominy, 1/2 cup water, and salt. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, partially covered, 10 to 12 minutes, or until tomatillos are softened. Uncover, and cook 5 minutes more to thicken stew, if necessary.

Meanwhile, cut top of pumpkin around stem to make lid. Scoop out pumpkin seeds and strings. Rub inside of pumpkin with remaining 1 Tbs. oil, and sprinkle generously with salt. Sprinkle cheese in bottom of pumpkin.

Fill pumpkin with stew, then top with pumplin lid. Place on parchment covered baking sheet and bake 1.5 to 2 hours, or until pumplin flesh is fork tender. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes.

Scoop stew, including pumpkin, into bowls and serve hot.

Fruit & Vegetable Strainer & Food Grinder

Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage

Serves 8 /30 minutes or fewer

For an unusually light take on a decadent breakfast favorite, serve this gravy over whole grain English muffins rather than biscuits. You'll shave an extra 100 calories off your meal, and the crispy texture goes great with gravy.

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced carrot
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/ tsp. ground yellow mustard seed
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp. crumbled sage
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
1/2 cup Annie's Naturals Cowgirl Ranch Dressing
8 whole grain biscuits or 4 English muffins

Bring lentils and 3 cups water to a boil in a 2 qt. saucepan. Reduce heat to medium low; simmer 30 minutes, or until just tender. Drain, and set aside.

Heat oil over medium high heat in large skillet. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper, carrot, and garlic, and cook 5 to 8 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender but not mushy. Stir in flour, black pepper, paprika, mustard, red pepper flakes, and sage; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring after each addition. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until gravy comes to a gentle boil. Remove from heat, and stif in ranch dressing and drained lentils.

Split biscuits or English muffins. Lightly toast English muffin, if using. Place biscuits on plates, and top with gravy.

Organic Coffee & Tea Basket with Handpainted Mug

This substantial basket includes a large assortment Organic Coffee Co. coffees, a box of 20 Zen Blend green tea bags, and exclusive, botanist-styled, handpainted stoneware mug depicting the 3 stages of the coffee lifecycle - the white flower, the red cherry, and the roasted coffee beans. "Coffea arabica," the scientific name for coffee, is spelled out along the bottom in cursive. The sturdy, wood "basket" is wrapped in a cloud of cellophane and tied with a big bow.

Includes:

* 12 ounce ground Java Love
* 12 ounce ground Zen Blend
* 2 ounce sampler of Hazelnut
* 2 ounce sampler of Breakfast Blend
* 2 ounce sampler of Stellar Brew
* 2 ounce sampler of French Roast
* 2 ounce sampler of Gorilla Decaf
* 1 Handpainted, Botanist Mug
* 1 box of 20 Zen Blend tea bags
* $5 Gift Certificate for any product in the online store

Four cheese ravioli, called Ravioli a Quatro Formaggio in Italian, makes a glorious hot dish or salad when combined with pesto and sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and bits of fresh basil.

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 10 Min
READY IN 20 Min
4 Servings

INGREDIENTS
1 (9 ounce) package BUITONI® Refrigerated Four Cheese Ravioli, prepared according to package directions
1 (7 ounce) container BUITONI(R Refrigerated Pesto with Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 (4 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and halved
1/2 cup ripe olives, drained and halved
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS
Combine pasta, pesto, artichoke hearts, olives and basil in medium bowl. Serve warm or chilled.

Pasta e Fagioli: hearty vegetarian (vegan) pasta and bean soup recipe that can be ready to eat in under an hour. Or cook it on low in the slow cooker or crock pot, and eat it later, with generous slices of crusty artisan bread (herbed garlic or olive bread is perfect).

Go for fresh picked green beans if you can get them - they're plentiful at farmers markets in summer and fall. Flat Italian Romano beans in a variety of colors are wonderful, but any crisp fresh beans will do! In a pinch, use frozen beans, but add them 20 minutes before serving.

This is a thick soup, almost a stew. Make it more soupy by adding more stock or liquid - just be sure to increase the seasonings too, especially salt.

Pasta e Fagioli Ingredients:
1 cup diced celery or fresh fennel
2 cups fresh or frozen green beans, 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 small carrots, sliced thin
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
2 ripe plum tomatoes peeled & chopped, or 2 Tbsp tomato paste, or 1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup cooked kidney beans (to cook your own, see basic bean recipe
8 oz cooked pasta - elbows or small shells are nice
2 - 3 Tblsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled & minced
1/2 tsp ground fennel seed
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp dried basil OR 1 Tblsp fresh minced
1 tsp dried marjoram OR 1 Tblsp fresh minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tblsp minced fresh basil or Italian parsley for garnish
4 - 6 cups soup stock and-or bean cooking liquid. Make instant soup stock with a couple of vegan bouillon cubes or veggie flavoring such as Mrs. Dash.
Directions:
Put 4 qts salted water on to boil for the pasta
Heat the oil on low in a 6 - 8 quart pan
Prep the veggies
Add the minced garlic to the oil and heat on medium low until lightly browned
Add the carrots, celery or fennel, green beans, & chopped fresh tomatoes if using, and sauté 5 minutes on med/high heat
Add the herbs and spices, sauté briefly.
Add the soup stock and-or bean cooking water, or water & veggie cubes
Drain and rinse the kidney beans, then add to pot
Add tomato paste or tomato sauce if using, cover and simmer until veggies are tender
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water for 7 minutes, rinse with cold water & set aside
Add the pasta, frozen peas and-or beans to the soup, salt and pepper to taste
Cook for 20 more minutes, adding more water or stock as desired
Serve garnished with fresh basil or Italian parsley
Optional: Add grated Parmesan or soy parmesan cheese
Slow Cooker or Crock Pot Directions:
After sautéing the veggies (or not), combine everything except the cooked pasta and frozen veg to the slow cooker or crock pot. Cook covered on low for six - eight hours. Turn the crockpot to high, and add the frozen veg and cooked pasta in the last 20 minutes of cooking

A delicious low fat and EASY dessert to impress! A wonderful mix of ingredients that is great served with home-made ice cream or creme fraiche. These pears cook quite happily in the microwave - as well as the more conventional baking or stove top method too. A recipe I devised for our Bed & Brekafast last Autumn, after a huge harvest of pears from our garden and whilst also trying to find a use for numerous opened packets of dried fruits and nuts!!
SERVES 4 (change servings and units)



Ingredients
4 ripe pears, peeled, cored & halved
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3 ounces pecan nuts, broken roughly
ice cream or creme fraiche, to serve
Directions
1Microwave method:.
2Place the peeled, cored and halved pears into a microwaveable dish. Place them cut side down.
3Scatter the dried cranberries over the pears.
4Pour 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup over the pears & cranberries & cover with microwaveable cling film.
5Microwave on High for 3 minutes until softened, stirring half way through.
6Uncover and leave to cool off slightly for a few minutes.
7Stir the pecan nuts through the syrup.
8Spoon into serving dishes making sure EVERYONE gets some nutty syrup & cranberries! (1 pear - 2 halves per person!).
9Drizzle over the remaining maple syrup.
10Serve with ice cream or creme fraiche. Yoghurt is nice with this dessert too.
11Oven baking method:.
12Pre-heat oven to 200 C or 400°F.
13Follow recipe as above, making sure the dish is oven proof!
14Bake for about 45 minutes or until pears are soft but still holding their shape.
15Mix in nuts as before and serve as before.
16(These can also be cooked in a deep frying pan, skillet or wok on top of the stove with a lid placed over them; Bring them to a slow boil and then simmer gently for about 30 - 45 minutes. Serve as before.).

Serves 6/Vegan/30 minutes or fewer

1 cup chickpeas
2 Tbs. olive oil, plus more for frying
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 Tbs. reduced sodium tamari soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. sage
1 12 oz pkg. Kamut Spirals
1 small jar pasta sauce

Mash chickpeas and 2 Tbs. olive oil in large bowl, leaving some lumps. Stir in vital wheat gluten, breadcrumbs, tamari, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, and 1/4 cup water. Knead by hand 3 to 4 minutes, or until vital wheat gluten begins to form strands and all ingredients are well incorporated. shape to ping pong ball size.

Cook pasta according to package directions; warm pasta sauce in saucepan.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute Neat Balls 7 minutes, or until browned. Drain on paper towel lined plate; serve over pasta and sauce.

Herbal Sampler

Discover the world of difference between supermarket tea and the gourmet varieties found in this set. Sample herbals from Egypt, USA and Africa. Six tins in total, one ounce apiece.