Two Fabulous Vegetarian Meals - Pizza & Tacos!

I know there’s a lot of people out there that can’t imagine a meal without meat. Luckily, I have two recipes that would blow any meat-less non believers away. I also know I have a lot of readers who love vegetarian meals like me, or are vegetarian, that would love these recipes.

I’m making another one of my delicious homemade pizzas tonight and it got me thinking about the wonderful vegetarian, yet meat-like, pizza I made a while back. This pizza uses a spiced shredded zucchini mixture to imitate Italian sausage.  The other ingredients are quite simple, like a tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and fresh basil, so the “sqausage” (as it was called) gets to really stand out.

 I found the recipe looking through the monthly Sprouts magazine they give out in store, but I found the recipe again online on this site for a magazine called Delicious Living. Regardless of who’s recipe it is, it’s delicious!

The squasage mixture takes some time to prepare, since you have to let it drain for a couple of hours, but it’s worth it. The final product is a zucchini mixture that is high on flavor and remarkably dry instead of soggy and unpalatable. The recipe makes double the amount of zucchini mixture as you need for some silly reason so I’ll half it below.

Also, I used jarred tomato sauce instead of the home made one provided in the recipe.  I’m sure it tastes great, but I wanted to save time and already had a jar open! If you want the recipe for the tomato sauce, click this link.

Tomato, Mozzarella, and Zucchini Pizza

 “Squasage”

2 packed cups grated zucchini

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon fennel seed

½ teaspoon coriander seed (I used ground coriander and it worked out fine)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon paprika

Whole wheat pizza dough, rolled into one 9-inch crust

4 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

¾ cup tomato sauce, or as much as needed to cover the pizza dough

About ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh parsley or basil, for garnish

1. Combine all “Squasage” ingredients in a large, nonreactive bowl. Toss to combine. Marinate 2 hours at room temperature, tossing ingredients every 20 minutes or so. After 2 hours, squeeze zucchini and discard water. Taste and adjust seasoning. (Makes about ¾-1 cup.)

2. Place a pizza stone in your oven and preheat to 475 degrees 30 minutes prior to baking.

3. Top pizza crust with tomato sauce and then top with sliced mozzarella and zucchini mixture. Grate a couple tablespoons of parmesan over pizza.

4. Transfer to oven and bake for 10 minutes. (If you don’t have a pizza stone it may take longer, just keep an eye on it.) Once done, sprinkle with another tablespoon of parmesan and garnish with parsley or basil.

  Since the zucchini mixture drains for quite some time, you will need to add more seasonings (since some of it drains out with the water). I already upped the seasonings from the original recipe, but I still advise that you taste and add more salt, parika, pepper, etc. The fennel seed really hits home the "sausage" flavor so don't skimp on it!

This pizza is probably my second favorite pizza EVER. First would go to the tomato basil pizza I made recently. But honestly, this one is so good!  

Vegetarians you will love this! I'd even encourage vegans to try this out with some vegan "cheese". Nothing beats fresh mozzarella, but it will still be killer!

Yummmmmmm. :D

We take a turn from Italy and travel to Mexico for this next vegetarian delight. Poblano Mushroom Tacos!

I followed the recipe from Epicurious exactly, except for that I used shredded monteray jack cheese and used much less oil.

This recipe took no time to make and was so easy! Basically just chop, saute, and fill the tacos. I doubled it and it was just enough for 3 people FYI.

Served with some traditional taco toppings, like shredded lettuce, tomato, "sour cream" (greek yogurt), cilantro, and salsa. The recipe suggested to add a little feta cheese to the tacos and boy was that a delicious addition!

I made the mistake of putting on the salsa before tasting the taco. Turns out poblano peppers are much hotter than I thought! I made these yesterday and my fingers are still burning from cutting the poblano peppers; I had no idea!

Anyway, these were beyond yummy. They're really "street food"-esque and felt a little fancier than the average taco I usually make.

The recipe calls for folding the tacos, after you add the cheese, and cooking them on the skillet so they get a little crisp and browned on the outside. It almost reminded me of making quesadillas and I'm sure you could transform this recipe into quesadillas using some whole wheat tortillas. 

These babies were SO full of flavor, even though they have a seemingly simple ingredient list. The only spice called for is cumin and that's all these tacos need. My parents really loved them, too. And trust me, no one missed the meat.

These are two great summer meals that are refreshing and satisfying at the same time and are honestly two of my favorite meals. Give them a try! (:

I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend! 

<3 Carlyn

4th of July Recap and Recipes!

Hey guys! I’m back from vacation and I had a blast. Since fireworks weren’t banned where I was in Arkansas, I was able to watch (and hear) a LOT of fireworks. One night, there was a fireworks show just a little ways down the lake and we were able to boat over there and get “front row” seats. We were so close that my eyes and neck began to hurt from looking straight up for so long!

Being at my Aunt’s lake house during the summer means two things, seeing many of my extended family and tons of food!

Here’s the dessert display for just one of the nights there-

That chocolate bundt-cake type thing in the corner was DANGEROUS! 

My Aunt Ruth’s tres leches cake was SO good! I especially loved it with all of the festive fruit. I never really thought of making one before, but now I SO have to! 

Anyone have a good recipe?

Another cake I actually really enjoyed was this lemon pound cake. It was dense but yet had this amazing moisture to it that was saturated with lemony flavor. The lemon-sugar glaze must have seeped into the cake.  I think it was probably store bought, but I need to find a recipe for something like it ASAP!

Also, my Aunt Sarah got a cake just for me to celebrate me graduating from high school. Gosh, everyone knows me so well! Not only was it a carrot cake but it was also a natural one from Whole Foods!

 

Cake never looked so good...

No iffy ingredients here-

The pumpkin really made this cake orange!

Of course, it tasted phenomenal. The frosting wasn't that sweet and the cake was perfect!

I didn't just eat at the lake house, I made a couple things too! Everyone seemed to really enjoy everything I made and I got many compliments (thanks guys!). Many of my family members asked for the recipes, so I'll post them on here so yall don't have to go searching for them yourselves. I even made a couple new things that I hadn't tried before, so I'm glad that they were a hit! 

First up, pancakes. I had a couple aging bananas (okay a LOT of aging bananas from volunteering for a race and taking extras) so I decided to take them along with me on the trip. I came across this wonderful recipe for vegan oatmeal banana pancakes from Colorful Palate and was immediately drawn to the short and healthy ingredient list. All you do is grind all the ingredients in a blender and you're ready to go!

I might try grinding the oats first before adding all the ingredients next time just so I don't over-mix.  

Changes I made:

- added 1 more teaspoon of baking powder the second time I made them (yes, I made them twice! That good) and thought they turned out much better (a little more fluffy and less doughy)

-added about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-added in toasted walnuts & dark chocolate chips on the griddle before flipping!

-I didn't do this because there was no cinnamon at the lake house, but next time I might add 1/2 teaspoon or so of cinnamon!

This recipe easily serves 4 people, but since its vegan it can just as easily serve 1 person by just quartering the recipe! That's what I love about egg-less recipes...

Another recipe I made that I had not tried before was a healthy cheesecake dip! It's a blend of low fat cream cheese, silken tofu, powdered sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and just a dash of salt. I actually found the recipe while browsing Food Gawker at the lake house was immediately inspired to make it. It comes with a blueberry topping, but I was lazy and just made the cheesecake part. I served it with honey wheat pretzels (trying to imitate the flavors of graham crackers) and strawberries. Click here for the recipe from An Edible Mosaic.

I peeled off the frosting (which had become almost a bit "fondant"-like oddly) from the last small piece of carrot cake and crumbled the cake into the remaining couple tablespoons of the cheese cake dip. Uhm, MAGICAL! Kinda like a cake ball but..not? Whatever it was, it was good...

I also made my "famous" roasted tomatillo guacamole. I'm glad that everyone liked it as much as my family does!

My cousin, Oscar, gave me a good idea for the next time I make this guac. Although it has amazing flavor, it's not a very spicy one. If you want it spicy, I'd suggest using a whole jalapeno or even a whole serrano.

The other hit I made was my beloved Ceviche.

This was gobbled up faster than anything else on the table! It's great with chips (and I even brought along some corn tortilla to make me some microwave chips!) and really refreshing to have when there's so much other heavy foods.

I used a bit more avocado then last time, used a medium-sized can of sliced black olives, and 2 cups of tomatoes since last time (pictured above) there wasn't enough of them. Even then, I think there wasn't enough tomatoes! Next time, 3 cups! Also, I think I'll increase the red onion to one cup.

It was so fun making food for others to try (and love!) and seeing so many of my extended family members. I'm so happy that next fall (when I will be going to University of Arkansas) I will be only a couple of hours away from most of them instead of 9 hours. :P

Happy Friday!

Zucchini Time!

Tomorrow I will be driving up to Arkansas with my family and will be spending a few days there at my aunt's lake house. I'm pretty excited, since I'll get to see a bunch of my extended family that I rarely get to see AND actually see some fire works since they're banned here in Austin (because of drought).

I won't be blogging for a week but to keep you guys cooking and baking, I got some great zucchini recipes for you all! Zucchini is in season right now so I know some of you are trying to find creative ways to use this wonderful and versatile vegetable :D

These two recipes are honestly two of my favorite ways to use zucchini. One is for a wonderful zucchini bread and the other are for crab-like zucchini cakes (not cake cake, but like patty cake).

I've tried many zucchini breads in my past. Usually when I see a recipe, it will call for a ridiculous amount of oil and sugar. I'm not looking for a cake, here! I want a nice moist bread packed with zucchini and this one fits the bill perfectly.

Instead of a bunch of oil, this bread is packed with the moisture-filled good stuff. It has almost as much zucchini as it does flour! One of the main reasons I chose to make this recipe was because it actually had a substantial amount of zucchini that did not compare to other recipes. You know you have a real piece of zucchini bread when you can still see little green specs throughout the loaf.

Of course, the bread only gets better with the addition of dark chocolate and toasted walnuts. It also gets an undertone of caramel flavor with the addition of turbinado sugar and is saturated with the spicy aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Need I say more?

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

Adapted from Kim Klietz

Makes one smallish loaf.

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (I like a blend of white w.w and w.w pastry flour)

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, room temperature
2 tablespoons canola oil or coconut oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons low fat buttermilk
1/3 cup Turbinado sugar (or light brown sugar, firmly packed)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups grated zucchini
2 oz dark chocolate chips (1/3 cup)
1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil a loaf pan.

In a bowl, sift together dry ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the egg until foamy; beat in yogurt, buttermilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Combine well. Stir in grated zucchini, walnuts, and chocolate.

Fold flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until combined.

Spoon batter into the loaf pan. Bake for approximately 50 minutes. (Check with a tooth pick at 40 minutes)

Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes in the pan. Loosen the sides and remove from pan. Cool loaf completely before cutting.

 As I said, this is my favorite zucchini bread. It remains absolutely moist even with only 2 tablespoons of oil. It also develops a lovely crust and is just absolutely perfect! The chocolate chips and the walnuts just add to it's amazingness. 

Also, I haven't tried this but I'm guessing if you don't have buttermilk lying around you can just use a total of 9 tablespoons of Greek yogurt instead (1/2 cup plus a tablespoon). This bread is AMAZING!

Next up? Zucchini Cakes! 

These cakes have similar ingredients to a crab cake but are completely vegetarian. They could be vegan, too, but contain egg so vegans would have to use a substitute instead.

These are so easy to make and are very hearty! They really do have the texture and similar taste to a meaty crab cake. I think it's the Old Bay seasoning that really takes it there. I've made these cakes many times and they're always a crowd pleaser!

I didn't change the recipe at all, so here's the link. Trust me, you'll want to check this one out. Its packed with veggies (red bell pepper, green onion, and of course, ZUCCHINI!) and uses an egg and bread crumbs to hold it all together. 

I use whole wheat panko bread crumbs (or even fresh whole wheat bread crumbs work) and use Greek yogurt instead of the tablespoon of mayo called for. With these changes, these zucchini cakes are a complete nutritional power house!

The original recipe calls for pan frying them in a little oil but I find it easier and faster to just do them all in the oven. I like to separate them into cakes (one recipe will make 8 or 9 cakes, which is enough to feed 3 people, but a double recipe is what is pictured above) and then put them on an oiled baking sheet. Make sure it's really oiled because these cakes sometimes like to stick! Bake them at 450 for about 20 minutes or so (flipping them half way through) or until they're nicely browned on both sides. This way you can make them all at the same time and a lot less oil saturates itself into the cakes.

My favorite way to serve them is with a little tzatziki sauce (the creaminess and dill go really well with them!) and a light salad on the side.

Yummm. These are the best!

I don't post recipes that I don't whole-heartily believe are amazingly delicious. I make A LOT of recipes and very many of them don't make it to the blog. Although I say "this is amazing!" on basically every recipe I post, it's because they are! 

Here's some other great zucchini recipes I've (MORE than) enjoyed--

-Zucchini Brownies

-Vegetarian Enchiladas

-Chocolate Zucchini Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

-and I never blogged about these because I discovered and made them "pre-blog", but these are THE best Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from Cookie Madness. Great w/ coconut oil!

And if all else fails, grilled zucchini is always great. Plain and simple and absolutely delectable!

What's your favorite zucchini recipe?!

It's a toss up for me, but the zucchini cakes and zucchini bread definitely takes the cake for dinner and breakfast consecutively. The zucchini brownies take it for dessert.

Off to Arkansas! And since I won't be back to blogging before then, happy 4th of July! I hope you all blast some fire works and eat wonderful food (and fun red , white, and blue desserts!) :D

What I Ate Wednesday!

Hey guys! Here’s another What I Ate Wednesday! All my fellow lemon lovers will love this post (scroll down to the bottom if you just can't contain yourself!)

PS- I loved yall’s comments on my last post. It seems like a lot of people are still trying to find the perfect cookie! Even though I have a new favorite, that doesn’t mean I’m not still testing! In fact…you’ll see later in this post that I tried yet another CCC! 

For breakfast, I had a slice (or two) of a spiced lemon blueberry bread I made last night.

 I really liked the blend of spices and the occasional juicy burst of fresh blueberries, but the lemon flavor was totally lost! If you’re even the slightest bit familiar with my blog you know I LOVE the combination of blueberry and lemon (and just plain LOVE lemon in general. Seriously; just search “lemon” in the side bar and you’ll see.) so this was a bummer. Nothing a little spread of homemade lemon curd couldn’t fix!

 I also didn’t like how liquidy the batter was. Since it was so thin, all the blueberries sank to the bottom and it didn’t really “dome” as it baked, leading to a rather rectangle loaf. It has great texture, though, and tastes very spicy so I think it would be good with apples or peaches, too.  I probably won’t make it again , but if you want the recipe just for kicks click here.

After breakfast and a little digestion time, I headed over to the gym. Today, I went on the stair climber, did some weights, and went on the elliptical. While I was on the stair climber and the elliptical, I read the two magazines I brought along – Bon Appétit and Health (since I was almost finished with Bon Appétit).

 I thought of the interesting discussion about magazines and how they influence our ideals that Tara brought up on her blog (click here to see the post).  At first, I partly disagreed with her; thinking that Health was more than what she mentioned and that it actually had some good articles and content (like recipes, interesting information, and work out ideas) but as I was flipping through the magazine I got more and more annoyed. Yes, they have some useful information, but the magazine (and other magazines similar to it) was bogged down by trying to appeal to the audience that was stuck in “diet mode”. Everything was so “get skinny”! Sometimes I feel that all of these types of magazines only focus on the negative; what kind of message is that sending? Everyone should check out the discussion on Tara’s blog (XC Foodie) because it’s really interesting!

Oh, and that Bon Appetit magazine? I read every. single. page. I freaking love it!

After the gym I was HANGRY so I immediately heated up some leftover Mushroom Barley Risotto that was in the fridge.

 Yeah, it looks ugly, but was so satisfying! If you’re looking for a good risotto, this one is really tasty. I saw it on Brown Eyed Baker and was motivated to make it since it used barley, a nutritious grain I rarely cook with. It takes FOREVER to cook, and was a bit salty so just allow time to make it and use low sodium broth!

Then I whipped up a green smoothie but since I only had a good handful left of spinach, I threw in a large handful (or two) of a frozen mixed vegetable blend that had carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.

I also added some Greek yogurt, water, a bit of coconut extract, and a bunch of assorted frozen fruits. Oh, and half of a banana because I got TONS.

 Yeah, that’s what happens when you volunteer at a race (Keep Austin Weird Fest & 5k!) and there ends up being a whole truck load of leftover bananas. Hello, banana soft serve!

My smoothie was so large I had to sip a bit up from this cup to add the rest of it in!

To finish it off, I had a soft whole wheat chocolate chip cookie.

 As you can see, this isn’t my normal cookie type. Usually my cookies are thick and have a crisp outer layer and this one is clearly neither! I decided to try out a batch from King Arthur Flour that were a bit different and loved them! I’ll do a full blog post about them soon because I want to make another batch with just a few changes.

These ones are soft, very dough like, and oh so yummy. The best thing is, they stay that way for days! These don't get stale and crunchy; they remain doughy all the way through. The unique ingredients like the cider vinegar, espresso powder, and honey make for a very delicious spin on the classic! They’re lower fat, too!

 I promise; a full post about them coming soon (:

I then hit up Sprouts for some produce that I needed for tonight and some random grocery items.

 Whole Wheat Toufayan Pitas, red onion, blueberries ($1.49!), zucchini, garbanzo beans, dark chocolate honey comb, red bell pepper, and a lil bitty jalapeno (dang jalapeno set me back a whole whopping 3 cents!).

These are my favorite pitas. Ingredient list is short and they don’t taste like leather. These pitas are soft and oh so tasty!

 Here’s a picture of the dark chocolate honeycomb out of the bag. If you’ve never tried honeycomb, you REALLY need to. I get a small bag every single week I go to Sprouts. I haven't even seen them sold any where else!

 Sugary, crunchy, toffee-like (in taste) on the inside enrobed by deliciously dark , smooth chocolate.

 I've even tried making them at home (multiple times). They never turn out nearly as good so I just leave it up to the professionals (:

Dinner was vegetarian enchiladas that I have been wanting to make for a while. I got the recipe from Annie's Eats and it was delicious! Yes, a bit time consuming since I had to make the sauce and there was tons of ingredients I had to go buy (so it's not exactly an easy one just to decide to make on a whim) but it was definitely worth making.

I made half the amount of enchilada sauce and probably should have made the full amount (she said there would be extra so I just went with the half amount thinking I didn't need that much). On the plus side, I got 5 more enchiladas than the recipe said it would make! I had to put them in another pan (not pictured).

On the side I made an avocado dip for topping the enchiladas. I found the recipe on My Recipes and made a 3rd of the batch (so that I only needed to use one avocado).

Holy mama this was good!! It has a lot of similar ingredients you would find in a guacamole but is the creamier, slightly more refreshing version with the addition of yogurt. I used Greek yogurt (instead of normal yogurt) so this dip worked really well as the kind-of "sour cream" for the enchiladas. I LOVE this recipe!

I also served cucumber slices on the side for dipping.

Altogether, now!

These enchiladas were packed with veggies. Zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, and then a mixture of whole and mashed black beans to give it some heartiness. I'm not the biggest fan of cilantro so there was a bit too much for me; that and the fact they needed a bit more spice (maybe some salsa added to the filling would be nice) were probably the only flaws in these enchiladas. The "anti-cilantro" in me didn't stop me from consuming four of these guys! Yes, they were small, but still! And my parents and I totally attacked that avocado dip...just saying.

And since I didn't get my just desserts with the rather un-lemony blueberry bread this morning, I went ahead and totally blueberry-lemonified my dessert with Lemon Blueberry Bars courtesy of  Two Peas and Their Pod!

I woke up this morning to see a tweet from Two Peas and Their Pod linking to her new post for Lemon Blueberry Bars. Of course, I immedietly clicked on it, knowing that that combination is just magic waiting to happen. Then I notice I have all the ingredients! 

Graham cracker crumbs? Heck yes! I just bought some organic graham crackers on clearance last Friday!

Fresh lemon juice? Yes! I just bought a huge bag of organic lemons last Wednesday!

Fresh Blueberries? No, but I know I'm gonna get some super on-sale blueberries at Sprouts today!

It's honestly a rare occasion when I have graham crackers, since I only buy the natural kind (or make my own) so this really was a treat that I had all the ingredients.

Plus, I always have cans of non-fat sweetened condensed milk on hand for when I want to make Magic Bars.

So it was set! I just had to make these bars. Like now. Yes, I still had some chocolate chip cookies left, but this was urgent!

Pure bliss.

Think key-lime pie but in lemon blueberry form. SO good! Only a bit too sweet, but that was expected with the use of sweetened condensed milk.

Changes I made:

-Used Brummel & Brown instead of butter in the crust and the crust turned out great! Saved 30 calories (all from fat) per bar. (When cut into 12 pieces)

-Used a scant 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt in the crust to increase the sweet and salty component. Highly recommended!

Honestly the best thing EVER. I know I have a lot of lemon loving readers out there so you guys (and even the lemon skeptics) NEED to make this!! These bars would be great with any other berry if you don't have blueberries on hand. You could even use frozen, they'd just be a little uglier.

As soon as I hit post, I'm grabbing another bar!