Mini Polenta Pizzas

I know people say the polenta in the little tube from the grocery store is not very good, but I've never had polenta before and I didn't want to go through all the trouble to make it from scratch just to find out I don't like it. So I bought a tube of sun dried tomato and basil flavor and tried to find something to do with it. I found a recipe for polenta lasagna and I just sort of worked off of that, making these little tasty treats that are almost like pizza bagel bites without the whole in the middle. Very yummy and not hard to make and a giant plus: this did not create a lot of dishes for me to do! I think these would make a great lunch for the boys!

I just used the Food Merchants Organic Polenta in Sun Dried Tomato and Basil, cut into 1/2 inch rounds. I oiled a small cookie sheet and lined these up and sprinkled a little more olive oil on top. I baked them at 425 for 15 minutes then broiled them for 5 minutes. Then I sprinkled on chopped fresh spinach, a spoonful of marinara sauce, and a little bit of Daiya Mozzarella and popped em back in the oven at 425 for 10 minutes. These are sprinkled with nutritional yeast flakes also. Yum!

Dairy Free Creamy Loaded Baked Potato Soup

  When I first thought about making loaded baked potato soup with Jack friendly ingredients, I honestly didn't have much faith that it would taste good. The way I was originally planning to make it probably would NOT have been very good. But half way through the boiling of the spuds, I happened to glance over at a bulk bag of raw cashews we bought with no real purpose in mind and it struck me to make a quick cashew cream to thicken it up. I did not soak these overnight and it still worked beautifully, but I have read that to make proper cashew cream you need to soak the cashews overnight in cold water. I just place 1 cup of cashews in my Blendtec and add just enough warm water to cover (about 1/2 cup) and then blend until smooth. In my Blendtec this takes about 30 seconds, it may take 2-5 minutes in a standard blender though.

Creamy Loaded Baked Potato Soup

1/2 lb turkey bacon, cut into small pieces
*1 Tbl olive oil (you may need a tsp or so more)
1 onion, diced
5 Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups vegetable broth (more if too thick)
3 Tbl Soy Free Earth Balance
3 Tbl potato starch flour
1 1/2 cup cashew cream (see above for directions)
1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk or water
3 green onions, chopped thin
1/2 cup Daiya Cheddar shreds
1 Tbl sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

In a large stock pot, fry bacon pieces. Because turkey bacon is rather dry, you may need to add a tsp of oil to keep them from sticking. Once they are fried with crispy edges, about 6 minutes, remove them from pot with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel and set aside.
Heat 1 Tbl olive oil. Once heated, add onion and cook until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Remove about 1/2 of the potatoes and mash. Set aside.
In a small pan, melt butter. Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in the almond milk or water and cashew cream. Cook on low for a few minutes until it has thickened. Stir into the potato pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir in the mashed potatoes and reduce heat to low.
Stir in most of the Daiya Cheddar, half of the cooked bacon, and half of the sliced green onions. Add pepper and salt and cook for another 5 minutes. If it is too thick, add water or vegetable broth 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency. Serve with Diaya Cheese, turkey bacon, and sliced green onions sprinkled on top. (We prefer ours to be very thick, as you can see in the photo!)

Dairy and Wheat Free Pasta Primavera

  A version of this recipe arrived in my inbox from Allrecipes.com. I usually just skim past their daily e-mail but this one caught my eye, what with the 'no cream pasta primavera' title and all. I still had to do some adjusting, but this was way good; a nice tangy, garlicy sauce that complimented the roasted vegetables and pasta perfectly. I HIGHLY recommend this recipe!!
  By the way, we are trying to remove as many genetically modified foods from our diet and trying to avoid 'the dirty dozen' pesticide contaminated foods, so we used organic, non-GMO corn pasta and organic bell pepper.

Dairy and Wheat Free Pasta Primavera

1 yellow squash, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped  
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot, sliced thinly
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbl olive oil, divided
3 Tbl Soy Free Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1/2 Tbl lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped basil
1/3 cup chopped parsley
2 tsp lemon zest (or 1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning in a pinch)
3 Tbl balsamic vinegar
10oz corn penne pasta
Optional: nutritional yeast flakes for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 450.
In a large bowl, toss squash, zucchini, green beans, carrot, and bell pepper with 2 Tbl olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. On a foil lined baking sheet, spread oiled vegetables into a single layer. Bake 15 minutes until tender. Meanwhile, boil penne according to package directions. Set aside.
While veggies are roasting and pasta is boiling, heat 1 tbl olive oil and 3 Tbl buttery spread in a skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. The onion and garlic will sort of be swimming in the butter, but that's ok. Add parsley, basil, lemon zest, and balsamic and cook about 1 minutes. Add pasta and toss to coat, cook until heated through. Remove from heat and in a large bowl (I just wiped out the bowl I mixed the veggies in to begin with), toss pasta and vegetable mixture together. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes and serve.

Super Easy Turkey Hash Breakfast (For Dinner!)

  Yesterday was my birthday! Chris and I were planning on leaving the boys with my dad and going out to dinner and a movie, so I thought I'd make something really simple for the boys' dinner. Well I scanned the pantry shelves for awhile and came up with something I thought they would eat and could pick up with their fingers. It turned out to be SO yummy, I had to mentall scold myself to stop 'sampling' it so I'd still be hungry for dinner! This was good for dinner but it would make an excellent breakfast for sure! This recipe is sort of cheating, since I used canned new potatoes. You could make it with fresh potatoes, it would just take a little longer.

Easy Turkey Hash

2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 can diced new potatoes, drained
1 can turkey SPAM, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup thawed frozen corn
1 tsp Emeril's Southwest Seasoning (or any seasoning you choose)
S & P to taste

In a learge skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add Southwest Seasoning, onions and bell peppers and saute until soft and onion is transparent. Add diced potatoes and corn and mix well, then spread the potatoes in the pan so they are mostly in a single layer. Turn heat down to medium and allow them to sit without stirring for 5 minutes, then stir and spread them flat again, cooking for another 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small skillet over medium heat, fry SPAM cubes, stirring occasionally, until edges are crispy. Mix them into the potato mixture, season with salt and pepper, and enjoy :)

Hearty Turkey Veg-A-Bowls

  Haha, kudos to my husband Chris for coming up with the name of this dish! We had a lot of stuff in our fridge to use up including some bell peppers, leftover quinoa, and a corn/black bean mixture I made the other day when I had an amazing Southwest Salad. Anyway, so here is what we came up with and this was pretty darn tasty and made in under 30 minutes total. Sweet!

Hearty Turkey & Vegetable Bowls

1 Tbl olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cups diced green bell peppers
1 10oz can Rotel tomatoes, drained
1 cup corn, canned or frozen (thaw if frozen)
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
3 Tbl vegetable broth
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Optional: "Sour Cream" substitute (4 Tbl soy free Vegenaise and 4 tsp lemon juice, mixed well until no lumps)
Daiya Cheddar Shreds for sprinkling on top

In a medium saucepan over medium-high, heat oil. Add turkey and brown, about 4 minutes, making sure to break it apart with a spoon. Add bell peppers, onion, tomatoes, corn, beans, vegetable broth, and Worcestershire sauce and stir well to combine. Cook about 3 minutes, then cover and reduce heat to low, simmering for 15 minutes until bell peppers are tender. Remove from heat and stir in cumin, vinegar, quinoa, salt, and pepper. Serve with sour cream substitute and cheese, if desired.

Mushroom Barley Risotto

  Well I was watching Nadia G.'s Bitchin' Kitchen and she was making risotto, which is made of rice and contains all sorts of cheese. I couldn't even begin to figure out a yay to make that Jack friendly, so I sort of ignored the whole recipe. Then a little later I started thinking, well could I make it with quinoa? Lentils? Barley? I searched and searched for recipes and found a great one on Browneyedbaker.com using barley and though it still required some adjusting to make it fit our needs, it looked easy enough.
  Needless to say, this came out amazing. It was so creamy and even slightly cheesey, the mushrooms gave an outstanding flavor and texture, and the health benefits of barley were a nice touch.
  I was going to make this meatless as well but for Chris' sake I added a little bit of sausage. We both agreed while we were eating this that it would have held it's own without the sausage though, so this could easily be a great Meatless Monday meal or vegan dish as well.

Sausage Mushroom Barley Risotto

2 Tbl olive oil
*1/2 lb ground turkey sausage
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
12 ounces cleaned and sliced/cubed mushrooms (I used 2 portobellos and an 8 oz package of button mushrooms)
3 Tbl chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbl chopped fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup quick cooking pearled barley
5 cups vegetable broth (divided)
1 Tbl soy free Earth Balance buttery spread
2 Tbl nutritional yeast flakes
3 Tbl soy free Vegenaise
1-2 tsp sea salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet or saucepan on medium heat. Saute onion until it just begins to brown, then add sausage and brown, making sure to break it up. Add mushrooms and saute until they have released their liquid and are golden brown, about 10 minutes. You may need to add 1-2 Tbls of water if the mushrooms start to stick.
Stir in herbs and garlic, then add in barley and stir to coat for 1 minute. Add 4 cups of  broth and bring mixture to a boil over high heat.
Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Reduce heat to medium and add another 1/2 cup of broth, stirring until it is absorbed. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of broth and do the same, until barley is tender but still slightly firm. (If you used non quick-cooking barley, you may need to add another cup of broth in this manner).
Remove from heat and stir in butter, yeast flakes, and vegenaise until all are well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

* just skip the sausage and this becomes vegan

Copy-cat Newman's Own Southwest Salad Dressing, veganized

   Chris and I had a hard time getting used to daylight savings time the other day. We were out and about with the kids, decided to run to WalMart, and then realized when we got in the car to leave it was actually Ben's bed time and we hadn't even fed anyone yet. So we ran through McDonald's and got the boys some french fries, Chris got his all time favorite splurge food: Chicken nuggets, and I got a Crispy Chicken Southwest Salad. I never knew a salad from McDonald's could be so GOOD! I wanted to find a way to replicate it at home in a more Jack friendly way though. Turns out that wasn't as hard as I thought! I cut a corn tortilla into strips and fried them till crunchy, then topped a bed of spinach with black beans, corn, tortilla strips, Daiya cheddar shreds, and this really tasty copy-cat Southwest Dressing!

Vegan Creamy Southwest Dressing

1 cup Soy Free Vegenaise
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
dash of cayenne (optional)

Mix all ingredients well. Keep refrigerated in air tight container for up to 3 days.