food VEGGIE FEST - Post entries here!

Post your Veggie Fest entries here, folks!

The rules are simple:
- Your dish can be anything (main, starter/appetizer, dessert, snack, etc) so long as it does NOT contain any meat (including Fish and Chicken) or any ingredient derived from meat (e.g. Fish Sauce, Stock made using meat, etc).
- Eggs, Cheese, Milk and other dairy products are allowed.
- Needless to say, your dish must be spicy (contain peppers in some shape or form) too!
- All entries must include a title and a description of the dish (e.g. how it was cooked, etc).
- All entries must include a photo of the dish.
- 'Action shots' (pics of the dish being cooked) are most welcome but are not mandatory.
- All entries must include a photo of all the ingredients. Whether you present it as a 'teaser' OR include it in the final entry is entirely up to you.
- No 'proof of life' is required.
- Full Recipe is optional but is encouraged.
- Two entries per person allowed.
- Entries close Friday 28 May @ 8:00pm EDT (that's a full week) and voting will commence shortly after.

This is a strictly fun event... let's keep it that way! (and you do not need to be vegetarian to enter... everyone is most welcome!)

Hope I've covered everything! And remember too, folks, this is an UNOFFICIAL event. If you have any questions, feel free to ask or PM me.

Good luck!

Portions that are "covered" are most important and interesting. hahahaha

Forgive me i do not want to cloud the thread but what do you mean by covered?

gasificada said:

Post your Veggie Fest entries here, folks!

Hope I've covered everything!

Click to expand...

Please read Gas's post

Dude i have just drank around 400ml of moonshine and had a *few* tokes on a *mates* joint.

I need clarification!

id enter tonights dinner but i burned it and then the substitute had stuff not alloed... i could post the beers as they dont have meat but i guess its not really dinner worthyl... sorry gas and nja

Novacastrian said:

Dude i have just drank around 400ml of moonshine and had a *few* tokes on a *mates* joint.

I need clarification!

Click to expand...

Moonshine clears confused brain. Drink another 400 ml and you would understand .

The Ultimate Picnic Pasta Salad

Here now, for your enjoyment and for you to (hopefully) use in the future is- The Ultimate Pasta Salad!

A little history for you.

For a couple summers, I catered picnic lunches for a river rafting company. In addition to sandwich fixings, fruit and Texas Creek Salsa, we served this pasta salad. It always got rave reviews. One issue we had to deal with was never knowing until about 8pm the night before how many guest were on the next days trip. I could make a large batch of pasta salad, enough for 2-3 days and then using the ~1/2-3/4 cup portion per person and the size of the containers, it was always the right amount.

This recipe is very easy to multiply out or reduce so I will present it to you as servings for 30 people.


4 cups dry pasta- raddiatore, bowtie, penne, or other chunky shape
3T dry Italian spice mix * see notes

2 cups carrot shreds
4 cups broccoli florettes
2 cups purple onion, diced
2 cans black olives, drained well
1 cup parmesan shredded
2 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 1/2 cups Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
2 tsp black pepper

Chipotle peppers- or other peppers- * see notes


Add the dry Italian spices to the pasta boiling water. Boil pasta until al dente, do not drain yet! Add the carrot shreds to the boiling pasta and keep cooking until the pasta is completely cooked. DO NOT DRAIN YET! Add the broccoli florettes to the boiling pasta and carrots. Let it cook for just a minute to par-boil the broccoli. NOW you can drain the pasta in a colander. Run it briefly under cold water to stop the cooking process.

You do not want al dente pasta for this salad. The pasta needs to be thoroughly cooked so it won't soak up all the moisture from the dressing and become gloppy.


Add the cooled pasta/carrots/broccoli to the rest of the ingredients. Mix and chill!

Yield- 30 servings, approx 18 cups

*notes-for the dry Italian spices added to the boiling water, I use-
2 parts garlic powder
1 part onion powder
1 part Italian herbs
1 part salt

I mix up a cup or two at a time and keep it on hand just for making this pasta salad.

*notes- for the chipotle peppers I used for this recipe, I used the brand pictured, pureed them in a food processor and added about half the can to the salad. I personally did not care for the taste as much as I thought I would. Maybe the chipotles had an off taste from the can...I dunno. But the recipe can be tweaked to whatever you have on hand or your personal favorite chile.

The original recipe we served to the river rafters did not have any chiles in it.

If the salad gets a little stiff the next day, add some more dressing or a splash or two of water. That is why the pasta needs to be completely cooked, not al dente.

Here's the ingredients-


The cooked pasta/carrots/broccoli


All the ingredients-


And the serving-



And since this is an unofficial fun fest, I have a couple more pictures to share in the next post, but this is my official Veggie Fest entry #1.

Enjoy!

A couple more pics of the pasta salad-


note the spelling- lol-


The tub of salad ready to go-


The tub size, usually on the bottom of the tub, used to figure out how much to send for how many people-


And the aftermath-

Looks very tasty SL! Is that your kitchen with the stainless sinks? Love it!

Veggie Chili Even The Kid Will Eat-

A couple days ago, it was raining like crazy, thunder and lightening, the perfect kind of day for a hot spicy bowl of chili! Perfect time to whip up some easy veggie chili.

This recipe is originally from The Frog/Commissary Cookbook, a couple of Seattle area restaurants. 'Ccourse, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, just sort of used the recipe as inspiration.

Fine chop all the veggies, then saute in olive oil-
Add dry spices, cook for few minutes
add tomatoes, beans, water, quinoa (or bulgar wheat) and the rest of the ingredients

2 cups onion
1 cup celery
1 cup green peppers
1 cup carrots
2 cups mushrooms
1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp (OR MORE!) dry chipotle or crushed red pepper
1 TBSP cumin
3/4 tsp dried basil
3/4 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1 large can crushed or diced tomatoes w/ juice
1 16 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups water
2 cans drained beans of your choice
1/2 tsp hot sauce- your choice
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 cup quinoa or bulgar wheat

Opt- 1/4 c dry red or white wine
Opt- 2 tbsp chopped chiles- your choice


Here's the ingredient-
The stuff in the bowl on the right is the quinoa, spices down front, frozen/ground garlic in the plastic bag


The veggies sauteing...mmmmmm, can't you just smell them onions and garlics????-


I was making this early in the day so I put it into the crock pot to cook. The little white things that look like seeds is the quinoa, not cooked up yet.


And the serving-
topped with cheese, scallions, a couple splashed of Ghost Fire hot sauce, and chips! Delightful!

And a couple more just-for-fun chili pictures~~~



That pot was sooo full, I knew it was going to boil over. Sure enough....another mess...


And proof that the kid will actually eat it. He ate 2 bowls that night and another bowl of leftovers the next day. Of course, I did NOT tell him he was eating mushrooms and green peppers! Hey, if they don't ask, I ain't tellin'! Even SalsaDude was surprised when I told him there was no meat in it. He didn't even know! The quinoa gives it a good texture and it soaks up the tomato color, blends right in, not like the white specks you see in the first post.


Thanks for the fun everyone. Let's see some more entries! There's lots of time to get something in here~

That looks great. Funny thing that at some places I've eaten the veggie chili is hotter/ spicier than the con carne.

looking great SL!!! i might get my veg on today see how she goes

pileiton said:

That looks great. Funny thing that at some places I've eaten the veggie chili is hotter/ spicier than the con carne.

Click to expand...

That's right, Pi. It's all in the amount of peppers in the chili. This particular batch wasn't so overly spicy, cuz I knew the kid would be eating it. So the grownups just added a few splashes of hot sauce to our own bowls.

I've served this chili recipe at several get-togethers and most people don't realize it doesn't have meat. They never miss it! It is such a great recipe because it totally works for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I have to tell the vegetarians that "yes, you can eat this" and they thoroughly enjoy it.

THP's Fake Steak - Grilled Pesto Portobello w/ Jalapeno Corn

My best attempt at drunk veggie Q

De-gill a portobello cap and marinate in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and sea salt for two hours. Fire up the grill. Add BBQ rub (this rub has heat!) to the bottom side. Grill bottom side up, lid closed, over direct heat (lump charcoal and apple wood). When tender move to indirect heat and add pesto and sliced vine ripened tomatoes and close lid. After 15 minutes add bocconcini cheese and close lid. Cook until cheese is melted. Drizzle with balsamic. Serve with jalapeno corn on the cob and baked beans. Corn has balsamic vinegar, jalapeno powder, and sea salt. Grilled in foil. Enjoy.

The portobellos soak up the marinade so when you cut into them it's like cutting into a steak. See the plating pic and all the juices!

THP.....

That looks awesome, THP!

Is that boccolini cheese a soft cheese like cream cheese or more like mozzarella?

Thanks!! I'm drunk I typed it wrong.

Bocconcini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocconcini

nice mushies THP!! I looove bocconcini