vegetarian grilling - pesto-bruschetta portobello mushroom caps

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I hope everyone is having a glorious holiday weekend (Victoria day, here in Canada).  The weather in Ottawa has been pretty decent (20C, mostly sun) and we've really been enjoying our patio and the great outdoors.



It's also grilling season - we've already been enjoying some beer can chicken, burgers and other meaty fare, but I thought I'd share a veg alternative today....delicious whether you are trying to serve up a creative vegetarian grilled dinner, or if you're looking for a hearty side dish.  I picked these portobello grilling caps up at Costco - they are SO good - they make a great burger patty (just marinate, grill and enjoy) and I thought they would be perfect for trying out this idea I had.



I also picked up pesto at Costco (I LOVE the kirkland signature brand pesto - it's bright green and fresher than most of the jarred alternatives, and it lasts a few weeks in the fridge - highly recommend it!).  Last, I had a couple of nice local tomatoes from my organic veggie delivery that I wanted to use up in something fabulous.

This is a little bit more involved than just grilling the mushroom caps, but it's not really a lot of fuss/work.  I just brushed the mushrooms with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper, then had hubs pre-grill them for about 10 minutes - until they were partially cooked, but not completely done.



While he was grilling, I chopped up my tomatoes, added some fresh crushed garlic, olive oil and italian seasoning, and grated some mozzarella.



So when he brought in my 'pre-grilled' mushrooms, I placed them in a foil 9x13, topped them each with a scoop of pesto, divided up the tomato mixture, and topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese (this dish could easily be made vegan through using vegan pesto, and using a cashew cream or vegan parmesan on top).



Back on the grill went the 9x13, for just enough time to finish cooking the mushrooms and melting the cheese.  If you're more ambitious than I, you could try putting the stuffed caps right on the grill, but it seemed like a recipe for disaster, so I went the easy route.  I had these as a side dish for grilled chicken and kale salad and it was delicious.




grilled pesto-bruschetta portobello mushroom caps

5-6 large portobello mushroom caps
1 T olive oil
salt, pepper

1/3 c pesto
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cloved garlic, minced
1/2 T olive oil
1/2 t italian seasoning
salt, pepper
1 c. grated mozzarella
1/3 c grated parmesan

1. Preheat the grill to medium (you could also roast at 450F if you don't have a grill) Clean mushroom caps and brush with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.

2. Grill caps for about 10 minutes (5 mins per side) until they feel mostly-cooked.  Do not overcook, because you'll be putting them back on to finish.

3. Meanwhile, dice your tomatoes and combine with olive oil, garlic, italian herbs, salt and pepper.

4. Once the mushrooms are grilled, place them in a grill-safe dish (I recommend a foil 9x13).  Top each mushroom with about 1 T of pesto.  Divide the tomato mixture among the mushrooms.  Top with mozzarella and parmesan.

5. Grill the mushrooms (in the dish) about about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are heated through and the cheese is melted.


mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm delicious......



One of my other grill-faves is zucchini - I love it cut in half lengthwise, brushed with oil and sprinkled with montreal steak spice, then grilled to perfection.  It's so good!  What are your favourite vegetables to grill?

meatless monday - slow cooker style (vegan curry bowl with grilled 'bellos and basmati rice)

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I'm going to continue in the theme of anachronism, and we'll pretend that it isn't Wednesday, that mini-foodie 2 did not drop a heavy object on the hard drive and thus crash the computer and require a new hard drive and reinstallation of EVERYTHING.  Let's pretend that, shall we?



So, on Monday (when I was GOING to share this, until the aforementioned incident), in keeping with my goal of eating more vegetarian and vegan meals (emphasis on the latter) this year, we had a delicious (and satisfying) vegan feast of a crockpot curry with marinated, grilled portobello mushrooms.  Hubs was skeptical when I mentioned the idea, and even more skeptical when he got home and smelled it (apparently kale + slow cooker = whole house smelling like cabbage.....).  I can say, however, that hubs completed enjoyed the end result (can't say the same for the mini-foodies....they are usually pretty good, but they just really didn't love this).

But seriously, what's not to love?  Look at these delicious beauties...




Successful slow cooking is a bit of a delicate art - you can go on Pinterest and find five zillion recipes that proclaim that you can cook pretty much ANYTHING in a slow cooker, and while this premise isn't strictly wrong, it is a bit misleading.

One of the things that makes food delicious is contrast in texture and taste.  And when you put a pile of ingredients in a slow cooker for 8-10 hours, while you are away at work, what you have is pretty much the opposite - no contrast in texture and no contrast in taste, because everything tastes the same.  There is the odd throw-it-in dish where this mostly works (like some stew recipes), but a lot of crockpot recipes garner criticisms that they taste like a uniform bowl of mush.  Which they do.



So here's my advice on mitigating that, while still staying pretty close to the idea of an easy slow cooker meal (i.e., nothing that requires you to do something every hour or two, because that's just not feasible when you're gone to work for the day, or, huge pet peeve, slow cooker recipes that take five hours - this is seriously NOT helpful).  The key principle to successful slow cooker meals is that you need to add texture and flavour contrast.

One of my most popular recipes (and one that's also been featured on Clean Eating) is my crockpot beef curry, and it in particular works because the chickpeas retain some texture, stirring in peas at the end adds texture and flavour, and when you serve it with the fresh naan and the yogourt sauce, you've added additional layers of flavour and texture, thus building a satisfying crockpot meal and making your belly happy.

I've also pinned a lot of crockpot recipes (haven't tried them all, though I usually do go back and comment once I've made something) and if you look through my board, you'll notice that most of them incorporate added texture/flavour through one method or another.  I think the easiest way to do this is through toppings - things like chopped tomatoes, green onion, yogourt/sour cream, cheese, chopped nuts, avocado, dried fruit, etc. (whatever suits the recipe).




To make these curry bowls, I took the initial recipe (which I changed a bit from the inspiration, and which I knew from looking at would be a pile of mush after slow cooking) and topped it with a mixture of tomatoes, cilantro and green onion, as well as some sri racha.  Serving the recipe with the grilled portobello caps added additional texture and flavour contrast and made this an entirely satisfying, delicious (and easy!) dinner.  And not just a bowl of mush like this.



For the mushrooms, I reverted YET AGAIN to my favourite salad dressing as a marinade.  I do have to wax poetic (I know, again) about my love of Farm Boy dressings.  LOOK at this ingredient list -




Isn't it perfect?  How can you go wrong?  Anyway, I did my ultimate in laziness and just poured some dressing over the portobellos in the morning, and then had hubs grill them in the evening while I was chopping my toppings and the rice was cooking - dinner was on the table within 25 minutes of getting home, and that to me is pretty much awesome.

slow cooker vegan curry bowl with grilled portobellos
(modified slightly from Domestic Divas)



1 cup lentils (green, brown or French - not red)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 T curry paste (I used madras)
1 can coconut milk,
2 cups water
salt to taste (about 1/2 t to start)
2-3 cups chopped kale (I would recommend adding this while your rice is cooking, in retrospect, but chop it while you prep the other veggies)

4 portobello mushroom caps
1/3 c your favourite dressing or marinage, or a mixture of 1 part olive oil, one part white wine vinegar, and add some dijon, oregano, fresh garlic, salt and pepper



basmati rice (I use 3 scoops in my rice cooker - about 1.5 cups of uncooked)

toppings of choice (tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, hot sauce)

1. Chop the onion, garlic, ginger and sweet potatoes.  Combine in a large bowl with lentils.  Add the tomato paste and stir until it coats things somewhat.  Add curry powder and curry paste and stir (I find this is the best way to distribute the spices for slow cooking - otherwise they clump together).  Add the lentils and stir, so they also get coated.

2. Dump the vegetable mixture in the slow cooker.  Add the coconut milk and water, stir and cook on low for 8 hours. (You can also cook the kale in the slow cooker all day, but like I said above, your house will smell like rotten cabbage and it will lose texture - I'd turn the slow cooker to high when you get home, stir in the kale, and let it cook while you do the rice and other things).

3. Combine the cleaned mushrooms and your marinade.  Refrigerate them and let them sit for 8 hours.

4. When you get home, add the kale (I suggest pre-chopping it if you have time), start the rice, preheat the grill (you could pan-fry if you don't have access to a grill).  While the rice is cooking and the mushrooms are grilling, chop your toppings.

5. Serve a scoop of rice, topped with a ladle of curry, some sliced grilled mushrooms, and a generous handful of toppings (and hot sauce!).  Enjoy!  This will easily feed 4-6 people.



Enjoy!  Anyone else have any food-related resolutions?  Check out my vegetarian/vegan board if you are looking for inspiration! Thanks for reading!

2 tips for quick weeknight dinners and 2 quick recipes

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What excuse can one have for a dearth of posts lasting months and months and months.....

I'm not sure if there is a good excuse.  I could call it a combination of lost appetite, lack of energy, lack of time and just plain feeling tired.  Or I could just say I'm sorry and move on....let's do that, shall we?

Now that I'm back at work and wrangling two mini-foodies out the door every morning, I am finding things busy - still working on getting into any sort of routine that will allow a reasonable balance.  It really wouldn't be an overstatement to say that trying to keep meals, the house, etc., all on track can end up feeling more than a little chaotic.  Oh, and did I mention that we decided to sell our house and move to the country? (by country, I actually mean about 1 km from my current house, except instead of being surrounded by houses, I'll be surrounded by critters).

Anyway, life being what it is, I'm honing my expertise in REALLY quick meals - meals that can be on the table in 15-20 minutes.

I don't have photos of this meal, but I can tell you it's ridiculously simple, and relatively balanced.  And I use a cheater ingredient.

I have a couple of little tips when it comes to making weeknights less disastrous...

1. Batch cook, even on a weeknight.  Cooking something in the crockpot?  Roasting/grilling chicken breasts?  Always cook twice as much as you need, and keep the seasoning very simple.  That way, you can take half and use it for that night's dinner (and season appropriately), and use the other half for something completely different.

2. Find convenience foods that work for you.  You all know I"m no fan of processed crap, but there are sneaky little convenience products that can be huge timesavers when you haven't had the foresight to prep ahead.  Yes, it IS better to pre-cook a big pot of brown rice on the weekend.  But if you weren't that smart (and most of us aren't), there's still hope for you.  Hope that won't take 45 minutes to cook.  Check out these bad boys - http://www.unclebens.ca/en-ca/products/bistro_express/wholegrain_brown.aspx (pre-cooked wholegrain brown rice, ready in 30 seconds).  It's WAY more expensive than cooking your own, but it's really fast.  But hey, when you get home and you have no idea what to make, it's not a bad idea to grab a bag or two at the grocery store and keep it in the pantry.

Easiest Pork Roast Ever
1-2 centre-cut pork loin roasts
bbq sauce

1. Put the pork roast in the crockpot.  Cook on low all day.  That's it.  No extra seasoning, no fussing.

2.  When you get home, remove the excess fat from the roasts, discard the liquid and shred.  I used half in this ridonkulously simple dish, and used the other half in my favourite enchiladas with salsa verde.

3. Mix in your favourite (or homemade) bbq sauce and enjoy.

Fibre-in-15 minutes side dish
2 T olive oil
1 onion
8-10 large mushrooms
4-6 cups baby spinach leaves
1 can chickpeas
1 package bistro express brown rice (or about 1.5 cups cooked brown rice)
1/3 c pesto

1. Preheat olive oil in a large heavy pan on medium heat.  While it's heating, dice onion.   Throw it in the pan.  While the onion is sautéing (stir it occasionally), Slice/chop the mushrooms.  Add them to the pan.

2. Once the mushrooms have released most of their liquid (about 5-6 minutes), add in the spinach, and cover, briefly, so the spinach wilts.

3. While spinach is wilting, drain and rinse the chickpeas.  Add the chickpeas and the rice to the pan and mix around for 2-3 minutes so it can all heat up.  Add in pesto (I like Kirkland Signatures pesto).  Combine.  Enjoy.