Thanksgiving?

Thanks for Giving Us Meat!

Note to Parents of Vegetarians: "Pork is NOT a vegetable!"

My husband's side of the family is Ukrainian, so along with the turkey, stuffing, etc., perogies are a staple on their Thanksgiving table. For most of the family, this is just a side-dish, for us, it is often the main attraction, as the vegetables are cooked with the turkey, there's turkey in the stuffing and the vegetarian mains are always a question.
So yesterday, we get to dinner and there are all the usual foods mentioned above and his mother says, "Your Dad brought some home-made perogies, they're mixed, sauerkraut filled ones and other flavours!"
As we dug into the meal (a vegetarian chicken cutlet and the perogies) we discovered exactly what the "other flavours were; a couple of perogies in we realized there were PORK perogies in with the other ones!
What the hell?
This is not new for them, we've been vegetarian for years now and they did the vegetarian thing themselves many years ago, so they know the difference between an animal and a plant.
Here's a recipe to follow if you want to include meat items at the table.
1. Cook them separately
2. Tell the vegetarians which items contain meat
3. Repeat as needed.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with my blog but I have been feeling rather exhausted all summer. I just recently started thyroid medication so hopefully this will help with my energy level.

I recently tried the Chile Lime Tofu from Appetite For Reduction it's easy, fast and tasty so I will be making this one again. I highly recommend this one for a speedy dinner. I haven't had the energy to cook much lately so this recipe is really about the extent of my cooking at the moment. I hope to make a few more slowcooker recipes now that it's getting cooler. Check out my veggie slowcooker blog for more recipes. I have been really leaning on convenience foods and heating them in the slowcooker when I can. Amy's makes some great canned products, but there's also an Indian canned food that I like called Jyoti. I have tried a few of them but the Jyoti Jaipur Karhi (Potato Dumplings in a Buttermilk-Based Sauce) is my favourite one. Serve over basmati rice.

End of summer food.

Crockpot tomato soup and Zoglos veggie weiners what a way to end the summer.
We finally find a decent veggie hot dog and the summer is over.

What happened to the Au Naturel and PC veggie dogs?

If anyone else is looking for veggie dogs the Zoglos are excellent, I was afraid that I was actually eating the 'real' thing they were so close.

Scheherazade Casserole

This is one of my all-time favourite recipes. Moosewood's Scheherazade Casserole.

Do not use canned soybeans it will affect the taste and texture. I always add some sauteed cubed mushrooms. The feta is what makes this dish.

Lazy Baked Greek Chicken

I made this recipe from the Rachel Ray show yesterday for dinner. It turned out really well, this is an excellent recipe. Just thaw 2-4 PC 'chicken' breasts and butterfly like her recipe says. Also, I had to cover the 'chicken' with some tinfoil while baking so the panko breadcrumbs wouldn't burn. Keep in mind it will take a bit longer because of this too. I was thrilled that this recipe worked without real chicken, you really can do alot with these new 'chicken' breasts from PC. I even made Chinese breaded 'chicken' balls with these, just cut them into cubes; batter as if they were real chicken then deep-fry. Store some extra in the freezer to go with a Chinese dinner.

• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• One 10-ounce box organic chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
• Salt and pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 4 pieces PC 'chicken' breasts
• 1/2 cup crumbled Greek feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 turn of the pan, in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and 2/3 of the garlic and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool, then add the spinach and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Melt the butter in the same pan, turn off the heat and add the panko, oregano and remaining garlic; toss.

Drizzle a baking dish with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Split each chicken breast across (but not all the way through) and open like a book. Stuff with the spinach and feta, letting the stuffing overflow at the edges. Place the chicken pieces in the baking dish and top with the breadcrumbs. Bake until heated through about 30-40 minutes. Keep checking on it until it is steaming.

Introducing my new boy...

I got a new cat, here are my 2 cats finally sleeping together. So happy to see this yesterday.

Yes, he is a big cat. I think that's why he was stuck at the Humane Society for so long ( about 6 mo's). He's young and very kitten-y. He gets into everything, a real troublemaker, but he's also such a love.

I ordered Isa's new cookbook for Christmas. Appetite For Reduction.

This recipe for  OMG Oven Baked Onion Rings looks amazing, to be able to bake onion rings instead of frying them, if someone can make them taste just as good it would be her. I cannot wait to try these!!