Black Eyed Pea Tacos

I make these all the time. They rule. Thank you Martha Stewart for bringing these into my life. 'Nuff said.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno chile, minced (ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if desired)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, heated
• 4 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled, shredded lettuce, salsa, and sliced radishes, for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and jalapeno; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Add peas, corn, and 2 cups water. Simmer over medium-high heat until corn is tender and most liquid has evaporated, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in cilantro; season again with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
3. To serve, fill heated tortillas with black-eyed pea mixture, goat cheese, and garnishes, as desired.

Black Eyed Pea Tacos

Slow Cooker Potato Corn Chowder

This soup was an adventure! I was trying to "vegetarianize" a recipe I had found on A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures.  I switched up a couple of the ingredients that weren't vegetarian and after it cooking all day, something just wasn't quite right. There was a flavor missing and I couldn't quite place it. My husband tasted it and told me to throw in a half bag of frozen corn. We let the corn heat through and topped our bowls with some shredded cheddar cheese and YUM! It was a success! You could probably even throw the cheese right in the pot at the end, but we have a little tummy in the house that is sensitive to dairy. :)

Ingredients

6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 small onion, diced
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1/2 block of low-fat cream cheese
8 oz frozen corn
shredded cheddar cheese for serving

Directions

-Put potatoes, onions, and cream cheese in your slow cooker
-In a separate bowl, mix together everything else and then pour it into the slow cooker as well.
-Cook on LOW for 9-10 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours

-Serve topped with sour cream, shredded cheese, or whatever your heart desires! :)

Slow Cooker Potato Corn Chowder

Slow Cooker Curried Lentil and Chickpea Stew

I found this recipe in this month's All You magazine and it turned out so great! Mine came out pretty thick, and I didn't have extra broth to thin it out, but once I added salt and pepper to my bowl it was delicious!
(By the way, can you tell I loooooove cooking in my crock pot yet?) ;)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 cup uncooked ong-grain brown rice (I used white rice with no problems)
• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup dried green lentils  (I used brown and they worked just fine!) 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 15.5-oz. can chickpeas, drained
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, optional

Directions

-Warm oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
-Add carrots, celery and onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
-Stir in curry powder and sauté until blended and fragrant, about 1 minute.
-Add rice and stir to coat. Stir in tomatoes and broth.
-Bring to a simmer, then pour into slow cooker.
-Stir in lentils.
-Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
-Add chickpeas, cover and cook until lentils and rice are tender, about 1 hour longer. (If stew looks dry when you add chickpeas, add more broth.)
-Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley, if desired, before serving.

Slow Cooker Curried Lentil and Chickpea Stew

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

I got this delicious recipe from the gal at A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures. I tweaked a couple things to work with what I had in my cupboards, but the recipe is pretty true to the original! If you have time, check out her other recipes. Just about everything I have tried on her site has been wonderful. Even her non-vegetarian stuff is awesome. (I've been frequenting her site since my pre-veggie days) :-)

Ingredients:

5 Peppers, tops cut off and seeds removed (I used a mix of green, red, yellow, and orange peppers)

1/2 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 can Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup uncooked white rice, cooked according to package directions

1 large tomato, chopped

5 oz. chopped spinach, thawed, drained

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 Tbsp. dried parsley

1 jar Marinara Sauce (I used Barilla Marinara...yum!)

Directions:

The directions are quite simple!

-Spray your slow cooker with some non stick cooking spray.

-Mix together all the ingredients in a big bowl, except the peppers and marinara sauce

-Take the filling you just made and stuff those peppers with as much filling as those bad boys will hold

-Arrange in your slow cooker, standing up, the amount you are able to fit will depend on the size slow cooker you have.  I was able to fit 5 (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange, 2 green) in mine, and I had a little bit of filling leftover.  No problem I ate it up straight and it was delicious! Lol!

-Pour marinara sauce over the tops of the peppers and around it.  You may save some to put on your peppers when serving

-Place the lid on your slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6 hours (what I did) or HIGH for 3 hours

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Tried to remove some of the sauce to show the filling. My photography skills are lacking...lol :)

Wednesday Night Chili

This is a little something I whipped up on one of those "what the heck am I going to make for dinner" nights!  I scrounged around my cupboards, added a little of this, and a little of that, and voila! Wednesday Night Chili was born!

1 bag frozen Morningstar Vegetarian "Meat" Crumbles
1 15 oz can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 garlic clove, minced
half an onion diced
1 tablespoon chilli powder?
1 teaspoon cumin?
1 tablespoon sugar?
salt & pepper

-Heat up crumbles in large pot. Season with salt and pepper.
-Add everything else and let simmer for as long as you can stand...mine has been going for an hour and tastes AWESOME!

Wednesday Night Chili

The Beginning

My name is Diane. I have an awesome husband, two awesome kids that I get to stay home with every day, and I'm a noob vegetarian! I decided to go veggie about 5 months ago.  I remember it was a couple weeks before Easter, because I went to Easter dinner and thought, "Wow! How am I going to do this? EVERYTHING has meat in it!"

I could go in to detail about the reasons why I decided to give up eating meat, but there are a number of them, and they pretty much fall along the lines of the typical ones you hear from most vegetarians, so why bore you with them? My big thing, being a noob vegetarian, was re-learning how to cook, tasty, satisfying meals without the help of an entire food group! I have always loved to cook, but cooking with beef, chicken, and turkey had always been a big part of my repertoire, so what was I to do now?

Slowly, but surely, I've been learning how to take some of my old favorite "carnivore" recipes and transforming them in to delicious meat-free dishes, and I've also discovered NEW foods I had never heard of or worked with before becoming a vegetarian.

Hopefully, the recipes I post, will help other noob vegetarians find something to make for dinner tonight! :-)