Onion Mushroom Sandwiches

1-2T oil
8-10oz sliced mushrooms
1 red onion, chopped
1/4c apple juice
salt and pepper to taste
whole wheat bread, lettuce, mustard, etc.

saute onions in oil until soft and browning, add mushrooms and continue to cook 1-2 minutes. Add apple juice and bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer 10 minutes. Uncover, salt and pepper to taste. Increase heat and boil until liquid is almost all gone, stirring occasionally. Serve on bread with sandwich fixings. Makes 2-3 sandwiches.

caramel apple bake

4 apples, pared and sliced
2T water
1c sugar

Preheat oven to 400, put the apples in two 16oz ramekins. Bring sugar and water to boil on high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil until syrup becomes a light brown, remove from heat and cool until no longer boiling. Pour over apples and bake for 30 minutes. Cool and serve.

Pasta with onion and white kidney beans in a tomato sauce

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz white kidney beans, rinsed (sometimes called cannellini beans)
2T olive oil
2T apple juice
1/4t dried oregano
1/4t red pepper flakes
1 small onion
12oz Farfalle (bow tie) or other mid-sized pasta

heat water for pasta. mix all ingredients except pasta and onion in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, reduce to a low boil. Cook pasta and drain. coarsely dice onion and add to sauce for last 2 minutes. Mix sauce and pasta, serve. About 20 minutes. Add more red pepper flakes for a spicier sauce.

The joy of salad

I don't care much for salad. Salad in my mind, has three flaws, it is covered in oil, nothing fits on your fork, and it is mostly lettuce.

To address the first problem, avoid the oil entirely, substitute some pepper and salt and use the dampness of the salad to help it adhere to the vegetables. In addition to tasting better, removing dressing makes salad a healthy food rather than a guilty indulgence.

To solve the second problem, cut everything into fork sized pieces. Restaurant chefs don't understand that it takes between one and five minutes to get a cherry tomato on a fork. Cut the tomato in half, and it takes about a tenth of a second. Make sure that the item can also fit into the mouth easily. Whole green beans do not fit in the mouth, even if they can be speared easily.

The third problem is more fundamental, and requires rethinking salad entirely. Lettuce is a perfectly acceptable vegetable, but there are 600 or so other nice vegetables. A salad that is iceberg, grated carrot and two cucumber slices is a waste. Cut the lettuce in half, add mushrooms, onions, cauliflower, beets, oranges, soybeans, ....

A salad following the above guidelines will be more interesting, more flavorful and much healthier.

Post One

Plants are all around us and form the basis for our food. This blog is a place where I post recipes, created by me, that use plants. I will never post a recipe that includes an animal ingredient (including milk). People choose to eat plant only food for a variety of reasons. I am not blogging about reasons to eat only plants, just about food. Prepare to find a lot of great food made just with plants. I may occasionally post information about foods that have animal products in them, but that is informational only, the main point of this blog is really good food.