Margherita Flatbread Pizza with Faux Sausage

At a Glance

• Feeds: 2 people
• Difficulty: Easy
• Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 x flatbread, 6x10 inch pieces, rosemary & peppercorn variety (or your choice)
• 8oz mozzarella cheese
• 1 package of Fresh Basil (0.6oz)
• Pizza Sauce (enough to cover the flatbread pieces)
• 2 x Fake Sausage circles (Morning Star Brand)
• 1 tsp Sausage seasoning

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Put sausage in microwave until it is cooked according to directions on package
• Chop basil, not too finely, removing the stems completely
• Cut mozzarella into large circular slices
• Cover flat bread with pizza sauce
• Remove sausage from oven, and chop/crumble up into smallish chunks
  
• Assemble pizza by putting basil on first, then mozzarella, then sausage.
• Sprinkle sausage seasoning on top of pizza
• Put in oven for 15 minutes, checking around 10. Depending on your oven, you'll want to make sure the base crisps up without the top burning. You do not want your cheese to brown on top. If you're worried about cooking too much, turn to 300 degrees, and until bottom crisps up, then turn to broil for 2 minutes.

Potato Quesadillas

At a Glance

• Feeds: 2 people
• Difficulty: Easy/Medium
• Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen cubed hash browns (or freshly cubed (1/2 inch cubes) potatos, or leftover mashed potatoes)
• 4 medium sized flour tortillas
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp season-all
  
• 1 tsp chili seasoning (not chili powder)
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 bag grated Mexican Cheese Blend. You can vary how much you need depending on how many quesadillas, and how thick you are making them.
  
• Non-stick spray
• 2 tbsp tomato salsa (mild, medium or hot...your choice)
• OPTIONAL Side Items: Sour cream, Guacamole
  
• OPTIONAL ingredients: 1 tbsp Red Pepper Flakes (for more spice)
  
• OPTIONAL ingredients: 1/2 cup chopped onions (if you like onions)

Method

• For smooth quesadillas: Heat potatoes in microwave until defrosted. If using fresh potatoes, microwave them until they are just barely cooked and slightly mashable. If you're using leftover mashed potatos, you dont have to cook them before adding to the quesadilla.
  
• For crispy quesadillas (preferred method) you'll want to defrost or slightly cook the hash brown cubes a little and then put them into a hot frying pan with just a little oil to crisp them up just a little. When they are crispy (but not burned at all), remove from heat.
• Add hash browns to a big mixing bowl
• Add cumin, season-all, ketchup, chili seasoning, onions, red pepper flakes to bowl and mix well, coating each cube with some flavor. Be careful not to mix too vigourously if you are going for the crispy method.
  
• Warm Frying pan to medium-low heat, spray with non-stick spray.
• Put flour tortilla unfolded into pan, put a little bed of cheese down on one side, add potato mixture to same side, and then top with a little more cheese.
• When the cheese begins to melt, fold the tortilla over. It should seal itself with the cheese as its glue.
• Flip the folded tortilla one more time so the top half gets another round on the bottom.
• Remove from pan, repeat for as many quesadillas as you want to make.
• Serve with some sour cream, guacamole, or even some ketchup, if you like it that way.

Red Robin: Vegetarian Friendly Options

It came to mind that when eating at a restaurant, it may be difficult to resist ordering a nice juicy burger (or insert your favorite meat option here).

So, Meatless Marvels will attempt to bring you some suggestions or recommendations on restaurants that make it easier to keep that vegetarian lifestyle in tact.

It won't be just places that you order tofu or sushi either. In keeping with the mission of Meatless Marvels, it will be foods that are close to their carnivorous counterparts.

This first on the list is Red Robin. They allow you to substitute a Garden Burger Patty, or Boca Patty onto any burger on the menu. Meatless Marvels' recommendation is the garden patty. The Boca one sometimes tastes like you could play ice hockey with it.

Obviously you don't to put the garden patty on the bacon burger now would you?

Suggestion #1: The Banzai Burger with a Garden Patty: Marinated in teriyaki & topped with grilled pineapple, Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo. Dude, you’ll be like, ready to ride the pipeline on O’ahu’s North Shore after you chomp on this!

Suggestion #2: Blackened Bayou Burger with a Garden Patty: Blackened burger topped with roasted red peppers, Angry Onions,® Pepper-Jack cheese, Creole mustard sauce and cabbage-carrot mix on a jalapeño-cornmeal Kaiser roll. Add a splash of Tabasco® for even more spice. It’s good, we guar-an-tee!

Anyway, you can pick your favorite, but these are taste-tested and recommended by your friends at Meatless Marvels.

PS: Don't forget...fries are vegetarian too...and bottomless vegetarian fries are even better :-)

Who We Are

Meatless Marvels is the combination of a vegetarian (Melody), and her meat eating husband (Nick).

Melody gave up meat for Lent 3 years ago, and has never looked back. Nick gave up meat for one week, and looked back often. However, Nick only eats meat when dining out, or at lunchtimes. Pretty much whenever he's eating with Melody, it is vegetarian fare.

Still wanting the taste of meat, Melody and Nick decided to make as many meals still have the flavor, but not the actual product. Thus, the birth of Meatless Marvels: a way to enjoy the taste of meat without actually using any animal products.

We take requests, suggestions, recommendations, but most of all, we just want to help people figure out a way to include some meaty tastes into their vegetarian meal choices.

Enjoy!
Nick and Melody

Shout Out to Friend Going Vegetarian

Just a quick shout-out to a friend who is going vegetarian for Lent. (His blog post explains his motivation).

This is how we (Melody and I) got into the vegetarian style a few years back. One year it was giving up soda, then it was giving up meat, and then it just kind of stuck. Now one half of meatless marvels is vegetarian through and through (Melody), and the other half is vegetarian whenever he eats with Melody. That pretty much makes it breakfast and dinner. Lunch time is my meat time.

Anyway, if there's anyone else out there who is doing the lent thing, let us know. Strength in numbers I say. Meatless Marvels takes requests too, so if you like a particular meat dish, and you want to know how to make it a meatless masterpiece, let us know. We can help convert that meal and still make it tasty.

Faux Chicken Sliders

Recipe At A Glance

• Feeds as many as you want
• Difficulty: Easy
• Time: 5 mins microwave, 15 minutes oven (recommended)

Ingredients

• Fake Chicken Patties OR fake buffalo bites (morning star brand is our recommendation)
• Potato Dinner Rolls
• Muenster Cheese (substitute cheddar or swiss depending on your tastes)
• Lettuce
• Cherry Tomato (or other small variety) sliced
  
• Ketchup
• Ranch (optional)

Method

• Cook chicken patties or buffalo bites according to directions. Oven method is recommended
• Add cheese at the very end of cooking time, just enough to melt on the chicken
  
• Split and microwave the potato rolls on high for 20 seconds
• Cut cooked patties into small, roll-sized pieces, usually about 2 x 2 inches
• Squirt a little ketchup onto the base of the roll, then place the patty on top.
  
• Put one small piece of lettuce, two small slices of tomato on each roll
• Put a little ranch on top
• Close up the rolls and enjoy. They should be soft still if you've heated the rolls sufficiently.

Add fries, potato wedges or chips as a side if you're willing to go the extra mile