Melody's Meatless Marvels

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2010-01-03T00:29:00.002-05:00

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No more recipes will be posted to this blogspot account (eventually this site will be removed completely).

Faux Sausage & Cheese Bites

2010-01-02T13:07:00.003-05:00

At a Glance

Makes about 15-20 bites
Difficulty:Easy
Time: 20-25 mins

Ingredients

Biscuit mix (jiffy or bisquick works well)
Any extra ingredients called for by your biscuit mix
Cheddar cheese
Morning Star meatless sausage crumble, or meatless crumble (beef version)

Method

Preheat oven according to biscuit recipe
Follow directions to make one batch of biscuits from your mix
Defrost about half a bag of the meatless crumble (sausage works better than the beef variety)
After meat is defrosted, add to biscuit mix
Add about 1 cup or 1 1/2 cup of cheese. Mix well.
Take spoonfuls of mixture and place onto cookie sheet (make them the size according to the biscuit mix)
Bake (usually at 400-450 degrees) for about 10-15 minutes

For added deliciousness, split the cooked biscuits and add egg, or a slice of cheese. Ketchup also goes nicely.

Fake Philly Cheesesteaks (or Chicken Philly)

2009-12-30T22:21:00.003-05:00

At a Glance

Feeds: 2-3
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

Soy Steak Strips OR Vege Burger Patties OR vege-chicken patties
Large Green Pepper
Large White Onion
Hoagie Rolls
Velveeta Cheese
Worchestershire sauce

Method

Cut pepper and onion into long thin pieces
First, warm up the fake meat in the microwave, about half of the required cook time (according to box instructions)
Warm olive oil/spray in frying pan on medium heat
If using chicken or burger patties, cut into strips. If using steak strips, leave as is
Put pepper, onion, fake meat into frying pan (when pan is heated up)
Splash in some worchestershire sauce (to taste)
Put hoagie rolls in microwave to warm, or in oven if you prefer a crusty roll (instead of soft)
Cook until onions and peppers are soft, and fake meat is 98% done
some of the fake meat may crumble or clump together. This is totally okay.
add velveeta for a few minutes until melted fully
remove from pan, put desired amount onto rolls
add ketchup if you want, salt and pepper to taste...serve with sweet potato chips, fries, whatever you want...

Strawberry Vinegarette Salad

2009-12-30T22:08:00.004-05:00

At a Glance:

Feeds: as many as you want (this recipe based on 4 servings)
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients

Baby arugala & romaine lettuce
strawberries
goat's cheese
olive oil
red wine
candied walnuts
balsamic glace vinegar (thicker than regular balsamic vinegar dressing)...(these are also available in pre-flavored varieties, like raspberry, strawberry etc if you prefer)

Method

Chop lettuce into bite size pieces, mix together well
slice strawberries thinly
top the lettuce with strawberries, crumble goat's cheese on top
add walnuts if desired
add dressing, salt and pepper to taste

Dressing Method (this will make enough for several salads)

in bowl, add 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar glace, 1/2 cup of olive oil
add splash of wine (or more if you prefer)
Mix well, and quickly drizzle on top of salad before it seperates

Super Simple Bruschetta

2009-12-30T22:00:00.002-05:00

At a Glance

Feeds 2-3 people
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

Fresh baked loaf of bread
Organic tomato sauce (canned)
Italian Seasoning
Basil
Garlic Salt
1/4 white onion
1/2 large tomato
mozzarella cheese (grated)
parmesan cheese (grated)
butter
red wine
garlic salt
olive oil

Method

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Cut tomato into large chunks
dice onion
sautee onion with butter in pan
mix italian seasoning, basil, garlic salt, splash of wine into the tomato sauce in a bowl (excess of this is great on pasta)
brush the bottoms of the bread with olive oil (if you have an olive oil with basil, this is good too)
put desired amount of sauce mixture, then onions, then tomatos, then cheeses on top (unbrushed side) of bread
bake at 400 degrees until cheese melts and turns golden brown. This should take around 5-10 minutes at most
Remove from oven and enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti

2009-03-09T18:48:00.003-04:00

At a Glance

Feeds: 12
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 can (28 ozs.) tomatoes with liquid (cut up)
1 can (4 ozs.) mushroom stems and pieces (drained)
1 can (2 ¼ ozs.) sliced ripe olives (drained)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained (optional)
12 ounces spaghetti cooked and drained
1 can (10 ¾ ozs.) condensed cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
¼ cup water
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large skillet, sauté onion and green pepper in butter until tender.
Add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives and oregano.
Add cooked veggie crumble (soy) if desired.
Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.
Place half of the spaghetti in a greased 13” x 9” baking dish.
Top with half of the vegetable mixture.
Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese.
Repeat layers.
Mix the soup and water until smooth; pour over casserole.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through.

Mini Cheezy Pumpernickel Pizza Bites

2009-03-09T18:29:00.004-04:00

At a Glance

Feeds: as many people as you want
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

Soy/Vege Meat Crumble (morning star brand recommended)
Mini-loaf of pre-sliced Pumpernickel bread (each piece are about 2 or 3 inch squares)
Block of Velveeta Cheese
Ketchup or BBQ sauce

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Defrost the vege crumble in the microwave
Microwave method (quicker): Add any spices/seasonings, add small blocks of velveeta to the container, and then cook the vege crumble in the according to instructions on package. Judge when to add the cheese according to how long you have to cook it (depends on how much you're making).
Pan Method: add the vege crumble to the pan on medium heat. Gradually add in velveeta cheese in chunks, slowly mixing it into the meat mixture. You can decide how 'cheesy' you want it as you go. The cheese should melt slowly enough for you to be able to taste test as you go.
While it is cooking, lay out your pumpernickel bread slices on an un-greased baking sheet
When the meat mixture is ready, put a 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of cooked vege crumble on each piece of bread.
Slide the baking sheet into the oven for 5-10 minutes at the most. You are only trying to get the bottom of each piece of bread a little crispy, and the tops of the meat/cheese mix a little crunchy. You do not want the meat mixture to get tough. The meat is cooked already, so you can taste test as you go as well.
Remove from oven when ready, and serve with sides of ketchup or bbq sauce depending on your preference.

Wonton Salad, with Faux Chicken Patties

2009-03-07T09:10:00.003-05:00

At a Glance

Feeds 4 hungry people
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 20-25 minutes

Salad Ingredients

1 head shredded iceberg lettuce
2 stalks of chopped green onions
4 faux chicken patties
½ pkg. of wontons (just pick-up a bag of already cooked wontons from a Chinese Restaurant)
¼ cup toasted slivered almonds

Dressing Ingredients

¼ cup vegetable oil or olive oil
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup white vinegar
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Accent seasoning

Method

In frying pan, add all dressing ingredients.
Heat on low-medium until all sugar is melted. When dressing is proper consistency, remove from heat. It should be room temperature when you add it to the top of the salad. Put in fridge to speed up process if you want. While it is cooling, you can do the rest of the recipe, which should time it just about right.
Put chicken patties in oven (preferred) or microwave to cook according to directions on package. It's best for these to be crispy for this salad, which is why the oven method is preferred.
In big mixing bowl, add lettuce, onion and almonds. Mix well.
Break up the wontons into manageable, bite size pieces, then add wontons to mixing bowl too. Mix well again.
When chicken patties are cooked, cut them into long strips.
If you're serving the whole recipe, add the dressing to the mixing bowl, and mix well. If just making a small batch now, add salad to plate, drizzle dressing on top.
Add chicken strips to top of salad.
Eat!

Faux Cheeseburger Quesadilla

2009-03-02T18:36:00.006-05:00

At a Glance

Feeds: 2 people
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

Veggie Crumble
Shredded Monterrey Jack and Cheddar Cheese
2-4 tbsp BBQ sauce
McCormick's Hamburger Seasoning
Medium Flour Tortillas
OPTIONAL: Finely chopped white onion
OPTIONAL: Substitute the kind of cheese that comes pre-made with taco seasoning on it...it really kicks things up a notch!

Method

In small frying pan, add chopped onions with a little non-stick spray on medium heat. You want to cook the onions a little, but not too much. If you like your onions crispy, just put them on low heat until you're ready to assemble your quesadilla.
Heat veggie crumble in microwave until defrosted, according to directions on package
Add BBQ sauce (as much as you like), and hamburger seasoning, then mix well
Turn large frying pan on to medium/low heat, add a little non-stick spray
Return to heat in Microwave until fully cooked (should only take a couple of extra minutes)
Put flour tortilla in pan, pushing it around to coat in a little oil
To one side of the tortilla, add cheese, then burger crumble, then onions, then a little more cheese on top
Let it cook until the cheese barely begins to melt, then fold the tortilla over on itself, closing it up.
Let it cook a little longer, then flip over, being careful not to overcook one side. You want the outside of the tortilla to be crispy, but not burned.
Repeat process for as many quesadillas as you want to cook.

Serve with more BBQ sauce, or some sour cream/guacamole usually tastes good too.

Margherita Flatbread Pizza with Faux Sausage

2009-02-26T20:48:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-25T19:32:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-23T19:53:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-23T19:43:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-23T19:38:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-22T23:10:00.004-05:00

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

Easy Cheezy Faux BBQ Cheeseburger Pizza

2009-02-20T18:01:00.007-05:00

At a Glance

Feeds 3-4 people
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

Pizza Crust (pillsbury works well)
8oz (1 package) grated cheddar cheese
1 small onion (diced, sliced, chopped whatever you want)
1 package vege Crumble by Morning Star (or some version of soy burger crumble)
2 tsp sausage seasoning
1 packet McCormick's Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning (meatloaf seasoning can substitute if you can't find the hamburger flavor)
Sweet Barbeque Sauce (this will be your base, so enough to cover base of pizza crust)
2 tbsp Ketchup
OPTIONAL: Bacos, Fake Bacon Bits, peppers (but dont put so much on that it takes away from the burger-like taste)
OPTIONAL: left overs from sloppy no's or faux meatloaf work well on this meal

Method

Preheat oven to temperature for pizza dough to be cooked
Take pizza dough, roll it out on cutting board with flour or corn meal to keep it from sticking
Put burger crumble in microwave for a couple of minutes to defrost. You don't want to cook it much at all, as this will happen in the oven. Just enough so that you can separate it and it is not frozen at all anymore.
Combine ketchup, spices and burger crumble, then microwave for 1 minute.
Put as much BBQ sauce as you want on your base of the pizza. Remember, more BBQ sauce means more hot liquid when you bite into the slice, so be careful how much you pile on there. Try putting some on the outside of the crust too, so some cheese will stick to it and make it all delicious.
Put thin covering of cheddar cheese on the pizza base. Yes...put the cheese on first.
Put burger crumble mixture onto pizza base...as much as you want.
Put onions onto pizza
Cover with thin sprinkling (or as much as you want) of cheddar cheese. The less you put on, the better the underneath will cook in the oven. IE: dont put so much cheese on that the cheese burns before the crumble and top of the pizza base cooks properly.
Put pizza(s) in oven and cook according to instructions for crust.

Holy Moley Guacamole

2009-02-19T20:28:00.004-05:00

At a Glance

Feeds 2-4
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 mins or less

Ingredients

4 small tomatoes (chopped)
3 avocados (diced)
1 small red onion (diced)
1 handful of fresh cilantro (diced)
1/2 cup of sour cream
2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
OPTIONAL: chilli powder

Method

Clean hands....soap....purell...whatever you want to do...just have clean hands (and fingernails)
Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl
With your clean hands, mash all ingredients together, squeezing avocados and tomatoes so they mix into a "dip" consistency.
If you like more chunky guacamole, don't mix so much, and maybe use less sour cream.
If you like a more smooth consistency, add more sour cream and really dig in to mash all the chunks of tomato and avocado down into a paste. You may also want to peel the tomatoes too.
Add chili powder to give some heat
Serve with tortilla chips

Vegetable Fajitas

2009-02-19T20:17:00.004-05:00

Recipe at a glance

Difficulty: Medium
Feeds: 2-3
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4-6 medium sized flour tortillas
1 small white onion (sliced)
1 red pepper (sliced)
1 yellow pepper (sliced)
2 portabello mushrooms (sliced)
2 chopped tomatoes (could use small can of tomatoes)
1 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 tsp Chilli Powder (more or less depending on your preference for heat)
1 handful of fresh diced cilantro
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup of water
Salt & Pepper to taste
OPTIONAL: spanish rice, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa

Method

Heat olive oil in large frying pan on medium-high heat
add onions, cook for a few minutes
add peppers, mushrooms, spices to pan
add water to pan, mix all ingredients well to distribute spices and seasoning
lower heat and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat
add tomatoes and cook for just a few minutes until tomatoes are warm
while tomatoes are cooking, wrap tortillas in wet paper towel, and microwave on high for 2 minutes
Remove pan from heat, remove tortillas from microwave
Add vegetable mix to each tortilla...do not overfill
top with lettuce, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa...your choice

Salad with Buffalo Chicken Bites

2009-02-18T22:19:00.002-05:00

At a Glance

Time: 5 mins microwave method, 20 mins oven method
Difficulty: Easier than easy.
Feeds: 2 hungry people

Ingredients

1 Bag of Romaine & Iceberg Lettuce (with carrots etc if you want
1 box of Morning Star Buffalo Chicken Bites (18 individual pieces)
Croutons of your choice
Grated cheese of your choice (we like coarsely grated parmesan)
Ranch dressing
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Cook chicken bites according to package (16-18 minutes in 375 degree oven, or 4-5 mins in microwave). Oven method is preferred for crunchiness
Dump bag of salad onto two plates evenly
Add chicken bites to top of salad, salt and pepper to taste
Add small amount of cheese to top quickly, so it will slightly melt on the chicken bites
Add ranch dressing & croutons
Serve and enjoy

Creamy Pesto Ravioli

2009-02-17T19:27:00.003-05:00

Recipe at a Glance

Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Feeds: 4 hungry people
Time: 20 minutes (including prep time)

Ingredients

Ravioli

1 package of 4 cheese ravioli or portabello ravioli (you pick the brand)
1 small white onion (chopped)
1 tbsp pine nuts
2 tsp capers
garlic to taste
1 tsp olive oil

Sauce

8oz can diced tomatoes with basil & oregano (Hunts makes a good one)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp flour (any kind will do)
1.5 cups Milk
1 packet pesto seasoning (we use Simply Organic Pesto Seasoning, but any pre-made pesto will work)

Optional Sides

Garlic Bread / Texas Toast
Caesar Salad
Red Table Wine

Method

Put water onto boil and cook ravioli per instructions on package (add salt to water to speed things up)
It takes about 10 minutes to make the sauce, so time it depending on your ravioli cook time.
Combine and warm the butter, olive oil and flour in another sauce pan
1 minute after butter melts, add milk
Warm mixture for a couple of minutes, then add pesto seasoning and tomatoes
If you prefer your sauce to be thicker, cook longer. If you prefer a lighter sauce, add more milk
Turn to lowest heat possible, and leave to simmer
In another pan, saute the chopped onion, pine nuts, capers, and garlic with a little olive oil
Layer ravioli on plate, then add sauce, then add saute mix
Pair with red table wine, garlic bread/texas toast and a caesar salad

Leftovers?

When reheating in microwave, add a little water to the container to keep the pasta from drying out.
Add additional vegetables to the mix, serve cold, and enjoy a pasta salad.

Caesar Salad

2009-02-13T22:05:00.003-05:00

A simple salad for most...but if you're vegetarian, you have to be aware of the anchovy issue. Most Caesar salads at restaurants, and many Caesar dressings in the grocery store will be made with anchovies, or may still have whole anchovies in them. So if you're looking for a simple Caesar without the small fishy bits, read on...

Feeds: 2 large salads

Ingredients

Bag of Hearts of Romaine Lettuce
Brianna's Asiago Style Caesar Dressing
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Croutons
Salt and Pepper

Method

In large mixing bowl, add whole bag of lettuce
Depending on your level of caesar affection, add between one and three tablespoons of Caesar dressing. Usually you want just enough to get a little on each leaf, but not so much that you're mopping it out of the bottom on the mixing bowl.
Mix thoroughly until all lettuce is coated to your liking.
Empty onto two large plates, add croutons and salt and pepper to taste. We like the larger style croutons, almost like the type you get at Outback Steakhouse (the ones that are almost 1 inch square, and 1/2 inch thick)
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, not too much and serve.

Sloppy No's

2009-02-10T20:12:00.000-05:00

"Sloppy Joe's, without the Ground Beef"

Recipe at a Glance

Makes 5-6 fully loaded sandwiches, or 8 generous pita pocket halves
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 Minutes Microwave, or 20 Minutes Stove top

Ingredients

12 Ounces of Soy/Veggie Crumble
1 packet Sloppy Joe seasoning
Small can of Tomato Paste
1 cup water
Tsp of Season-All
1/2 tsp of Soul Food Seasoning
Tsp of Hamburger Seasoning
Pinch of Chipotle Chili Pepper Powder
6 Pita Pocket halves, or 5-6 buns

Method

Defrost crumble in microwave (usually 3-4 minutes at most)
Add tomato paste and water to crumble
Mix thoroughly until good consistency is reached (ask yourself...do you like smooth sloppy no's or chunky?)
Add all seasonings and mix again. You can leave the chilli powder till after cooking if you're worried about too much heat
Return to microwave and cook until done. This usually takes 7 minutes or so, depending on the amount you're cooking...and how powerful your microwave is.
While the crumble is in the microwave, cut your Pita Pockets or buns in halves.
Once the crumble is cooked, place the buns or pita pockets in the microwave for 45 seconds, or just enough to loosen them up. You don't want the pita pockets to tear while eating...but then again, they aren't called Sloppy No's for nothing.
Add crumble to the pita pockets or buns (did you remember to add your chili powder) and serve.

It may take a little experimentation, but you will be able to get these to taste exactly like a regular ground beef Sloppy Joe. Try it out on unsuspecting guests... if no one says anything, you've succeeded. Or maybe you failed so badly that they wouldn't dare comment.

Tonight's Dinner Menu...Sloppy No's

2009-02-10T19:14:00.000-05:00

mmmm....Sloppy No's....that's Sloppy Jo's with faux soy meat crumble for you uneducated folk.

Well i guess everyone might be uneducated to the Meatless Marvel terminology, seeing that this is the inaugural post.

A full recipe will be posted soon...but this post serves as the tease...the apetizer...the free bread before the meal to get you all excited.

Well really its because I can smell it cooking and haven't written down the exact method yet.