Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Baked Potato Bar

I have been meaning to write this post for forever, but I didn't have the pictures. I still don't but I want to get it up anyway. We threw a baked-potato bar party over the summer, and at the end, I turned to Mr. Barefoot and said, "this would make a great thanksgiving!"

For a baked potato bar party, it's a super-simple concept that is really easy to make potluck and vegetarian or even vegan - we provided potatoes, greek yogurt, sour cream, butter, and spices, and everybody else brought toppings for both regular and sweet potatoes. We had black bean vegetarian chili, pulled pork, candied pecans, cheddar cheese, bacon bits, etc. For Thanksgiving, you could add roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, corn salsa or creamed corn, mac& cheese, green beans, and all manner of vegetables.

I love this as a vegetarian concept because nobody has to bring meat, and you end up with a holiday that doesn't revolve around meat. It's also novel enough that people won't complain as much about there not being a turkey. It's also great for people who are not very experienced cooks, because it's pretty hard to screw up baked potatoes. Just put a bunch on a cookie sheet and bake them for awhile. If you do eat meat, but don't cook very well, I personally would crockpot roast some drumsticks or something, and shred them to be a topping, but you could also provide roasted drumsticks as a side dish to avoid cooking a full bird. It also would be a great idea for a side dish if you do want to host a meal with a beautiful turkey, but don't want to put in the work to do multiple side dishes - a few potatoes go in the oven as soon as the turkey comes out, and while it rests, they bake, and everything is ready to go at once.

It also makes a great Thanksgiving leftovers brunch idea - because what leftovers aren't better on a roasted sweet potato? Minimal work, maximum fun - that's my kind of holiday!

What are you doing for a vegetarian (or carnivorous) thanksgiving?

Sweet Potato Cashew Curry

We have finally gotten the hang of menu planning for two people with busy jobs, I think.  The trick is to plan meals that allow for advance prep, but don't require it, and to allow for a few slacker meals.  This week's menu plan:
-Pear, Leek, Goat Cheese Pizza
-Potato, Mushroom, and Leek Croquettes
-Pad Thai
-Sweet Potato Cashew Curry

Theoretically, we were going to do all the prep work on Sunday.  That didn't happen - we got to the leeks, the onions, and the stuff for my grandmother's 90th birthday party.  So instead, last night, I prepped everything for the potato, mushroom, and leek croquettes and the sweet potato cashew curry while also making pad thai.  This means that this morning, I just tossed the curry in the crockpot and came home to a really delicious meal.  Since I adapted the original recipe, I'm going to share my changes here.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil
1 sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup raw cashews
3 tbsp (or a conservative pour) Trader Joes yellow curry sauce
2 sweet potatoes, peeled, and cut into small chunks (I only used one, but two would be better)
1 can diced tomatoes (with juice)
2 cups water
1 cup frozen corn
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
3 tbsp (or generous pour) yellow curry sauce

-Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, saute onion, saute until translucent, then add cashews.  Saute until golden brown.

-Add yellow curry sauce and sweet potatoes, fry for another minute or two.  Transfer to crockpot.  

-Add can diced tomatoes, water, frozen corn, tomato paste, hoisin sauce, and remaining yellow curry sauce.  

-Cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.  Serve over rice.  

Passover

Tonight was my annual passover dinner with my friend Boston, and I made dinner and she made apple cake and thumbprint cookies for dessert.  (Plus we had salted caramel matzoh.)  For dinner we had:

Patatas Bravas - and now we have a ton of delicious aioli leftover

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel - this recipe has some serious delicitude going on. 

Matzo Brie, topped with cheese and zucchini
Ingredients
4 sheets matzoh
2 eggs (or one egg and two egg whites, if you also made the aioli.)
salt
pepper
dash of milk (about one tablespoon)
boiling water
cheese
small zucchini, sliced thin

Procedure
1. Heat a skillet on medium heat until pretty hot (I actually baked my cast iron one in the oven at 400 for thirty minutes and then put it on the stove on medium heat). 

2. Break matzoh up into small-ish pieces (no bigger than two inches square), put in a colander, and pour boiling water over matzoh. 

3. Press matzoh dry with paper towel, squeezing water through colander.  Put matzoh in a shallow pan.

4. Combine eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and pour over matzoh. Allow to soak for about 5-10 minutes. 

5. Grease pan.  Be generous.  Pour matzoh and egg mixture into pan into a big pile of eggy-matzoh-ness. 

6. Add zuchinni slices if there is room around the matzoh. 

7. Once matzoh/egg has cooked on one side, flip the whole thing and cook on the other side. 

8. Flip the zucchini. 

9.  Remove matzoh from heat, top with cheese, and then zucchini. 

Frozen Burritos

When I started my new job, I knew I wanted to have easy to grab lunches in the fridge.  I went from working at 10am to 8:30am, so I no longer had time to make myself lunch in the morning if we had gone out the night before and didn't have leftovers, or just had burgers and fries for dinner.  I buy the CedarLane Vegetarian Burritos from Costco, but they don't always have them, and I was looking for an even cheaper way to make freezable lunches. 

So when I had an extra sweet potato one day, and had accidentally opened a can of Trader Joe's Refried Beans instead of black beans, I whipped up about 8 frozen burritos.  They are surprisingly delicious and store pretty easily.  I just let it thaw on my windowsill all morning, then heat it up in the microwave. 

Recipe:
1-2 sweet potatoes, mashed (add salt and pepper to taste)
1 can vegetarian refried beans
6-8 flour tortillas (I used white and I think that is part of why they held up so well - the white ones are just softer and heartier)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Procedure:
1. Put a flour tortilla on a piece of saran-wrap. 
2. Spoon sweet potatoes and refried beans into center of tortilla until it is pretty full.
3. Add cheddar cheese to the top. 
4. Fold burrito over and in on itself.  If it is having trouble sticking, use a bit of sweet potato as additional glue.  Immediately wrap in Saran Wrap. 
5. If your sweet potatoes are still hot, place in the refrigerator until cool.  If they are not hot, place burrito directly in the freezer. 

I made these about 2 months ago and just had one for lunch and it was good. 

Apples and Sweet Potatoes

I mentioned to my boss that in a fit of delusion, I bought a giant bag of apples, and also, the sweet potatoes from the CSA just keep coming, and today she brought me a whole bunch of recipes.  I copied most of them, but one is too hard to copy, so I'm retyping it here instead.  If you make it, let me know how it goes. 

Apples & Sweet Potatoes
2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
4 lg sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp raisins
1/4 cup applejack (do they still sell this?)
lemon juice
cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Peel and cut potatoes into thin slices.  Cook them in boiling water to cover until nearly done (soft but not mushy).  Cook peeled, cored, thinly sliced apples in a slight amount of boiling water until same texture as cooked potatoes.  Sprinkle apples with lemon juice after they are cooked.  Grease a baking dish and alternate layers of apples and potatoes.  Sprinkle the top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.  Dot top of sprinkled apples and potatoes with butter.  Pour applejack over top of apples & potatoes.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

(Serves about 6. Unless Boston is coming over, in which case, 2. Maybe.)

Sweet Potato or Butternut Barley Risotto

Whenever I go on a Costco food purchasing binge, it's kind of a challenge to get to see whether we can eat everything I bought in the last week.  If we have to throw something away, Mr. Barefoot gets to be right and tell me I can't buy produce at Costco.

So how are we doing?  Last week, I bought a 6-pack of peppers, a 2 lb bag of green beans, 2 lbs of butternut squash and a giant bag of onions.  This week, I used the peppers as pizza toppings, and in the Quinoa and Pepper Saute, which was not very good.  Although it's better if you douse it in Greek yogurt or cheese. I used the green beans and butternut squash for the Indian Shrimp and Squash, which actually was pretty good.  Today, I used the last of the butternut squash in Sweet Potato Barley Risotto in the crockpot.  I went to link to this recipe and realized I'd never shared it.  How sad for my poor readers.  This recipe is from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes and you must go buy this book.  Seriously.  

You will need:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, finely chopped

1 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves

1 1/2 cups pearl barley, rinsed

3 cups vegetable stock

2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes (I actually cut them into 1/2 inch cubes - with the butternut squash, I just used about a cup and a half.)  

Optional: mushrooms.  I've added baby bella mushrooms to this a couple times now and it's generally pretty good.  

Recipe:

1.  In a skillet, cook the onions until soft.  Add garlic and rosemary and saute for another minute.  Add barley, stir until coated with onions/garlic mixture.  Add stock and bring to a boil.  

2.  Place sweet potatoes and/or mushrooms in crockpot stoneware.  Add barley mixture.

3.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or slow for 4 hours.  

I'm not normally a person that eats barley, but firstly, I'll eat anything with sweet potatoes, and secondly, barley is actually pretty good - it has that nutty, wholesome flavor that anything "good for you" has, but this doesn't taste that much like a crunchy-granola type of meal.  Plus, it's very good for you.  I don't really eat anything else with barley in it, but I think I would like to branch out a bit - any suggestions?

Leftovers

So you say, I had a very merry Christmas.  But I'm sick of holiday foods.  I'm not ready to start dieting just yet, but I want something simple, delicious, and that is going to use up that bag of sweet potatoes I bought at Costco.

Look no further.  These are amazing.  Mr. Barefoot loved them with the blue cheese, I loved them with sharp cheddar cheese.  I highly recommend them as a leftover meal.  Or, if like us, you are doing second Christmas tomorrow, do them for Christmas tomorrow.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Mashed sweet potatoes are one of those really beautiful things in life, because they don't have to be very complicated.  The other night, I made amazing mashed sweet potatoes with just three ingredients:
-1 sweet potato
-2 tbsps cream cheese
-salt

Chop sweet potato into small pieces, boil until fork-mashable, then drain.  Put in a glass bowl or measuring cup and mash with a fork.  Add cream cheese and mix together.  Add salt until delicious.

Win.

Sweet Potato Coconut Bisque

Okay. So if you were on my moot court team, you would find bisque funny. But you aren't, so I'm not gonna bother. This came out a little thin this time, but its pretty good. It's based off of this recipe. I sorta halved it - using only one sad potato that we had left and a half an onion.
Ingredients:
4-5 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. broth
1 (15 oz.) can Coconut Milk
1 1/2 c. Milk
salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
1. Saute onion and garlic in frying pan. Add to slow cooker stoneware.
2. Add sweet potatoes to stoneware.
3. Pour in broth.
4. Cook for 6 hours.
5. Use immersion blender to blend sweet potatoes and onions.
6. Add coconut milk and milk. Cook for another hour or two.

Sweet Potato Casserole

This is one of my new favorite slow-cooker recipes. It will be great for a thanksgiving or christmas dish.
Ingredients:

• 2 cans sweet potatoes, drained and mashed (or two sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed)
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon OJ
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  

Equipment:

• Crockpot
• Hand mixer
• Large bowl
  

Procedure:

1. Lightly grease slow cooker
2. Mix sweet potatoes, margarine, sugar, brown sugar in a bowl.
3. Beat in eggs, milk, and OJ.
   
4. Transfer to slow cooker.
   
5. Mix pecans, 1/3 cup brown sugar, flour, and 2 tbsp margarine.
   
6. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours.
   

Slow Cooker Challenge

So next week, I'm meeting with my moot court team, dealing with Christmas, and undertaking a Challenge.
The challenge will be to use our slow cooker all 5 nights of the week. This is not a very big challenge, but usually when we menu-plan, at least one thing gets clipped.
So far the possibilities I have assembled for the week are these (from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes):
-Mushroom and Artichoke Lasagna
-Tofu in Indian-Spiced Tomato Sauce
-Rigatoni with Fennel and Spicy Peppers
-Cheesy White Chili with Cauliflower
-Cider Baked Beans
-New Potato Curry
from Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes
-Arroz Con Queso
-Sweet potato casserole
-Company Chicken Casserole (what should I substitute for cream of chicken soup? Creamy silken tofu? Cream of celery soup? Heavy cream? I think all of these are possibilities. Cream of mushroom and cream of brocolli are not opitons. Maybe it would be good with a creamy tomato soup)
There are others out there. The only rule is that it can't be something I've made before. There is also nothing stopping me from maximizing our available slow-cookers. We are currently housing a guest slow-cooker, so if we really need to we'll use that. But I think I'll do the cider beans and sweet potato casserole one night because that sounds like a good combination.

T-2 Days: Recipes

Here is the tutorial I used to make vegetable stock. Combined with some onions, garlic, and celery and stuffing mix, it'll make great stuffing.
What else is on the table on Thursday?
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes with Rosemary
Ingredients:
2.5-5lbs redskin potatoes
4 cloves garlic, sliced
.75 c. vegetable broth
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
pepper
Equipment:
Slow cooker
Procedure:

Place in the slow cooker. Add garlic, broth and rosemary. Stir. Cook and cook on high until potatoes are tender, about 3-4 hours. Pour in milk and sour cream, mash. Serve right away or adjust the setting to low to keep warm until you are ready to serve.

Green beans with Almonds
Eggplant with goat cheese (recipe to come, depending on deliciousness.)

Sweet Potato Tacos

My boyfriend's ex-girlfriend gave him a slow-cooker cookbook (and Indiana Jones!!!) for his birthday.
This recipe is one of my favorites. Who would have thought that sweet potatoes are deliciously fantastic in tacos?
Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1 1/2 tsps ground cumin
• 1 large sweet pototo, peeled and diced
• 1 can black beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed and drained
• Shredded monteray jack cheese
• Flour tortillas

Equipment

• 4-6 quart slow cooker
• Prep bowls

Procedure

1. Combine spices in a small bowl.
   
2. Layer ingredients in the slow cooker in the following order: sweet potato, beans, half of spice mix, garlic, onion, pepper, remaining spice mix, corn.
   
3. Cover and cook on Low for 5 hours or until delicious.
   
4. Pile into tacos, add cheese, eat.
   

Ode to my Slow Cooker (mashed sweet potatoes).

I purchased a 6 quart slow cooker last fall before thanksgiving to better manage the stress of the holidays. It is wonderful for all sorts of things, from mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top to barbeque pulled pork. The best thing about it is that it has low, high, and keep warm settings.
The recipe for mashed sweet potatoes is easy and straightforward, and perfect for February with its dark days.
Ingredients

1. 3-4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed.
   
2. cinnamon
3. 1/2 cup applesauce
4. 1/2 cup brown sugar
   
5. 1/3 cup raisins (optional)
   
6. mini-marshmallows

Equipment

1. 6 quart slow cooker

Procedure

1. Peel and cube potatoes
2. Put in slow cooker (greased with butter or oil).
   
3. Add applesauce, brown sugar, and raisins.
   
4. Stir together.
   
5. Allow to cook for 6-8 hours on low, 4-6 on high.
   
6. Top with mini-marshmallows about 20 minutes before serving.
   

If the potatoes are looking too runny/liquidy, remove the lid and turn the heat up to high to cook off the liquid. Then add marshmallows.