Vegetable Schnitzel with Creamed Spinach

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Originally uploaded by jennifermf

I'm almost embarrassed to post this recipe, because it's so freaking easy! But it's one of my favorite dinners, so I wanted to share it with you.

Over mashed potatoes, this is vegetable schnitzel with creamed spinach, inspired by a (presumably not vegan) dish at a German restaurant near us in our new home in East Bay, California.

First, prepare the schnitzel. Preheat your oven to 350f. For two people (plus a generous lunch the next day), I washed, peeled, and sliced two beets, one very long yam, four asparagus spears, and half a head of cauliflower. Slices were 1/2-1" thick (thicker slices take longer to cook), and i kept them piled in a bowl while i prepared the dip and batter.

Dip:
1 cup non-dairy milk of your choice
1 tbsp garlic aioli (or vegan mayo)

Mix well until the milk (i used soy milk) thickens. The aioli adds a nice garlic touch, but really it's not necessary. you could also use plain soy milk, but thicker liquids allow for more breading to stick. And I love breading.

You'll need about 1.5 cups of bread crumbs (I used plain whole wheat crumbs) for all these veggies. If you like, you can add salt and pepper, but I was feeling bland.

To assemble:

Dip each veggie slice in the soy milk mixture and then coat generously with bread crumbs. (ProTip: Dip the beets last, or you'll turn your mixture bright red. Which then turns cauliflower pink. Trust me.) Place on a large baking sheet, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Turn the slices with tongs or a fork, and bake for another 25 minutes. The veggies will be soft enough to pierce with a fork, but won't fall apart on their own.

While the veggies begin to schtnizel, wash, peel, and chop about 2.5 lbs of potatoes, and boil in a pot of lightly salted water for about 20-25 minutes.

Depending on how fast you peel and chop, the veggies should be ready to be turned and to cook for their second 25 minutes. Once they're back in the oven, you can start the creamed spinach.

Creamed Spinach Ingredients:

one bunch fresh spinach (about 6 cups of chopped leaves?), stems removed
2 tbsp Earth Balance non-dairy butter
1 tbsp flour (or cornstarch)
small pinch of nutmeg
1 cup soy milk (or your favorite milk)
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon vegetable concentrate (or one vegetable stock cube)

Wash the spinach and let it drain while getting the cream sauce ready. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and nutmeg and dissolve in the melted butter (about one minute). Slowly add the milk (and Better than Bouillon) and mix well. Once the mixture's thickened a little bit (2-4 minutes or so), turn the heat down to low, add all the spinach (it'll be a tight fit), cover the pot, and let the spinach wilt down for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to coat the spinach with the cream sauce. I don't like my spinach completely decimated when I eat it, so I stopped at this point and took it off the heat. However, if you like yours cooked more, feel free to continue wilting until you're content.

While the spinach is wilting, I mash the potatoes with a potato masher (if you're high tech, feel free to use a mixer). I mash potatoes based on my mood: last night I only added about a quarter tub of Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream, because I've been on this crazy sour cream kick, although sometimes I'll just add Earth Balance, or just a little soy milk to moisten them up. And sometimes I add a little of everything just to fatten those suckers up. ;)

To serve, put mashed potatoes on a plate, lean several slices of veggies against the mashed potatoes, and put creamed spinach over the potatoes and veggies.

Overall, this is a low fat comfort food type dinner. For more protein, you could schnitzel some tofu or tempeh (or your favorite meat analogue). I meant to, just to try it, but it slipped my mind, and I went a little crazy with all the veggies anyway. The creamed spinach could be made without the margarine, if you'd like to eliminate the fat (just dissolve cornstarch in cold soy milk and heat to thicken). For allergies, Earth Balance has a new Soy-Free blend that's even more delicious than the original. One of these days I'm going to experiment with gluten-free bread crumbs, just to see how that works out, but for now I'm enjoying Whole Foods' brand Whole Wheat crumbs. To low-carb it, you could eliminate the crumbs entirely (or coat in soy or quinoa flour), and have naked schnitzel. I believe schnitzel is traditionally fried in oil, but frying is so messy, and so bad for my tummy.

iron skillet pot pie

i recently bought a cast iron skillet because i've heard such great things about them, and that they can be as great as nonstick, when properly seasoned. i have one nonstick pan i'm phasing out of use, so this cast iron skillet will be its replacement. i love that they can go in the oven, too!

this is a veggie pot pie base covered in biscuits and baked in the oven. i will tell you up front you'll have to find your own biscuit recipe, and i highly recommend the one from the joy of vegan baking, because it's the absolute best biscuit recipe i've ever found. the whole book is fantastic. that said, here's how to make the rest of the pot pie:

ingredients:

2 cups cold water
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried thyme or 1 tbsp fresh thyme
6-8 white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and diced,
1 cup chopped carrots (i used baby carrots)
1 cup frozen peas
2 cubes vegetable bouillon, or use 2 cups broth instead of water.

directions:

gently warm the cast iron skillet to low and then medium-low heat. mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and set aside. in olive oil, sautee the garlic and mushrooms until the mushrooms release their juices. add the thyme, potato, and carrots and saute until the potatoes start to turn a little golden. add the water or broth with cornstarch mixture, and stir until it starts to boil (you may need to increase the heat for this, or just be patient), then add the bouillon, if using it. once the mixture starts to thicken, add the frozen peas and turn down (or off) the heat.

make your biscuit dough and drop biscuit-sized lumps evenly over the skillet, and bake the biscuits in the skillet, on the pot pie mix, according to the recipe's directions (keeping in mind that most skillets can't be used over a certain temp in the oven). you may need to adjust the cooking time by a couple minutes.

enjoy!

variation: my husband loved this, but said it needed corn. i suggest adding a cup of frozen corn to this mix, which i will do next time.

zucchini waffles

my mother-in-law's garden is overflowing with delicious vegetables!

she told me i can use zucchini and summer squash any way i'd use any other squash i decided to put that challenge to the test. yellow zucchini keep these waffles from getting too dark or greenish, and they crisp up on the oustide and stay moist on the inside. they're so delicious!

this recipe makes a LOT of waffles, so you might want to halve it. i love leftover waffles for breakfast or snacks the next day, so i'm happy to have leftovers, or you can do what we also do, and store extra batter in the fridge for fresh waffles all week long.

ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt
1/3 cup brown sugar (or regular for less color)
2 cups vanilla soymilk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 cups pureed yellow zucchini

directions:

mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the liquid ingredients, mixing well until only tiny lumps remain. fold in the pureed zucchini and mix just until blended.

cook according to your waffle maker's directions.

in my experience, waffle batter will keep for about 5 days in the fridge.

note: i pureed my own zucchini by washing the zucchini, chopping off each end, and throwing chunks into my food processor. since zucchini isn't really that moist (at least ours isn't, it's been a really dry summer), i added 2-3 tablespoons of water to keep the blades going. you may need to adjust the liquid in your batter accordingly if you do this too, or don't have to do it.

note #2: this recipe works great with pumpkin! you just might want to add a touch more oil, up to 1/3 cup.

roasted veggies

while this isn't technically a recipe, it's still darned tasty-- and really easy. i've been trying to keep some gall bladder pains under control until i can get things situated (the joys of being uninsured in america), and consequently i've renewed my interest in eating lots of delicious veggies and low-fat foods.

this was my first attempt at cooking beets myself! i'm proud of how they came out and they were requested a second night! here are roasted beets and carrots, with asparagus.

roasted root veggies

in this photo, beets and carrots were roasted! i peeled and cut the beets into about 2cm cubes (give or take), and drizzled with a little olive oil and maple syrup in a glass baking dish. i salted them with sea salt, and tossed them to mix. i baked them at 400f for 45 minutes, turning half-way through. i cheated with the carrots since they were leftover steamed plain carrots-- 5 minutes before the beets were done, i tossed these in to re-heat them. make sure the beets are fork tender (but will still be firm) before serving.

i've since tried this with beets, carrots, and parsnips-- the parsnips take on the color of the beets when roasting together. if you'd like, roast stuff separate, and toss together before serving to keep the colors vibrant. but the purple is pretty and i don't mind.

roasted asparagus

i chop the ends off asparagus and give them a good washing. lay them in a glass baking dish and lightly drizzle with olive oil, salt with sea salt, and toss a bit with tongs. roast at 400f for about 20 minutes, flipping with tongs half-way through.

i served the asparagus, beets, and carrots with pomegranate bbq tofu from vegan with a vengeance, a huge favorite around here. (the bbq sauce is good on the asparagus, too!)