• 2 tablespoons butter, and
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 3 cups portabella mushrooms or 3 cups cremini mushrooms, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Melt the first amount of butter over medium heat and add the shallot, cook until tender.
2. Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook until tender.
3. Add the broth, wine, and salt and pepper if desired. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat and simmer for about ten minutes.
4. While the sauce is simmering, in a separate pot melt the second amount of butter over medium heat.
5. Stir the flour into the butter until absorbed to make a roux.
6. Pour the mushroom mixture into the roux and bring to a boil, turn down the heat and stir until thickened.
7. Stir in the heavy cream and parmesan cheese, and parsley.
8. This can be served over rice or pasta -- but secretly sometimes I just eat it like a stew by itself with some crusty bread. Yum yum.

Homemade Pierogies

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

Dough:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegan butter (I use olive oil based Earth Balance)
2 eggs replacers (I use Ener G)
1/8 cup vegan sour cream (I use Tofutti)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 prepared recipe mashed potatoes (url=http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=36519.0)
(without rosemary)
1/2 cup vegan cheese (I use Daiya cheddar)

Directions:

1. In a mixer, combine all-purpose flour, butter, eggs replacers, sour cream, salt, and water. Form dough into disk and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Just before hour wait is up, in a medium skillet on medium-low heat, add the olive oil. Saute the onions until translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. Take dough out of fridge, dust counter with flour, and roll out dough with a rolling pin to about 1/4" thick.

3. Cut dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out until it is just a couple millimeters thick. Cut circle with cookie cutter that is about 2" wide. Add cheese and cooked onions to mashed potatoes. Mix well.

4. Place about 1 teaspoon mashed potato mixture in the center of circle. Dip finger in cold water and wipe more than half around the edge of the circle. Fold over and press all the air out sealing the edges. Use a fork to crimp the edges.

5. Freeze overnight on wax paper on a baking sheet so they do not stick. Once frozen, place them in a freezer ziplock bag. To cook, fry in olive oil for 5 minutes on each side until golden brown, grill on grill pan 5 minutes on each side, or bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

I've had bad experience boiling homemade pierogies, so I wouldn't take that route, but you could try to boil them until cooked, 6-7 minutes.

Source of recipe: http://veganmiss.blogspot.com/2011/09/homemade-grilled-potato-onion-cheeze.html

Egg Plant Parmesan

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 (8-ounce) cans no-salt-added tomato sauce
1 (28-ounce) can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (1-pound) eggplants, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup water
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Vegetable cooking spray
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Fresh oregano sprigs (optional)
Preparation
Combine first 7 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes.

Place eggplant in a large bowl; add water to cover, and let stand 30 minutes. Drain well; blot dry with paper towels. Combine 1/4 cup water and egg whites in a shallow bowl. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese; stir well. Dip eggplant in egg white mixture, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture.

Place half of eggplant on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and broil 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Repeat procedure with remaining eggplant. Set eggplant aside.

Spread half of tomato mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange half of eggplant over sauce; top with half of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers with remaining sauce, eggplant, and cheese.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh oregano sprigs, if desired.

Stuffed Shells with Spinach

Ingredients
◦12 oz of large pasta shells/◦2 c ricotta cheese/◦1/3 Parmesan cheese, grated/◦1 c mozzarella cheese/ grated or diced/◦1/3 c fresh parsley/ chopped dash nutmeg/4-5 c Italian tomato sauce note if you a vegan get mock cheese. If you don't want to use cheese at all replace it with Spinach. YUM!

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Boil the pasta shells until done, drain, and set aside.Mix cheeses, parsley, and nutmeg. Put enough tomato sauce into baking dish to cover the bottom. Fill shells and put a single layer in the pan. Cover with sauce, put foil over pan, let bake for 30 minutes. Sorry blogger photo up loader stopped working ill try again tomorrow!

Spinach Noodles

Ingrediants

Spinach Noodles

Janes' Crazy Mixed up salt

Directions
How I love sinach noodles. Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender, about 15-20 minutes; drain. Add that crazy mixed up salt. This so simple, and tasty.

Zucchini Pistou Pasta

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil /2 1/2 cups zucchini (cut roughly penne shaped) /1 cup basil (packed)/ 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated) /1 clove garlic/ 2 tablespoons pine nuts (toasted)/ 1/2 lemon (juice)/ salt and pepper/ 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion (diced)/ 2 cloves garlic (chopped)/ 1/2 pound pasta (I used whole wheat penne)/ 1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)/ 1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Heat the oil in a pan. 2. Add the zucchini and saute until tender, about 5 minutes and set aside. 3. Place 1/3 of the zucchini in a food processor along with the basil, parmigiano reggiano, garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
4. Heat the oil in the pan. 5. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. 6. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute. 7. Add the remaining zucchini and set aside. 8. Meanwhile cook the pasta as directed on the package reserving 1/3 cup of the pasta water when you drain it. 9. Add the reserved pasta water to the food processor and puree it contents. 10. Add the pistou to the pasta along with the zucchini and heavy cream and toss to coat.
11. Serve garnished with parmigiano reggiano and pepper.

Vegetarian Mazo Ball Soup!

INGREDIENTS

For the matzo balls:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (or vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons vegetable stock
1/2 cup unsalted matzo meal
1 tablespoon minced flat leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh dill)
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the broth:
6 cups vegetable stock
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bay leaf
2 green onions, including green parts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Matzo balls: stir together eggs, butter and vegetable stock in a small bowl. Add the matzo meal, parsley, dill and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir until combined. Cover & refrigerate for at least 15 minutes and up to 8 hours.

2. Boil a large pot of water over high heat; add some salt. Using wet hands, make the dough into 12 1-inch balls. Drop the balls, one at a time, into the boiling water. Reduce heat, simmer for 30 minutes. Matzo balls should be plump, tender and cooked.

3. While the matzo balls are being prepared, make the soup. Sauté onion, celery, and carrots in a large pot or oven with olive oil, until vegetables are slightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Add stock and bay leaf and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in parsley and green onions and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf and taste. Adjust seasonings to suit taste.

Serve: spoon a cooked matzo ball into a bowl and ladle soup over them.

Gouloush!!

Ingrediants

2 Bags of Boca/mornig star Ground Beef

or any other vegetarian ground beef

1 small Onion; chopped
1/2 Green bell pepper; chopped
1 jar Spaghetti sauce

8 ounces of elbow macaroni
1/2 cup Water
1 tablespoon Garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 2 1/2 quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray*
In a large skillet, brown ground beef, onion, and green bell pepper over medium-high heat 6 to 8 minutes, Drain off excess liquid. Add spaghetti sauce, macaroni, water, garlic salt, and black pepper; mix well.

Pour the mixture into baking dish. Cover and bake 25 minutes. Uncover; top with Mozzarella cheese and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, or until cheese has melted and casserole is heated through.