Jamie demonstrates the two basic techniques for using a pestle and mortar, bashing and muddling. He demonstrates how to grind spices with both muddling and bashing. He then creates a wonderful flavored oil by bashing fresh basil leaves and mixing them with olive oil. Finally, he makes a marinade by bashing lemon peel, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil. You can almost smell and taste his dressing, flavored oil, and marinade just by watching his video. Learning how to use a pestle and mortar is definitely a skill worth developing. Continue reading
Category Archives: Recipes
Cooking with Herbs by Jamie Oliver
Jamie uses several different herbs, which are great for both flavor and health, to show how to harvest the herbs from their stems, and how to chop/cut them to release their flavors for use. He provides tips such as – running herbs under warm water for about 7 seconds to loosen up their natural oils and increase their flavor. Also, picking small leaves and placing them in a cup of water keeps them fresh and perky, ready to be used as a delicious and attractive garnish on your finished plate. Try these simple techniques and take your cooking skills to a higher level. Continue reading
Vegetarian Salisbury Steaks Casserole Style by Margaret Meyer
Margaret has been making this recipe for over 20 years. Her family likes it, and when she takes it to pot luck dinners, it disappears quickly. She makes hamburger type patties with a mixture of blended pecans, garlic, and onions, to which she adds extra firm tofu, nutritional yeast, Braggs Amino, onion powder, and rolled oats. She grills her patties, places them in a casserole dish, covers them with store bought vegan gravy, and bakes them. Easy to do. Healthy and delicious. Enjoy. Continue reading
Smothered Kale & Mushrooms by Rachael Ray
Rachael demonstrates a dish with very healthy ingredients, mushrooms and kale. She starts by simply sauteing sliced crimini mushrooms. But, rather than leaving them open in a heated pan as in a typical sauteing process, she presses down on them with the lid of a sauce pan that fits into the saute pan. She adds kale and presses down on it too. She calls it smothering them. She deglazes the pan with some Marsala wine. This simple process creates a healthy and delicious side dish. Enjoy. Continue reading
Grilled Vegetable Focaccia Sandwich by Maithily Kale
Maithily demonstrates how to make a delicious sandwich with grilled vegetables and crunchy focaccia bread. The main ingredients are bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini which she marinades with olive oil and spices. She assembles the grilled vegetables with grated cheese on focaccia bread, and toasts it in a panini grill. This is a great sandwich for lunch or cut in smaller sections as an appetizer. For those who wish to make it a vegan sandwich, simply use non dairy cheese. Enjoy. Continue reading
Creamy Potato Curry Soup by Kylie Bennett
Kylie’s soup contains russet potatoes, onions, coconut oil, ginger, garlic, curry powder, vegetable broth, and cashew cream. Her video clearly shows the simple steps to make this soup. Interestingly, instead of using olive oil for sauteing her onions, etc., she uses coconut oil, which is supposed to be healthier than other plant oils when cooking with oil at high temperatures as in sauteing vegetables. This is another easy to make healthy soup that could also be made ahead. Enjoy. Continue reading
Fettuccine Alfredo by Jon (Vegan Zombie)
Here is an Alfredo recipe that does not include any animal products. Jon demonstrates his version by creating a mixture of sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic, capers, scallions, and tofu. He creates his Alfredo sauce starting with a roux made with olive oil, and flour to which he adds Almond milk and some of his sauteed vegetables and scallions. He tosses his Alfredo sauce with vegan fettuccine pasta, tops it with some of his sauteed mushroom, onion, capers and tofu mixture, and fresh scallions. Try this recipe with a good salad, and some wine. Enjoy. Continue reading
Exotic Mango and Jicama Salad with a Peanut Lime Dressing by Ingrid Hoffmann
This delicious salad includes mangoes, radishes, mixed greens, jicama, and cilantro. Ingrid tops it with a peanut lime dressing, which includes peanut butter, light brown sugar, canola oil, lime, and a splash of water. This is a fast and easy salad to make. It’s got lots of flavor and crunch. Enjoy.
Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup by Whitney Lauritsen
Whitney’s soup is filled with healthy ingredients and is very easy and economical to make. This recipe can be made in a large pot or even a slow cooker for those who want to set it and forget it. It’s healthy ingredients include vegetable broth, onions, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, garlic, dried oregano, smoked paprika, yellow split peas, sweat potatoes, bay leaf, green onions, frozen peas. Whitney uses vegetable broth instead of oil to saute the vegetables. As she suggests, you could add or substitute vegetables as you wish. And, this is another recipe that can be made ahead for use later. Enjoy. Continue reading
Roasted Vegetables with Pasta by Bob McD (Member Cook on AllRecipes.com)
This is a very simple recipe tossing roasted vegetables with pasta. It’s easy to make and healthy. It’s ingredients include tomato, red bell peppers, roasted garlic, mushrooms, asparagus, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, olive oil, parmesan cheese, fettuccine pasta, and tapenade. Serve this dish with hard crusty bread and a salad. If you wish, you can substitute a vegan alternative for the parmesan cheese. And, you could add or substitute different healthy vegetables. Enjoy. Continue reading