Vegetarian Gravy

Just had my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian (which I became about 2 months ago), and other than stuffing from inside the turkey, I decided that the only other thing I would miss was GRAVY. Thus began the hunt for a decent-looking vegetarian gravy recipe. I tried this one and it turned out really well!

http://veggieoption.blogspot.com/2009/11/recipe-vegetarian-gravy.html

Vegetarian Gravy
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3/4 Cup chopped mushroom
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbs butter
2 1/2 Cup vegetable broth (I use McKay's Chicken Style Instant Broth)
2 Tbs soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Amino)
4-5 Tbs flour
salt and pepper to taste


1. Melt butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven and add onion.

2. Sauté onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the onion is softened and browned, about 15 minutes.

3. When onions are browned and beginning to crisp, add mushrooms and garlic and sauté two minutes, stirring constantly.

4. Reduce heat to medium and add vegetable broth and soy sauce. Give everything a good stir, then add flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring between each addition until flour is completely dissolved. Adjust seasoning and continue stirring for 8-10 minutes or until gravy reaches the desired thickness.

NOTE: This turned out rather salty. The raw potato trick helped some, but even better would be using low sodium soy sauce and broth.

Homemade Pesto

This worked a lot better once I realized my Magic Bullet had both a blender blade and a food processor blade. Blending blade = fail. My verdict is MORE GARLIC. Always more garlic! I also added some extra cheese. Tastes rather "green" the day it's made, but is fantastic after that.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

METHOD
1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Sausage and Lentil Soup

A tasty soup that can easily become vegetarian.

Ingredients
1 lb Italian sausage (can also use Italian turkey sausage or veggie italian sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2-3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups dry lentils
black pepper
red pepper flakes
basil
oregano
parsley
thyme


Directions
Brown sausage; drain off fat.
In a large pot combine all ingredients bring to boil.
Reduce heat,cover.
Simmer for about 1 hour or until lentils are tender. Add water if necessary, for desired consistency.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Notes
I originally used 1 tsp of each spice, then dumped more in after it had simmered. Final verdict is that it needed yet more! I'll try a tablespoon of each next time, with perhaps the pepper as an exception, since I use spicy italian sausage to begin with.

Curried Chick Peas and Lentils

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Chickpea-and-Lentil-Curry-L3748.html

It won't let me copy the text, so a link is it. Came out really nicely, despite being short one can of tomatoes. We had it as a main course, but it could also be a side dish. I added a little red pepper to the recipe, and a little extra chili powder too. Delicious. Tastes unhealthy, but totally isn't. Would be great on a pita.