5 Fabulous Meatless Meals

The Hungry Lovers have been looking for meatless Monday inspiration, especially since we're in the glorious days of summer garden bounty. This summer in particular, the produce seems more abundant and luscious than many years. This is a perfect time of year to explore new vegetarian meals.

I've rounded up some tasty meat-free meals for you to try, from some food sites we enjoy reading. If you'd like, please share with us your favorite meatless dishes, too. We always love trying something new.

Capasso Kitchen, Broccoli with carrots and cashews. We love a stir fry. We REALLY love cashews.

Honey B's and Birch Trees, Spicy Black Bean Burgers. "Spicy" and "Black Bean". Two of our favorite food words.

Bon Appetempt, Almond Tofu with Snap Peas and Soba Noodles. I bet this is fabulous with peanut butter, too.

The Reluctant Bean, Barbecue Lentil Sandwiches. You know they're good when teenagers are wolfing them down.

LaaLoosh, Lemon Spinach Chickpea Pasta. Laaloosh creates dependably awesome recipes that are healthy and Weight Watchers-friendly. 

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Paella (Saffron Rice with Chicken and Seafood)

Joe and I have talked about making this signature dish from Spain for a long time, but paella always seemed so daunting. I mean, the list of ingredients is huge, and the explanations for preparing all the seafood seemed like too much bother. And then there's the special paella pan, a wide shallow skillet that traditionally Spaniards used over an open fire.

Our Spain/Portugal cookbook has two pages of directions for this recipe, but it also told us we were overthinking the whole dish. At its heart, the recipe for paella is basically a rice stew with seafood, vegetables, and meat, and cooks probably threw in whatever they had at home or whatever was fresh or on sale. The cookbook has a photo of a family cooking this over a little bonfire in a park, and then eating it straight out of the pan.

So here's our recipe. I'm not going to get all Julia Child on you and describe how to cook a live lobster or scrub the beards off mussels. Choose the things you like or look good at the store, then be sure to savor each one of the flavors and scents as you cook the stew - it really is an experience! Next time you make it, the mix will probably be completely different.

P.S. This makes a big pot of paella. It's perfect for a bunch of friends. If you get each of them to chop one ingredient, it will all come together quickly.

Ingredients

2 lbs meat: cut-up chicken pieces, serrano ham, hard garlicky sausage such as andouille, salami or Spanish chorizo, bacon, boneless pork

2 lbs. seafood: raw shrimp, lobster, clams, mussels, snails, crawfish, calamari, crab claws, and cubes of firm-fleshed fish

4 cups vegetables: peas, sweet pepper strips, hot peppers, garlic, chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, and green beans

1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1 tsp ground saffron or turmeric
1 tbsp hot paprika
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 bay leaves, crumbled
6 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups short-grain Spanish rice
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a big, shallow pan, brown the fresh meat in half the oil, then set aside on a warm platter. Saute the vegetables in the remaining oil. Prepare the shellfish as needed, then add to the sauteing vegetables. Cook 3 minutes, then remove all to the platter with the chicken; keep warm.

Heat the broth with the wine, saffron and paprika. Bring to a boil, then keep it hot until ready to use. Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Saute the rice with the remainder of the oil so that it's coated and slightly browned. Pour in the broth, bay leaves, and parsley. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, then add the vegetables, meat, and seafood, pressing the large pieces into the rice.

Place the skillet in a 325 degree oven, uncovered, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let sit for 10 minutes or so, until the rice absorbs all the liquid and is fluffy and tender. Squeeze the lemon wedges over the rice before serving.

Serves 6-8.

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Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Lasagna

You may have noticed that one of our favorite meatless dinner combos contains mushrooms, caramelized onions, and cheese. These are the besties of Meatless Mondays, and they can show up for dinner anytime. Of course, we shave off a lot of fat by using fat-free dairy and just a tiny amount of oil. If you use Barilla's no-boil lasagna sheets, which are awesome, you save a whole lot of time and don't have to handle those boiling-hot floppy boiled noodles.

Ingredients

For the white sauce

4 cups milk
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp nutmeg

For the lasagna

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

12 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced

2/3 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp thyme leaves, minced

12 sheets Barilla no-cook lasagna sheets (or regular lasagna, cooked)

Directions

Heat the milk and broth in a medium saucepan until nearly simmering. In a separate pan, melt the butter, then whisk in the flour until smooth and slightly browned. Slowly whisk it into the milk, then add the salt, pepper, Parmesan, and nutmeg, and simmer until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes.

Grease a 9x12 baking dish, and heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large frying pan, melt half the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender and slightly browned. Set aside, then melt the rest of the butter and oil. Add the onions and cover for 5 minutes. Remove the lid, then add the sugar, reduce the heat to medium, and saute until soft, brown, and caramelized. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper into the frying pan and cook and stir 2 minutes more.

Spread about 1/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom, then spread with 1/3 of the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with half of the mushroom-onion mixture. Add three more lasagna sheets, then pour in the next 1/3 of the white sauce. Add the last three lasagna noodles and top with the rest of the white sauce. Sprinkle with the remainder of the mushrooms and caramelized onions.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until the lasagna is bubbly and cooked through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. We usually add a little more Parmesan cheese to our individual servings.

Serves 6-8.

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Minnesota Cream of Turkey & Wild Rice Soup

I think this is one of the best ways we've ever used up leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fan of moist white meat on soft white bread, mayo, and a little lettuce for some color. Joe's not giving up his Moist-Maker Thanksgiving sandwich, in which there's an extra piece of bread in the middle soaked in gravy. But this. Oh, I like this a lot.

This recipe started out as a classic Minnesota turkey & wild rice soup from my niece Jackie in Minnesota. That state is the biggest producer of both turkeys and wild rice, which has to be harvested by hand. In Minnesota, Native Americans harvest the rice, and it doesn't sound easy.

Along the research path Joe and I also stopped for a discussion on the brilliant Campbell's Soup Company campaign in the 60s and 70s, where they promoted recipes using their cream soup. Who doesn't remember a casserole or hot dish* that used cream of mushroom soup? The funny thing is, Jackie's husband is in charge of the Progresso Soup line. Maybe someday they'll trademark her recipe.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil

1 large onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

2 peeled carrots, diced

3 cups cooked turkey, diced

4 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth

2 cans cream of chicken soup (we used the low-sodium, low fat kind)

1 can cream of mushroom soup
10 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed (we used the reduced-fat kind)
1 cup cooked wild rice (or more, depending on your taste)

Instructions

Saute the vegetables in the oil until tender. Pour in the broth. Stir in the turkey, wild rice, and soup. Slowly stir in the cheese until melted, and heat until thick and bubbly.

Serves 4-6.

* Click here to learn more about Midwestern food and cream soups - interesting!

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Joe's Crab Cakes

Joe doesn't own Joe's Crab Shack, unfortunately, but his Maryland crab cakes are fabulous. While imitation crab isn't our first choice for making these, they taste surprisingly good in this recipe and are budget-friendly. Canned crab, which you can probably find next to the canned tuna, is also good.

A few weeks ago our local grocery store advertised a great sale on crab sticks. When Joe got to the store, there wasn't a single package in the store. Apparently they were held up on some dock somewhere. Was it a customs problem or maybe contamination? I could write a thriller about the crab embargo; would you read it? Anyway, it's been two weeks now, and the store keeps advertising the sale so I assume they're expecting the crab shipment shortly. I just hope they've been frozen all this time.

Ingredients

1 lb. lump crab meat (or imitation crab - not as good, but not bad!)
1/3 c finely chopped green onion (white onion with some chives)
1/3 c finely chopped celery
1/4 c finely chopped red pepper
1 small clove garlic finely minced
1 egg
3 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 tsp creole seasoning
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 c soft bread crumbs
2 tbsp butter (divided)
2 tbsp olive oil (divided)

Instructions

Rinse and sort crab from small pieces of shell, leaving lumps as large as possible.

Heat 1 tbsp each of butter and olive oil over low heat in a large, preferrably non-stick skillet. Slowly saute the onions until starting to soften for about 3 minutes, then add in the celery and red pepper sauting for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and saute until tender and the onions are just starting to brown, but before the minced garlic burns.

In a small mixing bowl whisk the egg until beaten, then mix in the mayonaise, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and creole seasoning. Fold in the sauteed vegatables and soft bread crumbs, mixing well. Gently stir in the crab meat. Hand form into patties with about 1/2 cup of crab cake mixture, and place on a parchment lined tray/plate. Refrigerate for up to 1 hour (no less than 10 minutes).

Heat the remaining 1 tbsp each of butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat. Carefully place the crab cake patties so they are not touching - about 4 to a skillet at a time. Cook for about 5 minutes then gently flip over and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, checking each side for browness, and making sure they are cooked through. Transfer to a warm platter and cook the remaining crab cakes. Yield - approximately eight 2 1/2" crab cakes.

Serve with wasabi mayonnaise drizzled over cakes, or with a aioli sauce.

Variation: Form into 1" patties and cook as above being careful not to burn. Serve as an appetizer.

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