Sunday, September 14, 2014

A day late and a dollar short.

Sorry for skipping yet another day of MoFo. I really have no excuse other than laziness, because while I was off yesterday for the Replacements concert, I ended up spending the day doing laundry and binge-watching Criminal Minds.

I owe one more day for Mystery Box, even though it appears Chelsea over at Suzie V. Homemaker skipped it also, so I'll wrap up last week and kick off this week with the same recipe.


For Saturday: Your recipe must include two of the following ingredients: artichokes, spinach, peas, and oyster mushrooms.


Well, even though I have a week til payday, I realized yesterday that I've burned through a lot of my last check with this MoFo business. I have a fridge full of leftovers, but needing to go get all new stuff every day wrung me out pretty quick. I was sad that I couldn't get a t-shirt last night (although I heard the wait was an hour plus at the merch table). I decided to head to Target instead of Whole Foods today, and that's where I came up with a theme for this week when I saw these:

In addition to the Korean Barbecue Chicken, they also had Smoky Chipotle Chicken, and Miso Mushroom Turkey (which I decided to use tonight).

I read a lot of opinions about vegan meats from every person, be they vegan or not. If a vegan eats them, the omnivore sometimes assumes that we need meat and it's our bodies "speaking to us" or I've even heard--multiple times--the "if you don't like meat, why are you eating something that looks and tastes just like it" as if, you know, how dare we. Then I hear from vegans who say things like, "Well, it's okay for new vegans as they transition." Okay. So, I guess I've been transitioning for eight years because I still love this stuff. Also, I didn't go vegan because I didn't like meat, cheese, ice cream, eggs, etc. I loved all of it. I just could no longer justify killing animals for something that's just not needed. And these days, it's even easier. They didn't have Gardein when I went vegan, and Target definitely wasn't putting out their own line of Gardein-type products. Anyone who says it's too hard to be vegan should know that I made it, and I can't stick to anything. It was fairly easy back then, but now, it's ridiculous how many choices there are.

That said, I'm going to do a week of vegan meat dishes, starting with this wrap-up for Mystery Box. 



Miso Mushroom Turkey Hotdish
makes six servings

1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped 
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I didn't get oyster, but had some criminis left over)
2 tsp minced garlic
olive oil for sauteeing

1/2 pound farfalle or other shaped pasta, cooked and rinsed in cool water
1 package of Target's Simply Balanced Miso Mushroom Meatless Turkey, prepared with the sauce set aside
1 14oz can quartered artichoke hearts
1 cup peas
5-6 oz fresh spinach
splash of white wine 
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup walnuts
2 slices bread, toasted and ripped up
1 tbsp nutritional yeast 
pinch salt

Heat oven to 375°.

In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil. Cook the veggies and garlic until soft. Add spinach, splash of wine, and cook until the spinach is wilted. Combine sauteed veggies with the peas, pasta, turkey, artichoke hearts, sauce packets, and thyme. Stir in sour cream until well distributed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Dump into a casserole dish.

In a blender, grind up the ripped up toast, walnuts, nooch, and salt. Sprinkle over the casserole. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust starts to turn brown. Let sit for about five minutes, and serve.

  

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