Olive Garden Style Salad Dressing

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

I'm not a real big fan of vinaigrette salad dressings, but I do like the dressing that comes with an Olive Garden Salad. It turns out to be very simple to make, with just 5 ingredients. It takes no time to make this to go with Ravioli de Portabello or Chicken Murphy.  up whenever you have an intense craving in no time flat. This Olive Garden's not-so-secret dressing has a slight zing too it with a subtle creaminess that goes with simple salads. The amounts are to your taste. Expect to do a lot of licking of your fingertips while preparing this.

Ingredients: 

• Italian dressing mix: Make your own for the best results. Just toss together 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 tablespoon garlic salt, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon white sugar, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon dried basil, ¼ teaspoon dried thyme, 1/4 teaspoon celery seed. Store in sealed container to maintain freshness
• Olive Oil: Any kind. You don't need extra virgin oil. Use however much you want to make up or enough to the mostly fill up the cruet or container you're using for storing it.
  
• White vinegar: This doesn't add color to the dressing, just that tangy sour flavor of a good dressing. If you'd like to vary the recipe and the color, try red wine vinegar instead. I like it that way too. Add enough to give it that zing you like without making it being too vinegary. The light touch with the vinegar is part of what makes OG's dressing light and tasty.
  
• Water: Use water to thin out the dressing to your desired consistency. Don't overdo it.
  
• Mayonnaise: Creates a bit of creaminess and mellows the vinegar. Add last to bring it to the flavor you like.
  

Directions:

With just a few ingredients (if you prepare your dry seasoning mix ahead of time), it’s simple to mix up this delicious dressing! In a medium sized bowl whisk together the dry dressing mix, olive oil, red or white vinegar, water and mayonnaise. It is the perfect combination! 

• Mix: You can use a simple whisk to mix this or a blender to really emulsify it.
• Let it rest: Let the flavors marinate in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
• Store it: Store dressing, preferably in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Peak flavor lasts for up to three weeks. Shake well before each use.

 

 

Slow-Cooker Easy "Use Up Your Dried Beans" Chili

I had to transfer the chili from the crockpot to a larger pot because
I put too many beans in it and the swelled up and filled the crockpot
so that I didn't have room for the vegeburger and veges. I had to cook
it down the rest of the way on the stove which is trickier than doing
it in the crockpot. Moral of the story? Only file the crockpot to about
half or two-thirds with beans or you won't have room for the other stuff.

 
Slow-Cooker Easy "Use Up Your Dried Beans" Chili

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 8 hours

Total: 8 hours 20 minutes

This makes a very nice vegetarian chili. We tend toward the milder sorts of chili around my house and for potluck purposes. I have built up an assortment of dried beans in my emergency pantry, so I kind of cleared out the shelves for this recipe. I didn’t really measure the beans so much as dump whatever was left in the bags into the crock pot. Also the veges were something of a catch as catch can. When I buy peppers, onions and such, I chop up any leftover veggies like that and dump them in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. This time I dumped what was left of a bag of onions, a bag of green peppers, a leftover container of Rotel Tomatoes, a half tomato I cut and diced, some poblano peppers diced fine and a smattering of a little hot pepper I had bagged and frozen last spring. The recipe is pretty forgiving. I also dumped a can of diced tomatoes into it since I like my chili with a tomato flavor to it.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 packages of dried pinto beans (soaked for 4 or 5 hours) Pintos are the usual base, but you can toss in other kinds of beans such as those listed below. Almost any beans will do (except maybe garbanzo beans or lentils unless you are really fond of those).
• 1 packages of dried kidney beans, (soaked for 4 or 5 hours)
• 1 package of dried black beans, (soaked for 4 or 5 hours)
• 1 package of dried Navy beans (soaked for 4 or 5 hours)
• 2 cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes (crushed tomatoes are also good if you like your chili tomato-ish) You can even just dice garden fresh tomatoes if your garden happens to be over-producing at the time.
• 2 medium green Bell peppers or poblanos or whatever your favorite pepper happens to be or even whatever you happen to have in the fridge - chopped (about 3 cups chopped)
• 2 medium yellow onions, red onions, or even green onions,, chopped (about 3 cups chopped) I like those Aggie sweet onions, Noonday onions or other sweet onions better than the more sharpish sorts of onions.
• 2 medium cloves garlic, chopped, or you can just sprinkle in a tablespoon or so of garlic powder. I recommend starting with less and adding until you get the flavor you are looking for. I don’t like too much garlic in mine, but everyone has their druthers.
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (again, start with less and work up to the full dose or more. - it kind of depends on how hot you like it).
• 1 tablespoon of cumin. Cumin is another spice you want to add a little, taste it, then add a little more till you get it right.
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano. Oregano is very forgiving, so I just dump it in and add more later if I’m in the mood for oregano.
• Optional: 20 dashes Tabasco sauce (warning – this is VERY optional. I love the smell and taste of Tabasco, but not the heat. Stuff burns my tongue and I like to be able to feel my tongue when I’m eating chili. I’m kind of a No-Alarm chili sort of guy. I like just a little heat, but without the flame.
  Vegeburger (optional)

If adding vegeburger to it:

Brown a can of vegeburger or a bag of Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles with the veggies in olive oil after the beans are thoroughly cooked and simmer for another hour or so.

Directions:

1. I like to do my beans first so that the veggies don’t overcook
2. Fill the crock pot with beans, cover with water and add the dry spices, stirring it into the uncooked beans. Fire up the crockpot on low and let it cook for 8 hours. You can start it up in the morning and let it simmer while you’re off at work or, as I prefer to do, start it up at night and let it cook straight through till morning.
3. When the beans are almost done, brown the vegeburger (if you are using vegeburger) and sautee the frozen or chopped vegetables with the vegeburger or by themselves if you’re not using vegeburger. Hold back on adding the Tabasco to the beans (if you are going to use Tabasco Sauce that is). When the beans are edible but could stand another hour or two to cook to a more tender state, add the vegeburger/vegetable mix and give it an hour or so to finish.
4. Here’s the fun part if you’re the cook. Taste the chili to see if the beans are done and to determine if you need to add more spices. This is the part where the hand of the cook is most important. You can play with the flavor more easily because you are slow cooking the chili and don’t have to be in a hurry. If you add additional spices, they’ll have time to be absorbed into the beans and give your chili that “Wow!” factor.
5. The cool part of crock pot cooking for potlucks is you can plug it in at church and leave it on low during Sabbath morning services, then when it comes time to serve, simply lift out the crock from the heating part, set it on a hot pad with a handy ladle and you’re ready to go.,

Serving suggestions:

• Straight up – Just pour it in a bowls and eat it. You can add crackers or cornbread if you like. This is lovely stuff and you can have it as hot as you like. I’ve been known to add a gentle smattering of jalapenos when I brown the vegeburger to give this stuff a little kick, but mostly I don’t because of the gentler stomachs in the family
• Topped - This chili is lovely with all sorts of toppings like diced avocado, fresh or dried cilantro, chopped raw onions, sour cream (vegan if you must), grated cheddar or Monterey jack cheese (or even vegan cheese if that’s your desire). Tabasco or Tapatio sauce or some jalapenos can be added to your individual bowl if you like it spicy hot.
• 

  Frito Chili Pie

  Frito Chili Pie - You can make a simple instant Frito Chili Pie by dumping Fritos in a bowl, pouring nice warm chili over it and covering with grated cheese or any other toppings over it. If you’d like you can lay down a bed of Fritos, cover it with beans and cheese and bake it in the oven till the cheese bubbles. This works really well for a potluck dish as you can bake it in a casserole dish and tuck it in with the other casseroles at the potluck for a nice Tex-Mex surprise.
• Haystacks – This recipe also serves as the beans and vegeburger part of traditional Adventist potluck haystacks – the sort where one bunch brings the chips, another brings the cheese and someone brings the beans. Just make up a big crockpot or two of this stuff and there’s your contribution to the Adventist haystack experience. This chili recipe makes really wonderful haystacks.
• Frozen -  The great thing about this stuff is that you can put the leftovers (if any) into ziplock freezer bags and toss it in the freezer.  I divided this batch into enough per bag to give us two bowls of chili per bag.  When we want chili, we just thaw it out in the fridge overnight or gently heat it in the microwave or a pan of hot water to loosen the chili, then slide it into a microwave safe bowl and then defrost it using the defrost settings. You can also heat it up in an electric skillet on low without burning it.

© 2019 by Tom King

Vege-Macaroni Burger Corn Casserole

Here's a quick and highly adaptable macaroni casserole. I had some microwavable macaroni, some Grillers Crumbles and a can of soup, so this recipe was a big GO!  I added a couple of things that I liked but you might not so I put it in parentheses. This one can be done on Friday and kept in the fridge till potluck Sabbath. It doesn't take long in the oven either.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz.macaroni
• 4-6 oz Velveeta cheese
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 bag Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles, Loma Linda Vegeburger or Worthington Vegeburger
• 1 can whole kernel corn drained
• 1 8 oz can tomato soup
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 to 1 can mild Rotel tomatoes (optional)
• Club cracker crumbs, French-fried onions, or crushed potato chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet, saute' the onion and green peppers until tender, add Recipe Crumbles and cook till done.
3. Prepare elbow macaroni per the directions and drain.
4. In large bowl, mix drained macaroni, Recipe Crumbles or vegeburger, onions, peppers, corn, tomato soup, salt, garlic powder and Rotel (if desired).
5. Stir and add a little water if the mixture is too dry.
6. Pour mixture into large casserole.  Grate Velveeta or thin slice it to cover the top of the casserole. 
7. Sprinkle crumbled crackers or French-fried onions or crushed potato chips over the top of the casserole. I like to drizzle a little ketchup on top for decorative purposes.
8. Put into the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until cheese is melted and is lightly browned on top.

Serving suggestions:

Cover the dish with foil and let cool before storing overnight in the fridge. Heat in the oven before serving for potluck. All you need is a big spoon.

Bon' Apetit

Tom
© 2018

Pat Fine's Vege-Cheese Burger Loaf

Pat Fine was a pastor's wife Sheila knew back in Monroe, Louisiana when she was a new Adventist. Pat was an incredible vegetarian cook. Sheila collected a lot of recipes from Pat and we've never tried one of them that wasn't delicious. I made this up today and it was almost entirely eaten up before I could get a picture. It's an easy recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 19 oz can of Loma Linda or Worthington Vegeburger, Redi-Burger or 1 package of Morningstar Farms Grillers Crumbles
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 slice toasted bread crumbled up fine
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 onion chopped fine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tsp butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp oregano

Direction:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix vegeburger or crumbles with sage, bread crumbs, garlic powder, sage, eggs, salt and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
3. Caramelize onions by sauteeing in olive oil 
4. Add sauteed onions to vegeburger mix
5. Melt butter in 9x12 casserole dish in oven
6. Spread vegeburger mix in casserole dish and cook for 5-10 minutes
7. Mix ketchup and oregano in a small bowl
8. Take out casserole and spread ketchup/oregano mixture over the top
9. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the vegeburger loaf
10. Cook for 15 minutes or until the mixture gets firm, the cheese melted, and the edges bubble.

Serving Suggestions:

Serves 8 or 4 really hungry people. It's good with potatoes (baked or mashed), green beans or broccoli, carrots or salad or maybe Cole slaw. Some fresh hot rolls are all you need to top the meal off. Also, it can be a stand-alone potluck dish, prepared on Friday and heated up during services for a potluck lunch.  Enjoy.


Tom

Stuffed Peppers

Roasted a couple of ears of corn along with the peppers.

I was planning on doing something else this week, but on Friday I happened upon someone with a crate of very nice green Bell peppers they were giving away, so I accepted ten of them with a vague notion of chopping and freezing them or, perhaps, stuffing them. I found a plethora of recipes online, so I cobbled together my own vegetarian version and it came out rather well. It was a bit tomato-ish for Sheila, but her digestive system is a wreck, so pay no attention to her negativity.

The recipe requires the following:

Ingredients:  (Multiply as needed)

• Four (or multiples thereof) Bell Peppers (any color is okay)
• Salt (to taste - I just went with the salt I used to cook the rice)
• 5 Tbsp olive oil (it's virginity level is up to you)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 bag Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles or a can of vegeburger (LL, Worthington, etc.) 
• 1 1/2 cup of cooked rice (I made half brown/half white rice)
• 1 can chopped tomatoes, (drain liquid from the can)
• 1 tbsp oregano (chopped, powdered or dried - go lighter on the powdered)
• 1/2 cup Mozarella Cheese (optional)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
• Dash of Tabasco sauce (super optional)

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to directions. Adding a dash of olive oil and red wine vinegar keeps it from being sticky. Preheat the oven to 350º.
2. Remove the tops and cut out the seedy bits of the Bell peppers. Steam them till they soften. You can put them in a steamer for 8-10 minutes or do as I did and bake them for 10 - 17 minutes to soften them.
3. Saute' the onions in a large skillet or electric skillet. Once they start to soften, add the Recipe Crumbles or vegeburger and brown lightly. 
4. Add the rice and chopped tomatoes to the mixture and stir in. Add the mozarella and let it melt into the rice/vegeburger mixture.
5. There are two ways to do the ketchup and Worcestershire Sauce. One is to mix it up in a bowl with a little bit of water (less than a quarter cup) and mix about half into the stuffing. The other is to wait and ladle it over the peppers after they are stuffed. I put half into the stuffing and saved the rest to put on top of the stuffed peppers.
6. Stuff the peppers with the vegeburger/rice mixture. Put a spoonful of the ketchup/Worcester/optional Tabasco mixture on top of the peppers. 
7. Place in casserole dish and bake 40-50 minutes till they look like the picture above.
   Serving Suggestions:
   
   Serve with another vegetable or salad and maybe some rolls. The peppers look a little wrinkly, but they taste good. You can play with the spices a little bit. Me, I'd have added a little Tabasco, but then I like the pepper flavor and a little heat with some dishes.
   
   If you have a late summer harvest of green peppers, you can make up multiple batches of the stuffing mix, core the peppers and make as many as you'd like to. It's kind of ambitious, but it's a nice single dish for a potluck. 
   
   
   © 2017 by Tom King
   
   
   
    

Vegeburger Marzetti

Vegeburger Marzetti

This recipe comes from Sandy Hancock Weir who comes from my little Adventist college home town - the home of many an excellent vegetarian recipe. I'm going to make this one soon and I'll get back to you on my personal opinion, but in reviewing the ingredients and preparation techniques, I see no way this won't taste absolutely wonderful. Sandy says this one is a family favorite and you can hardly go wrong with someone's family's favorite Adventist potluck recipe. Sandy thoughtfully sent along photos of the stages of the Marzetti-making process. I love Adventists cooks. No one prepares food with more love and enthusiasm. Don't you just love living in America where a Texas Adventist gal of English lineage is an expert cook with an Italian dish as her specialty? Now THAT is how the melting pot works!

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium onion (finely chopped)
• ½ cup chopped celery
• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 1 can Worthington^® Burger
• 2-14.5 oz can Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes with
• Rosemary & Oregano or Basil, Garlic & Oregano (I use one of each)
• 1-2.25 oz can Black Olives - sliced
• 1-6 oz jar Mushrooms - sliced
• 3 cups Cooked Barilla^® Thin Spaghetti
• 1-32 oz bag Grated yellow cheese

Directions:

1. Use a Dutch oven to cook the spaghetti. When done drain and set aside. 
2. Using the same pan, add the onion and celery and simmer in oil until soft. 
3. Add burger, tomatoes (and juice), mushrooms, black olives and spaghetti. 
4. Fold mixture together until well mixed. 
5. Spoon ½ of mixture in a large baking dish and cover with a layer of grated yellow cheese. 
6. Pour remaining mixture over cheese and top with another layer of cheese. 
7. Bake at 350^◦ for 40-50 minutes. 
8. Let sit for 5-10 minutes after you take it out of the oven to let the cheese harden. It is hard to get out of the dish otherwise.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve with a salad, Italian dressing, garlic toast or French bread, and a drink.

Serves 12-15 at potluck - (Less if served at home, and using larger portions)

©  2017 by and with thanks to Sandy Wier, San Antonio, TX for the recipe. 

Ten Layer Mushroom Lasagna

You could call this a "Dump" Lasagna, as it is made with a lot of stuff I had lying around the house and is loosely adapted from a Campbell Soup label recipe. It's actually pretty good right out of the oven and probably will taste better after it sits overnight in the fridge and is reheated. If you are not a mushroom fan, there are plenty of ways to substitute the elements of this recipe (see "Variations" below). It's not as hard to make as you think and doesn't take very long to put together. And most of us vegetarian cooks have most of this stuff already in our pantries.

First three layers - noodles, cottage cheese and sauce

This recipe is an equal opportunity offender. The recipe uses milk, mozzarella, provolone, and cottage cheeses (which upsets the anti-dairy Vegans), pasta with gluten (which sends the anti-gluten crowd into low Earth orbit), and sets off the anti-mushroom folk with it's use of mushrooms and mushroom soup (which sets off the anti-salt faction). It uses vegeburger which sets off the anti-soy crowd. One would think I set out to make a dish that is certain to draw criticism. Actually, I just like lasagna and don't care what the food Nazis think. It's healthier than lasagna with hamburger or Italian sausage in it, so I am content.

Lasagna is a fun dish to get creative with if you have any head at all for substitutions. You could, for instance, substitute fresh spinach for fresh mushrooms. You can take out the cottage cheese if you want and just use the mushroom soup sauce or do it the other way round. You probably shouldn't substitute chocolate chips for the vegeburger, though. That would be silly.

Have fun with this and see you at potluck!

Ingredients:

Layers 4 & 5 - Sliced Provolone & slice mushrooms

• Sliced black olives
• 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 bag Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles
• 1/4 chopped onion
• 1/2 chopped Bell Pepper
• 1 can Mushroom soup 
• 1/4 cup milk
• 9 Lasagna noodles 
• Sliced fresh mushrooms or small jar of mushrooms drained
• 2 slices Provolone Cheese (or more mozzarella)
• 1/2 large carton cottage cheese  

Directions:

Layer's 6-9: Mushroom sauce, noodles vegeburger
and spaghetti sauce

1. Heat over to 400 degrees.
2. If the lasagna noodles you use are not "oven ready", you'll need to prepare the noodles according to the package directions. I used both oven ready rice gluten-free rice lasagna noodles and regular whole wheat lasagna noodles because that's what I had. I put the oven ready noodles on the bottom of the casserole dish and put the wheat noodles on to boil.
3. In a skillet put a little olive oil and heat. Add Griller Crumbles, onion and bell

   

   Griller crumbles, onion and peppers sauteed in olive oil.

   pepper and brown the crumbles and soften the onions and peppers. 
4. First layer - In a large casserole dish, cover the bottom of the casserole with lasagna noodles.
5. Add second layer - Spread cottage cheese over the noodles.
6. Add third layer - Spaghetti sauce over cottage cheese, spreading evenly.
7. Add fourth layer - Provolone strips or mozzarella strips laid flat on top of what you have so far.
8. Add fifth layer - Mix can of mushroom sauce and 1/4 cup milk and pour over mixture.
9. Add sixth layer - Slice fresh or canned mushrooms and spread sliced 'shrooms over the top of the cheese slices.
10. Add seventh layer - Spread lasagna noodles over the top of the 'shrooms.
11. Add eighth layer - Spread vegeburger crumbles, onions, and pepper mixture over the top of the noodles.

    

    Layer 10: Cheese and olives - ready to pop in the oven

12. Add ninth layer - Spread spaghetti sauce over vegeburger layer
13. Add tenth layer - Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over all and sliced olives over that. I count them as one layer, though technically those few olives might make it eleven layers. I just like the symmetry of ten layers.
14. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees till sauce bubbles and cheese is melted.
15. Switch oven to "broil" and broil at high for 2 minutes. Watch closely or it will burn on top. This helps brown the cheese a little bit and looks nice.

Serving suggestions:

Set the casserole on a hot pad to cool and cover with aluminum foil or the casserole lid if you have one. Once it reaches room temperature, you can put it in the fridge overnight, which will allow the flavors to spread throughout. Heat it to 170 degrees in the oven or warmer about an hour or so before potluck.

Variations:

You can actually leave out any of the layers you want to. If you hate mushrooms, leave 'em out or substitute something else. You can make a basic cream sauce or use another cream sauce with any flavor you think suitable. This recipe uses less cheese, so you can substitute extra cheese for the mushroom soup sauce if you want. You can leave out the vegeburger or substitute Loma Linda or Worthington vegeburger, with or without the onions and peppers. You can even substitute spinach for the fresh mushrooms if you want. It works pretty well any way you want to (except, of course, with chocolate).

(c) 2017 by Tom King

Ranch Style Beans for Haystacks

If you’d like to make your own beans for haystacks instead of relying on those giant cans of Ranch-Style beans, here is a version of a Texas version of Ranch beans. I tried it out, made a few adjustments and today we gave it a try.  You can make huge amounts of beans with an army of crockpots and Dutch ovens or large pots. The recipe takes patience because of the need to slow cook the beans, but it’s a good dish to prepare on Friday for the Sabbath potluck.  If, like me you have massive stores of pinto beans, you can say, “I’ll bring the beans,” and not be taking the easy way out or feel guilty that you aren’t doing your part.

Ingredients:

• Medium bag of Pinto Beans
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 small can mild Rotel ® tomatoes and chiles
• 1 small diced onion
• 1 diced red, yellow, orange or green bell pepper
• 15 oz. can of tomatoes (or 2 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 cup water
• 3 oz imitation Bacon Bits

 Tools:

• Crockpot
• Large pot or Dutch oven or large cast iron skillet
• Measuring cups and spoons

Directions:

1. Soak beans overnight. Some add baking soda to the water. Be sure you have enough water because the beans soak up a lot of water.
2. Next morning drain and rinse the beans and put into crockpot with salt.
3. Cook on low for four hours
4. In pot, Dutch oven, or cast-iron skillet add oil, onions and peppers and sauté at medium heat. Add imitation bacon-bits or Loma Linda ® Worthington® vege-burger or Morningstar Recipe Crumbles® and cook till softened or browned.
5. Add can of diced tomatoes, heat and add warm water and all spices, sugar and vinegar.
6. Depending on your taste you can do one of two things. You can puree the spice, vegeburger and vegetables mix or leave it as it is which will give you a little more texture to your sauce.
7. When the pinto beans are done, drain and rinse them and add to the pot with the vegetable, tomato and burger sauce.
8. Gently heat and simmer in the crockpot on low for an hour or two till the beans absorb all the flavors. Stir occasionally until the beans are as thick as you prefer.

Serving Suggestions:

If you have a crockpot that has a removable ceramic pot, simply lift it out with the beans when you are ready to carry them to church. I just take the whole crockpot so that I can plug it in to heat the beans during the service and it’s ready to go by lunchtime. It makes more room in the warming oven that way.

There are as many ways to prepare the beans for haystacks as there are things to put on haystacks. Check here for the haystack recipe, but remember. Both of these recipes are starting places. I’ve eaten haystacks with canned baked beans, refried beans and even black beans that some militant vegan thought would be a good idea. It wasn’t bad.

The thing is, it’s hard to go wrong with all that lettuce, tomato, cheese, salad dressing and corn chips or tortilla chips (depending on your religious belief visa-vie the whole Fritos-versus-tortilla-chips issue). I’ve seen it done with goat cheese, tofu, soy cheese and no cheese at all. I’m a cheddar kind of guy myself. That said, I didn’t balk when the guy brought a can of nacho cheese sauce to potluck for the haystacks. Haystacks, like Jesus, accept what you come with and are very forgiving.

Just sayin’

© 2017 by Tom King 

Sloppy Joes

This one is another potluck recipe that's good if you're feeding a bunch of kids. Throw in huge bags of chips and some fruit or something and you're all set.  Here's how you do it.

INGREDIENTS:

• Morning Star Grillers Crumbles®, Loma Linda Vegeburger®, Worthington Vegeburger®, whatever kind of vegeburger you want
• Chopped onions
• Chopped Peppers
• Oil
• Manwich® or other barbecue or tomato-based sauce
• Burger buns

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sautee onions and peppers till carmelized
2. Add vegeburger just before the onions are soft
3. Brown the vegeburger, peppers and onions
4. Add Manwich® sauce or barbecue sauce or whatever tomato sauce you use as a base.
5. Heat to gentle bubble
6. Spoon on burger buns and eat 'em up.
   
   SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
   
   Just keep adding vegeburger, veges and sauce until it looks like you have enough for everybody. A can of Manwich® and a bag of Griller Crumbles® or a can of vegeburger ought to make six to eight teenager-sized sandwiches, maybe more. Just give them buns and put a spoon in the pot and that's all there is to it.
   
   
   © 2016 by Tom King
   
    

The South Of the Border Salad

This salad recipe is likely a variant of the venerable Adventist haystack. It was apparently invented by a restauranteur who owned a little cafe in an antique mall in downtown Cleburne, Texas, five miles from Keene, my hometown. Now Keene is an Adventist college town and notable SDA ghetto.  It is little wonder the basic haystack idea drifted into the Tex-Mex cuisine in the nearby Johnson County Seat.  They had a Pappa and Mama version, probably in deference to all the Adventist vegetarians that came into the place.  The Papa version used hamburger and was more expensive. The Mama salad used ranch-style or chili beans, but otherwise, both were basically the same

The South Of the Border Salad was advertised and listed on the menu by it's three primary initials. The South Of the Border Salad was named what it was named I figure, both for its Tex-Mex flavor and because it gave the local heathens a giggle whenever some very proper Adventist customer or little old Baptist lady, when ordering, would nervously point to the menu or describe the salad by its ingredients or call it a Mama Salad, rather than say the name listed on the menu.  It's an easy-to-make potluck dish and can be added to a haystack potluck setup by baking a bag of potatoes or two ahead of time.  It's versatile for a potluck because you just set out the ingredients and let everyone make their own version. Way better than pizza too!  This is pretty much a whole meal by itself, so while it's listed as a salad, it's a lot more than just an appetizer.

Ingredients:

• Baked Potato, Large

  

  Start off your South Of the Border Salad with a baked potato.

• Butter/margarine
• Salt
• Chopped lettuce
• Diced tomatoes
• Chopped salad veggies like peppers, onions, cucumber carrots or whatever you've got.
• 1/2 cup Avocado or make up a big bowl of guacamole
• Jar or two of Picante Sauce
• Shredded cheddar cheese (for potlucks just buy a big bag of it already shredded)
• Bit carton of sour cream
• Bottles of Ranch and Catalina Salad Dressing
• Black olives
• Pot of Ranch Style Beans or you can use Loma Linda Five-Bean Chili, Chili Man or barbecue beans of some kind.
• Loma Linda Vegeburger, Worthington Vegeburger or Morningstar Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles (you can even brown up some Loma Linda Taco Filling)
• Tortilla chips and Fritos
• Chopped Jalepenos
• Monster jar of Picante' Sauce (Pace or San Antonio Riverwalk is great)

Directions:

Add tortilla chips and beans or chili

1. Bake up a bag of potatoes in the skins before the event. You can take them already baked and heat them up in the church's warming ovens.  Most Adventist churches have these. By the time potluck is on, they should be nice and fluffy inside. 
2. Cook up a big pot of Ranch-Style beans or Vege-chile.  
3. Chop up your veggies, grate your cheese and set out the sour cream, tortilla chips and what not all out in a row in order of how you build your South Of the Border Salad.

Constructing the South Of the Border Salad: 

Next add all the salad stuff and voila!  You're done.

1. Break open the potato and spread it out over the bottom of the plate. You can leave the skin on or peel it off.  It's up to you, but I like all the vitamins to come with my potato.
2. Butter and salt is optional.
3. Add a layer of tortilla chips
4. Spoon on a layer of chili, barbecue or Ranch Style Beans
5. Make a a bed of lettuce and start adding all your chopped veggies. Get what you want. Make it with onions or without. There are no rules. 
6. Sprinkle a bunch of shredded Cheddar over the top.
7. Decorate the whole beautiful pile of stuff with dollops of avocado or guacamole, salad dressing, Picante sauce, olives, crouton, vege-bacon bits (TVP) and chives or whatever else you like.  Add a little peak of sour cream and you have created a magnificent meal - run for the table

This salad is best consumed quickly which is never a problem for me. That way, the salad stays cool and crisp while the potato and chili give you a nice warm base. It's great!  I've seen teenage boys consume two or three of these in a row. Sadly, this feat of gastronomy is no longer permitted me by either my physician or (more importantly), by my Sweet Baboo who does not wish me to explode and die.

Bon' appetite!*

(c) 2015 by Tom King

*And, yes I spelled it "appetite" on purpose - the American way not "appetit" like the French. This is, after all, an American Tex-Mex dish and we don't pronounce words all French and sissified.  Just sayin'.

Haystacks

Photo borrowed from "It's Gotta be Gluten Free" website

First off, we’re not talking about cattle feed here, though if you’ve got a whole lotta people corralled, this traditional Adventist potluck favorite is one of the best ways to feed them all, fill them up and send them on their way in no time.  It’s suitable for feeding visiting choirs, Pathfinder clubs, youth groups of all sizes and any group that shows up needing to be fed on short notice. 

Every city, state, country and continent has its own version of the venerable haystack.  In Hawaii, they put pineapple and macadamia nuts and stuff in it.  Up north I saw a version made with baked beans.  I’m going to describe the way it’s done in parts of Texas.  If you have a local version, you are welcome to post it here for all of us to share.  A Seventh-day Adventist named Ella May Hartlein is sometimes credited with coming up with the recipe in the early 1950s, when she and her family craved tostadas and could not find a Mexican restaurant close to their home according to Wikipedia.  References to similar versions of the now signature SDA dish can be found prior to the appearance and spread of Mrs Hartlein's creation. Apparently the Amish and Mennonites even have their own versions of the haystack as well.  Here's the version I grew up with in the 60s.

Here’s what you need for Texas-Style Haystacks:     

1. Lots of lettuce (chopped or shredded)
2. Bags of Tortilla Chips (or Fritos Corn Chips)
3. Tomatoes - diced
4. Onions
5. Mounds of Grated Cheddar Cheese
6. Sour Cream
7. Black Olives
8. Jalepenos
9. Ranch Dressing
10. Avocados or Guacamole
11. Pace™ Picante Sauce (accept no substitutes)
12. Ranch Style Beans
13. Loma Linda Redi-Burger, Loma Linda Vege-Burger, Worthington Vege-Burger or Morningstar Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles

Here’s How to Set the Serving Line:

1. Place two long folding tables end to end
2. Chop up the vegetables, put everything in bowls with the proper sized spoons.  The only thing that needs to be heated is the beans and fry the vegeburger.
3.  Set out the serving bowls in this order on the table.

a.      First stack the paper plates at the start of the serving line.  Use the heavy Chinette ones because a haystack can get pretty heavy.

b.      Second place a huge bowl of chips right after the plates.  Tortilla chips are traditional in Texas, but I’ve seen it done (more expensively) with Fritos Corn Chips – regular sized.

c.      Third, heat up a huge pot of Ranch Style™ Beans with a couple of big soup ladles in them.
d.   Fourth, put a small amount of oil in a skillet and brown the vege-burger. You can make haystacks without the burger, but it makes a nice addition to traditional haystacks.

d.      Fifth, chop up a big bowl of diced tomatoes, and a big bowl of chopped lettuce

f.       Sixth, cut up smaller bowls of chopped onions, sliced black olives and sliced jalapenos

g.      Seventh, grate up a big bowl of grated cheddar cheese. I like the sharp kind myself.

h.      Eighth, prepare a big bowl of guacamole or chopped avocados

i.       Ninth, dish up bowls of sour cream and picante sauces and set out bottles of Ranch Dressing, and Catalina French Dressing for visiting Yankees and Californians.

j.       Flatware, napkins, drinks

Construction Techniques:

You build your haystack according to your own tastes, but for newbies, here’s the basic order of battle.  You can pretty much follow the order of setup, but everyone has their preferences.  Here are the directions for constructing the basic haystack:

1. Lay down a bed of chips covering the bottom of your plate. Everything else is built on top of the chips.
2. Scoop hot beans and/or vege-burger on top of the chips
3. Lay down a bed of lettuce on top of the beans
4. Spoon tomatoes generously over the lettuce
5. Sprinkle onions, olives and/or jalapenos to taste over the salad ingredients
6. Cover with grated cheese.
7.  Add picante sauce to taste
8. Decorate with spoonfuls of avocado/guacamole, and ranch dressing (or Catalina French if you must). 
9. Top with a spoonful of sour cream.  Always save one olive to put on top of your little snowcap of sour cream to complete your mountain of deliciousness.

 Warning:

A haystack is not a “Taco Salad”.  It is a breach of etiquette to call it that or to put the chips on top of the beans.  Everything else can be laid down according to your own personal preference.  Take it easy on the jalapenos if you’re not used to them. 

Haystacks are pretty cheap to make and very filling.  Young people love them and because you make them yourself, little kids can even make their own versions which leave out anything “yucky”.  Haystacks are perfect if you need to feed a lot of people fast and you can leave extra unopened bags of chips and beans in the kitchen and add more to the feast if things start running low.  We always keep extra unopened jars of Pace, blocks of cheese, bottles of salad dressing, lettuce and tomatoes to chop up.  If you don’t need them, you can take them home or store the unopened jars for the next time you need to serve this imminently useful dish for your church potluck.

© 2013 By Tom King

Vege-Burger Lasagna

 

 There's always a lasagna or two at any Adventist potluck. The folk who bring them usually take home empty dishes they are that popular. You can take a shortcut and buy one of those frozen vegetable lasagna's, but this is a lot better and a lot more fun. Here's my favorite lasagna recipe.

Ingredients:

• Can of Loma Linda Vege-Burger.
• Onion - diced
• Green Pepper - diced
• Mushrooms - sliced
• Cottage cheese
• Pasta sauce
• Lasagna noodles
• Olive oil
• Mozarella or Provolone cheese (or both)
• Sliced olives

Directions:

Step 1:  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cook the lasagna noodles according to directions on the box. You can buy noodles that don't have to be cooked before you put them in the casserole dish and they work quite as well and can save you time if you're in a hurry. Drain the noodles if you cooked them.

Step 2:  In a skillet, saute the onions, green peppers, mushrooms and vegeburger in a little olive oil. Set aside in a bowl.

Step 3:  In a casserole dish lay down a layer of noodles.

Step 4: Then add a layer of the sauteed veggies and burger mix,

Step 5:  Then add layer of spaghetti sauce.

Step 6:  Next add a layer of cottage cheese

Step 7:  Now add a layer of cheese.

Step 8:  You're halfway there. Now once more layer noodles, then burger and veggies, then spaghetti sauce, then cottage cheese and finally another layer of mozarella. Depending on how deep your casserole is, you might want to add another layer.

Step 9:  Top with sliced olives and pot into the oven












 

Step 10:  Bake the lasagna until it looks something like the one at the top of the page.

Man, that makes me hungry for another lasagna!  Lasagna is wonderful stuff and always welcome at any pot luck. What's even better is that it's almost impossible to mess up. The seasoning is all in the sauce, so you don't have to worry about over-salting or leaving out some seasoning or other. Just don't forget to put the sauce in like I did once and I had to take the lasagna apart and put the sauce in before I could bake it.

Even then, it was delicious and nobody knew I'd messed it up..................except for you guys now and I'm sure you won't tell that story. My kids would never let me live it down.

Bon appetit',

Tom King
© 2015