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
   
    

Shepherd's Pie Variations

LL Taco Filling Shepherd's Pie

There are a lot of ways to do Shepherd's Pie. This is a super-easy one for a potluck. You may have to show people how to fix it on their plates, but it's really a tasty one dish meal much like that SDA staple - the haystack.

There are a variety of vege-meats that work for this dish. You can even use plain textured vegetable protein if you season it up like vegeburger.  Ultimately the barbecue sauce give it the flavor. This dish is really three in one and has always been a King family favorite. You can even fix it up for people so they don't have to assemble it. It's up to you. I like to make mine from separate bowls of potatoes, vegeburger and mixed vegetables. Here's how it works.

Ingredients for Taco Filling version (without mashed potatoes ingredients)

 
Ingredients:

• Mashed potatoes - (See "Mama's Mashed Potatoes")
• Frozen or canned mixed vegetables
• Loma Linda Taco filling, Loma Linda Beefless Chunks, Loma Linda Redi-Burger, Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles, Worthington Vege-Burger
• Bulls-Eye or KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.
• Tomato Sauce (for the Loma Linda Taco Filling version)

Directions:

1.  Make up a big pot of Mama's Mashed Potatoes or fix some up your favorite way.
2.  Heat up a big pot of mixed vegetables or put together your favorite mixed veggies (peas, carrots, corn, green beans, Lima beans, etc.).
3.  In a large skillet pour in your vegemeat straight out of the can or bag. If you use the LL Beefless Chunks, pour off some of the gravy.  Brown the vegeburger or chunks or crumbles till it looks well cooked.  With the Taco Filling version, add a little tomato sauce to take down the Mexican spices a little bit before you add the barbecue sauce and cook it in a little bit.)
4.  Pour barbecue sauce into the vegemeat to make a kind of barbecue gravy.
5.  Set the skillet out on the counter alongside the mashed potatoes and mixed veggies in this order - potatoes, barbecue vege-meat, and mixed veggies.
6.  If you'd rather make it as a single dish, do this.  In a large casserole or two or three if you make a lot, put a bunch (that's a technical term used by famous chefs) of mashed potatoes into the casserole to make a bed for the other ingredients. Then spoon a layer of barbecued vege-meat and a layer of mixed veggies.  Cover with foil and you can reheat it in the warmers at church as a single casserole dish.

The LL Beefless Chunks version of shepherd's pie.

This is a really tasty dish and one of those King Family favorites. It's in our cookbook.  This is another one that people will scrape the dish clean. The picture to the left is made with either Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles or NEAT burger or any other brand of vegeburger. The Recipe is in my Sept. 1, 2016 blog. I have forseen it!   ;-)

© 2015 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'.

Potluck Pizza Party

 

We used to have these church get-togethers at our house where we made homemade pizzas. Friends would gather in teams around a dough ball, smash it flat, roll it out and then decorate it with sauces, cheeses and veggies. This was an SDA group, so the cuisine du jour was lacto-ovo vegetarian. Everybody brought their favorite topping ingredients and cheeses. We the hosts provided the pizza dough (see the recipe below).  It takes just a few minutes to make up a pizza ball. Start an hour or so before the event and you can make up plenty.  

Have any of your guests who have a pizza stone or pizza pan to bring them along. And you'll need a sturdy pizza cutter and a stack of paper plates.  I usually find a volunteer to make a gigantic bowl of salad and have people bring their favorite salad dressings to show off. The handy thing is that a lot of the leftover pizza toppings can be tossed into the salad.

Homemade pizzas are also a great place to test vegetarian meat substitutes. For instance if you want to make a vegetarian sausage pizza, you can use Loma Linda's Little Links or Worthington Saucettes or crumble up some Morningstar Farms Sausage Patties. You may want to brown them in a skillet before putting them on the pizza. Just slice the links into little round disks, fry lightly and scatter them over the pizza. I also like to brown some Loma Linda Redi-Burger or Worthington Vegeburger or Morningstar Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles and then scatter them over the pizza. Just put a lot of loose cooked vegeburger in a bowl and let pizza makers add as much as they'd like. If you like chicken, Worthington Fri-Chik or Worthington Low Fat Fri-Chik diced up and browned makes a nice topping as well.

The crust is the secret to the whole thing. This never-miss medium to thin pizza crust recipe came from a bread machine recipe book where it was called "New York Style" pizza. I toss in a little whole wheat flour and sprinkle the bottom with corn meal to give it a little Texas touch.

Start with a dough ball.

By making it a potluck homemade pizza party, you not only get healthier pizza, but you also have a fun activity for everybody to do at the party. Lots of friendly conversation, sharing of pizza "secrets" and sharing of ingredients and experimentation. I like to put out a little fresh spinach. Someone inevitably groans until someone adds it to the pizza and tastes it. It's quite good. Everyone will bring all kinds fo stuff from traditional olives, mushrooms, onions and peppers to more creative veggies like artichokes and chives. Some pineapple will inevitably show up and if you're in Texas, watch out for some clown to spike a pizza or two with jalapenos or habanero peppers and cover it with cheddar to hide the trap. Goat cheese is also acceptable as are other unusual cheeses. In Texas somebody inevitably brings a big block of Mexican Cheese, which is an acquired taste.Your pizza is only limited by your imagination.

Ingredients for One Crust:

Cover a 16" pizza stone for a thin crust.

• 2/3 cup warm water – 110° to 115°
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2¼ cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal (optional)
• Whole wheat flour (substitute measure for measure for white flour if you want to fiber up your crust a little)

Directions for making crust:

1. Dump the dry ingredients (not the yeast or cornmeal) into a mixing bowl
2. Put the yeast into the warm water and whisk to blend.  Allow it to sit for maybe 10 minutes till it starts to bubble at the edges.
3. Add all the liquid ingredients and any sediment in the yeast water cup to the mixing bowl and mix it all up with the dough hook.  You can knead it by hand, but I highly recommend you give the barely formed dough ball to the guys in each group and give them the job of kneading the ball for ten minutes (or till they start to whine and then you can probably let them stop, although the crust won't be as crisp and may crumble. You want a very smooth dough ball when you are done kneading. If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour till dough is just barely dampish on the outside, but not sticky to touch.
4. Lightly oil the pizza baking sheet or pizza stone. I like olive oil, but any vegetable oil will work. Sprinkle a little corn meal over the surface of the stone.
5. I'm not too proud to use a rolling pin to flatten out the pizza dough, but some clown in the group will inevitably try to twirl it in the air like you see on TV.  Make sure your kitchen floor is very clean so you can just brush off the dough and go ahead and use it.  Lay the dough over the pizza stone and spread it to the thickness you want. I like a flat thin crust pizza and this recipe is perfect for a thin crust on a 16 inch pizza stone. I like to raise the edges so they keep the sauce and melting cheese from running over the side and mucking up the oven.
6. Preheat oven to 450° to 500°.  The higher temp is better with thin crusts. Go lower if you're doing a thick crust. 
7. Each group then gathers around its pizza crust and decorates it with pizza sauce, cheeses and toppings. Depending on the size of your oven, you can only do a couple at a time, but they only take 8 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of crust and ingredients. Let the edges darken and the cheese melt till it bubbles a little or the crust won't cook through. See the picture for an idea of how it ought to look. Use the middle rack as much as possible. If doing two at a time put the top and bottom racks as close to the middle as you can get them. Fortunately pizza isn't very thick, so the racks can be close together.

Makes enough crust for one 12-16 inch pizza

Conclusion:

As the pizzas come out, everybody will want to sample each other's handywork. Cut the pizzas in 8 to 16 pieces at first. As the later pizzas come out, you'll be able to cut larger pieces. Push the salad or people will forget it's there.

Sneaky Trick:

You can do this in a big hurry if you just go out and buy a bunch of ready-made pizza crusts - enough for everyone to have a whole pizza; they tend to me a small to medium pizza size.  Then you just deal out the pizza crusts and turn the young-un's loose.  Takes about 10 minutes each to cook from a ready-made crust. 

This make-it-yourself pizza party is a lot of fun for all ages and a particularly good way to generate good fellowship, stimulate conversation and help forge new relationships among people who may not know each other well.  Kids get a kick out of it too, you just have to make sure they wash their hands first.

Tom King © 2013