Adventures in the kitchen

So...my pseudo-Vegan diet seems to be going quite well. This month I was only in pain for a mere 3 days. That is a vast improvement over the usual week I would spend in misery.

Now that I know it's working, I've attempted to become more creative with my meat-less meals. My first "gourmet" attempt was what I like to call, Roasted Red Pepper Stuffed Mushrooms. I again ventured to TJ's (I affectionately now refer to Trader Joe's with a nickname because I'm literally there twice a week) and I found some soy "mozzarella" cheese and some meat-less "beef" strips. I also bought two large portabella mushrooms caps and a sweet red bell pepper. I wasn't exactly sure how I would combine the ingredients, but it sounded like a good start. When I got home, I sliced the red pepper up into strips and then cut each strip in half. I sauteed them in a small skillet with a Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. I seasoned them with a little garlic and black peppercorn. While those were roasting, I placed the two mushroom caps in a large skillet with a little olive oil cooking spray. Over medium heat, I allowed them to cook until they began to produce some excess water in the pan. I've heard that's the trick to good mushrooms. I then sliced about 1 oz of the soy cheese and placed the slices on top of the underside of each cap. They melted quickly, which really impressed me since it wasn't "real" cheese. Finally, I added the meat-less beef strips to the pan so they could become hot. They only require about 3-4 minutes to heat through.


My final presentation looked like this:





Pretty impressive, right? It was soooooo delicious. Definitely not like your usual meat and cheese, but it was so nice to actually have a meal that I COOKED. I've been relying so much on soups, salads, wraps, and pasta. This really gave me the inspiration to check out more options and see what I can come up with. Who knows. Maybe one day I'll have my own Vegetarian/Vegan cafe. Now THAT would be awesome. :)