Eat Like a Rabbit

When I first acquired my "Moosewood Restaurant New Classics" cookbook, I feared it would be a waste because I felt the recipes took too long to prepare, but my patient mother-in-law pointed out that there was an excellent fajita recipe in the book. It did call for tofu, which we omitted because we didn't have any. I'm sure we could have substituted another veggie meat, but I didn't think of that at the time because it was getting late to eat anything resembling a dinner. Other vegetables and flavors included onions, garlic, bell peppers, and tomatoes. I did have grated sharp cheddar available and served the fajitas with salsa and multi-grain chips.

This post's guest photographer is Garrett Nudd, an excellent and talented photographer, but an even better friend.

I came across some mini-kabob sticks while in Sarasota for our anniversary. Ever since, I was very excited to make some and did a good bit of research before I finally put the meal together. I served the kabob with steamed brown rice and the Pad Thai sauce from "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home."

This meal was much easier than I expected, and except for the delay of threading the sticks with my designer-husband, a fast creation as well. I did find a note somewhere in my research to soak the sticks in water before use to prevent splitting. This was my first step of the meal.

When asked what he wanted for lunch Garrett (Nudd of Garret Nudd Photography) said something about cheeseless pizza. I told him I try to have pizza once a week because it is healthy, often well balanced, and can be fast when we are on the run. He asked how long it had been since we had pizza. I estimated two weeks. He gave me a big smile.

This was such a fun creation, with no basis of thought. I was just trying to use leftovers. I absolutely love the olive bread from our local Maitland Farmer's Market, but it is rather expensive at over $6 a loaf. I only get it on special occasions. The zucchini also came from an outdoor stall.

Both of these recipes came out of The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet which you can purchase through Amazon.com via our website. We're quickly becoming fans of zucchini and greatly enjoyed this feast. The variety of colors was spectacular and the speed to fix the meal gets great reviews.

This recipe is from "Moosewood Cooks at Home". It recognizes that lemon juice in a pasta dish sounds odd, but we enjoy it. The recipe does call for spaghetti, but we had bow tie and enjoyed it just as much.

In short, you saute the zucchini in oil and garlic, add lemon juice; pour the mixture over cooked pasta, mix in a shreaded white cheese (we chose Asiago) and serve. My favorite part is where I can add fresh basil from our herb garden. I like to make harvesting the herbs my husband's job so he feels like he is participating in the preparation of our food.

I created this lasagna from "The Vegetarian 5-ingredient Gourmet". The problem was that I accidently picked up the cook-first kind of noodles at the store. I have decided this was a good thing because I didn't want to have to add water to my dish to help cook the noodles. Still, it may be worth it to save time with the no-cook noodles.

Sorry, we were too excited and hungry to take a picture of this one.

I chose the easiest recipe I could find for Tempura on foodnetwork.tv. I battered frozen green beans, fresh julienned carrots, fresh eggplant, and frozen broccoli. Obviously, I defrosted the frozen veggies slightly. I used the sauce from Moosewood Restaurant's Pad Thai recipe and served it with brown rice.

The result of the first concoction was so delicious, I was afraid it was a mistake. For my parents, I made the recipe again replacing the green beans and eggplant with zucchini and onion rings. The result was the same. However, my mother did turn up her nose when she saw me mixing the sauce. Upon trying it with the meal, she decided it was good.