Meatless Monday

It's time for another Meatless Monday. Also, Thursday is Halloween. Where does the time go? It seems to fly by faster and faster.

Here are six fall-ish vegetarian recipes to help you through the day, including Mulled Apple-Cranberry Cider and East Coast Grill's Cornbread. Enjoy!

CURRIED PUMPKIN AND PEAS

This recipe comes from Country Living, and begins, “Flavor tender pumpkin and tomatoes with a touch of curry powder in this tempting dish.” Total Time: 45 minutes; Level: Easy; Serves: 6.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 medium onion

1 garlic clove

2 1/2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. Freshly ground pepper

2 lb. pumpkin

2 medium red potatoes

1 1/2 c. low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 c. golden raisins

3/4 c. frozen baby peas

fresh cilantro

Directions

Heat butter in a large pan over medium-high heat, add onion, and cook until golden-brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in curry powder, salt, and pepper. Add pumpkin and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour in broth and raisins, cover, and reduce heat to medium. After 15 minutes, add peas. Replace cover and continue to cook until pumpkin and potatoes are tender, 5 to 10 minutes more. Garnish with cilantro.

MULLED APPLE-CRANBERRY CIDER

This comes from Weight Watchers. Unfortunately, it was sent to me a number of years ago (try 2006) and while I tried to find the link for it on the WW site, I couldn’t locate it. If anyone reading this can shed light on this, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know.

POINTS® Value: 2; Servings: 6; Preparation Time: 5 min; Cooking Time: 15 min; Level of Difficulty: Easy

This begins, “This hot drink is perfect for chilly autumn nights. Curl up with a good book and indulge.”

Ingredients

3 cup apple cider

3 cup cranberry juice cocktail

1 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 Tbsp orange zest

3 average cinnamon stick

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes and then strain into mugs. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

VEGGIE PATCH SOUP

Yield: 10 servings

Source: Mr. Food Every Day's a Holiday Diabetic Cookbook

Find this recipe at: http://diabeticgourmet.com/recipes/html/835.shtml

Ingredients

6 cups water

2 medium-sized white potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

4 large tomatoes, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks

4 medium-sized carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

3 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 medium-sized green bell peppers, coarsely chopped

2 medium-sized onions, coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

In a soup pot, combine all the ingredients; mix well and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 1 hour, or until the vegetables are tender.

Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 84; Protein: 2 g; Sodium: 383 mg; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Dietary Fiber: 4 g; Sugars: 7 g; Carbohydrates: 20 g; Exchanges: 1/2 Starch, 2 Vegetable

BAKED RISOTTO WITH WINTER SQUASH

This comes from David Tanis in The New York Times Cooking e-newsletter. David wrote, “This is not a classic stirred risotto, in which broth is added little by little, requiring the cook to stir and stir. Instead, the rice is tossed with squash and cheese then baked under a layer of bread crumbs until fragrant and browned on top. Welcome as a hearty meatless main course, it may also be served alongside a roasted chicken. Use any kind of hard winter squash, such as butternut, kabocha or Hubbard.” Time: 1 hour; Makes 6 to 8 servings.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1/2 pound winter squash

1 pound Carnaroli or Arborio rice

4 tablespoons butter, plus 2 tablespoons for greasing dish

1 medium onion, diced, about 1 cup

1 medium leek, white and tender green part, diced, about 1 cup

Pinch of saffron (optional)

Salt and pepper

3 cups squash broth (see note) or chicken broth, hot

8 ounces Gruyère or Fontina, grated, about 2 loosely packed cups

1 cup fresh ricotta

4 ounces Parmesan, grated, about 3/4 cup

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 cup coarse dry bread crumbs

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preparation

Peel squash and cut into very thin slices, 1/16-inch thick. Then cut slices into flat 2-inch squares. (Reserve the scraps, including peels, to make squash stock if desired.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add rice and let simmer for 8 minutes so it is parcooked, with the grains still hard in the center. Drain rice in a colander, rinse with cold water, then spread on a baking sheet to cool. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a Dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add leek and saffron, if using, and stir to coat. When leek is softened but still green, after 2 minutes, add squash, stir to coat and turn off heat. Season well with salt and pepper.

Add parcooked rice, hot broth, Gruyère, ricotta, Parmesan and lemon zest, mixing gently with a wooden spoon. Pour rice mixture into a buttered 3-quart baking dish.

Sprinkle top with bread crumbs, pressing down to smooth surface. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Tent with foil if necessary. Garnish with parsley just before serving.

GINGER PUMPKIN PIE

This is from Kathy Kingsley, who wrote for The Spruce Eats. Kathy wrote, “Flavored with fresh ginger and honey, this pumpkin pie is sure to become one of your go-to holiday recipes.” Prep Time: 35 minutes; Cook Time: 50 minutes; Total Time: 85 minutes; Yield: Serves 8

Unfortunately, the old link for this recipe no longer works. If/when I'm able to locate a link for it, I'll post it.

Ingredients

Pastry

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

3 tablespoons ice water

Pumpkin Filling

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 16-ounce can solid-pack pumpkin

1 12-ounce can evaporated milk

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger

1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Honey Whipped Cream

3/4 cup heavy or whipping cream, chilled

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Make the pastry dough: Combine the flour, sugar, vegetable shortening, and butter in a food processor and pulse on/off until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. With the motor running, add the ice water through the feed tube, and process just until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.

Press the dough into a ball, then flatten it into a disc, about 1-inch thick.

On a lightly floured surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 12-inch circle. Line a 9-inch pie pan with the dough. Turn the edges under, and crimp or flute the crust. Set the pie shell on a rimmed baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. Brush about teaspoon of the egg around the edge of the crust.

Add the pumpkin, milk, honey, sugar, ginger, pumpkin pie spice and salt to the eggs, and mix until well blended. Pour the filling into the pie crust.

Bake the pie for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the filling is set. If the edges become too dark during baking, carefully cover them with foil strips (see Recipe Notes). Set the pie on a wire rack to cool. If not serving right away, cover and chill.

When ready to serve, make the honey whipped cream. Put the cream into a medium bowl. Add the honey and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Serve the pie topped with the whipped cream.

Recipe Notes

• To make a foil collar to prevent edges of pie from browning too much, fold a 12-inch-long piece of foil into a strip with 3-inch-high sides. Stand the strip on the oven rack around the pie dish. Secure the overhang with a paper clip. The collar doesn't have to touch or cover the crust to protect it.

EAST COAST GRILL’S CORNBREAD

This also comes from Sam Sifton in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Sam wrote, “This corn bread, adapted from the one developed by Chris Schlesinger and served at his East Coast Grill in Cambridge, Mass., is lofty and sweet, crusty and cakelike, moist and ethereal. As Sam Sifton said in the 2012 article that accompanied the recipe, it is ‘the corn bread to become a child’s favorite, to become the only corn bread that matters. All else is not corn bread.’” Yield: 6 to 8 servings; Time: 1 hour 15 minutes.

This was featured in “The Corn Bread Matters Most”, and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9-inch cast-iron skillet and put it in the oven to heat up.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and oil. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, add the melted butter and the corn and stir together until just mixed.

Remove the hot cast-iron pan from the oven and pour into it the batter, then give the pan a smack on the countertop to even it out. Return pan to oven and bake, approximately 1 hour, until the corn bread is browned on top and a toothpick or a thin knife inserted into the top comes out clean.