Meatless Monday

Is that something, I googled Meatless Mondays to find the blog hop and I find that it has a history. Gee I must have been asleep in class for this one... but back in World War 1 Herbert Hoover was the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and he was asking Americans to cut back because of the shortages (that I remember) and many items where rationed. He coined the terms "Meatless Monday" and "Wheatless Wednesday” saying that “Food Will Win the War”. Wow I guess now many environmental and health groups are coining this phase to help people cut back....

So today I did a real easy meatless meal.

I had some frozen ravioli in the freezer..... I have been craving some cheese ravioli....
So I baked some! Real easy simple lazy recipe:

Italian tomato sauce
1/4 onion chopped finely
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda

Mix together. I should have heated this to make sure it was spaghetti sauce consistency but I didn't tonight.

I pour some sauce just to cover the bottom

Then I layered the frozen cheese raviolis. I covered with more sauce. I sprinkled some 5 cheese Italian grated cheese and some Parmesan cheese . Layered more raviolis and sauce and the cheeses...

Cover with foil

Bake at 375 for about a hour and 15 minutes. The last fifteen minutes I took the foil off...
Yum...

Raspberry Oatmeal Cookie Bars

 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
 1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup of applesauce
2 tablespoons of  seedless raspberry jam


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 8 inch square pan,
 Combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats. Rub in the butter using your hands or a pastry blender to form a crumbly mixture. Add applesauce. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the jam to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over the top, and lightly press it into the jam.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

It was kinda crumbly but I did use 1/2 of the butter from the original recipe and added applesauce but it turned out tasty.  

Seitan

I tried to make Seitan (say-tahn) called “wheat meat”, “wheat gluten” or simply “gluten”. It has the texture and close to the taste of meat so it is a big hit with the vegetarian crowd.

I was sent to this site for a excellent seitain recipe so I thought I share here (with a link to original post) Ok to keep it somewhere safe to use when I need it......
Seitan Recipe O' Greatness:


Ingredients:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper (I use 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use 1/8 tsp if you like it less spicy)
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp garlic powder


3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 325°.

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the rest of the ingredients (liquid ingredients) in a smaller mixing bowl. Whisk well until mixed.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead for a minute or two.. it doesn't need long.

Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way. Then wrap it foil or plastic and refrigerate. Slice to use as desired.

[u]Nutritional Info[/b]
The entire log has:
1134 calories
32g fat
63g carbs
158g protein

Use in stews or pan fry. You can bread and fry like chicken patties.... endless ideas.