Method: Grilling Beyond Burgers

We are a mostly vegetarian household, and when we grill it is so easy to fall into the veggie burger rut. Or grilled corn. Or portobello mushrooms. Likewise, it is difficult for folks throwing a little party to know what the heck to feed those pesky herbivores. Well, I have a tasty solution for you!

Lately, we've been loving grilled Cauliflower Steaks. Uh? Yes, Cauliflower Steaks. Just slice the entire cauliflower into hefty 1" slabs. You can marinate them in a variety of sauces + herbs or just stick with olive oil, salt + pepper. Anyway you go, it's delicious. We like a combo of olive oil, Worcestershire sauce + pepper. Just brush it on both sides and let sit for about 15 minutes. Place on a medium heat grill, and cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes. You want them to hold their shape, so don't let them get too soft! BBQ sauce, tamari and hoisin sauce are also delightful.

Another good choice is an updated favorite: the portobello. I like to stuff grilled mushrooms with an almond butter, tamari, sesame oil + sriracha mixture. Add a few red peppers + green onions...delish! This is also one of my most popular vegan entrees for catering.

Mix it up a little for the remainder of our grilling season, and try your own combos. Do you have a favorite veggie grill dish?

Method: Veggies First

Okay, so this is not a new concept. Not ground-breaking or earth-shattering, but... we switched it up a little at the Herrmann House last week.

It's so easy to get into a rut with meals. Especially when everyone is so busy! We do the pasta, the rice, the wraps, the 'fill-in-the-blank' and add veggies and protein to the mix to make it a complete meal. What we have found, however, is that we're eating a lot of starches and not enough veggies. Another factor to note in this observation is that our refrigerator is still chock full of CSA veggies every week. I can only make so much hash and stir-frys to use it all up! And pickles. Boy, do we have the pickled vegetable collection.

Anyhoo, my point is this: we mixed it up. We started using veggies as our base and 'topping' it with the starch or protein. Okay, we're not doing it everynight, but it's worked out well on the nights we have tried. Our favorite was a PILE of stir-fried veggies with a coconut curry lentil 'sauce'. Really yummy. We're going to try to do 'switch it up' more often.

What do you do to 'switch it up'?

Method: Pickling Update!

I have tasted my pickles. And they are good. Damn good. And I urge each and everyone of you to pickle some of summer's bounty. Truly incredible.

To recap, I pickled some of our CSA veggies: green beans, zucchini, cucumbers and red cabbage.

The zucchini was actually a ridged variety that I thought would make beautiful star-like pickle slices. The upside of this particular variety is that it not only looks pretty, it holds its firm texture well in pickling. Absolutely lovely to look at and snack on. Perfect for setting out with cheeses, olive and nuts for summer and fall entertaining. Or even as a hostess gift!

The red cabbage turns a lovely shade of pink when pickled, and I've been adding it to salads and sauteed veggies for bright color and an extra punch of flavor.

The pickling cucumbers turned out...just like dill pickles! Not as ooooh-aaaah inducing as the other veggies, but nice to know I can make a pretty darn good dill pickle on my own.

By far, our family favorite is the green beans. My son almost ate the whole jar himself! I had added a pierced jalapeno for a little heat, and it was just right. If the jar had made it past a week (like say a couple of months) the heat would have been more intense. Which also would be nice, but not necessarily a 3 year old's dream pickle.

So, needless to say I am a home pickling convert. I can't wait to do another batch. Perhaps we will have more restraint now and allow them to carry us into fall. Or not.

In case you missed the previous pickling post, here is the brine recipe I used as recommended by some fellow CSAers!

Method: Pickling

I usually start the week with an ingredient, but after a recent pickling pursuit I felt compelled to share! Our CSA boxes are getting bigger and bigger! It's great, but it also means either some really strange meals to use up all of the veggies or finding a way to preserve them. So on a tip from several fellow Cooking Away My CSA-ers, I decided to try my hand at refrigerator pickles. I didn't want to monkey around with the whole canning process. This method was fast, easy, little clean-up and I'll be able to try my pickles in just a week (if I can last that long).



I used a brine recipe from David Lebovitz. It's a very versatile little brine, too. Once you've got the basics down you can improvise 'til your heart is content. Basically it is equal parts water to vinegar with some sugar, salt and seasonings thrown in. That's where you can go wild!




Originally used to pickle jalepenos, I used it to pickle green beans (with a hot pepper thrown in), zucchini, red cabbage and cucumbers.





Here is David's basic recipe, and I'll let you know how they turned out soon!