Polish Halupki!

Halupki is a traditional Polish dish that my grandma, my mom and my family make every Christmas and Thanksgiving. For the first time, though, I got my dad's side of the family to try out some polish food! This recipe is traditionally made with ground beef, but my mom and I make it with portobella mushrooms instead! Here is an easy recipe for you guys to try it out!

Polish Halupki.

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage

2-4 cups veggie boullion

4 portobella mushroom caps

4 cups cooked rice

1/2 white onion

1 clove garlic

1 Tbsp Earth Balance or olive oil

Preparations:

Follow directions and cook rice.

Place cabbage in a pot and cover with water. Add 1 tsp of oil and cover with a lid.

Chop onion, portobella caps and mince garlic. Add butter or oil to saute pan over medium, high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes. Add portobellas and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

 As the outer leaves of the cabbage begin to soften, cut and remove from cabbage head. You can do this by taking a paring knife, and carefully removing leaves at the base as they soften. Take the leaves and place them in a colander.

Prepare the cabbage leaves by slicing thick stems down to create a unified thickness throughout the

leaf. (I should have taken photos of this step... so ask questions if you need to!)

When the rice is done, add the mushroom mixture to it.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a casserole dish by spraying lightly with nonstick spray. Now it's time to stuff the cabbage! To wrap, place about 1/4 cup of the mushroom mixture at the base of a cabbage leaf. Wrap of the cabbage leaf like a burrito, around the mixture. Make sure not to wrap it too tightly, because the rice still expands a bit.

Line up the cabbage wraps side by side to create a single layer in the bottom of the casserole dish. Add about 1 cup of the veggie bouillon. If needed, add a second layer of the wraps. Add the remainder of the veggie bouillon to the casserole dish. Cover with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. (Until the cabbage is tender)

Top with tomato sauce and/or hot sauce if desired. Chow down!

Pizza contest!

While all of the family was in Florida, we had a pizza making contest! We were assigned to teams of two and we worked together to create fun pizzas. We were given 20 minutes each. It was a lot like iron chef! It was great fun. Of course I could only eat two of the five pizzas, but it was still a blast.

Click read more to see what we cooked up!

Kissimmee VeeDub Show!

This weekend was the second annual VW Jingle Bugs Rock show, in Kissimmee, Florida. Mike let me tag along to see what it was all about. I took pictures. Lots of pictures. More food coming soon! Honest!

There were four  Herbie replicas. They're pretty popular.

Read more for lots of pics!

A day at the doggy beach!

Diego and I have been hanging out at Davis Island Doggy Park lately. This day was an overcast, cold and dreary day. We were the only two out.

dingys at sea

Eddie's Carmengia

rusted gate

little Diego on the beach.

Diego exploring.

full beach view.

Pretzel Party! Vol 1.

I tried some pretzel recipes today! Woot! I tried a couple of different toppings for the preztels. Next time, I will try and mix the toppings inside with the pretzels. Here are the combos I tried:

1. Fresh chopped garlic and Earth Balance

2. Curry, cayenne, cumin, honey and fresh ginger

3. Stuffed pizza! Fake cheese and marinara sauce

Everything was so tasty, and not that much work to make. The flavors were not as prominent as I wanted, but I will try some further experiments, and keep you guys up-to-date! The pizza filled pretzels didn't stay together, so they were more like pretzel 'boats'. But no less delicious!!!

Cabbage Casserole... Halupki for dummies?

My family's heritage, on my mother's side, hails from the Ukraine (I think what is now Czech Republic?). As a family tradition, we always eat perogies at Christmas time. We try and make them from scratch most years, but if nothing else, we eat Mrs. T's. I hate to say it, but they come pretty close. Mrs. T's does offer a vegan potato and onion perogie, but generic brands tend to be vegan.

In addition to making perogies, my mom and I have also been making halupki every now and then for the past couple of years. Traditionally, this dish is a baked, stuffed cabbage meal, made with ground beef. Since mom and I have been eating veggie, we substituted diced portobella. Halupki sometimes comes out delicious, but sometimes comes out just okay (Expect a recipe closer to the holidays!).

When I discovered a recipe in the Weight Watchers cookbook with the exact same ingredients, I was very excited to try it out! A mandolin came in handy for this recipe. Just remember, this recipe is easy, but takes over an hour in the oven. When I made this, I shredded the cabbage as the recipe calls for. Next time, I definitely want to try and keep the leaves large. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 tsp canola oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 portobella caps, chopped

1, 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chiles

1, 8oz can tomato sauce

1/2 cup cooked rice

1/4 head cabbage, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with non-stick spray. Set aside.

(Don't forget to get the rice going if you don't already have some made!)

In a very large saute pan, head the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook for about 6-7 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for an additional couple of minutes.

Next, add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and rice. Brint to a boil, and turn down the heat. Allow to cook for about 6-7 minutes.

Spoon half of the tomato and rice mixture into the prepared pan. Add the cabbage. Cover with the remaining tomato mixture. Cover with foil and pop in the oven for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until cabbage is soft.

This recipe did not turn out to be a replacement for halupki, but a quick and easy dish that has the same flavors. As I said in the recipe, I would like to try this recipe with large cabbage leaves next time.

Vegan fast food; Eastern European style.

Sorry for the break, but I've been without my camera for almost a week now! So, this is a quick little update for an easy dinner and some new found favorites of mine!

vegan sauerkraut dog with ketchup, dijon mustard and horseradish, cabbage casserole and sauteed greens with onions. 

It's as simple as that. I have been craving dogs, so I got some large size Smart Dogs. Threw one on a toasted bun, along with some ketchup, spicy mustard, horseradish, and a huge helping of sauerkraut.

The first side is some very simple sauteed greens. I took a handful of kale and rinsed it thoroughly. I roughly chopped the greens, while heating about 2 tsps of canola oil in a pan. I added one clove of chopped garlic and one full scallion, chopped. To that I added the greens, 1 tsp of red wine vinegar, dash of pepper, salt, granulated garlic and red pepper flakes. Mix up and saute for about 30 seconds. Take off the heat and serve immediately.

The second side is some cabbage casserole! My next post will contain ingredients and recipe for that.

Three cheers for lazy dinner tonight! Hip, hip, hooray.