For St. Patrick’s Day, we took a roadtrip down the Turnpike to Emporia. We toasted the holiday at Natasha’s.
If you get a chance, I hope you’d consider voting for this pix. The more votes it get’s the more chances it has to be published in the next issue of JPG Magazine. How neat is that?
So, I gave up meat for Lent. This usually makes cooking a challenge for me, since I like to craft my meals around the meat-of-the-day. I’m still cool with chicken and seafood, I just made a promise to myself to avoid red meat.
So far…I’ve managed to avoid red meat. At work, someone’s mom treated us to a pizza meal for his birthday. Very sweet, but all the pies were meat pies! Eeck! I stuck with the bread sticks. I also ended-up picking off the pepperoni slices, after I saw another co-worker do so.
This is an Alfredo risotto with tofu, grounded-up and seasoned to look and taste like ground beef. During this kitchen session, I tried out Morning Star’s Sausage Crumbles. Not bad…I’d love to a do a side-by-side taste test with ground beef. Maybe after lent.
- 1 Bag of Morning Star’s Sausage Crumbles
- 1/2 bottle of Classico’s Alfredo Mushroom Sauce
- A pinch of Rosemary
- A few teaspoons of garlic salt and onion powder
- 3 cups of white rice
- Lot’s of chicken broth
- A few teaspoons of olive oil
(this recipe will basically look similar to my other rice dishes…simply because I like the texture of the rice, simmered down with chicken broth and other liquids)
In a paella pan (or you could use any large, deep pan), I sauteed the rice with olive oil and garlic salt and onion powder until golden. Then I stirred in some chicken broth to cover the rice. Watch out for the steaming action when the broth hits the hot surface. After the broth reduces to less than half, I added in the rest of the chicken broth, the rosemary, Alfredo sauce and the entire bag of the sausage crumbles. I brought the mixture up to a boil and then I set the stove temperature to low and covered the pan. I let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes.
It’s a hearty meal and it almost tastes like meat. Mark said I went a little heavy on the rosemary. So, that’s why I changed the measurement to a pinch. I like how the sausage crumbles absorb the flavor of the Alfredo sauce
I do miss cooking things from scratch. Cooking with pre-made sauces is convenient, but I know if I had the time, I could whip up my own Alfredo sauce. Sometimes it’s tough getting ingredients in Topeka, especially for the Thai and Filipino dishes. Most of my cookbooks are probably targeted to people living in metropolitan centers within easy access to a Whole Foods-like specialty store.
Someday, I will cook something without a pre-made sauce. Someday.
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