Karma-Free Cooking

Sharing my Vegetarian Lifestyle and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes with You

Spinach and Asparagus Casserole April 20, 2008

Filed under: main courses — karmafreecooking @ 5:31 pm
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I mentioned I am trying to eat less cheese, right?  So here is one of the recipes I have come up with to feel satisfied without adding cheese to my food.  It’s hard, like getting rid of an addiction.  But with dishes like these, it is getting easier each day…

 

 

SPINACH AND ASPARAGUS CASSEROLE

1 tbs sofrito
½ cube of vegetable bouillon
1 shallot, finely sliced
½ green or cubanelle pepper
½ cup frozen corn
1 ½ cup cooked brown rice
½ container cream of asparagus soup
½ cup buttermilk or sour cream
10 grape tomatoes, quartered
2 cups of fresh baby spinach, washed well and spun dry
1 tbs Extra virgin Olive oil
Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper to taste
1 tbs sliced almonds

 

  1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, pour the olive oil and add the sofrito.   After a few minutes, add the vegetable broth cube, add the shallot, pepper and corn and sauté. 
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the cooked rice, sautéed vegetables, asparagus soup, buttermilk or sour cream, tomatoes, spinach.  Mix together well.  If the mixture is too dry, you can add extra sour cream, olive oil or even a little bit of soy milk to add some moisture.
  3. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and add the almonds on top.
  4. Bake in a 350 F degree oven for about 30-45 minutes so all the flavors meld together and the top is golden brown.

Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

 

 

This is a great dish to “clean out your fridge”… the ingredients I used were the little things I had left over from other dishes or little things I wanted to use up already.  So feel free to adapt this recipe to the things you want to clean out in your fridge.

 

 

Quick Lettuce, Tomato and Corn Salad February 19, 2008

Filed under: Salad, side dishes — karmafreecooking @ 10:40 pm
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I had some leftover Sauteed Corn and Onions but not enough to eat by itself, so I created this quick salad.

I grew up eating canned corn…  I will out my mom and confess that when we were growing up, salad was many times opening up a can of corn or a can of string green beans.  I loved them, but now I know better.  One of my former secret indulgences were white rice with tuna,  ketchup and corn.  Mmmm!!!  My grandpa used to call this - Arroz Pio Pio. 

No need to heat up the corn, just take the chill off from the fridge and it’s good to go.

 lettuce-tomato-and-corn-salad.jpg

QUICK LETTUCE, TOMATO and CORN SALAD

Romaine Lettuce
Tomato
left over Sauteed Corn and Onions
Extra-virgin olive oil
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
Garlic salt
  1. Place the lettuce, tomatoes and corn in a salad bowl.
  2. Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice and garlic salt.
  3. Toss together and serve.
 

Sauteed Corn with Onions February 19, 2008

Filed under: side dishes — karmafreecooking @ 10:25 pm
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I am in a use-up mode.  I told myself I was not returning to the supermarket until I have used up most of what I have on hand right now.

Has this happened to you?  That you eat mostly the same  - day-in day-out  - and you keep leaving in the pantry or the fridge stuff you bought at some point but can’t seem to get to cook it now.  That’s the worst kind of waste… when you need to throw stuff out because you didn’t get to prepare it.  I need to change my ways and put a stop to that!!!!

So I looked in my freezer and I found a bag of frozen corn…  what to do with it???  I started to improvise and this is what came about…

 sauteed-corn.jpg

SAUTEED CORN with ONIONS

 1 cup frozen corn - I am sure that this would work with fresh corn too
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 onion - sliced
2 tbs crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce - I used Tomates Fritos from Viter with a little crushed tomatoes I had leftover.
Garlic Salt to taste
  1. Pour olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Pour in the frozen corn and the onions and stir to coat with the olive oil.  Cover so the steam generated cooks and soften the corn and onions.
  2. About 5-10 minutes later, pour in the crushed tomatoes and season with garlic salt. 
  3. Sautee for a few minutes more until the corn is thoroughly cooked.
  4. Serve warm.

I was completely surprised on how good this tasted.  It was a step up from boiled corn with a little butter.  The gamble paid off.  I hope you like it too.  I served this originally with my Creamy Potatoes.  And later on served it as part of this salad…