Double-Post Tuesday

Besides being Taco Tuesday, it's also Double-Post Tuesday. Here are six vegetarian recipes to help you through the day, including Minestrone Soup and Rhubarb Ice Cream With a Caramel Swirl. Enjoy!

BE DAZZLED CRANBERRY PUNCH

This is from Ocean Spray. Prep Time: 5 minutes plus freezing; Yield: Makes about 14 6-ounce servings

To view this yumminess, click here.

Ingredients

1 64-ounce bottle Ocean Spray® Cranberry Juice Cocktail

24 ounces club soda

8 ounces orange juice

Ice ring, garnish

Orange slices, garnish

Directions

Combine all ingredients, except garnishes, in a large punch bowl. Gently stir ingredients. Add ice ring and orange slices just before serving.

MINESTRONE SOUP

Yield: 4 servings (about 1 cup each)

Source: "Cooking with The Diabetic Chef"

Info: http://diabeticgourmet.com/book_archive/details/23.shtml

Ingredients

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 medium onion, finely diced

1/4 medium carrot, finely diced

1/4 stalk celery, finely diced

2/3 teaspoon garlic, minced

2 tablespoons leeks, finely diced

3 ounces (about 1/3 cup) canned tomatoes, chopped

1/2 medium zucchini, diced

1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme

3/4 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced

3 cups chicken stock

3 ounces (about 1/2 cup) frozen spinach, chopped

3/4 cup white beans, cooked

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook until the vegetables are slightly tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the garlic and leek and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato, zucchini, thyme, oregano, and chicken stock. Bring the liquid to a simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the spinach and white beans. Return the liquid to a simmer for 20 minutes. Season with the salt and white pepper. Serve immediately and garnish with the Parmesan cheese.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (about 1 cup): Calories: 110, Fat: 3 g, Cholesterol: 3 mg, Sodium: 283 mg, Carbohydrate: 15 g, Dietary Fiber: 5 g, Sugars: 3 g, Protein: 7 g, Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Starch, 1/2 Lean Meat, 1 Vegetable, 1/2 Fat

RHUBARB ICE CREAM WITH A CARAMEL SWIRL

This is from Melissa Clark in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Melissa wrote, “This ice cream is chock-full of sweet bits, but with enough satiny frozen custard to savor between the chunks. To keep the rhubarb from freezing into tooth-breaking fruity ice cubes, stew it with plenty of sugar, which keeps the fruit soft. The technique works with any summer fruit, though it’s especially nice with rhubarb, or gooseberries for that matter, both of which need a lot of sugar to tame their squint-inducing acid content. But you can substitute strawberries, apricots, cherries, peaches or plums as the summer fruit season progresses, adjusting the sugar depending upon the sweetness of the fruit.”

Yield: One scant quart

This was featured in “Rhubarb, It Turns Out, Can Be a Sweetie”, and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups whole milk

1 and 3/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons granulated sugar

Pinch fine sea salt

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 and 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preparation

In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, whisk together the milk, 3/4 cup sugar, the salt, the vanilla bean seeds and its pod. Simmer gently until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and steep 30 minutes. Discard the vanilla pod and return mixture to a bare simmer.

Place the yolks in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in hot milk mixture. Scrape the custard back into the pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Whisk in sour cream. Chill at least 3 hours or overnight.

In a saucepan, combine the rhubarb with 1 cup sugar. Simmer until rhubarb is just tender and has begun releasing its juices, but has not started to fall apart, 4 to 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rhubarb to a bowl. Continue to simmer the juices until syrupy, 5 to 10 minutes more. Pour the syrup over the rhubarb. Cool completely.

In a clean, dry and preferably nonstick skillet, sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over medium heat. When it begins to melt and lightly color, sprinkle in 2 more tablespoons and start swirling pan to help evenly distribute sugar. Add the final 2 tablespoons and cook, swirling pan until all the sugar has melted. Let cook, swirling occasionally, until the sugar syrup caramelizes and turns dark brown. Pour in the heavy cream and 2 tablespoons water (stand back; it may splatter). Simmer, stirring with a heatproof rubber spatula until smooth. Cool completely.

Pour the custard base into an ice cream machine and churn. Add rhubarb compote for the last minute of churning.

Scrape a quarter of the caramel into the bottom of a freezer-proof quart container. Top with a quarter of the ice cream. Repeat layering until all of the caramel and ice cream has been used, ending with the ice cream. Freeze until firm for at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.

KEY LIME PIE POPS

This was on the TODAY website, and starts off, “Turn your favorite summer pie into an easy creamy lime and graham cracker frozen treat.

“Technique tip: You don't need fancy ice pop molds to make these pops. Try using basic tools you already have in your kitchen, such as small paper cups, a loaf pan, large ice cube trays or even empty yogurt containers.

“Swap option: To give these pops a chocolaty twist, swap 16 chocolate wafer cookies for the graham crackers.”

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

6 graham crackers

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 cup heavy cream, very cold

Twelve 3-ounce paper cups

12 wooden craft sticks

Preparation

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the graham crackers to form fine crumbs. Add the butter and pulse to combine.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on low speed until smooth. With the mixer running, gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, then the lime zest and juice.

Add the cream, then increase the speed until mixture is thick and soft peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Divide among the cups (about 5 tablespoons per cup). Top with the graham mixture and lightly press down to flatten.

Transfer the cups to a small, rimmed baking sheet and push a craft stick halfway down into each cup. Freeze until firm, at least 6 hours.

When ready to serve, peel the cups away from the pops.

CREAMY VEGAN MAYO-FREE POTATO SALAD

This is from Brittany at I Love Vegan and begins, “Good ol’ potato salad is a quintessential summer salad and a staple at barbeques and potlucks. This creamy vegan potato salad is made without mayo! 30 minutes of active cooking time. Makes 4 cups.”

Prep 30 mins; Cook 25 mins; Inactive 2 hours, 15 mins; Total 3 hours, 10 mins; Yield 4 cups

This can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

1 - 1.5lb bag of The Little Potato Company’s Blushing Belle Creamer potatoes

1/2 cup Coconut milk (full-fat)

1/3 cup Nutritional yeast flakes

1/4 cup Canola oil (or other neutral-tasting vegetable oil)

3 tbsp Dill pickle juice (or 2 tbsp white vinegar)

1 tbsp Granulated sugar (evaporated cane sugar)

1 tsp Hot mustard

1 1/2 tsp Sea salt, plus more to taste

Black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup Chopped fresh dill

1/4 cup Thin-sliced celery (approx. 1 rib celery)

1/4 cup Grated carrot (approx. 1 medium carrot)

1/4 cup Chopped green onion (approx. 4-5 shoots)

2-3 tbsp minced shallot (soaked in salt water) (approx. 1 small shallot)

2 tbsp Chopped dill pickle (approx. 1 large pickle)

Instructions

Begin cooking the potatoes while you prep the vegetables and the dressing. In a large pot of cold water, heat the potatoes over high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the largest potato is fork-tender in the center. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and set aside to cool slightly.

While the potatoes are cooking, combine coconut milk, nutritional yeast, canola oil, pickle juice, sugar, hot mustard, sea salt, and black pepper. Mix vigorously and set aside. Prepare the dill, celery, carrot, green onion, shallot, and pickle.

Once the potatoes are just cool enough to handle, halve them and transfer them to a large bowl. (Refer to recipe notes for tips on changing the texture of the potato salad)

Cover the warm potatoes with dressing and add all of the chopped vegetables. Mix roughly and thoroughly to the help break up the potatoes and thicken the dressing.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (until thoroughly chilled – overnight is best so there’s plenty of time for the dressing to thicken.)

Mix well, taste and adjust seasoning to suit your preferences.

Notes

Depending on your personal preferences, it's easy to adjust the texture of this potato salad. I coarsely mashed the halved potatoes for a thick salad with different-sized chunky pieces of potato. For a more evenly textured potato salad, dice 2/3 of the warm potatoes and thoroughly mash the remaining potatoes. If you prefer a mashed potato salad, fully mash the potatoes.

ACORN SQUASH STUFFED WITH VEGETARIAN SAUSAGE AND APPLES

This comes from Jolinda Hackett, About.com’s Vegetarian Food expert. Jolinda wrote, “A vegetarian and vegan recipe for acorn squash stuffed with vegetarian sausage and apples. Use store-bought vegetarian sausage to make this fall entree for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any special occasion meal. Stuffed acorn squash makes a very presentable centerpiece for a vegetarian of vegan meal. It's filled with a bread stuffing with plenty of fresh herbs, including sage and thyme - it's these herbs which will fill your kitchen and your entire home with that fabulous Thanksgiving aroma as it bakes.

“If you're looking for a gluten-free stuffed squash recipe, try using a quinoa stuffing instead of bread.

“This vegetarian and vegan stuffed acorn squash recipe serves four, but the portions are generous, so plan on it serving 6-8 if you're serving it as a side dish.”

Prep Time: 20 minutes; Cook Time: 75 minutes; Total Time: 95 minutes; Yield: 4 as a main, 6 - 8 as a side.

Ingredients

1 package vegetarian sausage (use Gimme Lean brand)

2 cups water

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped fine

1 Tbsp fresh sage OR 1 tsp dried

1 Tbsp fresh thyme OR 1 tsp dried

6 oz plain stuffing cubes, OR 8 cups toasted bread crumbs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 medium apple, any kind, diced

1/3 cup apple cider

2 large acorn squash, cut in half, with seeds removed

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°.

Lightly brown the vegetarian sausage in a non-stick skillet sprayed with a little olive oil, breaking it up and crumbling it with a spatula as it browns, just as you would with a meat sausage. Set aside.

Bring water and olive oil to a boil in a covered pot over high heat. Stir in onion, celery, sage, and thyme. Cook, covered, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in stuffing cubes, salt and pepper, applesauce, apple cider, and the browned sausage, mixing to combine. Taste, and adjust seasonings to taste.

Divide the stuffing evenly among the acorn squash halves. Arrange the halves in a roasting pan and pour water around (not on) the squash to 1 inch.

Lightly spray a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the pan with olive oil spray. This will prevent it from sticking to the stuffing. Cover the pan tightly, tending slightly with the sprayed side down.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork.