Veggie Teens

Meatless Monday: Scrambled Egg Burrito with Veggie Sausage

This easy, protein rich recipe is great for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. It involves several basic but essential culinary techniques: how to dice an onion, how to crack an egg, and how to scramble eggs.

For more vegetarian recipes for teens, check out Veggie Teens: A Cookbook and Guide for Vegetarian Teenagers by Elyse May (aka Veggie Teen).

Scrambled Egg Burritos with Veggie Sausage

Makes 2

Ingredients 

2 veggie sausage patties (like Morningstar Farms)
1/4 cup diced onions (see Culinary Techniques: How to Dice an Onion)
4 eggs
1/4 cup of water
Salt and pepper to taste
2 6"-8" flour tortillas
2 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 tbsp)
Your favorite salsa (like Salsa Fresca from page 39 of Veggie Teens Cookbook)

Directions

1. Spray a small skillet with non-stick spray and place over low heat.
2. Cook veggie sausage patties according to the directions on the package. (I don't recommend microwaving them.)
3. Remove patties, cut into small pieces, and keep warm.
4. Spray the skillet with non-stick spray; add onions and cook until translucent.
5. To scramble the eggs: Crack eggs into a small mixing bowl (see Culinary Techniques: How to Break an Egg)
6. Add water, salt and pepper.
7. Wisk egg mixture with a hand wisker in a circular motion.
8. Add egg mixture to the non-stick pan and stir constantly until the eggs are set.
9. Put the chopped sausage patties back into the pan and combine lightly.
10. Place mixture on the tortilla.
11. Top with cheese and salsa and fold tortilla over the filling.
12. Enjoy!

Culinary Techniques: How to Break an Egg

Post by Elyse May (aka Veggie Teen) from Veggie Teens: A Cookbook and Guide for Vegetarian Teenagers.

In addition to hundreds of recipes, there are 21 "Veggie Teens Culinary How To" instructions in Veggie Teens Cookbook and Guide for Vegetarian Teenagers, each with three-step photos.

Here's how to crack an egg:

Tap the side of the egg on a flat surface. 

Hold the egg over a bowl as you separate the two halves.

Allow the egg to drop gently into the bowl. If any egg shell falls in, scoop it out with a clean spoon. 

Meatless Monday: Get out of the box

My family signed up to pick up a box of fresh, local produce from the farmers' market each week. We get whatever comes in the box so it challenges us to get out of our box and try new recipes! (Check out our recipe at the bottom of this post. It might sound too healthy or even too strange to taste good - but it does!)

Here's what we got in our first box:

• 8 assorted citrus
• Head of purple and speckled leaf romaine lettuce
• 2 baby fennel
• 3 bulbs of spring garlic
• Bunch of bright lights swiss chard
• 2 small sweet potatoes 
• Tuscano kale
• Spaghetti squash

Recipe: Winter Veg Korma

This is a vegan Indian dish made with garam masala - a fragrant mixture of up to 12 spices like black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, cardamom, dried chiles, fennel, ginger, mace, or nutmeg. It is a lot easier to buy a mixture than measuring out a bunch of different spices.

Culinary Technique: Keep fresh ginger root in the freezer. Just peel it and store it in an airtight plastic bag in the freezer. Cut off pieces as needed; grate, slice, or finely dice.

Sauce:

1/2 onion, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1 inch of fresh ginger, finely diced
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons of garam masala 
1/2 teaspoon salt

Winter Veg:

1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 small sweet potatoes (1 pound)
1/2 small butternut squash (3/4 pound)
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 bunch of kale; remove leaves from stem and chop
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained 
1/2 cup of light coconut milk 

Directions

1. Combine first six sauce ingredients (onion, tomato, ginger, water, garam masala, salt) in a small food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
2. Heat large sauté pan then add 1 tablespoon of the oil. When oil is hot, add diced sweet potato and butternut squash. Cook until vegetables start to soften then move them to the edge of the pan.
3. Add another tablespoon of oil to the center of the pan, and when hot, add sliced red onion and sauté, combining vegetables when onion is soft. 
4. Remove vegetables to a plate.
5. Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to pan; add sauce and cook until thickened, approximately 5 to 6 minutes.
6. Return vegetables to the pan and add 1 1/2 cups of water.
7. When mixture is simmering, stir in kale and chickpeas.
8. Cook until sauce is thickened then add cocunut milk and heat through.
9. Serve over brown rice.

Super Bowl Sunday Seven Layer Vegetarian Dip

This meatless version of the popular Seven Layer Dip is so good that everyone will love it!

By Elyse May (aka Veggie Teen), author of Veggie Teens: A Cookbook and Guide for Vegetarian Teenagers.

Super Bowl Sunday
Seven Layer Vegetarian Dip 

Serves 12

Ingredients
2 cans of refried black beans with jalepenos
8 ounces of light sour cream
1 package of taco seasoning
2 small cans of sliced olives, drained
2 avocados, diced
1/2 lemon for juice
1 can of white corn, drained
1 red pepper, diced
1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded
1 cups of salsa (we used our Salsa Fresca recipe from page 39 of Veggie Teens)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Spread black beans in the bottom of clear bowl.
2. Stir together sour cream and taco mix. Spread layer on top of beans.
3. Put diced avocado in next; squeeze lemon juice over avocados.
4. Stir together corn and diced red pepper. Pour over avacado.
5. Top with shredded lettuce. 
6. Pour salsa or Salsa Fresca over lettuce.
7. Finish with shredded cheese.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Save the Arctic Cupcakes

Arctic Ocean Cupcake Diorama

This cupcake diorama features all my favorite arctic animals. It was a huge project - you might want to try making just one animal at a time instead!

Walrus looking for his mate

 

Penguins fishing in an ice hole

 

Polar bear lounging in the sun

 

Humpback whales frolicking in the waves

Harp seal playing on the ice

Look out!