Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Mushrooms

While I am neither vegetarian nor vegan I do try to cook vegetarian meals at least once a week, but they are rarely most likely never vegan.  After being asked to bring a vegetarian or vegan appetizer to a party recently I decided to challenge myself to making the appetizer completely vegan and made an appetizer sized version of these mushrooms.  They were good, but the stuffing made the small button mushrooms get soggy pretty fast.  I liked the filling though so made the full sized version for dinner one night.  The sturdier portabella mushrooms stood up well to the filling and we didn't miss that they were lacking cheese.  I served them with a simple green salad with oil and vinegar to make a completely vegan meal.   

The part that I almost forgot about when getting ready to make the mushrooms was the breadcrumbs.  I usually make fresh breadcrumbs from whatever sandwich bread I have on hand.  But a lot of sandwich breads aren't vegan.  I was afraid to trust myself with just ingredient reading after I pulled a loaf of buttermilk bread out of my pantry and started to read the label to see if it was vegan.  I was able to find some vegan multigrain bread that was labelled as such at Trader Joe's.  I used about half my 12 ounce loaf of bread in the food processor to get 1 1/4 cups of bread crumbs.

Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Mushrooms
Adapted from MyRecipes.com

4 portabella mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes 
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives 
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers 
2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomatoes (the kind in oil, not dried) 
1 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs made from vegan bread 
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place mushrooms on baking sheet with gill sides up and drizzle evenly with olive oil and vinegar.  Season with salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.  Bake for 10 minutes.  
While mushrooms are in the oven, prepare the the filling in a large bowl by stirring together chopped tomatoes, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, bread crumbs, chives, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Stuff prepared mushroom caps with filling, approximately 1/2 cup per mushroom.  Bake stuffed mushrooms in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until filling is browned.  Mine took the full 15 minutes.

Soy Glazed Salmon

I had fresh salmon in the fridge that I planned on making another recipe with until I realized I'd forgotten a couple of key ingredients.  I didn't want to make a last minute trip to the store when I knew I could pull together enough ingredients from the pantry to do something else with the salmon.  I'd made this recipe once before but then not repeated it, which happens a lot since I like to try new recipes so much.  I was glad I tried it again though because it's both tasty and simple.  

Soy Glazed Salmon
Lightly adapted from Martha Stewart
(Serves 4)

4 salmon filets, 6-8 ounces each
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
pinch fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 400°F and place salmon skin side down in a baking dish.  In a small bowl whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, olive oil, wine, lemon juice, and black pepper.  Pour evenly over salmon filets.  Bake in preheated oven for ten minutes, the remove from oven and spoon sauce from pan over filets.  Sprinkle each filet with 1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds and return to oven for 5-10 minutes longer until salmon  flakes easily with with a fork.

Fresh Cranberry Oatmeal Scones

If my favorite food of the fall/winter seasons is pumpkin my second favorite is cranberries.  I always buy a bunch of extra bags when they go on sale and throw them in the freezer so I have some on hand when they disappear from the stores.  I've learned from experience that the frozen variety can be hard to find in stores when I need them.  This year I got a little carried away when the price dropped to 2 for $3 the week before Thanksgiving.  Need cranberries in June this summer?  Give me a call, I'm sure I'll still have them.

These are a bit different from a traditional scone because of the added heartiness from the oatmeal.  They also aren't the prettiest scones ever, but they are tasty.  I made them for our Thanksgiving breakfast but didn't post them then because three cranberry posts in one week seemed like it was pushing it.  Plus these would make an a great addition to Christmas breakfast as well, they could even be prepped the night before and refrigerated on the cookie sheet for easy baking in the morning.

Majority of cranberry scone recipes I've found call for dried cranberries, which could be used here in a pinch, but I really think the whole berries are better with the heartiness of the oatmeal.  The dough was a little temperamental for me, both sticky and crumbly at the same time, but it came together when patted into a circle on the counter.

 Fresh Cranberry Oatmeal Scones
Adapted from Right at Home
(Makes 8 scones)

2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, rinsed
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons very cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  (I wouldn't recommend skipping this step, burst cranberries are not easy to scrub off a cookie sheet)
In a large mixing bowl whisk together cake flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Using a pastry blender or two forks cut in the butter until the flour mixture resembles large crumbs. In a small bowl toss cranberries with the granulated sugar and then stir into flour mixture.  
In a separate bowl whisk together the egg and buttermilk.  Stir into flour mixture.  Dough will be fairly sticky and may not come together completely in the bowl.  If it's very dry stir in another tablespoon or so of buttermilk.
Sprinkle some flour onto counter top or cutting board and turn dough out onto floured surface.  Using floured hands gently pat the dough into a circle that is approximately 3/4 of an inch thick.  Cut the dough into 8 wedges and place each wedge onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven 15-16 minutes until browned.  Remove from cookie sheet to a cooling rack and let cool about 10 minutes before glazing.

Quick Powdered Sugar Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons milk

Whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk.  Add more milk 1/2 tablespoon at a time until the glaze is the desired consistency.  Drizzle over scones.