Welcome!

Welcome to Romeo's Food Lady! This blog contains recipes for delicious vegetarian food. Most of these are not recipes authored by me. Rather, this is just a compilation of great veggie food I've found from all over the place, usually tweaked just a little. It's intended to be a reference FOR ME so I don't lose great food I've found nor the changes I've made to suit my tastes, but I'm happy for you to use it, too. After more than 25 years of being a vegetarian, I know what tastes good.
Romeo's Food Lady is named after my friend and cat, Romeo. Romeo is not a vegetarian, but his Food Lady is!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Swiss Chard with Potatoes

If you've been reading posts since this summer, you know I've had a ton of Swiss chard on my hands from the garden.  It's been my pleasure to try to find new and interesting things to do with this garden green, because we had great success with it this year.  Here's a delicious dish based on a recipe from Rick Bayless's Authentic Mexican cookbook.  I served it as an entrée with a side of black beans and with garlic toasts, but you could easily use it as a side dish, too.




Ingredients:
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 fresh jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, deveined, and thinly sliced
1 (maybe 2 - try it both ways) medium tomato, cored and coarsely chopped
6 small red-skinned boiling potatoes, cut in 1/2-inch dice
1/4 c. water
3/4 t. salt, separated
1 bunch Swiss chard (about 6 large leaves), stems cut out and leaves sliced crosswise into 1-inch strips

Method:
In a large, lidded skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and jalapeno and sauté, stirring frequently, until the onion is lightly browned (about 7 - 10 minutes).  Add the tomato to the pan and cook a little longer to reduce the liquid slightly.

Stir in the potatoes, water, and 1/2 t. salt.  Cover and cook over medium-low heat until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Mix in the chard and remaining 1/4 t. salt.  Cover and cook over medium heat until the greens are tender, about 3 minutes.  Stir to coat the vegetables in the tomato-y broth, and serve immediately.


Thursday, October 20, 2011

Hillbilly Caviar

My friend, Pam, gave me this recipe.  She called it "Hillbilly Caviar" and said she got it from Southern Living magazine.  It's an attractive, healthy, filling, vegan appetizer, and it makes a very decent amount for a small crowd of 20 or so.  Serve it with scoop-style chips or anything that can be hollowed (like maybe thick zuchinni slices).


Ingredients:
1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can niblet corn, drained
1 can chopped tomatoes, drained (I used the fire-roasted kind of chopped tomatoes, and it worked very nicely.)
1 green bell pepper, seeded, deveined, and chopped
1 orange bell pepper, seeded, deveined, and chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (white or yellow works fine, too)
vegan Italian dressing, to coat
something to scoop the caviar with (like scoop-style chips or any edible, hollow thing - see intro)

Method:
Mix first 7 ingredients, then add just enough vegan Italian dressing to coat everything.  Serve with scoop-style chips (or any hollow edible thing - see intro).

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fried Green Tomato Po'boys

Let me thank Southern Living magazine right now for this fantastic idea:  fried green tomato po'boy sandwiches!  I also based this fried green tomato recipe on theirs.  I made these sandwiches for a late lunch/early dinner today, and I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the results!  I didn't use rémoulade sauce, but you certainly can if you want.




Fried Green Tomato Ingredients:
½ c. all-purpose flour, separated
1 egg
½ c. rice milk
½ c. cornmeal
3/4 t. baking powder
heaping ½ t. salt
heaping ½ t. freshly ground black pepper
3 medium green tomatoes, cored and sliced 1/3 inch thick
canola oil

Sandwich Ingredients (per sandwich):
6-inch baguette, sliced lengthwise
2 slices fried green tomato
4 slices avocado
thinly sliced onion rings, to taste
shredded lettuce
2 slices red tomato
Tabasco chipotle sauce
salt and freshly ground pepper

To make the tomatoes, set up a dredging station with 3 shallow bowls.  The first will have 1/4 c. AP flour.  In the next bowl, whisk together the egg and rice milk.  In the last bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 c. AP flour, cornmeal, baking powder, heaping 1/2 t. salt and freshly ground pepper.

Heat the canola oil in a deep-sided cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Dredge each slice of green tomato in the AP flour first, then in the egg mixture, then in the cornmeal mix.  Place the slice in the hot oil.  It should sizzle but not splatter.  (No sizzle = not enough heat.  Splatter = too much heat.  Be VERY CAREFUL with hot oil!  Protect your skin and clothes!)  Fry each slice until golden brown, about 2 - 3 minutes on each side.  You may have to add more oil as you work through the tomato slices.  Drain the fried tomatoes on paper towels.



Once you have the tomatoes fried, the hard part is over!  Now open your baguette and layer up your sandwich like this or in whatever manner suits you:  2 fried green tomato slices, avocado slices, thinly sliced onions, shredded lettuce, red tomato slices, generous salt and pepper, and Tabasco chipotle shots to taste.  Close up your sandwich and get to work!

Scott and I ate them with cold homebrewed beer and finished up with a chocolate chip cookie from a local bakery.  Tres bien!!!