This amazing potato salad recipe has endured a handful of incarnations.

Originally, it included bacon so I, a vegetarian, have been on a quest to replace that bacon flavor with a handful of substitutions.

I have tried avocado in the dressing, toasted pine nuts, immitation bacon; spices. You name it.

Nothing really captured not only the flavor of the bacon but the crispy texture or greasy mouthfeel, either.

Fried leeks were my next attempt to capture all of these elements that have always seemed to be missing from the veggie version of this very popular dish.

Recipe:

Chop and boil 4 lbs. of red skin potatoes

Chop 1 red bell pepper, 1 orange bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper

Chop 7-8 green onions

Chop 1 red onion

Fry 2 leeks until crispy

Add ingredients together when cooled

Mix togehter about 2 cups of Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise with about 2 Tbsn of yellow mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Learning about leeks was the next step.

My very knowledgable girlfriend gave me some useful tips when dealing with leeks:

Clean them very well as they have dirt in between the leaves and use only the white to bright green portion when frying or using for salads.

The dark green leaves can be used for soups and stews.

This corn on the cob cooks on the grill. What could be easier!?

Open the husks and remove the silk

Mix together butter and crushed garlic and rub all over the corn

Close the husk and place on the grill. Delicious! and Easy!

I used 1 medium eggplant and sliced into thick planks.

Then dredged them in flour, egg wash and Italian style bread crumbs and fried until golden.

Then I place them on a baking sheet and kept them at about 325 degrees until we were ready to make our burgers.

I toasted the buns with a bit of olive oil and made a mayo/spicy barbeque sauce to serve on the side.

My very handsome date, Wolf!

Meatless Monday! Broccolini soup and quinoa salad were the perect combo.

Quinoa is a complete protein and black beans, tomato and basil create a filling nutritious but light meal.

Olive oil and lemon dress the salad with salt to taste.

Quinoa is fast and easy to prepare; 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water, boil for about 15 minutes and you’re ready to go.

Just chop the rest of the ingredients and fold into warm quinoa. I used canned black beans so I rinsed them well to decrease the sodium content. I used about 1/2 can.

I made a quick “broth” for the soup by boiling the stems of the broccolini in water with garlic slices.

I boiled until tender then pureed in the food processor.

I then sauteed 1/2 onion and more garlic in olive oil and created a roux with 2 Tbspn of flour and 2 tbspn of butter.

Then 1 cup of half and half and 2 cups milk.

My girls wanted cheddar so I added about 3/4 of a cup.

I then combined everything in one pot to cook then added the tops of the broccolini to cook in the soup.

Warm and creamy with light and bright.

These tomatoes were the best. The juicy brightness set off the quinoa just right.

My little one loves pancakes. She is not a vegan and regularly extols the virtues and pleasures of butter, whipped cream and cheese.

I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Although I did not eat this meal the smells were intoxicating; partly due to my obsession with quality, fancy, organic, exotic vanillas.

Fresh quality ingredients are the key to the best dishes and I just try to bring out the best in creative combinations.

Hashbrowns

3-5 medium sized yellow organic potatoes

Peel and place in the food processor and shred, or grate on a hand held grater.

The most important thing is to make sure that the potatoes are thoroughly dried before you cook them.

I patted mine with a few rounds of paper towels then placed them into a hot skillet with about 2-4 tablespoons of butter.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Teaspoons of vanilla extract

Method

Place a pan to medium heat.

Combine the 4 dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in a bowl.

Add the buttermilk and vegetable oil and vanilla to your mixture.

Mix until smooth.

Now the pan should be ready for your batter, so spoon one pancakes’ worth of the mixture into the pan.

Flip [carefully] when you see bubbles in the middle of the pancake, or if the edges are looking stiffened.
Repeat until the batter is gone, and try not to eat them all while you’re cooking them.

These pancakes were so light and fluffy and they had a crispy “edginess”.

Easy and green Meatless Monday!

The cheese sauce starts with a simple roux of butter and flour to which I added about 1 cup of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of shredded parmesan.

I also added 3 cloves of thinly sliced garlic while the butter was melting before I added the flour.

And anytime I use cream or spinach I add a pinch of nutmeg.

This was a hit with my teenage daughters who don’t always enjoy my vegan meals.

Add salad and you have an inexpensive, nutritious meatless monday!

I added aspargus and broccoli to this meal. Artichokes would work here, also.

I am glad that I took these photos before I cooked the scallops and shrimp because as soon as they were cooked they were eaten.

First of all it was so easy, second of all it took maybe 15 minutes.

I picked up some nice looking jumbo shrimp and large Bay scallops. I had some lemon, garlic and butter. That was it.

We were drinking Trapiche Malbec. Probably not the best choice with seafood but it was what we had and it was yummy.

I started by melting the butter in a large skillet then added crushed garlic which I placed on the 2 tablespoons of butter, so it wouldn’t get brown, then squeezed lemon into the skillet.

I put the scallops on the bottom and laid the shrimp on top of them. They cooked for maybe 8 to 9 minutes on high.

People were picking them out of the pan! I plated these then squeezed on more fresh lemon and they lasted for about 10 minutes!

This meal was low calorie, delicious and nutritious.