Delicious Veggies & Peach Pie

Lots of people ask me 'what do you eat if you dont eat meat?'. I think they must imagine I live on a diet of steamed vegetabes and lettuce? Especially the traditional aussie family who has the usual meat and three veg meal.

The great thing about vegetables is that they can be prepared in so many different ways with various spices, coated, battered, in a salad, mixed with other vegetables, the list is endless. And I certainly dont ever feel like im missing out my not eating meat!

Anyhow, I thought I would share with you one meal I made recently which was really delicious! And shows a few different ways of preparing and mixing up vegetables.

The first part of the meal (plated above), consisted of crumbed mushrooms, roasted carrot, broccoli and pumpkin, and pastry wrapped asparagus.

* Before roasting the vegetables I coated them in a small amount of vegetable oil, mixed well and then added paprika, salt, pepper, dried onion flakes, and not on this occasion but I usually add dried mixed herbs. After this is mixed well I spread out onto a greased oven tray (not packed too tightly). I put the broccoli on one side and cover it with foil until about 10 minutes before cooking is finished - otherwise it burns. If you havent tried roast broccoli, let me tell you that you are missing out! I cook them on 220 degrees C for about 30-45 minutes depending on your oven.

* The asparagus is really simple! I actually saw this idea on another blog but cant remember which one. Anyhow after the asparagus is washed and the woody ends are trimmed, simply wrap a strip of ready-bought puff pastry around each piece of asparagus, luy on a greased oven tray and then spray with oil. You could also season with salt and pepper or parmesan.

* To make the crumb mushrooms, I usually peel my mushrooms (I know its strange!) but you could just wipe them with a damp cloth if you profer. If you 'wash' them this will make for LOTS of dangerous splattering when you fry them. Next prepare a bowl of breadcrumbs in one bowl and your choice of egg mixture in another bowl. Dip each mushroom into the 'egg' mixture and then into the breadcrumbs. I like to leave my crumbed mushrooms for 10 minutes before frying so that they 'dry' slightly. Heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil in a deep saucepan, you need a deep pan because they usually spit alot, a splatter gard is also a great idea! When the oil is hot enough so that it sizzles when a mushroom is put in, it is hot enough, usually medium (or a bit more) heat is appropriate. Put all of the mushrooms into the oil and turn with tongs when the bottom is golden brown. When the both sides are golden brown remove from oil and drain on paper towel.

The other part of the meal consisted of green bean salad and potato bake.

* For the green bean salad I used a can of green beans, drained and rinsed. A cucumber diced, a tomato diced, 1-2 slices of onion finely diced, lettuce chopped, a couple of sprigs of parsley chopped. To season I used a dash of oil, a dash of white vinegar, salt, pepper and about two tablespoons of dried dill (this is a magic ingredient in salads!). Mix well, and serve, its that easy and a really fresh tasting salad.

* I had last made potato bake a very long time ago, but had to make it again after seeing it on Vegiebug's blog. I mostly followed her recipe with a few little changes...

Potato Bake

3 large potatos, sliced super thin

1 small onion, sliced super thin

1 sprig rosemary, finely chopped

1 heaped teaspoon vegie stock

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup (ish) milk

1 Tablespoon cold margarine

S+p

1/2 cup grated cheese

- Preheat your oven to 200C.

- Grease your dishes, I used three small dishes and used canola spray oil.

- Slice potatos and onion super thin.

- Heat the water and stock in a saucepan until dissolved. Add milk, rosemary and salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and switch off.

- Layer your potatos and onions (I only used a small amount in each layer) alternately and top with a little extra butter and the grated cheese. Pour the hot liquid into the pots.

- Put on the lids or cover with foil (remove foil about 1/2hr into baking) on and bake until soft all the way through and golde on top. about 45 mins to an hour, the bigger your dish/s the longer it will take, but make sure you can put a knife straight through without any resistance.

On another occasion I decided to make Peach Pie. Mikey's family has a peach tree and last month produced hundreds of peaches! I made this pie to take back to their house for dessert one evening.

I wasn't overly happy with the pastry I made. I thought it wasn't flakey or sweet enough. But it looked pretty right? It did taste ok with some vanilla icecream. The peach mixture had cinnamon, lemon juice and brown sugar mixed in with it which worked quite well.

Now that ive come to the end of my post, I was wonering, do you have a favourite vegetable dish?

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