broccoli cheese casserole Archives - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Green Food for St Patrick’s Day plus Variations on a Reuben

Looking for some green food that doesn’t involve using food dye to help celebrate St Patrick’s Day? Here’s a round-up from previous posts I’ve done… there is so much green out there naturally, and in many delicious forms. I also have some suggestions for fun ways to use corned beef and/or pastrami besides a reuben sandwich towards the bottom of the post.

Green Food for St Patrick's Day with no need for food dye or food coloring, plus suggestions for fun ways to incprorate corned beef and pastrami

But, first, the green food.

For appetizers, of course you could go with guacamole– I did a face off with 3 different guacamoles, one recipe from Alton Brown, one recipe from Bobby Flay, and one from Rick Bayless

Or try edamame hummus for an option besides the obvious guacamole!

Last year I went with an Avocado Mac and Cheese from the Melt cookbook

But there’s a lot of avocado inspired recipes you could try, as I covered in this Avocado Pesto and more Avocado Awesomeness post that also shows some avocado inspirations from Chef Lisa of Mother’s Bistro

Another way to get in the green naturally is with broccoli, like this St. Norbert College’s Cheese Broccoli which is an awesome simple casserole that is nostalgically old fashioned. There’s also these homey Spinach and Cheese Pinwheels

Or go with Brussels Sprouts, either Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Mashed Brussels Sprouts.

There’s green in these Creamed Kale or Creamed Cabbage Recipes.

Green Gazpacho that celebrates the bounty of greens with green pepper, celery, scallions, jalapeno, parsley, cilantro, and chives

Asparagus Goldenrod evokes green as well as gold

Or combine beer with green but without going to the low of green beer by making Saison Beer Ricotta on Cucumber appetizers

If you’re not in the Northwest and enjoying a 60-70 degree weather like we are, you probably wouldn’t be out on the grill, but here in Portland with our 70 degree March 17 we could do a bbq and throw in Irish Whiskey into our burger as well by making Cheddar Whiskey Burgers that has a combination of beef and pork with a bit of whiskey, and then is stuffed and then topped with a cheddar whiskey sauce. Sorry everywhere else that is cold and has snow.

For more authentic food that is Irish inspired, you could enjoy a vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie courtesy of Moosewood

Ok, this doesn’t qualify for meatless, but I dined out at Kenny and Zuke’s for this this Bagel and Egg and Cheese with Pastrami bagel and this dish of Pastrami Cheese fries and it seemed very celebratory to me. What I love about these ideas is taking corned beef or pastrami and doing more than just a sandwich. Shake it up by putting it into a breakfast sandwich with a bagel or croissant, make reuben dogs or make them mini and adorable slow cooked beef reuben sliders. Chop it up and add it to fries, nachos, make a reuben mac and cheese or any casserole (I like this one with layers), or even into a baked creamy reuben dip! I will be making one of these links this weekend- I haven’t quite decided which one yet. I’ll also be making a colcannon – but instead of making a potato colcannon, I’m doing a cauliflower colcannon. Stay tuned for the outcome on Monday’s post!

Also, I’m heading to Bowery Bagels on Monday because they are celebrating with Corned Beef Bagel Sandwiches, available at their downtown shop the week of March 16th – 21st for $8. These corned beef bagel sandwiches are packed with house-cured corned beef and topped with cabbage slaw and spicy mustard, which you can get on Bowery March bagel special, the Light Caraway Rye Bagel. Get the fingerling potato salad as a side and have the full Irish corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes experience. I’ll update with a photo when I acquire the goodie bagel.

Are you making anything special in celebration of St Patrick’s Day?

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes Roundup

Holy moly it is 3 more weeks until Thanksgiving! I do have some new Thanksgiving recipe ideas to share that are of course vegetarian, but before I started, I wanted to do a roundup of some previous recipes I have shared that I am very fond of.

I plan to make these as a lazy Sunday snack: Squash Cheese Pinwheels (and also finally replace that terrible photo with a better one)

My favorite soup I’ve made is this rich Butternut Squash and Ale Soup with Candied Almonds and homemade Mascarpone with Cambozola

A great autumn dish in general, going on with the butternut squash train of thought, is this Butternut Squash Lasagna in Béchamel sauce

For a main dish for your vegetarian that makes them feel like royalty, try Tofu and Mushrooms A La King. This dish is really filling enough visually and gut-wise to feel like a real dish, rather than just a dinner of sides. Instead of tofu and mushrooms, you could also consider using this vegetarian Chicken Fricassee instead that utilizes vegetarian chik’n.

My own vegetarian F’s favorite Thanksgiving staple is Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie inspired by Moosewood. The recipe has a neat trick using crushed up walnuts to give the texture of “gristle” that just adds something extra to your regular vegetarian shepherd’s pie.

I have made two rice side dishes that I adore above all others: this Harvest Quinoa with Apple and Walnuts which really highlights autumn with its apple, or go rich and creamy with Spinach Parmesan Rice Bake (or use other mixed vegetables instead).

But maybe you want stuffing instead? How about this flavorful Cornbread Stuffing that boasts smokiness from vegetarian ham and some heat from Thai chili pepper