Butter Bean Burgers

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butter-bean-burgers/detail.aspx
     
 Surprisingly delicious!  Mine weren’t quite as golden on the bottom because I omitted the vegetable oil – a non-stick pan works just fine, but the presentation was nice.  I used ½ of an onion and 4 saltine crackers (it’s what I had), but followed the rest of the recipe.  I didn’t chop the jalapenos as finely as I should have (first time using my new Food Chop), so there were sections of each burger that were a bit too spicy.  I couldn’t taste the garlic powder or cheese, but an overall good experience and quick to whip up!  They were slightly dry, so I may add a little more cheese next time I make them.  I served with an ear of corn to round out the meal.  

Toscana – Wilmington, DE

To begin the meal, we ordered crepes, stuffed with cheese, and served in a cream sauce.  I kind of wish I had ordered it as my meal because it was beyond delicious.  The crepes were soft and creamy – wrapped around a pillow of cheese and sitting in a delectable cream.  My mouth is watering now just thinking about it!

In an effort to enjoy the warm weather, my husband I decided to sit outside at Toscana.  It’s not the best outside eating area, but the food more than makes up for that!  There are a number of vegetarian items on the menu, which makes for a difficult choice, but also means that I can go back for more delicious experiences!

I continued my culinary journey with the House Green salad – local lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and roasted shallot vinaigrette.  Pretty good taste, but has paled in my mind because of the wonderful appetizer.


As my entrée, I had the Triangoli – triangle shaped ravioli filled with robiola and ricotta.  Atop the pasta was Reggiano Cream, sweet corn, and Kennett mushrooms.  Very tasty, soft and bursting with cheese.  The corn and mushrooms were a nice touch.


We ended our meal with a Trio of Chocolate dessert – mousse, mini cake (with hazelnut), and another chocolate cake (I don’t really remember that one because my husband ate it!).  The mousse and the hazelnut cake were very rich and very chocolaty.  Good!

Valle Cucina – Newark, DE

Located in the Pike Creek Shopping Center is a wonderful Italian restaurant with a warm, inviting atmosphere.  Yes, the menus are laminated and only on two sides, but the wine list is vast, the garlic bread scrumptious, and the service wonderful.
    
Our meal began with an ample serving of garlic rolls, sitting in some extra oil and topped with Parmesan.  These are pretty addictive, so be careful.  I ordered the Chicken & Apples salad to start, no Chicken – the waitress suggested that I have the Chicken on the side and give it to my husband, perfect solution!  The salad is a bed of field greens, topped with red onion, granny smith apples, many slices of brie, and cranberry vinaigrette on the side.  I was a little nervous about the cranberry vinaigrette, but it really brought the salad together, there were even little pieces of cranberry in the dressing!  A great way to start the meal.
    
As my entrée, I ordered the Tortellini Blush (they assured me that it was completely vegetarian).  The tortellini is stuffed with cheese and served in a sundried-tomato blush cream sauce (extra sundried tomatoes included).  The pasta was very soft and the sauce was delicious.  They gave me enough that I had two meals leftover!
     
We ended our meal with the Reese’s Cake – chocolate cake with layers of a peanut butter filling, topped with a chocolate frosting.  Very chocolaty, not too Peanut Buttery, but still good.  Not exactly what I expected, but still a satisfying way to end the meal.

September 2012 Update:

The gnocchi is hand-rolled and made of ricotta cheese.  It comes with homemade gravy, but their menu clearly states that the gravy has meat in it.  I asked for the marinara instead, and boy, did I make a good choice!  The gnocchi is so tender and cheesy, very tasty.  The marinara has some thick chunks of tomato in it and has good coverage over the amount of gnocchi (not too much pasta or sauce).  The sauce has hints of oregano and basil.  When I bite into the gnocchi, there is a little stringiness to the cheese when pulling away from the fork – it makes it even more appealing to me.  I think that this will be my go-to dish at this restaurant.

We had a Half-Baked Chocolate Chip cookie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.  The cookie was soft and chewy, each bite was full of chocolate chips – very mouth-watering.  The ice cream added a nice contrast to the warm cookie and the two together was fantastic. They drizzled some chocolate sauce on the plate, but this was a waste because the cookie and ice cream were in their own dish, set on top of the plate.  There wasn’t a good way to take advantage of the chocolate sauce.  Oh well!  It still tasted fantastic. 

Stove Top Spinach Balls

Spinach Balls (slightly adapted from KraftRecipes, Total Time: 35 min., Servings: 30 – 2 each)

Ingredients

·         1pkg.  (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Pork

·         1-2/3 cups  hot water

·         ¼ cup (1/2 stick) margarine

·         2 pkg.  (10 oz. each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained and patted dry

·         1cup  Grated Parmesan Cheese

·         1cup  chopped fresh mushrooms

·         ½ small  onion, finely chopped

·         4  eggs

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 400ºF.

2.       Mix stuffing mix, hot water and margarine in large bowl until well blended.

3.       Add remaining ingredients; mix lightly. Shape into 60 (1-inch) balls. Place in single layer in 2 (15x10x1-inch) pans sprayed with cooking spray.

4.       Bake 15 to 20 min. or until lightly browned.

Stove Top Pork stuffing is the only one that is vegetarian – no chicken fat or stock on the ingredient list, so I use this for all recipes calling for stuffing.  There are some other brands that are vegetarian, just be careful to check what’s included.

Our oven was having some issues, so these burnt a little on the bottoms, but they were still really a tasty.  I like that the recipe incorporates spinach and mushrooms – a nice way to include some veggies in the appetizer.  The balls held together well and tasted superb.  I also made these another time for a party and a neighbor liked them so much that she asked for the recipe!

P.S. – these are good reheated and somebody at work said that they smelled like Thanksgiving :-)

Risotto Primavera

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/dijon-risotto-primavera-56545.aspx

I cannot rightfully call what I made Dijon Risotto Primavera.  Even though I bough Grey Poupon awhile ago, it was nowhere to be found, so I had to make some adjustments to this recipe to enhance the flavor.  I have never made risotto before, so I think I did an OK job for my first time.  This recipe is a good base, next time I’ll make sure that I have Dijon on hand so that I more accurately rate it.

To make this recipe vegetarian, I used 1 box of Trader Joe’s Organic Hearty Vegetable Broth instead of chicken broth.  As noted above, we didn’t have Dijon Mustard, so after cooking the rice, I added about 1.5 T of French’s Yellow Mustard, about 1 T of cracked black pepper, and a dash of salt and…Mrs. Dash (I have never used it before, but my husband suggested it).  Overall, it worked, but I would definitely like to taste it with theDijon.  I thought that making risotto would be difficult because of the time needed to make it work, but this recipe was pretty easy to work with.  Although I was standing by the stove a lot, I had the opportunity to do other things in the kitchen and didn’t have to constantly stir it.  Give it a try…you might just like it!

Firestone – Wilmington, DE (riverfront)

My husband and I ate at Firestone about a month ago, after dance lessons for our then upcoming wedding.  We actually ended up there because another restaurant was closed, but we had wanted to go because they have a really awesome patio.  We sat outside on the part of their patio where you can still order from the full menu.  I started out with the House Salad (minus the bacon and avocado dressing, plus the honey-lime vinaigrette).  The salad is mixed greens, hearts of palm, cornbread croutons, and chopped egg.  It was alright, slightly overdressed with the vinaigrette. 

I had a slight crisis moment when choosing my entrée – I have gotten sick from veggie burgers before, but it sounded so good.  Did I want to take the chance, or order a hand crafted pizza and play it safe?  I decided to give it a shot – the veggie burger sounded too good to pass up.  It’s made of brown rice, black beans, and oats, topped with BBQ sauce and a slice of cheddar cheese.  What sold me on it was the burger recipe and the BBQ sauce.  It came out on a large roll and was huge.  Probably 2-3 times the thickness of a normal veggie burger and 1.5 times the size in length/width.  It was so good!  I didn’t eat it as a burger, but rather with a fork – I think it would have been too messy otherwise.  The burger was very soft and chewy, easy to cut into (with just a fork), and the BBQ sauce and cheddar just added to the richness.  I ate the whole thing! And even some of the bottom roll that sopped up the BBQ sauce.  I believe that it is the best veggie burger I have had to date.

We ended up having dessert too – goodness that was a big meal for me.  We chose the Warm Double Chocolate Brownie a la Mode – this was a while ago, but I remember it being pretty good.  Not as good as some of the desserts I have had at Isaacs or the lava cake at Capers and Lemons, but still a good end to great meal!

Masamoto – Glen Mills, PA

I know that sushi isn’t something that you immediately think of when the word vegetarian comes up, but I like to try new vegetable rolls when I get the opportunity.  I went to Masamoto with some of my coworkers for lunch.  I’m sorry that I never went before – I didn’t know what I was missing!  The restaurant is in a strip mall off of Concord Pike, nestled next to a Five Guys.  The interior is very streamlined – crisp lines, minimal decorations, but nice.  I had a bit of a decision to make since they have more vegetable rolls than other sushi restaurants I have visited.  I decided to go with the House Salad and the Eggplant Roll.

The salad was just lettuce with cucumber and tomato. I ordered the ginger dressing on the side and it was fantastic.  Sweet and tangy are good adjectives to describe it.  The Eggplant Roll was warm, but not tempura.  It had a very good sauce on it, slightly sweet.  Pretty good – no outstanding flavors, but a good roll with a creamy center.

Isaacs – various locations throughout Central PA

 I was introduced to Isaacs about 5 years ago and have been in love with it ever since.  There was a time a few months ago when I became very disappointed with them – they changed the recipe for their pretzel rolls so that they were no longer vegetarian – but about 1-2 months ago they changed the recipe back to vegan/vegetarian.  Now, they have a special place in my heart once again.  This is one of the only restaurants where I will actually order a vegetarian burger – I have never had any issues.

            At Isaacs, they start you out with a small dish of pickled cucumbers, carrots, and cauliflower.  Crunchy and dilly, very good!  My usual order at Isaacs is the Ruffled Salad with a black bean burger and Ancho Chili Ranch dressing on the side.  The salad is topped with tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, shredded cheese, and croutons.  They definitely do not skimp on the fixins!  The black bean burger is pretty tasty on its own, but the ranch dressing kicks it up a notch!  Every salad is accompanied by a small pretzel roll.  These are delicious – soft, chewy, not buttery or salty, just yum!

            I don’t think that I’ve ever had a miss at Isaacs (other than the aforementioned pretzel recipe change).  I have had the Black-Eyed Susan (my usual salad on a cheddar wrap) and the Mexican Sunflower (my salad on a pretzel roll) – I see a theme here.  Good vegetables + safe vegetarian burger + pretzel rolls or cheddar wraps = one clear winner in my mind.

            Now, the desserts – fantastic!  This past time we ordered the Fudgie Wudgie – this thing is huge!  The fudge brownie is soft, warm, and delectable.  The ice cream topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and chocolate chips just adds to the deliciousness.  We have also had the Chocolate Lovin’ Spoon Cake – only get if you love chocolate, the Toucan Brownie Nest – not a huge fan because I don’t like caramel or cheesecake, but my husband and stepfather love it, and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie – two of my favorite things in one!

            If you happen to be in central PA, check out Isaacs.  It definitely has my stamp of approval!

Broccoli and Carrot Lasagna

Creamy, tasty and made way too much for us to eat - about half is currently in the freezer.  When I tasted it right out of the oven, I didn't really like it, but after a night in the refrigerator, the flavors really had a change to mesh and it tasted pretty good.  I'd give it maybe 4 stars out of 5 - might need a bit more flavor for some people (garlic and basil are two that come to my mind right away).

I followed the recipe very closely, though I did cut the mozzarella cheese - instead of measuring it out, I just sprinkled it on.  I like how the broccoli and carrots gave the lasagna a bit of texture, a little more full and crunchy than a "regular" lasagna.  Overall, tasty and a keeper (though I'll probably make some changes next time).


http://allrecipes.com/recipe/broccoli-and-carrot-lasagna/detail.aspx

Capers & Lemons - Wilmington, DE

http://www.platinumdininggroup.com/capers_and_lemons/
My husband and I ate at Capers & Lemons over Labor Day Weekend.  It has been a little over a year since our last experience there, so I was very excited to check it out again.  We started our meal with the Fried Polenta Sandwich.  The layers of Fontina, Spinach and Polenta were all fried as one, then topped with some tomato sauce.  It did not meet our expectations – a bit bland (especially the tomato sauce and polenta).  The next time we go, I think that we’ll try the Eggplant Florentine (my other choice).

Next, I ordered the “House” Garden Salad with tomato-balsamic dressing.  The salad was pretty large – which was awesome.  Field greens, tomatoes, a touch of onion, and awesome dressing.  A good mix of healthy vegetables.  They also served bread accompanied by lemon dipping oil.  I am not a fan of lemon, so this was not a win with me.

As my entrée, I had the Mushroom Stuffed Rigatoni.  AWESOME!!  Rarely do I finish a whole entrée, especially when I’ve had a salad and appetizer, but this was so amazing.  There were 6 small mushroom rigatonis topped with mushrooms, carrots, and haricot verts smothered in amazing truffle butter.  A nice salty taste mixed with the crunchiness of the carrots and haricot verts made this number one in my book.  The soft and moist mushroom mixture inside the rigatoni was very good, too.  The thing that made this dish, though, was the butter.  I also loved this because it didn’t leave me feeling overly full at the end.  It’s great to have three courses and still want dessert!

Speaking of…we decided to try the Warm Chocoalte Cake, topped with vanilla gelato, but skipped the raspberry glaze.  The center was very gooey and tasty, the gelato on top mixed very well with the cake.  My only complaint is that I wish there was more gelato J

Check out this restaurant – you won’t be disappointed!

Enchilada Bake

Delicious! (Even with the adjustments I made.)  I used 1 box of Trader Joe's Chickenless Chicken Strips and 1 box of their Steakless Steak Strips.  I cut them up into small pieces so it was closer to a shredded consistency.  I added about 3/4 of a large green pepper to the mix when I added the jalapeno peppers.  I also only used about 1/2 a package of Taco cheese.  Finally, I omitted the corn tortillas and spooned the filling into wheat tortillas.  It was a little messy, but that's fine with me!

This had a nice spice to it, not too overwhelming (I used medium enchilada sauce) - almost a slow heat that built while eating the tortilla.  I did not use sour cream, but that might help alleviate anybody's concerns with spice.  The top was very cheesy looking, but it definitely mixed well with the taste.  To cut back on the liquid, I might use less enchilada sauce next time or add the corn tortillas (that would definitely cut back on the extra liquid).  A definite keeper!


http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/chicken-enchilada-bake-98047.aspx

Cheesy Beef Stroganoff

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/velveeta-cheesy-beef-stroganoff-57514.aspx

    
 I don’t think that I would call this dish Beef Stroganoff – more of a Cheesy Beef Pasta.  This is a very creamy, cheesy meal (not a bad thing).  It has a good flavor and a little “bite” from the pepper (I used cracked black pepper).  A filling meal, but will add mushrooms next time to add some vegetables.

 I tried to make this a bit more healthy by using Morningstar Farms Burger Crumbles, 2% Velveeta, and Reduced Sodium Cream of Mushroom soup.  I needed to cook the pasta for about 10-12 minutes instead of the suggested 8 – remember to taste a noodle to feel its firmness before adding the additional ingredients.  This received an A+ from my husband, who is a big meat an potatoes guy – no wonder, since it’s cheese and pasta!