gina_w, I made your poached salmon with chimichurri for supper tonight -- right down to the garnish. My husband and I both LOVED it! It is a definite contender for the party. Do you think that it would be good at room temperature? I don't want to be cooking during the appetizers or the soup course, but I am afraid if I keep it warm in the oven it will dry out, and even a reheat in the microwave might overcook it. Here is how I did the chimichurri and poached the fish (I'm sure you know how to do both, but just in case some other reader wants to know): I took a big handful of flat leaf parsley, 4 cloves garlic, and a bit of onion and minced them in the food processor. Then I added about 1/3 c of arbequetta olive oil, a little red wine vinegar, a little lemon juice, about 1/2 t of dried oregano, and S&P. That's it -- and it was really terrific. I poached the salmon by putting it in a deepish pan with water to cover, added some mirin, some peppercorns, and a bay leaf, as you suggested. I brought it to a boil, and then immediately took it off the heat, covered the pan, and let it sit about 10 minutes. eandhl, here is my recipe for stir-fried tofu. It was my first stir-fry. Many years ago, when I was about 22, my aunt gave me a wok. It just sat there until one day in the newspaper's food section, in the "kids in the kitchen" column, I found this recipe for stir-fried tofu and vegetables (I've rewritten it to leave out all the super-basic instructions like "peel the onion and put it on a plate"). I figured if kids could do it, I could, too! Now I love to cook all kinds of Chinese dishes, but this is the one that got me started. My kids always loved it. I make all kinds of modifications now, depending on what vegetables I have on hand, and I use sherry, dark soy, hot oil, etc. This is the basic; you modify it the way you want (use more or different vegetables; include water chestnuts and bamboo shoots; add or substitute chicken or beef for the tofu; etc.). Enjoy! Stir-fried Tofu and vegetables ¼ pound mushrooms 1 large carrot 1 small onion 1 small green pepper 1 - 2 pkg tofu (firm works best) 1 clove garlic 2 T water (I like sherry or mirin instead) 1 t cornstarch 2 T oil (I like to use peanut) 3 T soy sauce 2 t honey Prepare vegetables. Mix water and cornstarch in one bowl, soy and honey in the other. Stir fry vegetables 1 minute, add soy/honey mixture, cover and cook one minute. Stir in water and cornstarch and tofu, stir gently until heated, about 1 minute.

I've finally had some time to check into this thread. I'm a 30 year vegetarian. Veggie good/healthy and veggie quick are often not very compatible. When I was younger, I had a lot of time to cook. I guess I did't have much of a life and was happy to spend my weekends and evenings cooking. Even back then I didn't like "veggie burgers" very much. They are a pain to make, and they just don't taste all that great to me, plus for me, my dislike for homeade veggie burgers is a texture thing. They are usually made with beans or tofu, already quite mushy, then with eggs and some type of starch as a binder. Then fried, and they end up greasy and mushy, IMHO. I've seen recipes using different techniques to try and counter the greasy, mushy factor, but to heck with it, now I just buy the packaged veggie burgers which are very quick, and sooooo much better that what I could make from scratch. The commercial veggie burgers are made from either wheat gluten, or textured vegetable protein from soy, which gives them the "meat like" texture. You can mess with wheat gluten and seitan and soy flour at home, but these products are not common things that you can pick up in any grocery store. Adventists do a lot with fake meat, but all their products have MSG in them so I don't like them. I am allergic to MSG. So if you buy commercial "fake meat" products, watch out for MSG as an ingredient if you are allergic. Some people are sensitive to any type of gluten. I too do not like the taste of red meat. It is too rich and heavy for me, and the decaying blood taste which is what so many people like, is just a big yuck for me. I also am not a fan of the "grilled" smoke taste. The reason I go into this, is there are some brands of veggie burgers that go out of their way to include grilled and fleshy tastes in their "burgers" and since I don't like those tastes in the first place, I don't like those brands of veggie burgers. My favorite brand is Morningstar Farms. As Haus Proud says, they have a lot of tasteful varieties. I like the garden burger and the roasted vegetable ones, and the italian style ones. I don't like anything that has "grill" in the description. So now my ideas diverge. There's good veggie "patties" but I rarely eat them because they are not fast food for me. Fast for me, btw, means I can get it on the table about 15 min. after I get home late, late from work. For me that means cooking on the weekends and reheating or thawing during the week. Fried veggie patties are just OK reheated. So one way to go with this is "fast, healthy vegetarian" and the other way is "good vegetarian pattie kinds of things." Not the same, IMHO. Good vegetarain pattie kinds of things--falafel, beanburgers, tofu sloppy joes. I buy Fantastic brand falafel mix or some special mixes I get in the middle eastern market. Fast vegetarian sandwiches--tofu salads (I make tuno salad, hamless salad, and eggless salad with tofu). Hummus and other bean spreads make good sandwiches. I also like fake lunch meat. It doesn't taste all that much different from the real, which has loads of chemicals and fillers in it already. I buy Yves brand fake ham, which looks and tastes like bologna. I make fake ham and swiss cheese on rye. I think they even make fake pastrami, but since I don't like real pastrami I don't get it. If she eats fish, then tuna salad is good. I used to make homeade hummus, but now I buy it premade. Other grab and go: emapanadas, pocket pies made with eggs, cheese or fake meat. I buy these but you can make them. Pasties, calzone, even egg rolls are all variations on this theme. I'm dough challenged so don't make them very often, but I like eating them. If you wanted to be a real great mom, make your daughter some calzones and put a bunch in the freezer for her to heat up. Something else I buy frozen are little pot pies, Amy's brand. I love those! I also get lots of veggie frozen dinners. They are not that cheap but most are very good. I hardly ever get them because I can't afford them, so that would be another way to treat your daughter. Here's my recipe for beanburgers. I made it years ago when I was young and had time on my hands. I think the original recipe came out of "Seventeen" magazine, so I think I made these back when I was just about that age. Beanburgers 1 cup dried lentils 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 3 TBLSP wheat germ 1 TBLSP vinegar 1 TBLSP mustard (I don't know if this is dried or prepared. I would use dijon unless I was prepared to loose a batch and try dried) 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1 egg beaten (these days I'd use two egg whites to cut fat) 3 TBLSP butter or margarine (or olive oil probably) 6 sliced american cheese 6 whole wheat rolls Rinse lentils. Cook with 5 cups cold water until soft. (about 50 min.) Drain. (And down goes all the nutrients. I'd rather use less water, like two cups. And soak the lentils in water overnight to make them cook faster. Drain the soaking water, which does drain away some nutrients, but makes the beans less likely to cause gas.) Combine the lentils with the next 8 ingredients. Divide mixture into 6 equal parts. Form into patties. Fry in the butter or oil for 3 min. on each side. Place cheese on patties, cover skillet, cook until cheese melts. Serve on toasted buns with whatever condiments you like. Note: I suspect these may be on the mushy side, but such is the nature of a bean burger. PUt some crunchy things on the burger, like iceberg lettuce and pickles. Tomato is good too, but only if in season. This is an interesting recipe out of "Moosewood REstaurant Lowfat FAvories" that I have been wanting to try. I've not made it though. Middle Eastern CAnnellini patties 2 tsp. olive oil 2 cups minced onion 2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed 1 tsp. salt 1 cup minced bell peppers 2 tsp. ground cumin 4 cups cooked cannellini or other white beans (Two 20 oz. cans, drained) 1 cup minced fresh parsley. 2 cups cooked brown rice 1 TBLSP fresh lemon juice ground pepper to taste (I'd use white pepper) Add the olive oil to a nonstick pan. Saute the onions until soft. Add the garlic, peppers and cumin and saute a little longer, until the peppers are soft. (ABout 5 more min, stir frequently). REmove from heat and set aside. Thoroughly mash the beans in a large bowl. Add the brown rice, parsley, lemon and pepper. Combine the sauteed onion mixture with this mixture. Add the pepper to taste. Shape the mixture into 18 small patties, about 2.5 inches across. Prepare a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat the skillet to med. and cook the patties until they are golden brown on one side (about 5-10 min.) Turn over and cook on the other side, about 5 min. longer. Serve hot or at room temp.

Here is the recipe that I used from Teresa on the Recipe Exchange. It's pretty similar to what you posted. I might cut the salt back to one and a half teaspoons especially on a small chicken (mine was just three pounds). I only had time to let the rub stay on the chicken for two hours so while the chicken meat was not overly salty, the skin was a little more salty than I would have preferred. I think that would even out if the chicken was refrigerated overnight and the salt was more absorbed. I also used smoked paprika because that was what I grabbed and it it was already measured in the bowl of spices before I realized what I had done. I think either regular or smoked paprika would be fine, but we did like the smoked. I didn't have any onion powder so that was left out. Except for the paprika and onion powder I made it exactly as posted and we thought it was very good. I thought the balance of spices as Teresa posted them was quite nice. This was also incredibly easy! I only did one small chicken in my toaster oven - five hours at 250 degrees, but the next time I might do two or three in the regular oven and freeze the extra. I roasted the chicken on non stick foil in a tray with half inch sides. Because it didn't stick to the foil I found it easier to simply turn the chicken over several times instead of basting frequently. It came out with a wonderful deep golden brown sticky glaze. Lee Roasted Sticky Chicken Posted by teresa_nc7 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 25, 06 at 8:36 A high heat roasted chicken is indeed delicious, but I tried a new recipe for slow/low roasted chicken yesterday that is really good also - and won't smoke up your house! Roasted Sticky Chicken Recipe By :Sharon Worster Personal Chef's Network Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :5:00 Categories : Chicken Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 3 pounds whole chicken 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon paprika 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1/4 teaspoon white pepper 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 large onion -- quartered Combine all spices together in a small bowl. Rub mixture into chicken WELL, inside & out, patting into the skin & try to make it evenly distributed. Put in a large bag & refrigerate overnight. If you don't have time for this step it will still be delicious! Just before roasting, stuff the cavity w/ onions. If the onion will fit into the cavity whole, I do it this way as we love baked onions. Roast uncovered @ 250* (YES, THAT'S 250*) X 5 hours (YES, THAT'S 5 HOURS). Baste often w/ pan juices until they caramelize in the pan. Chicken will turn golden brown. Sharon's NOTES : These freeze GREAT & I recommend you make several of them at one time since your oven is on for so long! This chicken is to die for & falls off the bone!!! For Heating: You can bring these straight from the freezer if you want! I've done this for years in my own home & here's how I do it. From the freezer: Put in the microwave on a plate covered w/ papertowels & heat on high X 5-7 minutes. Then, place in a 350* oven X 15-20 minutes or until hot throughout. Or, you can thaw in the refrigerator overnight, wrap in foil and heat in a low oven for 20-30 minutes.

My experience doesn't match msazadi's. I know vegetarians who are foodies. One is in my kitchen at the moment making cornbread. Two nights ago he made ravioli with a citrus sauce. For Thanksgiving, the meat eaters amongst us went to my DIL's sisters house for turkey lunch. In the evening we hosted a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal. My DS invited an fellow grad student and her room mate (both Indian and vegetarian). We wanted to make something they would like without doing Indian food. This Tunisian Chickpea Soup from Olive Trees and Honey went over well. Spicy enough to be familiar to them without attempting to be Indian. 1/4 c olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 3 carrots, chopped 1 small (~10 oz) celery root, peeled and chopped or 2 stalks celery chopped 2-4 cloves garlic minced ~ 10 c water 1 lb (2 1/3 c) dried soaked chick peas 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp cumin seeds or 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 to 2 tbsp harissa or 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp salt or 2 tsp kosher salt ground black pepper 1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro, mint or parsley 2 to 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice or 1 c plain yogurt 3 to 4 c french bread cubes or pita bread (optional) (I didn't) 3 to 4 c French bread cubes or pita bread In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and saute until softened, ~ 10 min Add water, chick peas and bay leaves. Boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer until tender, ~ 1 1/2 hours Toast cumin seeds (if using) in a dry skillet until lightly browned - shake or stir - don't burn them. Grind. Add cumin, harissa or cayenne, salt and pepper to soup. Cover and simmer 15 min. Discard bay leaves. Coarsely mash the chick pease a bit with a wood spoon, potato masher or stick blender. Can be stored in fridge and reheated for serving. Add the cilantro and lemon juice and heat through before serving. If desired, add 1/2 cup bread pieces to each bowl and ladle soup over. Drizzle with olive oil. (We were having falafal and pita bread after plus I made cranberry walnut whole wheat bread so we didn't do bread in the soup bowls. I didn't drizzle the oil and it was fine.) Moroccan variation in case you have non-spicy types - omit cumin and harissa. After mashing the chick peas, add 2 lb stemmed chopped spinach or chard or frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry and the lemon juice, cover and simmer 2 to 4 min. Home made pita and falafel were great but not low effort. About half the falafel recipes used soaked and ground chick peas. The other half used soaked, cooked and mashed chick peas. I did a half batch each way - the ones using soaked and ground but not pre-cooked chick peas came out much better - very good flavor and texture. Sephardic Leek and Cheese Casserole also from Olive Trees and Honey - a very good book if you want to expand your vegetarian repertoire - is good and pretty easy. It reheats well so you could make it ahead. Too late for Jessy I'm afraid. 1/4 c olive oil 3 lb leeks ( 1 1/2 lb if you do the zucchini varient), white and light green parts only cut into thin lengthwise slices and washed 1 large onion chopped (optional - I've always used it) 1 c water 2 cups (~1 lb) grated zucchini 2 tsp salt or 4 tsp kosher salt 1 cup (5 oz) crumbled feta or 1 c (8 oz) farmer or pot or 1 c grated kefalotyri or Parmesan cheese or a combination (I've always done the feta) 1 c shreded kashkaval, Goueda, Muenster or Cheddar (did this the first time and thought it didn't add much - other times I've done just the feta) 5 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 tbsp olive oil ground black pepper to taste or 1/2 tsp cayenne 1/4 c chopped fresh dill or 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (optional) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and oil a 9 " square or 8 by 11 inch baking dish or two 9-inch pie plates. In a large sauce pan (she must have really large sauce pans - I use a small soup pot), heat oil over medium heat. Saute leeks and onion until softened. Add water, zucchini if using, 1 1/2 tsp salt or 3 tsp kosher salt, cover and simmer until leeks are tender (about 15 min). Drain Combine cheeses, eggs, remaining salt, pepper and dill or nutmeg. Add leek mixture. Put in baking dish. Bake until set and golden brown, about 50 minutes. Variant - you can leave out the cheese msazadi and cook 2 lb peeled, diced russet potatoes with the leeks. Kind of mash it after the draining step. I usually still put in the feta or you can put in 1/2 c Parmesan cheese. Really fancy and a good side dish for the meat eaters would be a nice Biryani. I have made one with cashews and pistachios in the top layer of rice but it was more work. There are some simpler ones on line.