Meatless Monday: Vegan Potato Recipes

Looking for delicious, nutritious vegan potato recipes for Meatless Monday? Get ready to rock, because I found some super spud flavors in this week’s blast through the blogosphere. First, let’s take a moment to honor this truly amazing vegetable that has given us so much and asks so little in return.

The nutritional powerhouse we think of as a side dish has been and continues to be a key to human survival. For the mountain-dwelling Incas in 200 BC, potatoes survived the harsh climate better than wheat, rice or corn. Sailors stocked them in their berths for hundreds of years as a preventive for their occupational hazard of scurvy, caused by a lack of Vitamin C. Alaskan miners used their precious gold to pay for them back in 1897.

In today’s economy, fresh potatoes prepared at home have the power to sustain families struggling to make ends meet. Potatoes can feed 10 people per crop acre. Despite their water content, they consume less water than corn, rice or wheat. That's good news in times of increasingly severe droughts. In 1995, NASA proved potatoes even grow well in zero gravity conditions in outer space.

Just one medium baked or boiled potato provides half the RDA of Vitamin C and significant amounts of numerous other vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber found in the skin.

 

The Vitamin C content in potatoes alone is critical. It strengthens cell and blood vessel walls, boosts immunity, converts stored fat into energy and contributes to the health of teeth and gums, just for starters. But you don’t really taste it in potatoes. Nor would you guess that they’re 80% water, which, along with the beneficial carbohydrates and fiber in the skin, gives you that full, satisfied feeling.

 

So grab a sack of potatoes and let’s get cooking with these Meatless Monday Vegan Potato Recipes!

Indian Potato Cakes (DF, SF, K, V, VG) India Snacks

Cilantro Red Potato Salad Wrap (*A, DF, GF, SF, K, V, VG) Kathy Patalsky/Babble
*Contains alcohol via the wine in Dijon mustard. Read labels carefully and make substitutions as needed. Remember that Honey Mustard is not vegan.

BBQ Potatoes (DF, GF, SF, K, V, VG) Vegan Cooking

Potatoes “Au Gratin” Casserole (DF, SF, K, V, VG) Jolinda Hackett & Lorena Novak Bull, Net Places Vegan Recipes

Potato Gatto (DF, GF, SF, K, V, VG) Fat Free Vegan

Remember to visit our Recipe Index for more Meatless Monday vegan potato recipes. Bon appetit!

 

 

 

Potato Information Resources:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/fpotatoes.html

http://www.professorshouse.com/Food-Beverage/Topics/Vegetables/Articles/Potatoes/http://potatofacts.net/

http://potatofacts.net/

Meatless Monday: Vegan Vegetarian 4th of July Recipes

Image credit Viri G

Enjoy the long holiday weekend with these vegan vegetarian 4^th of July recipes. Share the latest trend in beverages with your guests; shrubs. They’re alcohol-free drinks prepared with fruit and vinegar. Just like a fine wine, they grow better with age. One refreshing jug could be drawn from for nearly a month. You could almost compare it to homemade ginger ale. And if you’re not into sugar, you could easily substitute stevia or agave. Everything else on the vegan vegetarian 4^th of July recipes menu is a grill item, even the Sourdough Sandwich AND the Pound Cake Trifle! Happy Independence Day!

NOTE: If you’ll also be cooking meats on the grill, take care to either have a separate grill or section of the grill for vegan vegetarian items, or carefully clean the grill between meats and vegan vegetarian items. If barbecuing kabobs on wooden skewers, soak the skewers in water at least 30 minutes before grilling.

Ginger Shrub (Drink)

Grilled Tomato and Peach Salad

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Garlic Soy Glaze

Sourdough Sandwich with Barbecue Tofu and Braised Cabbage

Grilled Pound Cake Trifle

See our Recipe Index for more vegan vegetarian 4th of July recipes.

Sugar Free 4th of July Recipes

Image credit bquad

For summer celebrations, go to these sugar free 4th of July recipes. Your barbecue will be the talk of the season, starting with a refreshing glass of Lemon Basil Iced Tea. It only takes one lemon and six basil leaves, and perfectly complements the Leek Polenta and Caponata Salad. Throw some Tamale Burgers on the grill for added sizzle with your protein. Finish with the cool sensation of Strawberry Banana Popsicles, sweetened with agave. Make extra of the tea and popsicles for fireworks time. Keep the ingredients for these sugar free 4th of July recipes on hand for summer slumber and pool parties, staycations, and family reunions. Happy Independence Day!

Lemon Basil Iced Tea

Grilled Leek Polenta

Grilled Vegetable Caponata Salad

Tamale Burgers

Strawberry Pineapple Popsicles

See our Recipe Index for more sugar free 4th of July recipes.

Dairy Free 4th of July Recipes

Image credit Mike Mozart

Celebrate your freedom from a hot kitchen and dietary concerns with these sweet and savory dairy free 4th of July recipes. Free yourself to enjoy your guests outside under a tree, by the pool or in the air conditioning with these quick and easy dairy free 4th of July recipes. Have all you like, there is absolutely no dairy anywhere to be found. Beverage, salad, vegetable entrée, meatless protein and dessert are all covered to please every taste and safely fill every tummy at your barbecue. Happy Independence Day!

Watermelon Lime Juice

Celery, Grilled Grape and Mushroom Salad

Rigatoni with Grilled Veggies

Black Bean Burgers with Cornmeal

Banana Boats

See our Recipe Index for more dairy free 4^th of July recipes.

Sugar Free Italian Menu

Don’t you just love Italian cuisine?  It’s so comforting, yet amazingly healthy.  The sugar-free Italian recipes featured below will become your go-to’s when you’re in the mood for basil, tomatoes and pasta.

For delicious, simple and easy, this Minestrone Soup (from Connie J. of NH, posted at Veggie Crock) can’t be beat.  Chickpeas and barley add body to the aromatic tomatoes, garlic and onions.  Thyme and oregano develop the flavors of kale, zucchini and carrots.  Great for everyday or getting well.  Keep a batch in the icebox.

Blend some basil and garlic into this creamy Italian Salad Dressing (from Splenda®, posted at Cooks Recipes).  Don’t tell your family it’s homemade or sugar free.  Let them go on believing you bought a celebrity chef brand. 

Pass around some Flaxseed and Rye Breadsticks (posted at Diabetic Living Online) with your sugar free Italian meal.  With fiber from flaxseeds and Vitamin E from olive oil and honey, they’re simultaneously super healthy and melt-in-your-mouth marvelous.

Garlic and fresh cracked black pepper make this Fettuccine Alfredo (from Mary Creel/Alison Ashton, Cooking Light JANUARY 2007, posted at My Recipes) sing.  It takes the basics of fettuccine, milk and cream cheese to a new level, using lighter choices.

Have your cheese and eat it, too, with Veggie Cheese Ravioli (from Gertrudis Miller of Evansville, IN, posted at Taste of Home).  These ravioli could actually get your kids to eat their vegetables.  Zucchini, tomatoes and olives are an irresistible trio of tastes.

Time for coffee and dessert!  This Biscotti (from Sean Paajanen, former About.com Guide) should be called Now and Later.  Have some now with your espresso or latte, and later take a batch to your holiday cookie exchange.  Loaded with orange zest, walnuts, coconut and dates, you’d do well to keep this twice-baked treat on hand year-round, for breaks, meals and all occasion gifts.

Heavenly Tiramisu, “a website dedicated to the most heavenly dessert on God’s Earth,” offers this Tiramisu from William Bohannon.  Bohannon does his diabetic aunt proud by offering users the options of Marsala wine or raisin extract.  This masterpiece of patisserie features recipes for both the espresso-dipped Ladyfingers and the Mascarpone Mousse.  Look no further.

Visit our Recipe Index for more sumptuous Sugar Free Italian recipes!  Bon appetit.