What I'm Cooking: Vegetarian Week

Each week, my meal planning tends to naturally fall into a theme to make the most of the ingredients I'm buying. This week, it's vegetarian week. While I'm nowhere near a full time vegetarian, I like to designate a few days now and again to being one. If there's one thing I sympathize with vegetarianism, it's the added struggle of finding new, exciting, varied recipes to try. Here are two of my favorites, one that I've made for years and one that I just created, well, today.

The first is Spinach and Mushroom Fritters


For one person, you'll need:

-about a half a pound of spinach
-three or four white mushrooms
-a pat of butter
-canola oil
-a half of an onion or shallot
-1/4 c bread crumbs with herbs (or an equivalent amount of fresh chopped herbs like parsley, basil, thyme etc)
-an egg
-1/4 cup of flour
-1 tbsp Parmesan (can be more)

1. Melt butter in frying pan over low heat. Chop onion and toss in pan, cook until translucent. Then add spinach and chopped mushrooms and cook down.
2. In a bowl, whisk egg, then whisk in flour, cheese, salt and pepper and breadcrumbs or herbs.
3. Chop spinach and fold into batter.
4. Heat oil in same pan and drop spoonfulls of batter into pan (I got three fritters with these amounts). Fry on both sides until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

The next, which I unfortunately don't have a picture for, is Zucchini Stuffed With Couscous

This recipe is perfect for playing around with, I've never made it the same way twice, but here are the basic ingredients for one or two servings (depending on how hungry you are):

-a fairly hefty zucchini with as even of a shape as you can find
-1/3 cup couscous
- 1 tbsp olive oil
-1 clove garlic
-1/4 cup chopped onions
- 3/4 cup chicken stock*

I usually add some chopped mushrooms, if I have some. This week, I'll probably add some chopped spinach that's leftover from the fritters. I also might try to shred some cheese over the boats. You can also add green peppers, cinnamon, breadcrumbs, chickpeas, feta...use your imagination.

*It was brought to my attention that chicken stock is, in fact, not a vegetarian ingredient. I've been pretty out of it lately and when I included that I stopped to think "oh, well, I guess it just won't be a vegan week then." Oops. The easy fix: substitute it with veggie broth and you're good to go.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly oil a baking dish
2. Half the zucchini lengthwise and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake cut side down for 10-12 minutes, then reduce heat to 350.
3. Scoop out the centers and chop pulp.
4. Heat the oil over medium heat in the pan and brown the onion.
5. Next, add the chopped zucchini, couscous, garlic and any other bigger ingredients you've chosen. Then add the chicken stock and chosen spices. Bring to a boil and cook covered for five minutes.
6. Uncover, let cool. Spoon the mixture into the zucchini boats. Put them back in the pan, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.