"vegetarian recipes" news and stories

Meatless Fridays? No problem! Kitchen Daily expert Lauren Braun Costello has a winning recipe for a vegetarian dish your family will love -- savory Mexican veggie burgers. The beans get flavor from a variety of vegetables, and are topped with exciting garnishes like grilled pineapple, sliced avocado and her quick jalapeño ketchup.

Get Lauren's recipe for Mexican Veggie Burgers with Grilled Pineapple, Avocado and Jalapeno Ketchup.

• Portland's got a strong coffee culture and a DIY aesthetic, which may be why so many coffee lovers here roast their own beans.
• This city's also got plenty of vegetarians, making Thanksgiving heavy on the side dishes. Bring on the vegetarian main courses.
• That said, carnivores are people, too. Roast beast, anyone?
• And everyone's ready for holiday chocolate desserts.

At this point in the usual "Top Chef" season trajectory, you might expect a certain focus and discipline that naturally comes with narrowing the playing field down to seven ambitious young chefs, each working at the top of his or her game. This year, however, is another story.

Maybe it's that the talented and reliable Jen is off her game, or that the universally derided Robin is still around or that the twerpy Eli can actually put together an interesting plate of food for once. In any event, Wednesday night's episode felt like a detour into a "Top Chef" bizarro-world, where up is down, left is right and nobody knows anything anymore. Well, almost anything: Robin still sucks, Michael V. is still a cocky jerk and Kevin is still the model of modest brilliance.

Rattling off the random highlights of the episode sounds as scattered as Robin's cooking philosophy: Dirty jokes! Vegetarianism! Natalie Portman! No Toby Young! A Quickfire challenge that revealed itself to be a desperate marketing ploy! Make that two marketing ploys! In fact, Portman's description of one dish neatly summed up the entire episode: "It makes me smile and laugh -- and I'm confused!"

Last weekend, my family and I visited Portland. This added a new twist to my vegan challenge: how was I going find tasty things to eat in airports and hotels? Because I was traveling with my children, I didn't have the luxury of scouting out the hottest vegan restaurants in Portland.  I had to be able to eat where my kids ate. Thank goodness for Gardenburgers.  I ate a lot of them this past weekend.

In the airport I was able to track down places that sold veggie sandwiches, lentil soup, vegan pastries, and fruit cups. Granted, I was traveling from San Francisco to Portland, Ore., two vegan-friendly cities.  I don't know how I would have fared if I had traveled elsewhere. (I did keep an apple and some pretzels with me, just in case.)

Once we arrived in Portland,  the brew pubs (O, how we love the Portland microbrews!) we chose for dinner both had Gardenburgers as vegan options. One of the restaurants also had a veggie pasta, but unless I'm makin' it, I just don't trust it.  Soggy vegetables and over-cooked pasta?  No thanks.  I stuck to the known quantity: the Gardenburger.

We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and there were also plenty of choices from home fries to cereals with milk alternatives. No problem there.

Talkin' 'bout snacks after the jump!

Heading into week two of my vegan challenge, I've successfully managed to entertain twice and it wasn't any harder or any less tasty than if I had included animal products in my menu.

Over the weekend, I had a friend over for brunch and I served assorted bagels with two different spreads: cream cheese for the omnivores and buttery Fuerte avocadoes (my personal preference) mashed with lime juice and nutritional yeast for me. I set out a big platter of sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and spicy radish sprouts, and I only missed the lox a little. (Sigh!) I also served a big bowl of mixed berries, and to drink I offered chilled fruit juice and coffee.

A few days later, friends came to dinner and after perusing through my new, favorite cookbook, Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson, I decided on a menu of lemon risotto with peas and a "Pseudo" Caesar salad. For starters I sliced up a chewy Judy's Breadstick (a staple in my house) and served that with Annie's cashew-sesame-pimento spread. The spread is made locally in Santa Cruz, California and it was sublime.

Recipes and reviews after the jump!