New Years Eve Nibbles

My brother had some friends over last night for a party, so my mom picked up a bunch of stuff for them at M & M Meat Shop. Quite literally the only vegan option I saw was a package of mixed frozen veggies. That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, so I realized I would have to make my own foods.

I decided to try the wingz again, this time with a maple garlic sauce. Dad was helping me out in the kitchen, so I directed him to make the sauce. In his typical style, he didn't use a recipe, so I don't have one to share. I know it had tons of garlic, maple syrup, a little vinegar, some spices (I believe he mentioned seasoning salt), and even a couple splashes of truffle oil (man am I spoiled!!). He and Mom have apparently had their little bottle of truffle oil for over 5 years, and I'm always too afraid to use it. I've only used it once. The sauce reduced on the stove for about 30 minutes and was delicious. I made my own bread crumbs by throwing the end pieces of bread that no one ever eats into the food processor and toasting them at 325 for 6 minutes. These were amazing! Mom and Dad loved them, too. I saved a couple and I'll be having them instead of turkey with tonight's dinner.

Next, I made stuffed mushrooms. I got the recipe from Mom's Company's Coming Appetizers book (overall not remotely vegan friendly!), and just didn't put in the cheese. The grocery store had huge mushrooms, which worked out really well for me!

Stuffed Mushrooms

12-16 medium mushrooms

1/4 cup vegan margarine

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove stems from mushrooms with a pearing knife and arrange caps on a baking tray. Finely chop the mushroom stems. Put margarine, stems, and onion into a frying pan and cook until unions are clear and soft. Remove from heat and stir in bread crumbs. Stuff caps. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350.

The final dish of the night was Sweet Onion Beggars Purses from Conscious Cook. This cookbook is great, and Tal Ronnen is amazing. However, basically all the recipes in this book are quite intensive and time consuming. If you have time though, I promise it's worth it! I'm yet to be disappointed by a recipe from this book. This PETA link has the full recipe. Phyllo pastry is pretty picky to work with, and be prepared to take close to two hours on these, between caramelizing the onions and forming an onion jam, brushing each layer of phyllo pastry with butter (and layering spices on every second layer), and tying the purses. The recipe calls for wrapping fresh chives around the purses once they're cooked, but the chives I bought were too short, so I will have to find something new to do with them. These were delicious, and there are leftovers, too. :) 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! May 2011 bring you joy, happiness, and balance.