3 tablespoons butter
5 cups vegetable broth
2 cups Arborio rice
3/4 cup parmesan, grated
salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat and add the rice.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate sauce pan over medium-low heat, bring the vegetable broth to a simmer.
3. Add 1/2 cup of the simmering broth to the rice. Stir frequently to prevent the rice from sticking.
4. Once the liquid begins to absorb, add another 1/2 cup of liquid. Continue adding more liquid as necessary, until the rice is tender, but slightly al dente.
5. Season the risotto with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings

4 large Portobello mushrooms, stems removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
1/3 cup parmesan, grated
2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Rub mushrooms with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining oil, then the mushrooms. Fry until nicely browned, then flip and do the other side.
4. Place the mushrooms into an ovenproof dish. Cover a proportional amount of the tomato sauce and cheeses between the caps, then dot with butter.
5. Bake until the cheese melts and is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup frozen cranberries
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffins trays.
2. Cream together eggs, sugar, butter and salt until light and fluffy.
3. Sift together flour and baking powder and gradually add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk, to form a smooth batter.
4. Gently fold in the cranberries and orange zest, just enough to coat.
5. Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full, then bake until browned and a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
6. Top muffins with brown sugar and place under oven broiler until the sugar starts to melt.
7. Let cool slightly before removing from the pans, then cool completely on wire racks.

Makes 12 muffins

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1-1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry lentils
19 ounce canned diced tomatoes
1/4 cup sherry
2 tablespoons parmesan, grated

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and saute until tender.
2. Stir in the thyme, marjoram and garlic and continue cooking for about a minute.
3. Add the stock, lentils and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.
4. Continue cooking until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes, then add the sherry and continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes.
5. Spoon into bowls and top with parmesan cheese to serve.

Makes 6 servings

Every once in a while I get an e-mail requesting more vegetarian recipes or vegetarian dinners. We're currently working on categorizing the recipes according to things like ingredients, nationality, type of dish and so on, as well as dietary needs. I'll freely admit that a lot of my entrees are meat, but I can now say that a large portion of the recipes on this website are vegetarian or are easily substitutable to be vegetarian, such as using a different kind of broth. Hopefully that will all be in place eventually so you can see for yourself!

Anyhow, I still aim to please, so this is a purely vegetarian meal, as requested. I love young cashiers and how they often do not know non-standard food items and will not question you when you tell them what it is. This is especially useful to save a lot of money on bulk goods. Not that I'd try to cheat a supermarket or anything. Ahem. They also tend not to look in brown paper bags and just assume they're button mushrooms, which is how I got away with a big bag of portobellos for only a couple of dollars. Hey, it's not like I wrote "button mushrooms" on the bag or anything. So I made Portobello Parmesan as my entree. Since portobellos are so meaty, even a true carnivore should love this recipe. A large amount of cheese baked on top certainly doesn't hurt either. I only made a half-assed tomato sauce to go along with it, just pureeing some canned tomatoes with ingredients I would normally use, and it still turned out very good. My only complaint is that I didn't make more.

I haven't been having a tremendous amount of luck with trying different risotto recipes in the past, so I made a very basic Parmesan Risotto and it was delicious. So simple to make and such a nice, creamy side dish. As far as Italian is concerned, I'd rather have risotto than a pasta side any day. Plain risotto sure isn't much to look at, but it's definitely very satisfying and flavorful.

To try and add a bit more protein to this vegetarian meal, I also made Monastery Lentils. I learned on Jamie's Italy that tomatoes actually help to soften the skins of lentils and that was no lie. I've learned enough dried legume tips now that I'll never have enough mishap like my first Dhal recipe. I was basically pleased that the lentils even cooked properly, but they were even edible! It may sound like I'm lowering my standards a little bit here. In fact, the lentils were quite flavorful and, with the addition of my new friend sherry, made for a memorable dish that I can definitely see myself making again.

I also made some Orange Cranberry Muffins that were spectacularly good. I've been making a lot of muffins lately with all the fresh berries being so cheap and delicious, but I decided to spice my ordinary recipe up a bit with orange zest and a bit of brown sugar on top. These turned out perfectly!