Steaklets Pepper

First I want to share with you one of my Christmas gifts. It's this handy-dandy kitchen cart from IKEA. I don't have a lot of counter space, so just getting the mixer off of the counter gave me, what feels like, tons of extra room . Also, being able to put large bowls and things on the shelves also frees up some cupboard space. It's a plus-plus! And, I had the fun of a little project in putting this together.

The flowers were a surpise from Jim one day.

Gorgeous! Whenever I walked near or into the kitchen, I could smell them right away. Yea, I pretty much kept them in the kitchen. It's where I was spending most of my time & I wanted to enjoy these flowers as much as I could. I shuffled them between the kitchen and my computer desk.

While browsing the herbs in the grocery store, I saw this.

I think these must be something new to my regular store, because I've never noticed them before. They had a lot of varieties to choose from and they were the same price as the non-organic herbs!

Added bonus - they're Ontario grown! When I picked up this package, I knew I wanted a big ol' baked potato with chives

I also got some Yves Veggie Burgers and some assorted veggies, went home and got to work on dinner. This is why you aren't supposed to grocery shop while hungry.

Look at all this! I couldn't finish everything, obviously. It was all very good. The brussels sprouts are Best Brussels Sprouts from Vegan Lunchbox (you can find the recipe here). The broccoli and carrots were just steamed. There's my potato with chives! It was so freaking yummy!

The burger dish I made was from Linda McCartney's Home Cooking. This was one of the first vegetarian cookbooks I bought. Quite a few of the recipes use meat analogs and when I was first changing my diet, it made the transition very easy. Some of the recipes became tried and true favorites, like this one. It's quick and you probably have all of the ingredients on hand already.

STEAKLETS PEPPER

3 tbsp. vegetable oil (I used way less oil)
4 vegetable burgers
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed (I used 3 cloves, just because we like garlic!)
2 green peppers, seeded and chopped (I used a green & a red)
1 cup vegetable stock or water
1 16oz. can chopped tomatoes (I had some leftover fire-roasted tomatoes - they work well in this)
1½ tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. soy sauce

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the burgers on both sides. Remove the burger from the pan and place in a hot oven.

Add onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until they are tender. Add the peppers and most of the vegetable stock to the sauté, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Mix the cornstarch and soy sauce with the remaining vegetable stock to make a smooth, lump-free paste. Add this to the sauce and continue to simmer.

When the sauce has thickened, return the burgers to the pan. Increase the heat for 1 minute. Serve immediately.