Almost Vegan Dinner

So after reading some of Jurek's book "Eat and Run" last night, I decided to give a vegan recipe a whirl. And not just any recipe. Mashed potatoes. Because, seriously, if someone can make mashed potatoes taste delicious without cream and butter, I have to know. Impossible.

Ok. I've been schooled. These mashed potatoes are INCREDIBLE. As in, oh my goodness, I am going to crave these, and if I never have traditional mashed potatoes again, I'll be okay. That good.

So here's the recipe. I played with it a little bit, so I'll give you my version, but still vegan.

First I made rice milk. This consisted of me making a cup of brown rice like you would normally make rice. (You can make white rice, we just don't have white rice in our household.) I then added 4 cups of water, 1/8 tsp. of salt, and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil (he called for sunflower, I didn't have it, same omega 6 fat burning goodness though). I then used my immersion blender to make it smooth and stuck it in the fridge. Any blender would work here.

Tonight, I took 2 sweet potatoes and 2 regular white baking potatoes and boiled them for about 40 minutes. (Put the potatoes in the water so they are covered, bring it to a boil, and let it sit for 30-45 minutes.) I had to leave them on the stove longer because my sweet potatoes were massive. I then mashed them up with a fork 'cause I'm Bronx like that. I added 2 tbsp. of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. As I was mashing, I stirred in 1 cup of my rice milk. When it was mashed all pretty, I slapped it on some plates and I dusted my portion with paprika.

Unbelievable. Sooooo good. And no butter or cream, so crazy-uber healthy. The sesame oil gives it such an amazing flavor. I'm so impressed. Great job Jurek! I swear, if I were Oprah, I would totally go vegetarian, especially after all the reading I've done about nutrition over the past two years. Antibiotics and steroids and bacteria... Ugh.

Also, in my picture, you see some delicious acorn squash. I was going orange tonight I suppose.

I chopped an acorn squash in half, scooped out the seeds (looks like a pumpkin!), filled the cavity with apples, pecans, craisins, brown sugar, and smart balance butter substitute (I think this last ingredient makes my dinner "almost vegan" though I don't know what smart balance butter is made out of--I only included it so it wouldn't get dried out). I let all of this bake for 45 minutes at 400, and voila! Vegetarian dinner. And while the squash is awesome and caramelized and incredible, these mashed potatoes really impressed me. I love me some mashed potatoes! And I'm a tough critic.