Some men bring flowers

We’re out of meat again, out of flour, out of cheese, out of butter, almost out of oil. My husband came home with some HUGE wild parasol mushrooms. I mean HUGE! 6 inch diameter caps. NOTE: only pick wild mushrooms if you know what you’re doing. Some poisonous mushrooms look like edible ones, but can make you quite sick.

Giant French Parasol Mushrooms

To show the scale, that is a standard big ol’ colander.  They’re humongous!  And he got about a dozen.

They are beautiful. But I didn’t know what to do with them. I thought about some potato and mushroom soup, but I really wanted some pasta. The trouble was, I wanted thick, chunky tomato sauce pasta with ground beef and Parmesan. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen. But, I took stock of my kitchen and decided I could come up with a good substitute. Here’s the recipe I invented. It’s hearty, filling, tastes delicious, and you don’t miss the meat (or even the Parmesan!). Plus, it’s vegan and was really cheap (especially with free wild mushrooms. Another reason to love France!). No meat, no soy, no dairy, no eggs. And no animals were harmed in the making of this delicious meal!

Ingredients for 2 people:
Spaghetti or other pasta – whole wheat is great
2 portabellaor other large, flavorful mushrooms
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper
1/4 cup plain tomato sauce
1/4 cup cooked lentils
thyme or other herbs
squeeze of lemon
teaspoon of sugar (or apple juice)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare your pasta by the directions on the package while you make the sauce.
2. Chop the veggies and saute in oil until soft
3. Add lentils, herbs and tomato sauce and heat through
4. Taste and adjust seasonings as you wish. If it seems that something is missing try some lemon and/or your favorite sweetener.  A dash of soy sauce might add that extra something, too, but I didn’t have any.

Variations: Eggplant would probably be great in this, also you can use fresh tomatoes.

Tastes delicious!

For more ideas on meatless meals, check out Things To Eat When You Miss Meat