Beautiful Vegetarian Holiday Dishes

Even if you’re not a vegetarian, you’ll still enjoy livening up your holiday table with the interesting dishes below. Gary Null, health and nutrition expert, has shared his own personal recipes for Holiday Stuffed Mushrooms and Sweet Loaf.

Gary Null holds a Ph.D. in human nutrition and public health science. He’s also a best-selling author and founder of Progressive Radio Network (PRN), a grassroots talk-radio network with a variety of hosts who cover issues like the environment, autism, health and natural living.

PRN features a show that covers a wide range of vegetarian issues: “It’s All About Food,” airing each Wednesday at 3:00 pm EST. The show may be accessed online at PRN. “It’s All About Food” is hosted by Caryn Hartglass, the executive director of EarthSave International.

I hope you find a dish below you like!

Holiday Stuffed Mushrooms

• 6 mushrooms de-stemmed (mince stems & set aside)
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Avocado
• 2 tablespoon flax seed ground
• 2 teaspoon parsley chopped
• ½ teaspoon sage
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• Sea salt and pepper

Coat mushroom caps with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Place in dehydrator for 1 hour. Combine all other ingredients in a food processor. Stuff dehydrated mushroom caps with mixture and serve.
Yield: 6 Mushrooms

Sweet Loaf
Filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms
• ½ cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Dough

• Kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn, grated
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon agave
• 1 cup yellow or white hominy, ground (or substitute frozen peas)

Garnish

• 5 olives, chopped
• Red, yellow, purple, and green bell pepper slices
• Cherry tomato

To prepare the filling: In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
To prepare the dough: In a large bowl, combine the corn, olive oil, salt, and agave. In a skillet over low heat, cook the mixture until thickened. Add ground hominy; cook a few more minutes, and set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 375°. Oil a shallow baking dish and fill with one half of the dough mixture.

Add all the filling, and arrange sliced olives on top. Cover with the remaining dough, smoothing out the surface. Brush with olive oil. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Garnish with red, yellow, purple, green pepper slices and cherry tomatoes.
Yield: 2 Servings

(Recipes and images courtesy Gary Null)