Category Archives: Recipe

Jan18

Day 14: Persian Chicken and Rice/Quinoa

Posted on by
Standard

I never seem to take pictures of the food I make any more. I used to do it all the time, the kids got used to waiting for the picture before digging in. Then our routines got disrupted and I got out of the habit. Heck, we just started eating dinner at the table regularly this week–something we used to do all the time! I have missed it. Sitting in front of the TV in the family room may be eating together, but it is nowhere near the same thing. The children’s table manners suffered, I tell you–we are not doing this a minute too soon.

To celebrate getting back to eating in the dining room, at the table, like civilized people, I wanted to find a new way to make chicken, one that we would all enjoy. In the interest of decluttering my house, I am trying to go through the cookbooks I haven’t used in a while to see if they are worth keeping, and I found the inspiration for this dish in an old Mr. Food series cookbook, Old World Cooking Made Easy. I like to add some quinoa to my rice dishes for extra protein, nutrition and interest, and I find that a  lot of recipes don’t have enough spice or veggies, although in this case it was extra fruit that I added to the dish.

This was definitely a hit–I had to tell the kids they couldn’t eat it all, I needed some for lunch the next day. We had steamed veggies on the side. It was also a nice easy dish, with some downtime to clear off the table, look through the mail and generally get a few things done while dinner was cooking. We will definitely be having this again!

Persian Chicken and Rice/Quinoa

1 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, cut into small pieces (use kitchen shears to make this go quickly)
1/3 cup raisins
~1.5 pounds chicken–we used boneless skinless thighs
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
several twists of freshly ground pepper
1 cup brown rice
1 cup quinoa
1 32 ounce container chicken broth

Sautee the onions in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes, until they start to soften. Add the apricots, raisins, cinnamon and pepper. Stir and sautee for 3-4 minutes longer, then add chicken. Brown the chicken on all side, then add the broth and stir well. Bring to a boil, then stir in the rice and quinoa; turn the heat down to a simmer and cook with a lid on the pot for 30 minutes, or until the broth is absorbed and the rice is cooked through.

Jan7

Day 6: Brunch with Friends

Posted on by
Standard

For those of you following along, Day 5 is indeed missing from here. I give away a lot of what I make, so sometimes I can’t share things publicly right away.

Yesterday, we had friends over for brunch, and I made what I think was some pretty yummy food. The various children involved had mixed feelings on the food; oddly enough, my normally picky daughter was the only child who liked everything. The adults were all happy, though, and no one starved, so I am calling it a success. My awesome friends did a bunch of dishes, too! I love people who do dishes, ;) .

We had French toast casserole, hashbrowns with shaved Brussels Sprouts and pancetta, smoothies, coffee, and orange juice. The other mom and I had mimosas as well.

Once again, I forgot to take pictures until we had totally decimated the tablescape, but I can share the recipe for the French toast casserole. I based it on this Paula Deen recipe, but I adjusted it to be gluten and dairy free, plus a little lower in fat and sugar, and I added some fruit for extra nutrition.

Fruity French Toast Casserole

Smart Balance margarine
1 loaf Udi’s Whole Grain Gluten free bread
8 eggs
1 cup soy creamer
2 cups vanilla soy milk
2 TBSP pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 – 2 cups frozen fruit–we use mixed berries most often, but anything would work
2-3 TBSP brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish with the margarine, then place the bread in overlapping layers in the dish, breaking pieces in half as need to fill in the edges.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, creamer, soy milk, maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg. When fully mixed, pour over the bread and let sit for 15 minutes or so. Sprinkle the fruit and brown sugar on top and place in the oven. I am guessing on the amount of fruit and brown sugar I used–I just added them until it looked good. I added less fruit this time than I might another time, in case picky children wanted to pick it off.

I did not keep track of the baking time, but I am guessing it was 45 – 55 minutes.

This is a very custardy casserole, which the boy does not like. It is weird for me, typing that last sentence–I used to think the boy liked everything! He is actually getting *more* picky as he gets older, of which I do not approve. We had enough variety with the smoothies and potato-y/bacon-y dish that everyone got enough to eat, though, and I do so love making brunch!

Of course, I was looking at my Pinterest board for Recipes to Try today, and now I am sad I didn’t make a big crockpot of pumpkin-spiced lattes, but we were all happy at the time. This is a good reminder to check my inspiration boards more often!

What is your favorite brunch dish? Or whole brunch menu?

 

Jan1

Making Things: New Year’s Brunch

Posted on by
Standard

Today my children went to their father’s to spend the rest of their winter break with him and their little brother. Before they left, I wanted to give them a good meal, full of veggies and love. They certainly eat veggies at their dad’s house, this has nothing to do with correcting any deficiencies there; I just like to express my love for them through caring for their physical health, and stuffing as many veggies into them as I possibly can. They are kids, they avoid the veggies whenever possible!

It is amazing to me how much I enjoy chopping fresh veggies and making a meal for the kids. I do like cooking, but the process of making food from scratch (mostly…), considering their nutritional needs as I cook, it makes me feel like I am doing something good and loving for them. Of course, I am, but I am continually surprised at how I notice this as I chop and cook. I enjoy cooking for myself when they are gone, but I really love cooking for them and knowing that my effort is going into them. It sounds cheesy to me as I read over this, but it is still true.

Here is a recipe for what I did today, but I do it differently other days, depending on what kind of veggies I have on hand. The hash browns are from Costco and are a staple in our house–the kids love them so much and they are fast and easy. I try to avoid processed foods for the most part, but sometimes fast trumps fresh, especially when it provides a vehicle for more fresh veggies, like this dish does. Also, I don’t have good measurements for a lot of the ingredients, because I throw things in as they occur to me, generally.

Brunch in a Skillet

1 box dehydrated hash browns
1-2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
½ an onion
2 oz. pancetta
1 yellow bell pepper
1 large clove of garlic from the garden
½ bag shaved Brussels Sprouts (from Trader Joe’s)
6 eggs
splash of plain soy milk
shredded cheddar cheese
fresh ground pepper

First, I added hot tap water to the hash browns and set aside. I chopped the onion and then added that to a large skillet with the olive oil and pancetta. I just swirl the oil in the skillet until it looks right, but it isn’t a lot. I added the Brussels sprouts next, then chopped the pepper and garlic, adding them to the pan as I went. If I had thought of it earlier, I probably would have added more garlic, because we all love it, but I thought of it at the last minute today, so I only added one large clove. When everything looked a bit softened, I made sure that the hash browns were drained of excess water and added those to the skillet as well. I spread it out to let the bottom start to get crispy, and started prepping the eggs–cracked, beaten, mixed with the milk and pepper, then adding some cheese. We are all really not good with dairy, but the cheese I found says it is lactose free, and I find it we don’t add too much, it doesn’t seem to bother us. Once the hash browns are browned on the bottom, I like to turn them over and let the rest get a bit crispy before adding the eggs, but then I pour it all over the top and cook for just a minute or two, mixing the eggs and cheese with the veggies and cooking until just set.

Although I had my Making Things project in mind when I made this this morning, I didn’t take a picture. It’s not really a pretty meal, anyway; pretty is not the point. It is nourishing and healthy and filling, an important attribute with growing children. I had to laugh when we ate–both kids ate around the yellow bell pepper, something they eat raw with no problem, but didn’t seem to notice that there were Brussels sprouts mixed into the potatoes. I am probably shooting myself in the foot posting this here, because my daughter does read this sometimes, I think, but I am risking it. She does care about her health, so maybe she will appreciate the extra nutrients that she didn’t even notice in the dish. That, or she’ll tell me she knew it was weird but didn’t want to say anything, and then view all of my food suspiciously in the future, hard to say with her.

In any case, the kids had a good serving of vegetables this morning, lovingly prepared by me. It was more work than going out for a special brunch, but so much more satisfying.

Dec1

Success With a Picky Eater!

Posted on by
Standard

Every Wednesday, my friend Dana comes over for dinner with her family. She is a single mom, too, and she is trying to juggle all the running that comes with being the only adult in the household. Her kids are younger–her oldest, J, is one of my 9 year old son’s best friends, and her daughter, E, is 7–so she doesn’t have the advantage of being able to leave kids at home like I do with my 14 year old. So on Wednesday, when her daughter has gymnastics, her son comes here to play with my son while I cook dinner, and we all eat dinner together after gymnastics is over.

Her daughter reminds me so much of my daughter in many wonderful ways. She is smart and funny and into fashion and self-confident. Unfortunately, she is also a really picky eater. When I say we all eat dinner together, I really mean that E might eat some plain rice, or she might just watch us eat, or go watch TV. But last night, she tried the black beans and rice I made and declared them to be delicious! She asked me if I could make them again sometime in exactly the same way. I doubt I could do that, because this is something I just throw together, but I thought I had better write down what I did as best as I could remember so that I have a better chance of making it the same way next time.

Black Beans and Rice

I made a big pot of food, because the boys are starting to eat more and more all the time. I wanted to make sure there was enough leftover for a couple of lunches, too. If you are not feeding boys with hollow legs, you may want to cut this in half, but leftovers freeze well, too. I am estimating the spices, since I don’t usually measure, so I would recommend using a small amount and tasting to adjust. In particular, the thyme is important–I find it really makes the dish, and I like to add a lot. I have a lot of thyme growing in my garden, but if you are using dried thyme, you will want to start with half the amount you would use of the fresh. I also use whatever veggies I have on hand–the bell pepper doesn’t have to be orange, and I often add carrots, or other veggies I want to use before they go bad.

3 Italian sausage links, removed from casings and crumbled into small bite-size pieces (3/4 pound)
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 pound tomatillos, diced
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce cayenne pepper, to taste (I used a very small amount, maybe ¼ tsp, due to kids that like bland food)
fresh thyme, about 1 – 2 TBSP
fresh ground black pepper–I don’t measure this, but I use a fair amount
cooked brown rice

Saute the sausage, onion, garlic, bell peppers and tomatilloes in the olive oil until the sausage is cooked through and the veggies are softened. Add the spices, stir to combine, then add the beans, tomatoes with their juice, and the tomato sauce; mix well. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Taste a small amount and adjust seasonings as necessary. We really like garlic, so I ended up adding a bit of garlic powder here–next time I will add more garlic to start. Then, it is just a matter of simmering while you make the rice, stirring occasionally. I added a bit of black pepper several times, as you don’t get that much for all the grinding, at least not with my old grinder.

Serve over rice, with a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot for those that like a bit more kick!

Nov12

Vegetarian Taco Pizza

Posted on by
Standard

We had friends over last night, and I made a vegetarian taco pizza that was so good, I need to write down what we did so I don’t forget. This isn’t really a recipe, because I didn’t make measurements, but it should give a good idea how to do it.

First, I made this flatbread recipe from Mark Bittman, using half cornmeal and half chickpea flour. While that was baking, I made some pizza sauce with tomato sauce, rosemary, basil and garlic powder. I didn’t measure the spices, but if I had to guess, I’d say about ¼ – ½ teaspoon rosemary and ½ – 1 teaspoon each basil and garlic powder. When the crust came out of the oven, I put about ½ a cup or so of the sauce on it.*

Next, I took a can of black beans, drained and mixed them, then put them in a bowl with about 1 ½ teaspoons Chili 3000 spice blend from Penzey’s, a few shakes of cayenne pepper, and some more garlic powder, probably about ½ teaspoon or so. I mixed it all together, then spread it out on the pizza, topped with half a bag of shredded cheese and baked (oven still at 450 from the crust) for about 10 minutes. We used a soy cheese blend of cheddar and monterey jack cheese.

While the pizza was baking, I chopped a tomato and three green onions. When the pizza came out of the oven, I let it sit for a couple of minutes so that the cheese wasn’t too hot, then I topped with shredded cabbage, and the tomatoes, then crushed some tortilla chips on top of it all and finished with the green onions. I know that lettuce is more traditional, but in my book, there is nothing more disgusting that leftover food with slimy lettuce, so cabbage works better. Plus, I had cabbage, and my lettuce was no longer good.

My children are suspicious of any food with green stuff or fresh tomatoes, but that goes double for pizza, so they did not eat any of this. I like to make pizza on Friday nights, because the kids love it and it is a nice start to the weekend, but I get bored with the same thing over and over. I am glad I had a friend over who likes interesting, flavorful food to share this with me!

* I also made a plain cheese pizza for the kids, who like boring food, so I used more of this sauce than just that ½ cup, but we will still need to do something else with it soon.

Nov6

Using up the garden: Various saved up pictures and meals

Posted on by
Standard

wwwI have been cooking and using the garden produce, but I haven’t had a lot of blogging time to post about it, so this post is just going to be a mishmash of what I have available. First, pizza!

Here are two mini-pizzas with some chopped Anaheim chilis and basil leaves from the garden, along with some chopped mushrooms from the fridge:

  

And here they are out of the oven with Trader Joe’s sausage-less Italian sausage and Daiya mozzarella added to the top:

The next day, I used the rest of the basil I had picked to make some awesome, garlicy pesto. I didn’t really follow a recipe for it, I just added a bunch of washed basil leaves to the food processor along with some minced garlic, nutritional yeast and pine nuts, then streamed in some extra virgin olive oil while pureeing. So good! I used a little of it to mix with tomato sauce for some more mini-pizzas, but I didn’t take a picture of those.

I decided to use a bunch of the pesto to try and recreate a veganized version of the pesto cavatippi dish I like to get from Noodles & Company. Every once in a while I get this dish without the cream or added Paremesan, and it is so good. I am sure that there is some more parmesan in their pesto, but I try not to think about it, because I do love me some pesto. But, I thought I could surely do better at home with my fresh pesto, and looking at the nutritional info on the Noodles site, I think mine has to be better on some of those categories as well (particularly because mine has no cholesterol or saturated fats!)

Anyway, here is the picture:

And here is what I did:

Olive oil, 1-2 TBSP
1 pound of tofu, cut into small-ish squares
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 onion, diced
1 or 2 Anaheim chilis, diced (frankly, I am not certain about this one, but I have been adding them to everything–Marsha gave me some extras, in addition to the ones I have still growing outside, so I probably added these)
1 pound of whole wheat pasta (rotini is what I had on hand)
About half a cup of pesto, maybe more (I didn’t really measure, sorry!)
3 – 4 cups baby spinach

Start boiling the water for the pasta. Fry the tofu in the olive oil until browned on at least one side. I did this slowly, over medium-high heat, while I chopped the other veggies and chatted with my mom. This is one of those things that just takes some time, and you don’t want to stir too much, which is one of the hardest tasks for me. Add the pasta to the water in the other pot as soon as it is boiling. Once the tofu is browned on at least one side, addethe onions, mushrooms, and chilis. Gently fry all the veggies with the tofu, stirring occasionally. When the pasta is cooked al dente, ladle out a cup or so of the pasta water to add to the sauce, then drain the pasta.

What I did next, versus what I think will work better next time:

Actually did: Add the pasta to the skillet with the tofu and veggies, then add in the pesto and the reserved pasta water. Stir to mix, then add baby spinach in handfuls, covering to let the spinach wilt, then stirring and adding more until the spinach is all incorporated.

Next time I will: Add the pasta water and pesto to the skillet with the tofu and veggies, stirring to make a slightly thinned out pesto sauce, adding enough liquid to make it saucy, but not so much as to make it too thin. Add the pasta to the skillet, stir to combine, and then start adding the spinach a few handfuls at a time.

I also added a bit of Trader Joe’s everyday seasoning to this, because I add that to a lot of things these days. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s nearby, or you don’t want to use a seasoned salt, Mrs. Dash salt-free seasonings are a good substitute.

I meant to add some cherry tomatoes to the skillet right before the pasta was added, so that they would cook down some but not completely lose their shape, but I totally forgot. That would make it more like the restaurant dish, as would a bit of wine, but I forgot that, too. Next time, I will probably add a little bit of wine with the pesto, maybe half a cup of Pinot Grigio.

I still have just a little of the pesto left, but I am not sure what I am going to do with that yet.

The rest of the season in basil:

  • Mostly, I just went out before cooking many, many things and got a small handful of fresh basil leaves to add to the dish. 
  • I did make the Sweet-Basil Tapenade from Veganomicon for my birthday open house, but I forgot to put it out, :-( . I ate some of it after the party, though, and it was a mixed success. I have been using the Grade B maple syrup lately for it’s richer maple taste, and that may have been a bit too much for the tapenade–I suspect it was supposed to be mostly pesto-y with some sweetness, but it was very sweet and maple-y, just a little too much. I may try again next year with some Grade A maple syrup, or less syrup or something. 
  • Like the mint, I should have been using more of this earlier. Although I did use basil a lot when it was growing strong (I don’t think there was a week that went by once it was coming in that I didn’t use it two or more times per week in recipes), I could have used a lot more when it was growing back in almost as fast as I picked it. I could probably have made a big batch of pesto every week and popped it in the freezer without noticing a decrease in the amount of basil I had available for other uses. 
  • Next year, I want to try basil lemonade, like the mint and lavender lemonades that I made this yea
In other news, I still have a lot of greens to use. For brunch last weekend, I made the Collard Greens and Sausage recipe from Vegan Brunch, although I used turnip and mustard greens, mostly. It was really good, although I think I could have cooked it a bit longer. Doesn’t it look pretty, though?

I made pumpkin pancakes and cranberry ginger sauce from Vegan Bruch as well to go with, along with hash browns. Such a yummy, nutritious and filling brunch!

I have a LOT of parsley out in the garden. I cannot believe how well that herb is still growing. I gather that it is supposed to be biennial, but it never died off this summer, and it is still going strong out there. I think I am going to ask a friend to let me use her dehydrator to preserve the rest of it soon, because I don’t want to just let it die, but I am not sure what else to do with large quantities of the stuff. Another thing to research for next year.

Here is a mostly non-garden dish, with some pretty parsley sprinkled on top:

The garden is mostly done for the year. I have a few Anaheim chilis, and some turnips and beets to dig up, along with all the parsley, but my days of going out to pick dinner ingredients are numbered. I still have a big adventure figuring out what to do with all the turnips that are coming in, but for the most part, the work and preserving food is finished. I think I did pretty well this year, barring the time when I was broken and couldn’t do much. I am feeling pretty good about expanding the garden next year, and now I just need to start planning what I want to do with all the extra space. Also, I want to review these posts about what I did this year and what I want to do differently next year, along with some research for new things I can do next year to make sure I grow what I want and preserve it well. I have a few things that I will carry into the winter months this year, but not many. Next year, I would like to do a bit more preserving for long term. So, I don’t have to stop obsessing about the garden after all, even though this season is ending! That is a post for another day, though.

Oct25

Using up the garden: butternut squash, thyme and garlic

Posted on by
Standard

I got two butternut squashes out of my garden this year. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but last year I had a big long vine with lots of flowers and no squash at all, so I was pretty thrilled with these two. Of course, they were ready to pick while my hand was broken, so I couldn’t really do anything with them—they are hard to cut! But, they also last a while, so it was not a problem.

I am feeling a lot better these days, and I have been having some success with chopping when I use my left hand to stabilize the knife and apply some of the cutting pressure. When I was trying to decide what to do with those beautiful butternuts, I was thinking about how much we have been enjoying risotto lately. The kids will eat a lot of things if they are in risotto, and I find it very relaxing to stand there with a glass of wine and stir for 25 minutes or so.

I based my recipe loosely on this one from Food Network, but only as a starting point. I didn’t get a picture, but it was very pretty. I made sure to show the kids the red saffron that would turn our risotto yellow. I love that kind of thing. It’s the chemistry of cooking! (That is why I used to be so obsessed with fudge, back when I wasn’t vegan. I need to find some good vegan fudge recipes. Not that this has anything to do with risotto.)

Saffron Butternut Squash Risotto

1 medium squash (maybe 1 ½ – 2 pounds)

Halve the squash and remove the seeds. Peel the squash and chop into small, bite-size chunks. I put them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, sprayed with a little cooking spray, and tossed with a little bit of Everyday Seasoning, which is a seasoned salt from Trader Joe’s. I put those in a 400 degree oven and got started on the rest.

6 cups veggie broth
4 sprigs fresh thyme, fresh from the garden

I put this in a pot on the back of the stove, and warmed it up, then turned the heat down to low.

1 medium onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP olive oil
1TBSP Earth Balance

Melt the butter and olive oil together in a skillet, then sauté the onion and garlic until translucent. Add:

1 ½ cups Arborio rice

Stir to make sure that the rice is coated with the butter/olive oil mixture. Add:

½ cup dry white wine

Pour a glass of wine for the cook to sip while stirring. You have to open the bottle anyway! Stir the wine into the rice, and continue cooking until the wine is fully absorbed. Add two ladles full of the warmed broth, along with:

1 tsp saffron
Several twists of the Everyday seasoning

Then, it’s all about the stirring. Add more broth as the rice absorbs the broth already in the pan. During this time, make sure to keep an eye on the squash in the oven. When it is roasted to perfection (25 – 30 minutes), remove it from the oven and set aside while you finish the risotto. When about two thirds of the broth was incorporated into the rice, I started adding some baby spinach as well, a handful at a time. I don’t have a measurement on this one, I just kept adding spinach until there was lots of green in the dish. When all of the broth was incorporated, I turned off the heat and added:

¾ cup nutritional yeast

Wow, this made the risotto so creamy and rich tasting! The final step is to add the roasted squash.

Everyone loved this. My mom thought it was fantastic and even the kids ate the spinach without much complaining. I will probably do something different with the other squash from the garden, but we will definitely have this risotto again with store-bought squash.

Nov25

Almost Vegan Pastitsio

Posted on by
Standard

This meal took a little longer to make than many things I do, but it was worth it. It was very good, and both of the kids had seconds! I based this on a recipe in the Weight Watcher’s Take-Out Tonight cookbook.
Almost Vegan Pastitsio

I have been eyeing this traditional Greek dish on restaurant menus for a while now, wishing I could try it. With a ground beef filling and a milk-based bechamel, that was not going to happen, so instead I searched out a recipe to veganize. The nutmeg in the sauce disguises the soy taste wonderfully. I know there are egg substitutes that would work in this, but I am not really familiar with them, so I just used the eggs. Feel free to suggest vegan alternatives in the comments.

Sauce:
3 cups soy milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 eggs, lightly beaten
4 TBSP parmesan substitute (we used Parma!)
salt and ground pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Filling:
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3/4 pound ground meat substitute, like Boca crumbles
1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (although I used more–probably 4 or 5)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti or elbow macaroni
2 TBSP parmesan substitute
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
Meanshile, combind the milk, cornstarch and eggs in a large saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. This took me a while, but I think I turned the fire down too low–I was warming, not cooking–so make sure the heat isn’t too low. When thickened, remove from heat and add the Parmesan sub, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Place a lid on the pot and set aside while you make the filling.
At this point, you’ll want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 7 by 11 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.
For the filling, heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the onion until softened. Add the remaining filling ingredients and cook until heated through, and the liquid from the tomatoes evaporates. Stir often.
To assemble the casserole, start with half of the pasta, then top with all of the filling and the other half of the pasta. Pour the bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with the last 2 tablespoons of Parma. Bake until golden, 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, to set the casserole.
I was going to roast brussels sprouts with this, but the kids aren’t fans, so I ended up skipping them, and we had green beans instead. Lima beans stewed with some olive oil and oregano would have been good, too.
Mar31

A picture and a menu

Posted on by
Standard

First I have to say, Oh my goodness, but Whole Foods is expensive! Partly it’s me stocking up on several things, and partly it’s the rising cost of food these days, partly it’s their great selection of vegetarian products, partly it’s the awesome prepared foods they have. Lots of partlys adding up to a big bill. But, it should be worth it in healthy, delicious food this week.

First a picture from a while back:

This is the gnocchi I made after my kids spent a day at my parents’ house eating nothing but junk. It’s gnocchi with lots of tomato sauce and spinach. On top, and lurking in the background of the picture, is Parma! vegan parmesan. We had to buy this, because it has raw organic walnuts, red star nutritional yeat, celtic sea salt, and love. With an ingredient list like that, how could we pass it up?

Now the menu:

Tonight: Carribean Beans and Quinoa–so incredibly good! The girl even liked it. I am so glad that she is finally more open to more complex flavors.

Tuesday: I am making a Rachael Ray Curry in a Hurry recipe with the new Trader Joe’s chickenless strips. Plus rice, and some kind of vegetable (maybe salad, or broccoli).

Wednesday: Fried rice. I threw some together on Friday, and it was so good, I am making it again. I heated up some coconut oil, pressed some tofu (just between my hands), diced it and fried until golden. Then, I added some onion and garlic, and when the kitchen started smelling really good, I added some frozen spinach and peas, and two cups of cooked brown rice. After I mixed all that together, I poured about a third of a jar of Trader Joe’s Chinese 5 Spice Chef Sauce on top, and heated it all up until the flavors were blended and it was all hot. I couldn’t believe how good it turned out, for something just thrown together!

Thursday: West African Peanut Stew

Friday, the girl is going to sing at the Cardinals game with her choir! I have no idea what we will eat, but I am sure we will have fun.

That’s as far as my planning has gone, but I am going to do more planning next week. We eat so much better when I know what we are going to have (not counting that serendipitous fried rice).

Dec2

All the Thanksgiving meals

Posted on by
Standard

November was definitely a month for eating too much food. I have a lot more difficulty eating moderately around Thanksgiving than Christmas, because Thanksgiving food is real food, not junk. Well, except for the pie and cake, but it’s still not an endless supply of cookies and candy like Christmas food is.

The first Thanksgiving meal was about a week before the actual holiday, at work. We do a big potluck for all the people on my floor. Okay, not all, but a lot of people participate. Of course, these meals generally have a lot of meat, and I don’t even want to think about the dairy involved, but there is generally enough food available for me to eat far too much anyway. This year I brought my favorite stuffing, made with veggie sausage:

Sausage Apple Stuffing

~6 cups bread crumbs (I use whole wheat bread, cut into cubes and toasted a bit in the oven)
1 pkg. Lightlife Gimme Lean sausage
1 apple, diced
1 onion, diced
¼ cup raisins
1 TBSP poultry seasoning
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 ¼ cup apple juice (or, in my case, 2 6.75 ounce juice boxes, because that’s what I had on hand)

Gimme Lean sausage is very low fat, so I find it difficult to just crumble it in the skillet and cook it like normal sausage. So, I spray some cooking spray in the skillet, slice the sausage, fry until done, and then chop it into small pieces. Remove to a large bowl. Saute the apple, onion and raisins (the original recipe called for celery, too, but you will never find that stringy vegetable in any of my recipes!) with a little more cooking spray, then add to the bowl with the sausage. Mix in the poultry seasoning and walnuts, then stir in the breadcrumbs. Finally, pour the juice over the top and mix one more time.

Don’t do like I do every time, and put it straight into an unprepared baking dish. This stuffing is too good to be missing all the stuff that sticks to the dish. Spray the pan down well, then throw in the stuffing and bake at whatever temperature all your other dishes are cooking, generally 350. I bake it until it smells great in my kitchen and looks done, which is not a scientific measurement. I know it when I see it, but I can’t tell you how. I think it is about 30-40 minutes, though.

I am also lucky in this sort of potluck in that we have a fair contingent of Indians on my floor, so I am not the only vegetarian. This year, though, there weren’t any good veggie curries. Still, I had a good salad, lots of my stuffing, veggies, cranberry sauce, fruit, pumpkin pie, cherry cobbler and peppermint patties. I am sure the pie was not dairy-free, but overall, it was a fairly successful meal.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to my parents’ house. I didn’t cook as much as I intended to make originally, because I knew that most of the stuff I was making would not be appreciated by my family, and I would be having friends over the following weekend that would appreciate it all. I did make a pecan pie, cranberry sauce, mashed candied sweet potatoes, nutmeg mushrooms, steamed green beans and this great dill dip:

Dill Dip in a Round Rye bread
1 cup Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
2/3 cup Nayonnaise
1 tsp dill seeds
1 tsp English Prime Rib seasoning (the original recipe calls for Beau Monde, but Penzey’s doesn’t carry that—I am only a little freaked out at all these “meat seasonings” I am using; first poultry seasoning and now this ;-) )
1 TBSP dried onion flakes
1 TBSP dried parsley
1 large round loaf of rye bread

Mix the first 6 ingredients well. Cut a bowl into the top of the rye loaf, tearing up the cut out bread for dipping. Place the dip in the bowl and eat with the rye bread chunks, tearing up the bowl when the chunks are gone.

This is insanely good. My family devoured this in about 20 minutes, just me, my mom, my dad and my brother. The kids did eat a little of the bread, but they aren’t much for dip.

I still have one more meal to describe, but that will have to wait for another time. It was delicious, though! And, of the 5 people I had over, 3 of them were actually vegetarians, so I wasn’t outnumbered in my non-meat-eating ways for a change. Not that I mind cooking for anyone, it was just a nice change.