Monthly Challenge

Pumpkin Muffins

2012-01-29T22:34:00.002-05:00

I do have a favorite pumpkin muffin recipe. I really like it and I think it is still my favorite. However, it was my turn, well, my son's turn, to bring snack and I had nothing to send. I did a quick search through my pantry and my recipes and decided to try this recipe. I would have made my usual one, but no eggs. Yay vegan recipes!

These turned out really good, but I am concerned with the amount of sugar and oil in them. However, texture and sweetness were pretty much spot on, so that just might be what it needs to be!

Salt Baked Potatoes from Cooks Illustrated

2012-01-21T22:11:00.002-05:00

Baked potatoes are my favorite food. When I saw the recipe for Salt Baked Potatoes in Cooks Illustrated, I thought, "why mess with perfection?" Then, my blog crush posted that she made these, so of course, I had to. The first time I made these, Mark had not even finished chewing his first bite before announcing these were the best potato he has ever eaten. The are pretty good. The normal variety are also fine in a pinch. These are pictured with chickpea cutlets and kale chips.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Energy Bars

2012-01-06T22:25:00.002-05:00

November challenge: cooking with fruit

I had my eye on these all through November and never made them. Never made them in December either, but luckily, I really loaded up on canned pumpkin in those months. Finally made these this week. YUM! They are the perfect snack bar. The texture is good, they don't fall apart when you eat them. Flavorful, yet not to sweet. I liked them and so did James. Andy wouldn't touch them, even with the chocolate chips. Oh well.

Getting back in the swing...hit me one more time!

2011-12-30T22:12:00.002-05:00

Computer died. Blogging stopped. Better now.

So, new challenge. This would have been a great one for December, but we will just do it for January. Take any challenge from the last year and submit one more recipe from it. I found that I kept making recipes that would have been perfect for "last months challenge" and still wanted to share.

If I may suggest a challenge...

2011-12-05T15:45:00.002-05:00

I don't know what the protocol is for who gets to choose the monthly challenge, but I have a dilemma and a challenge for the rest of you.

We got back from Thanksgiving to find out that the control panel on our glorious built-in double oven was fried. Meaning: my Christmas present this year is getting the oven fixed. And since it's a discontinued model, it's also a very expensive and back-ordered Christmas present.

I'm lucky that we're traveling for Christmas so no entertaining responsibilities fall to me, but I have to make it through the next month with no oven.

Enter my challenge: Make something seasonal without the use of an oven.(For extra points, no stove either.) Inspire me. It's going to be a long month of crockpot suppers.

Cranberry sauce

2011-11-29T22:39:00.002-05:00

This one is totally a cop out. It is barely a recipe and I didn't take a picture. However, it reminded me that I meant for this challenge to be cranberries. I always buy a couple of bag and don't use them. This time, my husband requested "homemade cranberry sauce". We didn't do a formal thanksgiving dinner at home, so this was made the sunday after with a new turkey.

Cranberry sauce

1 bag cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
zest from one orange
juice from one orange

Combine all ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes until "done".

That is all!

Spiced Apple Pear Butter

2011-11-18T09:29:00.003-05:00

Long time, no post. sorry...

I made this recipe from the Whole Foods flier for Spiced Apple Pear Butter. It turned out really good and I've been enjoying it on toast all week. It would also be really good on oatmeal.

My toast fixings:

Pumpkin Waffles

2011-11-16T22:19:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned my son Andy? He doesn't really eat anything, especially anything healthy. He likes the P foods: pizza, puffins, and pancakes. Saturday is our pancake day, but we do vary it with waffles. We had an open can of pumpkin one time, so I have been throwing some pumpkin in every now and then. Andy is against the pumpkin, but James and I like it, so we just don't tell him.

I used a recipe from Vegan with a vengence that is similar to this one, but without the yogurt. It make a ton which is good. Andy will eat these for the rest of the week. We did snow waffles, which is a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead of syrup. Andy eats it top down:

James likes it, but not as much as Andy!

This is Mark's plate, not mine. There are 2 major differences between this picture and one that I would take for me. Can you tell what they are?

Pecan Maple Breakfast Cookies

2011-11-12T22:12:00.002-05:00

Or, Honey Sunshine Snack Time Cookies

I had to bring snack for BOTH KIDS last week. The director apologized as I lugged both snack bags out the day before. However, I do think it was better this way. I made one thing for both kids. I had made this recipe before using honey for my sweetner and sunflower seeds as my nut. The schools are nut free, so gotta use the seeds. Honestly, the honey just wasn't sweet enough, so I would either use more or something else. I used maple syrup this time. Much better. Also, the last time I made them, I attempted a vegan version using flaxseed and water egg substitute and well, they turned green in 24 hours. So, yes, sometimes eggs are better. The fruit is apple sauce, which I admit, barely counts for this challenge, but I think this would be a great one with pumpkin.

Oh, and I think the yield is way off. I double the recipe and got exactly 24 cookies.

Fruit for November

2011-11-05T22:38:00.003-04:00

Sorry this has taken so long. I had a great idea for a challenge, but now can't remember. Instead, post recipes involving fruit. Can be sweet or savory.

Ragu alll Bolognese Nov/Dec2011 pg 15

2011-10-30T20:49:00.001-04:00

You know me, I am a sucker for a good Ragu, and I haven't bought or cooked meat at home in ages. Decided regardless I had to try this recipe. I am pretty sure that CI had a Ragu before and I am pretty sure I made it and pretty sure it is on this blog some where, but yet, here is another "ultimate" Ragu. This one has 6 meats. It took about 45 minutes to set up and then it had to simmer, although to be honest, I boiled it a bit, then turned the stove off and went to the heritage festival. Turned out pretty good. Very meat. Had a very "dark" flavor. I actually added 1 tsp of agave nectar to brighten it up.

I have like 14 oz of chicken livers leftover if anyone wants some!

Chocolate Pudding Sept/Oct 2011 pg 23

2011-10-29T20:40:00.002-04:00

I made this for supper club the night before. It is gluten free, but not vegan. Never made this recipe, doubled it up, and yes, was worried, but still confident in my abilities. Checked it the next morning, and it appeared to have set. Whew! Pulled it out to bring it to supper club...it had NOT set. Oh, woe is me, woe is me. What to do, what to do? Did some quick google searches and decided that I perhaps had not cooked it long enough. I cooked it for longer than it said, as I always to, but maybe it wasn't enough. Dumped it back in a pot and heated it up again. I cooked it for I kid you not, 1 more minuted than originally and bam, thick pudding.

Whew. So instead of a cold chocolate pudding, it was warm. Darn. Still delicious. Topped it with whipped cream and everyone seemed to enjoy.

I'd say it took me about 30-45 minutes to set this up and it is good and impressive. I could see myself making this again.

Vegtable Lasanga

2011-10-29T20:31:00.003-04:00

Man, I am a little bit behind. This one is from Sept and Oct 2011 pg 21. While I do like the Cooks Illustrated, it really isn't all vegan friendly. This one is vegetarian and it used up some of my continuous CSA produce. YIKES! Like most Cooks Illustrated recipes, this one is a little labor intensive. Here is the set up. It took me about 2 hours to get it ready.

After assembly. Since the recipe called for one 9x13 pan, I immediately split it into two 8x8 pans. One is in my freezer.

Here is the clean up:

After baking:

And on the plate:

I thought this one was fine. Really, this is a lot like my favorite baked ziti, also from CI, and really there is no better. However, I really just didn't like the zucchini and squash in it. Just not a fan.

Lentil Salad pg 18

2011-10-14T00:13:00.001-04:00

I also made a Lentil Salad. I was picking and choosing what I liked from all the choices. I used the recipe for the Lentil Salad with Olives, Mint and Feta, but I used parley instead of mint and then forgot the feta:(

AC helped of course.

Lentil salad...without feta!

Weeknight Roast Chicken pg8

2011-10-14T00:08:00.000-04:00

Monday was Columbus Day so my husband and the kids had the day off. I unfortunately had to work. I asked my husband to make dinner and he sure did!!

Pretty easy too. You cover the chicken with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Put it in the oven at 450 for about 30 minutes and then just turn the oven off and keep the chicken in there for another 30 minutes or so.

AC was helping of course:)

Here is B working hard!

I even made the Tarragon-Lemon Pan Sauce.

October Challenge - Cooks Illustrated

2011-10-06T12:42:00.001-04:00

For October, try to find a copy of Cooks Illustrated magazine and cook something from it. You can use any month. You can try to find something online, but CI is pretty stingy about allowing their recipes online. Maybe this month can change all that!

Bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos

2011-10-06T04:17:00.001-04:00

Am I too late? We came into some jalapenos and my husband was dying to make these. He herbed up some cream cheese, stuffed the peppers, wrapped them up and grilled them for 25 minutes! Very tasty!!

Cold Peanut Noodle Salad

2011-09-30T15:24:00.002-04:00

This is actually the hot version, Noodle Salad with Peanut Mmmm Sauce:

But I put leftovers in the fridge. Later on that week, I was packing for a picnic. Heck, just grabbed the whole contained and was ready to go. Turned out to be a pretty nice picnic lunch. Wish I took pictures of that. I served it with broiled tofu, which was good with the peanut sauce, but really, just tasted like burnt tofu.

Here is a picture of a meal eaten outside.

My husband requested brats for his birthday dinner. I paired them with sweet potato fries and as a special surprise, his favorite red cabbage. Yes, my husband is weird, but that guy really loves his red cabbage.

Pizza sticks- for lack of a better name.

2011-09-23T21:54:00.002-04:00

My sister gave me a great recipe for pizza dough made in my bread maker. Here's the recipe for the 2 pound setting:

12 oz flat beer

3 3/4 cups flour

3Tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp Butter

1 1/2 tsp yeast

I've used all whole wheat flour and half whole wheat and half bread flour. Either way, it turns out light, slightly sweet and delicious.

The only problem is that it makes a huge batch. So we made one pizza using leftover roasted veggies from our CSA share. Then I had another idea for Henry's lunch. Add a cheese stick and pepperoni.

And roll them up.

The end result is pretty tasty. I didn't seal up the edges very well, so we lost some of the cheese. But I think Henry preferred that. he asked for no cheese next time.

Add some pizza sauce for dipping and you've got a lunch.

Even June ate it, and that's saying a lot.

Lunchables.

2011-09-20T17:09:00.002-04:00

This month's theme is great because two weeks in, I'm already packing the same boring lunch for Henry every day- some kind of nut-free butter and jelly sandwich. I'm pretty sure Henry doesn't mind, because my kids would survive on PB&Js alone if we let them. (None of my kids have touched a supper I've made in YEARS.)

Last year, Henry started asking if I would buy him Lunchables, like ALL the other kids had. If there's one thing in life I am against, it's Lunchables. Nothing in those $3 meals even qualify as food. They are just food PRODUCT. Luckily, Ziploc makes these awesome containers that look like a Lunchable, and appeased Henry for the most part. And I only have to wash one container (because plastic baggies are number 2 on my list.)

Here's Day 1. A few of the whole wheat banana oat muffins, applesauce, and ham and cheese on a whole wheat bagel. Eh. At least it's not PB&J.

Day 2: I made kebabs, as they're all the rage on the mommy lunch blogs. Grapes and peaches, and cheese, tomatoes, and ham. Plus muffins, and some gross crackers Henry picked out at the store.

Whole wheat banana oat muffins.

2011-09-20T16:58:00.004-04:00

I've been looking for some good things to pack inside lunches now that school is back in session and refrigeration is not an option. I found this recipe for whole wheat banana oat muffins. Halfway through the recipe I realized I didn't have any eggs, so I substituted about 2 tablespoons of applesauce and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. Despite my last minute change-up, they turned out great.

Whole wheat banana oat muffins

1 c. oats

3 tbsp. sugar

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 c. mashed bananas

1/4 c. milk

2 tbsp. oil

Mix well and bake at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins. I used a mini muffin pan and ended up with about 36 little muffins.

Finally, I had to post the photo of my version of Kerri's roasted veggie wraps. If you haven't made it yet, Yum Sauce is awesome! Of course, we had to add feta to our wraps.

You'll notice a bunch of cookie cutters in the above photo of the wrap. I guess sugar cookies count as a take-along food, too?

Black Bean Salad

2011-09-19T18:26:00.003-04:00

So, thanks to some of Kerri's posts, I've started checking out this blog and found lots of yummy things. I was intrigued by the barbecue tofu since it has been a looooong time since I've had anything barbecued. Corn on the cob seemed like a natural companion, but I was stumped for what else to serve with it. After raiding the pantry and fridge, I came up with this black bean salad. I must admit that though the tofu was yummy, it was the salad that everyone wanted seconds of--no leftovers! This salad would also be good with frozen or fresh corn off-the-cob mixed in. As I was eating it, I occurred to me that a little Cotija or mild feta would have been a nice addition.

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4-1/3 cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup minced cilantro
2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2-3 Tbsp live oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients. Serve cold or at room temp.

Corndog Muffins

2011-09-18T14:12:00.003-04:00

I was snooping around on another blog the earlier in the week looking for "freezer recipes". (This is my new thing to do. And so far, so good...I've found two keepers!) Anyway, I scored some on-sale-AND-I-had-a-coupon Butterball Premium Turkey Franks at the grocery store, and remembered that I had seen corndog muffins on the other blog. Hmmmm....seemed easy enough.

I know there are multiple (and probably much healthier) ways of doing this, but mine was the quick-n-dirty way. I had 4 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix on hand, so I mixed them up and poured the mix into the (sprayed) muffin tins (two 12-count). I took the dogs and cut 8 of them into thirds (it was a 10 pack, so munchkin got the others for lunch), and then placed one in each muffin.

I covered the dogs up (extra step that's not necessary, I just wanted to) and popped them in the pre-heated oven at 400* for 15 min, as per the box instructions.

They're not bad! I think I'd prefer them with beef franks, and the cornbread was pretty crumbly, but that may have just been the type of cornbread I used. (Again, it was what I had on hand at the moment.) Will be freezing the rest for later :)

Stuffed Banana Peppers

2011-09-16T22:27:00.002-04:00

With my CSA, I have gotten a ton of banana peppers. I am about to call uncle on the banana peppers and cucumbers. If you would like any of either and live in the area, please let me know. Ms Jenny. Please call. Or Text. So finally broke down and googled banana peppers. I mean, after you pickle them (check) what do you do? Well, I ran across a lot of suggestions of just stuffing with them with sausage. Seems easy enough. I got some mild pork sausage and put them in the peppers. It seemed a little naked, so I drizzled some Mmmm Sauce on some of them. Not bad. I think this would be a good one for a tailgate. I served them with homemade pizza and intended on eating it (outside) in the screen in porch, but the kids had a pre-dinner bath and I didn't want them to get dirty again.

Really the purpose of this post is not so much about the stuffed banana peppers, but to bring up the that I have posted before. I made these again and followed the recipe a little better. I made 15 of them (30 halves) and brought them to supper club. Gone. Made another batch for a Labor Day dinner. Gone.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-stuffed-jalapenos-50400000113748/

Roasted Veggie Wrap

2011-09-09T22:47:00.003-04:00

Our first outing To Eat Outside was last week. We were going to watch the parade. We means, me and the two kids. My husband was actually in the parade. The parade started at 6pm, and my plan was to get there at 5:15 and eat dinner. For me I made one of my recent favs, a roasted veggie wrap. To make, I simple take all my veggies from my CSA, cut them up, and roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. I usually add a sliced onion, but I get that from the grocery store.

I also baked and mashed a sweet potato to add to the kids' cheese quesadillas. Yeah, that didn't go well. My kids are too smart. James ate cantaloupe and Andy ate chips.

A key ingredient of this wrap is Mmmmm sauce from Peas and Thank You. It is like a cheesy curry sauce and is oh, so good! I forgot to take a picture of my wrap, but it was delicious. Later on I took a post-parade picture of Mark's dinner.

And what do you know, later on, the kids managed to choke down their sweet potato and cheese quesadilla:

Foods to eat outside

2011-09-01T23:13:00.003-04:00

First of all, I did make some additional foods for last month challenge, but incase you haven't noticed, my photosharing site, photobucket and I were in a fight. It has now been resolved and if you were wondering...I lost. Which is fine. I really like photobucket, so I will pay for it for a year and see what happens. At any rate, I did make a Cashew Vegetable Korma. I halved the recipe and it still made a ton. This was a very nice little recipe, but I did feel it was missing...SOMETHING. Not sure what, maybe a hot pepper in the puree, but if you want some Indian Food, this was a good starting point.

For the September challenge, I should tell you, I live in a College Town. Now that football season is hear, tailgating season is also here. I need your BEST recipes to eat outside. Picnic versions or any other. Bring it!

Marsala Beef

2011-08-25T11:44:00.000-04:00

I made a curry dish earlier this month for another challenge I take part in. I was so intrigued by the recipes I had found for curry dishes that involved using curry leaf. Unfortunately, small towns don't carry curry leaves. During a recent trip, I visited some ethnic markets and found my curry leaves! So for the monthly challenge, I am revisiting curry recipes! This was yummy, but I had to adapt the recipe a bit because I was unable to find coconut oil. What I did worked out great, but next time I would change the type of chili pepper I used to one with a bit more kick to it.

Marsala Beef With Ginger and Curry Leaf

adapted recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3 bay leaves

1 (1 inch) piece cinnamon stick

5 cardamom pods

2 whole cloves (recipe called for 4 but I am not a huge clove fan)

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

10 whole black peppercorns

2 pounds cross rib roast, cubed

3 cups chopped onion, divided

2 pasilla peppers,chopped

1 (1 1/2 inch) piece fresh ginger root, grated

6 cloves garlic,chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds

4 fresh curry leaves

1/2 cup coconut butter

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the masala powder: Grind the bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fennel seeds and peppercorns in a spice grinder until mixture is a fine powder. I used a coffee grinder that I set aside for grinding spices only.

2. Place the beef cubes, masala powder, 2 cups chopped onion, green chiles, grated fresh ginger, garlic and turmeric in a large, heavy pot. Add water to cover (about 1 cup) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until beef is cooked through. Add salt. Stir and continue to simmer about 10 minutes or until mixture is almost dry, but do not allow it to burn (add a bit more water, if necessary). Set aside.

3. Over a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and mustard seeds; cook until they begin to pop. Immediately add remaining 1 cup chopped onion and stir over medium heat until onions soften and begin to brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add curry leaves and cook until brown, about 3 minutes. Add coconut butter ( used the butter found at the top of an unshaken can of coconut milk)

4.Stir in the beef mixture and black pepper,. Cook until heated through. Top with lemon juice just before serving.

Two Recipeas

2011-08-24T21:11:00.005-04:00

Thanks to the heat, my CSA share has dropped off dramatically. I am really not all that upset by it. It is nice to have a break, and to not have tomato guts all over my kitchen. Not only that, but I can make whatever I want, without having to include peppers, eggplant, or tomatoes in every recipe. FREEDOM!!! Finally got to make a few more recipes from my copy of Peas and Thank You. These are, well, Americanize Ethic, but I'll go ahead and count them.

The first one was Thai Veggie Burgers. I am having trouble finding a link to the recipe, but no worries, I was actually kind of disappointed in this recipe. I think there were two faults in this. It suggested using veganase as a condiment. Really, it needed a kick ass peanut dressing. Also, it calls for broccoli slaw. I have this thing about broccoli. I like it, but I don't like it in stuff. To me broccoli overwhelms the taste of any other ingredients, and I felt the same here. The good thing about this recipe was the texture. Michelle posted a similar burger but it was more old fashioned savory. If you are looking for a veggie burger this is a good one. Unfortuately, her "husband approved burgers" were consumed by my husband apparently when he was having a bad digestive day and he blamed it on those burgers. No way. They were great!

Next thing was Chipolte Lime Tacos. You marinade tempeh and then cook. I really liked this one. Tempeh is my new thing! You grate the tempeh and then marinade it. YUM!

The kids love the choices of what to top their tacos with. Well, it is usually cheese.

Baklava

2011-08-17T21:33:00.002-04:00

This is AWESOME!! Not too many ingredients and not too time intensive, but delicious!! I have never really worked with fillo dough before so that was a bonus! I found a well reviewed recipe HERE!!

This is the honey, sugar, and water that you simmer and pour on after to make it all gooey:)

You have to cut it before you cook it because the flaky fillo dough is soooo delicate.

Book Club! Might be a stretch...

2011-08-12T22:55:00.003-04:00

I read an article on msnbc about how book clubs are less about books these days and more about the wine. Well, that might be true, but we have food too. Another problem that I have is that I have so much produce from my CSA I can afford to make anything that does not have a)tomatoes, b)peppers, or c)eggplant. So I made hummus. Plain old hummus. However, I read a recipe from peas and thank you where your peel the chickpeas before you make your hummus. Ridiculous, right? Never going to happen. Yeah, totally peeled my chickpeas. Took me 15 minutes.

Made it my usual fashion of 1 can chickpeas (peeled), 1 garlic clove (also peeled), 1/2 lemon juiced, some dried tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper. That is greek, right?

Also made stuffed jalapenos. I used a cooking light recipe that I have been eyeing for awhile. These were very tasty! I had scrapped out the seeds and membranes pretty well and they really weren't very hot until you got to close to the stem. Mexican-like?

So, I was on vacation...

2011-08-07T13:39:00.002-04:00

I was on vacation last week and didn't get around to posting a new challenge. Sorry! Wanna do ethnic foods?

Late submissions- watermelon feta salad, sugared figs, and fig jam.

2011-08-06T21:48:00.003-04:00

After a busy month and weeks of travel, we settled back into trying to work our way through our CSA share.

I made this watermelon-feta-mint salad. I enjoyed one serving, but then remembered I don't really like watermelon. The recipe called for red wine vinegar. I think I may have preferred balsalmic vinegar.

Our favorite part of summer is blueberry picking. We all love blueberries so much, we've eaten these 8 pounds before I had a chance to make anything with them.

We also came home with a nice stock of figs. Since figs only last a day after picking, I had to think fast.

First, I made sugared figs. You boil the figs for a minute, dip them in sugar and place them on the dehydrator for a few hours.

Remove them when they resemble prunes. Delicious.

The remaining figs were quartered, mixed with a quarter cup of sugar and refrigerated overnight. The sugar helps draw out the figs' juice. I slow-cooked the figs for a few hours.

Then blended it all into a delicious low-sugar jam.

I spent today "putting up" more veggies. I froze squash and peppers, made sauce out of tomatoes and dehydrated more tomatoes. I used my bread maker to make pizza dough and topped it with some of my sauce, the roasted tomatoes, peppers and feta cheese.

I used the remainder of the dough to make monkey bread. I rolled dough balls in cinnamon and sugar. It will make a great breakfast treat.

I substituted whole wheat flour for half the flour in my dough recipe. Generally, it's against my principals to try to make certain foods healthier. For example, pizza, fast food, ice cream, and cheese. My theory is that I eat healthy most of the time so that I can enjoy my favorite unhealthy foods in their true forms- not that dry, cardboard fat-free cheese they sell.

The whole wheat pizza crust was surprisingly good. It didn't compare with my favorite pizza joints, but two pieces did fill me up.

Squash Soup

2011-07-31T21:43:00.003-04:00

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I know. That doesn't sound to appetizing does it. A summer squash soup? I made this back in June and posted it on my vegan orange blog. Liked it well enough. Well, we started to have another run of squash in our CSA shares and I decided I was going to make this to freeze. I made this one afternoon after a week of allergies. I think I was in denial. Later on that day, the full on summer cold hit, and I was so glad I had this soup! It was the only thing I ate for like two days and I wish I had more. Not saying I wouldn't prefer a nice butternut squash soup in the winter, but this was good for now!

Eggplant Paprikash

2011-07-31T21:38:00.002-04:00

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This was a lot like the curry dish I posted last week, but I didn't like it as much. still pretty good, but let's face is, paprika is barely a spice. I might try some smoked spanish paprika next time. It was a good basic meal, just thought it was missing something.

Kabobs

2011-07-29T23:14:00.001-04:00

Enough said...

Well, I guess I do a marinade with some Red Wine Vinegar on the vegetables...that's key:)

PS...How the heck to you BBQ corn? It never works for me:(

Salsa fresca revisited

2011-07-29T22:57:00.004-04:00

Salsa Fresca is so delicious and I revisited it last week. My husband couldn't we hadn't made an earlier this summer, I guess we were busy. We went to a local Farmer's Market...AM insisted I take her picture:)

I didn't follow a recipe so it was just...

5 tomatoes (juices squeezed)

2 jalapenos

1/2 red onion

hand full of cilantro

salt and pepper

juice from 1 lime

And there we go!! It was sooooo hot because of the 2 jalapenos that I had to add some more tomatoes:) Pretty good though:)

Red pepper hummus pitas

2011-07-28T22:48:00.003-04:00

As usual, I'm so far behind in my blogging that I'm squeaking in my first post just before the end of the month.

With the summer heat, the last thing I want to do is cook, so we try to keep it simple, but still use up all of the vegetables we get from our CSA and our meager garden. One summer staple is ratatouille, which Kerri already blogged about. We honestly make this once or twice a week and throw in whatever vegetables we have on ice.

Another staple in our house is hummus. Again, it's generally a mixture of things I have on hand. This batch contained:

Garbanzo beans

Great northern beans

Roasted red peppers

Tahini (sesame seed paste)

Dried tomatoes (that I put on the dehydrator last summer)

Parsley, sage and basil from my herb garden

Olive oil, salt and pepper

I throw all of this in my Magic bullet and blend it up. Miss Kerri gave me the idea of using great northern beans in addition to the garbanzo beans. It's much easier to get a creamier hummus.

This hummus was slathered on a pita with chicken, spinach, feta cheese, and tomatoes from my garden. On the table in 10 minutes and no hot oven to heat up my house. Perfect.

Greek Penne and Chicken

2011-07-28T18:52:00.000-04:00

I wasn't sure I would be able to do the challenge this month, but, as luck would have it, I did a dish that fits the criteria.

This is the first year I have been successfully able to grow herbs. I guess the lousy start to the summer we had was good for something! I made this dish last night and even my non-veggie husband ate two servings! I liked the fact that it had no true "sauce" to it, only what the vegetables and feta cheese made. Hubby thought it could use a bit of an Alfredo like sauce but the rest of us thought it was perfect as is!

Greek Penne and Chicken

adapted from this recipe by Jenny at allrecipes.com

1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion (I had only a walla walla sweet on hand)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
14 ounces marinated artichoke hearts (I rinsed them to remove some of the oil)
1 -15 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh oregano
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Directions

In a large pot with boiling salted water cook penne pasta until al dente. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat melt butter, add onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add chopped chicken and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium- low. Drain and chop artichoke hearts and add them, tomato, feta cheese, fresh parsley, lemon juice, oregano, and drained penne pasta to the large skillet. Cook until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Season with salt and ground black pepper. Serve warm

Cucumber Avacado Soup

2011-07-25T21:09:00.003-04:00

I have seen a couple of versions of this, and finally just adapted one to whatever I had on hand. The main reason for this is to use up cucumbers. This makes a nice non-salad side.

I use:
1 avacado
2 cucumbers
Some red onion
Cilantro
1 mild pepper
1 hot pepper
juice of one lime
salt and pepper.

I combine all in a food processor:

And here is the final product:

Ratatoullie

2011-07-25T20:59:00.003-04:00

It might surprise you that people regularly ask me to join this blog. I do send them an invite and then, nothing. One of those people is Becky. Hi Becky! She is my neighbor. Becky is really known for her ratatoullie. I feel like I have given her a chance to post it, but now I am going to. We have had a big run on eggplant in our CSA, and most of the vegtables I used in this dish were from the CSA.

Dressing
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Vegetables and Pasta
5 plum tomatoes, cut lengthwise
1 medium eggplant (1.5 pounds), cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 large green peppers, stemmed, seeded and quartered
1 large sweet onion, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
1 pound uncooked penne or rigatoni pasta
grated fresh parmesan cheese

For dressing, combine vinegar, garlic, oregano, and salt. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to package.

Prepare grill for cooking over medium heat. Prepare vegetables and brush with oil.

Grill onion 10-12 minutes and tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and pepper 6-8 minutes, uncovered.

Remove vegetables from grill and cut into bite-sized pieces. Place vegetables in large bowl and drizzle with dressing. Serve over pasta and top with grated cheese and parsley.

I roasted the vegtables in the oven. The dressing really gave a lot to this and I have been making it every other week all through this eggplant season.

Eggplant Chickpea Curry

2011-07-15T22:50:00.003-04:00

For full disclosure, last year was the first year I had ever tried eggplant. I think my sister actually tricked me into eating some one time, but last year, I knowingly cooking and ate eggplant.

It was freaking del-licous!

Some of the time. I think eggplant is one of those tempermental vegtables. But still, I was looking forward to getting some more eggplant in my CSA share. Last year, it was black beauties. This year, Japanese. Both delicious, but apparently the japanese is more plentiful! I used some up in this recipe of an indian curry. I was just craving something ethinic, and this was a perfect dish of easy, but Indian. I may make again if I have a lot of eggplant.

The eggplant breaks down to more of a sauce for the chickpeas. It was really good! I just served it with brown rice and some naan. Leftovers were even better!

Zucchini and Quinoa Lasagna

2011-07-13T17:28:00.001-04:00

Farmers Market Ingredients Used: Zucchini, Basil

I tried this recipe from Peas and Thank You. I was skeptical, as I'm not a huge zucchini fan and, while I am a quinoa fan, I wasn't sure about quinoa as lasagna. Let's just say I was wrong. This was really good. The husband ate two big servings. My daughter liked the filling and my son, well, he ate sides for dinner.

I used organic dairy cream cheese and doubled the amount. Next time I may put a little more shredded cheese in the recipe - probably in one of the layers.

Spicy cucumber blueberry salad

2011-07-05T21:53:00.002-04:00

I came across this recipe a few months ago. I bookmarked it and kept it in mind when I knew I would have a ton of cucumbers and have picked blueberries. That finally happened this week so I put it all together for a 4th of July meal. It was easy to put together. I chopped and assembled it all during naptime/quiettime to bring to my parent's house. My mom seemed interested in it. My dad, not so much. It came together easily and although I didn't measure I feel like I followed the recipe pretty closely. The one exception, I didn't add any cumin...I just sounded a little weird. Weird like watermelon-feta salad:

Now THAT would be crazy. (crazy delicious, but whatever!)

James, who loves blueberries and has been know to eat cucumbers, would not touch this. Too much "green stuff". Oh well!

Farmer's Market challenge

2011-07-01T13:52:00.001-04:00

Ok, team. Farmer's market/CSA/and fresh and local produce. Let's get to it!

Pasta with lentils and arugula

2011-06-28T22:47:00.002-04:00

This one has been made a couple of times, and I was looking for a pasta/lentil recipe to use up some lentils. What really makes this dish is the caramelized onions. I think I might have actually done so correctly as the recipe stated. YAY! Also added was some tomatoes from my CSA and some parm cheese (BOGO at the BILO). I did end up using arugula...debated between that and a spinach sub, but arugula worked very well. I served it with some beet chips, also from the CSA.

Black Bean Enchiladas

2011-06-25T10:36:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the blogaversary of the Monthly Challenge, we were to create a recreate a recipe from this blog. I chose the black bean enchilada recipe and just made my own corn tortillas and enchilada sauce.

The recipe is from the Food Network Magazine and can be found here. The used the black bean mixture for two recipes; once for burgers and then using the remaining mixture for the enchiladas. I used all of the recipe for the enchiladas... I like ours filled! The bean recipe by itself was rather bland and I would definitely have to spice it up if I was to use it in burgers. However, the enchilada sauce I used worked well with it and gave it lots of flavor.

this is my recipe for Enchilada Sauce.... I have had it for years and don't recall where the recipe came from

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion, diced or minced whichever you prefer

3 tablespoons chili powder

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons sugar

15 ounce can tomato sauce or 2 (8-ounce) cans if that's what you have on hand

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and and cook the onion until it is soft. Add the chili powder, garlic, cumin and sugar,tomato sauce and water. Simmer and cook until it is thickened.

Fudge Babies

2011-06-24T22:13:00.003-04:00

I have made a recipe similar to this one before, but really was looking for a lara-like bar recipe where I could add my penzey's cocoa. YUM! This one was perfect. All it contains are almonds, dates, vanilla, and cocoa. Well, I used almonds. The original recipe called for a different nut. I actually added more dates than called for, plus some almond butter and water to get them to stick together a bit better. I keep them wrapped individually in the fridge, but they are better at room temp. Definately fudgey. James loves them!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

2011-06-11T23:10:00.002-04:00

Oh bother. I have been serving these for breakfast for the part week thinking they were muffins when they were really cupcakes. They are really good!

This recipe really isn't not from this blog, but it is from Michelle's blog. Too be honest, they will be posted on this blog during the farmer's market challenge so it is a little bit like looking into the future. I made these to see if I could get one of my kids to eat zucchini. He isn't dumb like most kids. He knows when I am trying to sneak something in. However, with this recipe, success. He did eat these cupcakes. The only problem, my kids make a mess when eating muffins. It almost isn't worth it! I guess it is better than the cocoa puffs though...

June challenge - Happy Blogaversary

2011-06-04T10:11:00.001-04:00

Has it already been 4 years of monthly challenges? For this challenge, cook from this blog...or any other

Chicken and Fennel

2011-05-30T21:13:00.002-04:00

I made this recipe from the food network for Chicken and Fennel. I did not make the couscous, but thawed some rice I had frozen...who knew you could freeze rice. I had made too too much in a previous week. It came out OK, the rice. I REALLY like the chicken!!

But I usually like anything with sauteed onions.

This was fun because you kinda saute everything and brown up the chicken, THEN bake in the oven.

I served it with baby Lima beans and rice. Don't worry, no one at that much. I just kept adding for the picture?

Fresh Fennel Salad with Mint

2011-05-29T22:07:00.002-04:00

This was a good one. Not great, but pretty good. Unfortuately, I was out of oranges, so I just made a regular balsalmic instead of an orange basalmic. But it was a good combo of the fennel, mint, and basalmic.

I have half a bulb of fennel left, not sure if I will get something else made my June 1st. We will see!

Potato-Fennel Gratin

2011-05-23T21:44:00.003-04:00

Hey-O!! I made this super unhealthy recipe of potatoes and fennel and onions and Gruyere. It was delicious. I was so interested in this challenge because I was hoping for a fennel salad recipe. I don't think I have ever had one before...

I was particularly excited that my husband liked it because he has not enjoyed previous fennel attempts. Perhaps it was all the cream and cheese!!

Potato, Fennel, and Tempeh Bacon Pizza

2011-05-22T22:15:00.002-04:00

I am a little behind in my fennel postings. This is mainly due to my inability to locate fennel in most of my local grocery stores. Luckily, I finally found some and loaded up.

I made this pizza yesterday and this was not the fennel recipe I intended to make. I intended to use it to make a fennel salad with a tofu ricotta pizza and was flipping through my copy of Vegan with a vegence when I saw the potato and fennel pizza. I thought to myself...hmmmmm....two birds...one stone....why not? The original recipe actually called for tempeh sausage. Tempeh has really grown on me. I make a batch of tempeh bacon and use it to make sandwiches the rest of the week. Decided to use this pre-made bacon instead of the sausage. I made the pizza dough using 2/3 bread flour and 1/3 whole wheat flour in my bread machine. I have struggle with my vegan pizzas...not sure why. I think I need another pizza stone. Any way, after making the dough, rolled it out and topped it with some tomato sauce. I then topped it with thinly sliced potatoes and then sprinkled the thinly sliced fennel and the crumbled tempeh bacon on top. I baked this pizza at 425 for about 20 minutes. This was SO GOOD. I really loved the potatoes like this. Yes, the potatoes did cook all the way! I was very concerned and debated cooking them a bit before hand, but it turned out fine. The only issue was because I had pre-chopping my veggies during naptime, they had browned a bit by dinner time. I had my neighbor over for dinner and she only ate the vegan pizza, and for the first time, my husband had a slice of vegan pizza and not just the cheese I make for the kids. Unfortuately, the success of this pizza was due the potatoes, not necessarily the fennel, but it still counts, right?

Roasted Fennel and Ricotta Gratins with Tarragon...sort of

2011-05-17T12:01:00.004-04:00

I found this recipe through cookinglight.com, and decided it looked like something that I could actually do. Well, I mostly did it...had to do some modifications.

I have no gratin dishes or ramekins. (Gasp!) I went to the local big-box store, and they didn't carry them. So I got some little glass dishes, but ended up returning them because they were too big. Oh, well. I also happened to have bread crumbs on-hand, and I'd read where someone else had used those instead of making their own. And I had no tarragon. I did have Ricotta cheese on hand.

So here are my modifications to a recipe that I'd never done with the main ingredient being one that I've never used:
~I used store-bought Ricotta cheese.
~I used pre-made Italian seasoned bread crumbs.
~I didn't use tarragon.
~I did the recipe in a mid-size casserole dish.

So I guess that instead of making "Roasted Fennel and Ricotta Gratins with Tarragon", I made Roasted Fennel and Ricotta Casserole.

It was interesting. I think I liked the flavor, but it was kind of hard to tell over all of the bread crumbs. I think if I make it again (which I probably will), I will double up on the main part of the recipe (so 4 bulbs instead of 2 and twice the ricotta) if doing it in the casserole dish. And I would only use enough bread crumbs to thinly cover it. (It called for 3/4 cup crumbs, so that's how much I used since I couldn't put 2Tbsp on each gratin, and it was WAY too much, which is why I was having trouble with tasting it.) I'll probably also try to use coarser crumbs, so if I don't make my own, maybe use stuffing?

served with chicken/zucchini/pasta

close up... see? all you can see is bread crumbs!

Easy Caramelized Onion and Fennel Tart

2011-05-14T11:32:00.002-04:00

I think I am a sucker for anything on a puffed pastry. It is so easy and looks so fancy. However, I feel like I am also disappointed in the taste. Oh well. Used this recipe as a base, but I have a confession. I am a foodie. I cannot caramelize onions to save my life. I have tried over and over, so I found the best way to do them is the crock pot. Simply slice up a bunch of onions and put in crock pot. Top with butter (or maragarine) and cook on low for 24 hours.

Your house may get a little smelly at this point, but ta-da! Caramelized onions!

Back to the recipe, so I sauted the fennel until browned, then added the onions and then topped the pastry with them. It was pretty good, but I probably wouldn't make it again.

Ingredient Challenge: Fennel

2011-05-02T15:01:00.002-04:00

This was my sister's idea. Let's share recipes that use fennel!

And just to let you know, the June challenge will be our traditional "cook from this blog - blogaversary challenge" and July will be our farmers market challenge.

Smoky Chickpea Spread - in a sandwich

2011-04-26T17:58:00.000-04:00

Can you still respect me as a vegetarian blogger if I admit that I prefer my chickpeas without tahini? That is nothing short of blasphemy in the veg food blogger world....

I keep trying hummus recipes and have yet to find one that totally grabs me, mainly because I don't like the bitterness and astringency that I think tahini brings to the dish. I, being the super smart lady that I am, finally realized I could make a tahini-less hummus. Novel, yes.

Smoky Chickpea Spread (aka tahini-less smoky hummus)

Ingredients:

1 15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (or about 1.5 c cooked chickpeas)
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried chipotle
1/2 tsp dried garlic (or 1 clove minced fresh garlic)
4 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp EVOO

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until mostly smooth (it will be thicker and chunkier than humus). Add salt and pepper to taste

Two sandwiches

2011-04-22T20:45:00.002-04:00

I have gotten a little behind. Last week I made two different recipes that would qualify for this challange. The first one was "TLT" and that would be Tempeh Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches. What is tempeh? Well, it is some sort of soy product that is not processed as much as tofu. It is suppose to be better for you than tofu. It kind of has a nutty texture and it is good marinated. I can find it at the Ingles and it cost about $2-3 for half of a pound. A friend sugessted this recipe for tempeh bacon. The end result does not taste like bacon, but it is pretty tasty. First you slice the tempeh and marinade it:

Then you brown it on both sides:

Then just use it like bacon:

Tempeh is a wierd thing. At first it doesn't seem that it is all that good, nor is it all that bad. But the more you eat it, the more you like it. I ate leftovers of this bacon all week. The tomato turned into roasted red pepper and the lettuce turn into spincach, but still yummy. I even tried it in a collard green wrap.

I also made a veggie burger from my copy of vegan with a vengence. This recipe uses textured vegtable protein which I actually think is not good, but I had some so I needed to use it up. This was something that as I was making it....wasn't looking so good, but the end result was really tasty. Not sure if I would make it again. I really do like the bean based veggie burgers.

Veggie Muffalettas

2011-04-20T20:06:00.002-04:00

I realized as I was about to eat this that it qualifies for this month's challenge! I used ciabatta, purchased from from a local bakery's booth at the farmer's market, topped with olive spread, portobellos, tomatoes, arugula (also from the farmers market), onions and melted provolone.

Olive Spread
1 cup Spanish olives
1/2 cup black or kalamata olives
2 cloves garlic
2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Finely chop all ingredients in a food processor.

I served the mufaletta with sweet potato fries. I start by preheating the oven to 450, drizzle olive oil on a large rimmed baking sheet, and stick it in the oven to preheat while I'm cutting up the sweet potato. After about 10 minutes I throw the sweet potatoes on the hot baking sheet, drizzle them with oil, and sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and cumin. I bake them for about 20-25 minutes, turning once.

fajitas

2011-04-18T12:09:00.000-04:00

I love mixing up stuff for sandwiches to make a quick meal. This is a great challenge! I had some round steak that had been in my freezer for a bit too long and I knew it would be tough. One way to rescue tough meats is to put them in a marinade to help break up some of those connective tissues. Had some chicken breasts as well so added them into the mixture as well. Hubby is a veggie-phobe (I'm working on him but he is still very picky) so I cooked up the peppers and onions on the side with just a bit of the marinade I had made. Was a very yummy meal! I served it up with some Spanish quinea (using the recipe from a previous challenge but kicking it up a notch).

For the Marinade I used:
Juice of two limes
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
about 2 teaspoons soy sauce
I have a jar of sliced jalapeño peppers in my fridge so I added a tablespoon of those into the marinade and about 1/4 cup of the liquid as well.
Two tablespoons water
4 green onions

I sliced up the meat (thin), put it into a ziplock bag and added the marinade ingredients into it. I gave the bag a good squishing then placed the bag into a bowl (in case it leaked) and let it set for about three hours. When it came time to cook it I just heated up my cast iron skillet and got it really hot. I took the meat out of the marinade (other wise the meat would have steam cooked with all the marinade liquid) and cooked the meat through. Really quite yummy!

Crabby Patties

2011-04-10T22:23:00.002-04:00

With this post, I just want to say, I try. I try to get my kids to eat their vegtables. I have tried a lot. We have "chopstick day" with wontons and edamame, and my kids hate chopstick day (this is actually a good thing when I go out for sushi). I use fun fish plates when making fish, they hate fish. I make zucchini cakes and call them "crabby patties". They fall down laughing when I tell them this, but when it is on their plate. "YUCK!" I made the following zucchini crab cake for dinner:

2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp old bay
1 egg or egg replacer
2 TB melted butter or margarine

Combine the above. Form patties. Dredge in flour. Fry in oil. Here is the kids version on a bun with ketchup option. Nothing.

The adults just had the plain patties served with baked sweet potato and homemade bread:

We thought these were good, although a little mushy. This might be to the fact that I made the patties in advance. To make them in advance, the extra moisture needs to be drained away! I would make again if I had zucchini from my CSA. (1 month to go!)

Two-fer: Veggie Burgers and Falafel

2011-04-09T13:26:00.002-04:00

So far this month. I've already made two recipes that qualify for this month's challenge. Go Me! In the past, I've tried multiple veggie/bean burger and falafel recipes that seemed promising and looked great, but in the end they had a mushy interior that was really unappetizing. Both of these recipe seemed to have fixed that problem. I actually processed the ingredients for both of these meals in the food processor the night before and just shaped and cooked them the next evening. It made for 2 pretty quick weeknight dinners.

I served these veggie burgers with baked onion rings. The secret for the firm texture in the veggie burgers seems to be the wheat bulgur. This recipe also seems to be pretty adaptable. I tried the same recipe this week and swapped out the tahini for Dijon mustard--still tasty! The firmness even held up for the patties that were left over. I varied the onion ring recipe using all coarse bread crumbs from left over ciabatta, mostly because I couldn't justify buying a whole box of corn flakes just for this recipe. The result was breading that wouldn't stick well to the onions, but what did stick was very crisp and they tasted good anyway.

I was inspired to take another stab at falafel when I saw this Cook's Illustrated recipe. It calls for dried chickpeas soaked overnight...no boiling! Again, this is the key to a drier, firmer texture and falafel that don't fall apart when they hit the oil. The original recipe says that this makes 20 (at 1 Tbsp per falafel), but I doubled this and still only came up with about 25-26. I guess my "tablespoons" were a little off.

Tahini Sauce

1/2cup tahini
1/4cup juice from 2 lemons
1/2cup water
2medium garlic cloves (about 2 teaspoons), minced or pressed through a garlic press
Salt

Falafel

6ounces dried chickpeas (1 cup), rinsed, picked over, and soaked overnight in water to cover by an inch
5 scallions , chopped coarse
1/2cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1/2cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
3medium garlic cloves (about 1 tablespoon), minced or pressed through a garlic press
1teaspoon salt
1/2teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4teaspoon ground cumin
1/8teaspoon ground cinnamon
2quarts vegetable oil , for frying

Instructions

1. For the tahini sauce: Process all of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth, about 20 seconds. Season with salt to taste and set aside. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature and stir to combine before serving.)

2. For the falafel: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Drain the chickpeas, discarding the soaking liquid. Process all of the ingredients except for the oil in a food processor until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down the bowl as needed. Form the mixture into 1 tablespoon-sized disks, about 1/2 inch thick and 1 inch wide, and arrange on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. (The falafel can be refrigerated at this point for up to 2 hours.)

3. Heat the oil in a 5-quart large Dutch over medium-high heat to 375 degrees. (Use an instant-read thermometer that registers high temperatures or clip a candy/deep-fat thermometer onto the side of the pan.) Fry half of the falafel, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat as needed to maintain 375 degrees, until deep brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet using a slotted spoon or wire spider and keep warm in the oven. Return the oil to 375 degrees and repeat with the remaining falafel. Serve immediately with the sauce.

Falafel shaped and laid out on wax paper

I can't bring myself to deep fry anything, so I pan fried them. The areas in contact with the pan still got a great crust.

I served them in pita with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and the tahini sauce. I was a little intrigued by some of the ingredients. Cilantro? Cinnamon? Cumin? None of the other recipes I've tried called for those things, but these also tasted better than any of those others, too. These were awesome, better than any I've found so far in restaurants!

Salmon Burger

2011-04-04T22:18:00.003-04:00

I am really not afraid to try new things...like at all. I continue to surprise myself. Anywhoski, I did a search for Salmon Sandwich recipes since I had just bought some and found all these Salmon Burger recipes.

I decided on this RECIPE from Paula Deen mainly because I had all the ingredients on hand. As my husband said, "Its like a crab cake sandwich!" So they were surprisingly good:)

I halved the recipe and was very skeptical about the burgers holding together on the grill. I punch a few holes in a sheet of foil and were were good to go. Here they are before we grilled them...outside, I think that was key too.

Here is the finished produce with lettuce, tomato, onion and the special mayo it call for...

I served it with sweet potato fries and roasted cauliflower. We did think it need a fresh squeeze of lemon or maybe some capers:)

Thrown together pita pocket

2011-04-04T12:51:00.002-04:00

I checked in on the blog while I was about to eat my sandwich and thought, "hey, I might actually post this month if I do this right now". So here's my fuzzy cell phone picture of my sandwich:

I took a pita bread (Joseph's Heart Friendly Oat Bran & Stone Ground Whole Wheat) and stuffed it with some shaved deli turkey, a torn-up Sargento's Light String Cheese, 3/4 cup of cucumbers, 1/2 of a red bell pepper, and drizzled some balsamic vinegar over it. (Sometimes I'll add some baby spinach or something, but didn't feel like it today.)

Easy-peasy.

I don't know...sandwiches?

2011-04-01T22:33:00.001-04:00

How about sandwiches and sandwich-like products (wraps and burgers, etc)? Get to it!

Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas and Apples

2011-03-27T16:50:00.003-04:00

This is my latest favorite quinoa dish. It keeps for 4-5 days in the fridge, so I like to make it one evening and then eat it for lunch for a few days. It's good plain, atop a salad and put into collard leaf wraps.

Curried Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas snd Apples

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin

Bring all ingredients to a boil and cover, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

When cool, toss with:

1 green apple, diced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 c diced cilantro
2 carrots, shredded
1/4 c diced green onions

Mix up and stir in dressing:

3 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp lime zest
salt and pepper to taste

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

2011-03-26T21:08:00.002-04:00

I was also looking for a non-side dish way to use quinoa, and tried this recipe.

It took a little time to prepare the quinoa, but I made it up during naptime/quiet time and also stuffed the peppers. Once stuffed, I put them in the oven with the timer on and came home to a hot dinner.

I only made 2 peppers and will restuff and bake fresh peppers when we have leftovers. I topped mine as directed in the recipe (vegan style) and topped Mark's with real cheese. This was pretty good. The quinoa was actually seasoned just about perfectly. When I make these again, I will probably salt and pepper the peppers as well. The recipe suggests serving them with gucamole and I hope to do that too, but I thought these were great with a side salad.

Gingery Quinoa-Stuffed Acorn Squash

2011-03-19T21:37:00.009-04:00

Ok so this is officially my first post on the Monthly Challenge thanks to my friend Kerri for inviting me to join! So I'll start this post off with saying I've never used Quinoa before but have read lots of good things about it so it was a great excuse to try it out. So off I went to Allrecipes.com to see what I could find. I settled on this recipe as my whole family loves acorn squash and frankly all the spices and ingredients sounded good. So here's how it went...

Recipe:

found at allrecipes.com by Jeana Malcolm

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gingery-Quinoa-Stuffed-Acorn-Squash/Detail.aspx

1. While my acorn squash were baking I started the dicing and sauteing part..it looks so pretty in the pan I think so I'm pretty excited at this point.

2. Quinoa cooking away...

3. Acorn squash come out of the oven and needs to cool before getting scooped

4. Spices and apples going in now...smells very aromatic and looks really good but I'm losing my excitement for some reason about the meal...not sure if the smells weren't appealing to my pregnant appetite or what...so I was getting anxious about it being our dinner lets put it that way. I need to also add that I'm not a huge ginger fan..I appreciate what it adds to a lot of dishes but something about the smell doesn't do much for me so why I picked this recipe I'm not sure?

5. Well here goes nothing...I'm stuffing all the mix back into the squash skins and topping them with the mozzarella to go back in for the final melting stage...as you can see they are HUGE..and there was stuffing left over even if I hadn't dumped half of one squash do to me scraping it too hard and ripping it in half..grrrr. So basically I didn't even use up all the filling...it makes a ton!

6. Here's the final product..they look fine I think and are definitely plenty to fill you up. Now to try them out.

Our family's review: Matt my husband and I both thought they were ok but something about the sweetness was a bit strong for us. I couldn't pin it down as to whether it was the smell/sweetness of the cinnamon/sugar/nutmeg...or my dreaded ginger flavor. But the dish is very aromatic and something just wasn't thrilling to either of us. Audrey my 2.5 year old....smells EVERYTHING before eating it...gave it a sniff and made a face (maybe she's anti-ginger too..lol). Matt got her to try it and she did eat a bite but then reached for her sippy cup and said "I need to wash it down!" So while Matt and I are trying not to totally lose it..I honestly felt the same way..and was secretly dreaming of a pizza. Then Matt got her to try another bite...and she goes for it then lets it kind of hang out by a string of cheese and says "I need to spit this out."

Now in no way would I ever not reccommend a meal based on a 2 year olds review who's mood on any food changes by the hour...but I had to add those in due to the fact and I myself wasn't shot in the head with the meal. Anyways...I think the concept is a great idea and you could really play around with the flavors and what you stuff back into the squash..in fact you could do this with any squash you might like not just acorn. I don't think the star ingredient Quinoa played any role in our not liking it so it would be good stuffed in..I think the spice mixture was more of the issue for us personally. I would definitely still try using Quinoa again..just not perhaps this recipe.

Quinoa Corn Muffins

2011-03-18T22:38:00.003-04:00

I wanted to try something new with quinoa and came across a Quinoa Corn muffin recipe in the Whole Foods free magazine cookbook. It called for quinoa flour, but I just ground up dry quinoa in the Vita Mix, which I am assuming is the same thing.

The muffins weren't so good. The quinoa taste completely overpowered the corn taste. I ate one, but no one else ate more than a bite (and we are a family that loves our corn muffins). I'm not posting the recipe because they aren't worth making again....

Curried Quinoa Recipe

2011-03-16T21:07:00.003-04:00

This very random site had this recipe for Curried Quinoa and so I tried it...I'll try anything once. Honestly, I liked and as did my husband. I had run out of frozen peas so I used baby lima beans.

Which picture is better? FLASH?

Or NO FLASH?

I like no flash personally...

Mexican Quinoa Salad

2011-03-15T21:42:00.002-04:00

So, the vegans came to dinner...

I invited the people who inspired my vegan conversion for dinner Sunday night. They hosted us a few weeks back, and that in addition to everything else, I really owed them a dinner. It was a little intimidating to do this, but it turns out ok. I made the sweet potato and black bean burritos that have been posted here before. I also made a tomato and avacado salsa. Now, to be honest, if it was just me and Mark, I would call that good. But is it company good? Not sure. I decided that I needed to make some rice. Oh wait, I have this quinoa challenge! I'll make some of that. I did a quick google search and it was hard to find a recipe that did not include ingredients I was already planning on using: tomatoes, black beans, etc. I did find this one recipe which had spinach and corn instead. Score!

I followed the recipe, but made changes to make it eaiser. ;) One, I used red wine vinegar instead of apple cider in the dressing. But that is just cause I'm an idiot. Oops! Instead of sauting the fresh corn and steaming the fresh spinach, I just added both to the hot quinoa and stirred it up. That's how I roll!

The result was not earth shattering, but it was a nice little salad. All the vegans (and Mark) ate it up. I had no leftovers. I could see making it again.

Spanish-Style Quinoa

2011-03-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

This was my first time using quinoa and will definitely be looking for more recipes to use use with it. I was afraid it was going to be like cous cous - not a favorite of mine. However, it was a bit nutty and more like brown rice.

I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for Spanish-Style Quinoa and served it up with some skillet enchiladas. Even my picky husband liked it!

Spanish Style Quinoa
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the quinoa, onion, garlic, and green pepper. Cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes until the onion is tender, and the quinoa has lightly toasted. Stir in the tomato sauce and water, then season with the chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Stir the quinoa occasionally as it cooks.

Herbed Quinoa

2011-03-13T22:22:00.002-04:00

This recipe from Giada was a good place for me to start:) I enjoyed it and did my girls. C...not so much, but I think it was because they do have a little "garbanzo" flavor to them.

This Herbed Quinoa was a nice fresh side dish with the herbs and lemon...

winning as the kids say

Pizza Quiona Casserole

2011-03-11T21:13:00.002-05:00

This week I tried this recipe from Peas and Thank You. This is one of those recipes that I am not sure why I decided to try this one. It is not something like we normally eat. Basically the recipe tells you to make some quinoa, mix it with a bunch of stuff, then bake it. After it is baked, you can use this as a pizza base to put topping on. Here is my base:

And I prepared several things for toppings. For Mark and the boys, shredded cheese and hot dogs. For me, daiya, sauteed mushrooms and peppers. I also served it with broccoli. I guess maybe that is why I decided to try this recipe. The boys love the family style!

And here is James, my little angel, getting more broccoli!

Oh, and Andy getting more hot dog. Um, well, ok.

This is how my quinoa pizza turned out:

Speaking of the quinoa, I am not raw, eat raw, or anything, but I have heard some people talk about things like "sprouting" Is this what you mean, but sprouting?

Cause I cooked and assembled everything during naptime, then baked it right before dinner. I may not have put it in the fridge. Us microbiologist don't usually practice what we preach...

At any rate, this was ok, probably wouldn't make it again. And then I remember why we normally don't do family style:

What a mess!

Quinoa and Black Bean Taco Salad

2011-03-06T23:23:00.002-05:00

I've been making this recipe for about 3 years now. It's easy, cheap and very quick. Sometimes we eat it as is, other times I put it over salad for a Taco Salad type meal.

March challenge: Quinoa

2011-03-01T11:10:00.003-05:00

This one is actually Jenny's idea. She has been telling me for the last month all the places to find it in the area. I know I have cooked with it once in my last hippie food phase, but it has been a couple of years. So everybody...get cooking!

Sloppy Josephines

2011-02-28T13:38:00.002-05:00

Now this is red! Made sloppy lentils, aka sloppy josephines, which just doesn't sound good. Turned out pretty tasty. Mark had two, although he said NOT because he liked them, but because he was still hungry.

Curried Lentil Soup

2011-02-26T21:59:00.002-05:00

I used to make this recipe a lot, but I think with the kids, I have stopped making it as much. I think it is one of those that I really liked, but Mark didn't. I made it hoping it would be red. It uses red lentils and red wine, shouldn't it be red?

Guess not, but it is a good recipe that I wanted to share. I usually have all the ingredients on hand and it is a good one to make right after traveling. I usually serve it with some store bought naan bread:

When I took these pictures, James insisted on me taking his picture as well. He was eating a hot dog cause I just couldn't deal.

I couldn't deal because of Andy:

Andy also insisted on having his picture taken, but this was day 1 of The Flu. Good times.

Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas with Mexican Rice

2011-02-25T20:52:00.001-05:00

I found this recipe for Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas and it sounded pretty good. My goal was to use up the cream that I had left from the Tomato Basil Soup :) I, of course, wanted it to be RED, so I found this recipe for Texas Red Enchiladas sauce. I couldn't possibly use a can of red enchiladas sauce.

I served it with some Mexican Rice. This recipe was okay, but I have been looking for a good Spanish Rice or Mexican Rice recipe. In fact, someone just asked me to bring some to a party assuming I would have a decent recipe, but I just usually use the Lipton or whatever in a bag:0

Tomato Basil Soup...and sandwich

2011-02-22T12:35:00.002-05:00

So I did follow this recipe that was suppose to be a copy cat of La Madeline's Tomato Basil soup and I must admit, it was pretty close:) The real star of this meal was the sandwiches.

I made myself some pesto to spread on my toasted bread. Then I roasted some red peppers to put on my "Red Pepper, Spinach, and Mozzarella with Pesto Spread Sandwich". IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!! I got the idea from a panini I saw at Starbuck's. I really enjoyed it

B wend with the Roasted Red Pepper and Cream cheese Sandwich. Ever since Kerri got that recipe published in Cooking Light, he is a sucker for this combo!! He let me have a quarter and it was pretty good!!

This soup is so rich you really shouldn't try to eat a bowl full:) Red soup and Sandwich!!

Thai Red Curry

2011-02-21T21:37:00.000-05:00

I was working from two recipes here... Red Chicken Curry from Allrecipes.com and Red Curry Recipe from MediterrAsian.com. I altered it quite a bit because B loves pork, so I made it with some country style pork ribs. The vegetables I used were onion, carrots, mushrooms, red peppers and zucchini. Pretty simple, but needed some more salt.

I even had a little help:)

Gnocchi Bake with Red Onions and Pancetta

2011-02-21T19:32:00.000-05:00

I thought I would forgo the obvious, ie tomato sauce, but once I found this recipe I was sold. Homemade gnocchi has been on my to-do list for quite some time now and hey, it does have "red" onions! Look on my blog for the easy gnocchi recipe and directions! Thanks for the challenge!

Gnocchi Bake with red onions and pancetta

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 ounces pancetta, cubed

1 red onion, peeled and finely diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup chopped tomato (I used one cup of canned diced tomato)

3 tablespoons sun dried tomato paste (sadly lacking in my area so I used regular tomato paste)

1 cup mascarpone cheese

1 lb fresh gnocchi

8 -10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (Which I thought was way overkill so I use maybe 3/4 cup)

1/3 cup white breadcrumbs (again, I thought this was a bit much so just used a couple tablespoons)

Directions:

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.

2 Heat the oil in a skillet and add the pancetta. Cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.

3 Add the red onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for a further 5 minutes, or until the pancetta is cooked and the onion softened.

4 Stir in the chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomato paste, and mascarpone cheese. Simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.

5 Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi for 1-2 minutes, until they rise to the surface. Do not overcook.

6 Drain the gnocchi thoroughly and place in a large ovenproof dish (My 9-inch square pyrex worked perfectly).

7 Add the chopped basil to the pancetta sauce mixture and stir. Pour the sauce over the gnocchi and toss gently to coat it.

8 Combine the grated cheese with the breadcrumbs and scatter over the gnocchi.

9 Cook in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

10 Serve hot and enjoy!

Strawberry Cupcakes

2011-02-19T14:32:00.002-05:00

I signed up to bring the sweet for James's valentine's party. In the spirit of this challange, I decided to make strawberry cupcakes. After a quick google search, I found this recipe on Martha Stewarts site. I know, right? However, the recipe seemed perfectly reasonable and not to fancy. They also are Non-Vegan.

The boys helped me make the cupcake portion. You do add strawberries to the batter, but I was disappointed in the weak non-red color.

You also add strawberry to the icing. The color was better, but still more pink instead of red.

All in all, these were really good, but it was really the frosting that did it. It had a very strong strawberry flavor, while the cupcake part was kind of dense. Really, the best cupcakes come out of a box. There, I said it. Use a box! Make your own frosting!

Red Beans and Rice

2011-02-13T21:58:00.003-05:00

It does have "red beans" but it doesn't look so red. Used this recipe and liked it pretty well. After I put it together and it was simmering on the stove, Mark said, "I love red beans and rice!" How did I not know that? At any rate, I used the food processor as directed in the recipe and it came together pretty quickly. I let it cook for 2.5 hours and the beans were definately soft, but they never disintergrated like they were suppose to. I even used the fancy smancy dried Goya beans. Still good. Next time I need to remember to salt the rice. I served it with Vegan Cornbread.

Vegan Pizza

2011-02-11T22:10:00.002-05:00

Sorry, when I said red, I meant anything in the reddish family. This includes pink and orangish.

Incase you didn't hear, I am sort of vegan. We do a pizza night and last night was ours. For the non-vegans (everyone but me) I made plain cheese. I guess I was hopefully that my husband would eat mine. Silly me. For the vegans (just me) I made a caramelized onion/artichoke/roastedredpepper/mushroom pizza. I got this from my vegan guru Shannnon. For starters, I caramelized the onions. Now, I am a foodie, but I admit, cannot caramlize an onion to save my life. If I need them, I do them in the crockpot with butter. This time, I decided my problem was Not Enough Fat. I made sure I used plenty of oil. Well, by doing this, I think I fried the onions instead of caramelizing them. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious, but not quite what I was going for. Oh well. I heated up the rest of the ingredients, took out some (fried) onions for the top, then blended the rest for the sauce. Spread the sauce on top of a homemade crust, top with onions, and hello! Vegan Pizza. I served with pineapple whip, which will be features on my mommy blog.

Oh, and I made something last week I really thought was going to be red. Silly me, it was greenish-yellow Aloo Globi from Lindsey...but it was delicious!

Enchiladas!

2011-02-11T20:32:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I'm the first person to post for this challenge....that *never* happens!

So I was telling Kerri this morning that I'd be fixing enchiladas for supper tonight and it hit me that they're red--and I even remembered to take pictures, which I will upload once my battery has recharged...

I used this recipe to make the enchilada sauce. This was probably the fourth time or so that I've made it, and my notes on it are: be careful what chili powder you use--the stuff I used the first time was dark and didn't taste right. But what I got from the dollar store works just fine! Also, all purpose flour works just fine if you don't have any self rising flour.

The type of enchilada varies each time I fix it, depending on what's on hand. I was originally going to use the Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken recipe, but didn't get the Crock Pot out in time. Then I was going to use ground beef, but realized that we'd used the last of it the other night.

We did (fortunately) have a little over 1/2lb of ground turkey, so that's what I used tonight. I browned and drained it, then added a can of black beans, some homemade salsa from earlier in the year, and a diced red bell pepper. (More red!). Once the sauce was finished, I added a little of that and some cheese, too.

A scoop of the turkey mixture went into a flour tortilla and was folded up burrito-style. (We had soft taco tortillas on hand--I recommend using at least a 6" tortilla. Mine were a bit small.) Those went into two glass casserole dishes that had been spritzed with cooking spray, and were covered with the remaining sauce and some more cheese. Then it all went in the oven for 15 minutes at 375*.

I think we had 10 baby enchiladas, and have more filling to use later. (I'd have to make more sauce, though.) I topped mine with sour cream. Yummy :-)

February challenge

2011-02-01T21:22:00.002-05:00

Going to switch this one up a bit, got this idea from Michelle. In honor of Valentine's Day, let's do - RED FOODS.

Gluten Free- I guess?

2011-01-31T23:17:00.003-05:00

I just threw this together as a last minute contribution to the blog. I get all my "diets" confused. I am even confusing the eating raw. So, this is my way of saying...I will always try. I am so happy to be introduced to so many awesome new recipes. I also feel more educated about all this.

At any rate...here is what we had for dinner...with a salad of course:)

I broiled some pork chops after marinating them in EVOO, sesame oil, soy sauce, and some dry seasoning. Then, I made some rice pasta that I got in the Gluten Free section:) I sauteed some onions and garlic, then put in a little butter and salt and pepper. Is that gluten free?

Anyways, I know its not great, but I did try:)

Indian Style Chickpeas

2011-01-31T21:48:00.002-05:00

You will have to forgive me. I had thought that I would just be having a quiet dinner alone this evening but thankfully my daughter and her delightful family wanted to come over - last minute. I had enough food for everyone, but the thought of taking pictures slipped my mind completely.   I'm pretty sure this qualified for my second vegan dish but may be wrong.
Indian Style Chickpeas
adapted from meatlessmonday.com
1 large onion, chopped coarsely 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 chili, finely diced (optional)   I didn't have a fresh chili so I added a tablespoon of canned diced chilies)
1/2 teaspoon cumin 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, reserve half the liquid   - I saved all the liquid and used most of it juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons peanut butter
2 cups cooked Basmati rice
1/4 teaspoon or more red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:
Saute onion, garlic and chili in nonstick pot until slightly browned (I used a tablespoon of olive oil since I don't use nonstick cookware). Add cumin and cook about 30 seconds or until spices start to give off wonderful smells and turn slightly brown.
     Add chick peas and half of the reserved liquid. Add lemon juice and tomato paste. Cook for five minutes. Place half of the chickpea mixture in a blender and blend for 15-20 seconds (It was so thick I used the remainder of the reserved liquid but that was my personal preference). Add it back to the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes, until heated through. Stir in peanut butter and cook a few minutes more, until peanut butter is blended throughout. Salt and pepper to taste and serve over basmati rice.
   On a side note.... My daughter thought it needed more heat and would taste great in tortillas. She also felt that perhaps adding a few tablespoons of chopped cashews would be a delicious addition.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

2011-01-30T21:20:00.002-05:00

This is from Kerri's Greatest Hits and from Moosewood Cookbook. This recipe can also be found on the Internet. I love this recipe and always make double and then freeze a bunch of enchiladas because you can take them out one by one. I was talking to Kerri and she was all, "You know those are Vegan right?" and I was all, "What?". So, I decided to include it so I could contribute this month....This is my Vegan contribution:)

Indian Cauliflower Curry

2011-01-30T21:10:00.004-05:00

I made this recipe for Indian Cauliflower Curry. Everyone really liked it except C...he's picky. I also added more salt:)

It may be time to retire my camera. I got it when I was 30 from my mom(THANKS MOM!) and do you see...I took one picture with the flash and one without and it merged them into one picture...weird...

Here is a close up of the final dish. This is right up my ally...I loved it!!!

Broccoli Curry Udon (vegan)

2011-01-30T18:03:00.005-05:00

It looks like something similar has been posted already, but this was the one intentionally vegan recipe that I singled out for this month from the Post Punk Kitchen. Now that I've "rediscovered" this blog, I intend on cooking from it more often.

It was pretty good, especially since I've been craving Asian noodle dishes lately. I love the chewiness of udon noodles. This recipe would also be good with soba noodles (vegan because they are made from buckwheat, as someone else mentioned) or rice noodles.

Black bean burgers

2011-01-28T22:42:00.002-05:00

Ha! Try saying that five times fast!

I was just looking for a generic vegan burger recipe, so I turned to my latest and greatest...AGAIN. If I was looking for a super duper vegan recipe I would have choosen something different, but it had been a busy day and these came together pretty quickly. This is one that is vegan AND gluten free thanks to the oat flour. I didn't have any oat flour, so I made my own by blending some oats in my blender.

Since my blender was already out and dirty, I used it to chop up the mushrooms and onions as well. It didn't go all that well, I wouldn't do it again.

Meanwhile, you mash up the black beans by hand and add the processed oat flour and onions and mushrooms.

I cooked on my nonstick skillet for about 8 min on a side. Easy peesy.

I served like regular burgers (not gluten free) with sweet tater fries from Trader Joe's (I have really come around on Trader Joe's...I love it).

Spicy Tortilla Casserole With Roasted Poblanos

2011-01-26T12:24:00.003-05:00

I made the Spicy Tortilla Casserole with Roasted Poblanos from the book Viva Vegan!. (there is an exclamation point in the book title, lest you think I am overly excited about the first sentence).

It is vegan and gluten free and takes about 2 hours to make. Overall - I liked it, as did the husband. The kids didn't touch it, as I expected. They had rice and produce for dinner.

I halved the recipe, since I knew the kids wouldn't eat it. I also only put the Pine Nut crema (pine nuts, tofu, corn starch, nutritional yeast) on my half, as my husband is deathly afraid of all things tofu. I'm actually not a huge tofu/processed soy eater myself, but wanted to try it in this recipe.

Chunky Vegetable-Lentil Soup

2011-01-25T19:17:00.003-05:00

Yay! I have a picture for this one! (Courtesy of BHG.com)

I found this recipe in the January Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and finally tried it out tonight. Jury's still out.

This was the first time I've ever tried lentils (gasp!). I mostly like it. Has a very "fresh" taste to it, which I really like. Not crazy about the onions the way they're cut, but that can be easily remedied. Hubby doesn't like mushrooms and is picking around them (we're eating this soup as I type), and suggested that we try it again with either a beef or chicken broth. Oh, and I left out the celery and put in some extra carrot. The napa cabbage on top is a nice texture touch. I think we'll be making this one again.

Chunky Vegetable-Lentil Soup
(You may get asked for you email address since it's a brand-spankin' new recipe, so I'll post it below just in case. It has the nutritional info on the website.)

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into thin rings
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup dry green (French) lentils, rinsed and drained
1 lb. whole small mushrooms (halve or quarter any larger mushrooms)
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced (2 cups)
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cups water
1 14-oz. can vegetable broth
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 of a head napa or red cabbage, sliced into strips (2 cups)

Directions

1. In a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in lentils; cook and stir 1 minute.

2. Add mushrooms, carrots, celery, water, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 25 minutes or until lentils are tender.

3. Divide among soup bowls; top with cabbage. Makes 6 (1-1/2-cup) servings.

Oven-roasted veggies

2011-01-25T18:53:00.005-05:00

Yep, nothing to look at here. (The one picture I took didn't really turn out...)

I made a batch of roasted veggies the other night, which turned out to be an experiment-gone-right for a change. Easy-peasy.

I cut up potatoes, red bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, and cauliflower, put them in a baking dish, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, shook out some garlic powder, ground ginger, ground sea salt, and ground pepper over it, and tossed to coat every thing. Threw it in the oven for, oh, 35-40 minutes at 400*, stirring a few times to keep everything from sticking to the pan.

Super easy, gluten free, and vegan.

Black Bean Tacos

2011-01-24T12:23:00.000-05:00

Nothing too revolutionary, but this is an easy vegan and gluten free dinner that we seem to eat once a week.

Make Your Own Tacos or Taco-Salad

Black Beans - simmered in taco-style seasonings if I'm feeling ambitious, plain if I'm not

Lettuce

Avocado

Rice - I made a cilantro-lime version and a plain version

Salsa

Taco Shells

Cheese (de-veganizes it)

Supper Club

2011-01-23T20:58:00.003-05:00

Since the inspiration for this challenge was my supper club, I thought I should tell you about my supper I hosted. Unforuately, the above picture was the only one I took, there was just too much going on!

For my dinner, I served fajitas. I marinated and grilled steak, chicken, and portabella mushrooms. I also served sauteed peppers and onions, mexican rice, and black beans. I had the other members bring an appetizer (7 layer dip), a salad (avacado feta), magaritas (skinny girl), tortillas (flour and corn, corn is gluten free!), mexican beer, and dessert (margarita cupcakes!).

There are twelve people in this supper club. Do you have an idea how many people twelve people are? It is a lot. It is all our matching plates, we were short one fork, and don't even get me started on the wine glasses. Luckily we all fit at the table, but just barely.

Supper club is really less about the dinner and more about the company. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. For the first time I have leftover meat, but ran out of the veggies. The mushroom fajitas were probably the best! Mexican is great for something like this becaus everyone can pick and choose depending on their own diets. However, I think next time I will do shrimp and grits...don't tell!

Bree's Lentil Soup

2011-01-23T20:48:00.005-05:00

I am so behind.

I made this recipe about two weeks ago. No, actually I made it years ago, wasn't all that impressed, but after hearing some recent glowing reviews about it, decided to try it again. I am on this vegan kick and I love making a bit pot of soup at the beginning of the week and eating it for lunches after that. This recipe makes a lot so it would be perfect. I made it the night before our snowy day. One major change I did from the original is that I backed way off the heat. The first time I made it I remember it being unbearably hot, and I like heat! This time I used no red pepper and half the chili powder. Results this time, eh, it was ok. I think the problem is that I have another lentil soup that I liked better. For lunches, I added more chili powder and purreed the whole thing up. Glad I did. This one is actually vegan/gluten free.

Oh, but a key component of lunches is some great bread:

And honestly, it was just screaming for a dollup of greek yogurt, so not vegan either:

We ended up being stuck at home for about a week. We traded lunches with the neighbors and I fed this to a few different people. They all said it was good, but again, I felt it was just ok.

Udon Noodles with Veggies

2011-01-19T19:22:00.000-05:00

This is an really easy and quick recipe. My kids don't like any of the sauce, so I leave some noodles and veggies out plain for them. I used whole wheat udon noodles (simply because they were on the shelf at the grocery store), but you could use buckwheat udon noodles to make it gluten free.

http://www.onefrugalfoodie.com/2009/04/19/easy-udon-for-veggie-lovers/