It's all Greek to me!

Tonight was Greek night. I had lots of people here today! I made Spanakopita, which is basically a spinach pie made with phyllo dough. A recipe that is fairly close to what I did tonight is here... Only instead of ricotta cheese I used cream cheese. I also added shredded carrots!

We also had a green salad with feta cheese, carrots, and red peppers. Grapes for dessert and grape juice to drink.

Mini Muffin wasn't to pleased with the spanakopita, but sometimes kids are like that with new foods. She loved the grapes, the juice and the salad dressing (but didn't want salad!) She ate very well today anyway, eating her yogurt, lots of breakfast, and since she's still got her cold, I didn't worry about it.

My friend and my mom were also present for supper. Leftovers included salad and some grapes, which I'm about to eat now anyway. Everyone complimented the spankopita and I'll definitely be making it again.

Manicotti and Carrots

Can you tell we like italian food?

Tonight we had tofu stuffed manicotti. I took a half a block of tofu, squished it all up til it resembled ricotta cheese, added diced onions and italian seasonings. I then stuffed the manicotti noodles with the mixture and poured sauce over them. I added grated Tillamook Chedder cheese. Of course this could easily be left off or substituted for soy cheese. My little dish held 7 manicottis, half a box. For our family this is perfect.

I boiled the chopped carrots, then tossed them with olive oil and sprinkled parsley over them.
Mini Muffin didn't really want carrots tonight. She has a cold and is being a little picky. However, she just loves tofu and and loves spaghetti sauce so she ate an entire manicotti!! Us adults snarfed everything else up. NO LEFTOVERS!

Breakfast!

I apologize for not putting a pic on the last couple of days. Sabbath (Saturday) was my high school reunion, and so we went to that. They had breakfast and lunch there and at church that evening we had supper. So I didn't cook at all that day. Sunday I made biscuits and gravy and I took a picture of that. We had a quick supper yesterday, nothing note worthy.

Here's breakfast. We had soymilk biscuits and gravy. The gravy was made with soymilk, mixed vegetables, vegetarian sausage, and onions. I also put vegetarian chicken seasoning into it to flavor it up quickly. I'm also including a picture of the biscuits.

Asian Food

I was going to make a nice big asian stirfry, wontons, and some seaweed soup. However, my friend gave me her red eared sliders today and by supper I was too tired to go all out. So I didn't. But at least I had a good reason to be lazy about cooking. So instead we had steamed vegetables on rice and tofu-stuffed wontons. Lazy or not, it was still healthy and tasted great!

My mom came for supper tonight, and everyone ate their fill!

We've been invited to a friends house tonight, so no homemade supper pics. However, if I make something picture worthy today I'll take a pic and post it.

Chili Rellanos!

Inspired by a local restaurant that serves these, I have tried to make them myself a time or two. I'm still experimenting with my recipe, but it came out really well this time. I really like them as whole chili's stuffed with cheese, less so when they are made as rolls or casseroles. And, as at any good restaurant, beans and rice accompany the chili's. The beans are S&W brand chili beans, which happen to be vegan. The stuff on the chili's is a cornmeal flour batter made with soy milk and egg. I believe the egg could be left off. The batter was a bit thin on this particular chili so you can see the chili through the batter.

Mini Muffin ate her whole serving of rice and beans, typical for her. She loves beans. She did not like the chili because it was too hot for her. However, us adults LOVED the chilis and quickly finished up Rachel's as well. Even though I know there are things she won't like, we usually serve them to her to a) encourage her to try them, and b) make her feel part of the meal, rather than being left out of something. We only ask her to try the new foods or the ones she's not sure about, and then after that she doesn't have to eat them.

Wonton Tortelinni

I got this idea from Martha Stewart. Take wonton or dumpling wrappers and use them to make ravioli or any stuffed pasta. The trick is to freeze them before cooking so they don't swell up. Then it only takes 2-3 minutes to cook. This has become a family favorite so I play around with the recipe. This time we did tortelinni. I've included several extra pictures to give you an idea of how they look, as under the sauce you can't see them well. For the vegans, I do know there are vegan wonton wrappers, I used to buy them in Massachusetts. If anyone wants me to try to get the name of them, please let me know in the comments section.
The torts were stuffed with spinach and mushroom, with a small amount of pepper jack cheese for flavor. We also had salad, and half whole wheat breadsticks. DH complained that we were having salad again, so when I made the breadsticks and he asked for cheese on top, I indulged him. I figured it would be a good trade off to get him to eat the salad!
I had extra wrappers so look forward to seeing asian food later this week. One of the ways I plan my menus is to use up most of my specialty ingredients (eggplants, wonton wrappers, etc) within the week so as not to throw things away.

Mini Muffin loved the torts, as I knew she would, and even though she had almost 3 of them, she also ate almost an entire breadstick. She even sampled the salad. DH ate salad and several breadsticks as well as half of the torts.

Pizza again

We eat pizza alot in this house. But we don't feel to bad about it because its usually filled full of vegetables, and coupled with a salad. For us its a nice carb, protein and vegetable meal, with loads of flavor and fun! Mini Muffin loves pizza as well and digs right in! We also have started eating salad more often because I just LOVE raw vegetables and how they taste in a nice tossed salad. Poor DH, he's still trying to get through my vegetable kick!

Today, Mini Muffin even attempted salad and ate a few pieces of lettuce. I was shocked. Then she decided to just eat dressing on her finger....so then she started acting like a normal baby!

Apologies for the poor picture tonight. We had a meeting to go to, woke up late, rushed all day, and I forgot to take a picture until after the pizza was sliced up. But at least you can see what I put on it and get some ideas. I used half whole wheat pastry flour in my crust, half white flour. I used Tillamook brand cheese, a NorthWest favorite with no rennet. In past years, I also used Soya Kaas for my cheese, as it was mainly non-dairy, but it is just too darn expensive right now. Vegetables were mushrooms, onions, green peppers, broccoli, and artichoke hearts. The salad was simple with red leaf lettuce, onions, green peppers, chopped cucumbers, and diced cheese.

Thanks to everyone who has commented! Its very encouraging.

Eggplant Non-Parmesan

Tonight I used up the rest of the eggplant from friday in Eggplant Non-Parmesan. I sliced it, breaded it, and fried it. I was going to bake it instead as a healthier option, but forgot to put it in the oven until it was too late so I fried it. We had that on spaghetti with sauce, the vegetable side dish was asparagus and cauliflower steamed and sauted. I planned on breadsticks as well but forgot to start the dough earlier enough in the day.

Mini Muffin loved the eggplant, so apparently she was just not in the mood to try something new on friday. She ate well and enjoyed her meal. So did Papa, so all was good.

Since we were at church this morning and had a health potluck there, and then came home and will have church this evening I'm posting a image of the apple pie I made to take to church this morning. For the sweetener I used honey, which many vegans won't use, but vegetarians and some vegans will use. I think this makes the pie healthier because there are more nutrients in honey than in processed sugar.

Indian Food!

Tonight I attempted Indian food again. Tonight we had Aloo Gobi, and Eggplant. I also made Samosas for the first time. I thought it would be difficult but it really wasn't too hard. Time consuming, yes, because I also made a pie for sabbath tomorrow. The pie and tonight's dinner are Vegan. I will post a picture of that as well tomorrow since I won't be cooking anything after breakfast. My niece is here tonight and tomorrow as well.
Everyone loved this meal. The kids especially liked the samosas and both kids ate very well. Mini Muffin didn't really want the eggplant, but I'm not sure if she even tasted it.

This afternoon we were out and about so supper had to be made somewhat quickly. The time wouldn't allow for the quiche that was on the menu. So...I improvised and made what was on the menu earlier this week and didn't get made. So we had gluten burgers and oven-baked fries. This meal was completely vegan, however DH and I put Tillamook cheese on ours.

Mini Muffin loved this meal so much she ate a fourth of a burger patty, some of her bun, and several french fries. She even tried a pickle!

Here we go, second meal on the blog! Tonight we are having Pasta Primavera. It looks green because the broccoli got a little soft and the top parts mixed into the sauce. The vegetable side dish for the night is Stuffed Tomatoes! Both of these dishes could easily be made vegan.

My Husband wants me to post our meals. This was inspired by Jennifer's Lunchbox Blog.
Once a day I will try to post one meal. As a stay-at-home mom, who is also helping with the family business, I make most of our meals every day. I will also submit recipes to those who request them... All meals will be vegetarian, but not always vegan.

And now, for my first meal pic ever! This is english muffin pizzas and a salad.

Mini Muffin enjoyed this meal well. She ate most of her pizza today and tried to eat a few bites of salad.