Muffin Meals

No, these meals won't be muffins but Muffin is one of my nicknames. Besides, it sounds cute! After viewing the Vegan Lunchbox site, religiously, my Husband wants me to post my own menu. I will try to post one meal each day. I hope I inspire people to have creative and healthy home cooked meals. I think that even if you aren't a vegetarian, you'll like the meals I present. I do feature dairy products and eggs in my food from time to time, but will try my best to present vegan dishes as well.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Spanakopita!

Isn't that just the coolest word?!

Greek again, as I had a craving for spinach and fillo dough! Spinach Pie made with spinach and feta cheese, inside fillo dough. A nice greek salad to compliment it. MMM veggies!

Verdict: We ate ourselves silly, and then ate more before bed. No Spanakopita leftover in this house! The salad was good too. Mini Muffin ate most of her spinach pie as well as some chopped cucumbers. MMM!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Eggplant Non-Parm

Everyone is finally well, and rested...

The Muffin Man is fine, but it took us a couple of days to recover from the lack of sleep, the lack of oxygen (in his case), and the extra housework to catch up on. I will post images and descriptions of the meals we ate during the lack of posts little by little.

Tonight we had Eggplant Non-Parmesean. The sides were a nice tossed salad with tomato and cauliflower and homemade bread. DH likes cauliflower in his salad now because it gives the appearance of feta cheese, without the animal products! I made bread for the first time in while, due to a moth infestation. But things really are getting back to normal.

Here's a quick recipe for the eggplant.

1 eggplant sliced 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick.
2 C crackers crumbled
3 TBL seasonings, oregano, basil, garlic, rosemary, etc
2 eggs, beaten
flour

Combine seasonings and cracker crumbs. Dust eggplant slices with flour. Cover with egg and then coat with cracker crumbs. Fry in covered skillet until brown and then flip. Covering the skillet ensures the eggplant gets cooked in the middle. Serve with spaghetti and sauce.

We also had vegetable/fruit juice. I took 11 carrots, 2 granny smith apples, 3 oranges, 1.5 cups of frozen blueberries, and 3 cups of fresh strawberries and ran it through my Champion juicer. I pureed the berries so that the pulp and stuff was in the juice. Made approximately 2 quarts of juice.

Verdict: Mini Muffin didn't eat much eggplant non-parm. I think it was because she stole crackers from her diaper bag aka. my purse! But she ate some tomatoes and bread. She LOVED the bread. DH and I stuffed our poor little bellies so full of food we almost got tummy aches! Mini Muffin also got 1/2 cup of juice and stuffed her little belly full as well! Definately one of my best meals!

Monday, April 24, 2006

I promise, pics soon.

Sorry for no pics. This weekend was hectic, riddled with ER (DH not Mini Muffin) visits and lost sleep. I will put on some photos soon.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

A Twist on Mexican Pizzas

In an effort to use up enchilada sauce, and stay chametz free, we had Mexican pizzas, with a twist. OK, they were more like enchiladas. Basically, I dipped each corn tortilla into the sauce, and then made my pizzas as normal, with beans in the middle of two tortillas, a small amount of veggies and cheese, then veggies and cheese on top. Then pop it in the oven till the cheese is melted and voila. SUPPER TIME! The leftover beans and rice complimented the meal, with no wasted food. WHOO HOO!

Verdict: Mini Muffin didn't eat any, she was in bed sleeping. Today she took extra naps and even told us when she wanted to go to bed. She'll have some of the leftovers tomorrow, but no guarantees, she hates leftovers. DH and I loved them though! However, they were VERY different from my family's traditional enchiladas, and I probably won't do this twist often.

Chili Rellanos Passover style!

Everyone but the Muffin Mama (me) is sick today. Poor Muffin Man and Mini Muffin. Hence the late posting of last nights meal.

Since I can't use leavening I just breaded the chili's with seasoned matzah meal. MMMM. They came out great! The stuffing is cream cheese mixed with a small amount of chedder cheese. I also made enchilada sauce to go over them.

Beans Melvon and Rice accompanied the meal!

Verdict: Muffin Man hasn't eaten his yet. He slept through supper last night. I have two servings left over to be eaten at lunch today. However, the Corn Muffin (grandma) came over for this meal, finally. (Only finally because we finally invited her LOL). I'll let her post her reaction. Mini Muffin ate beans and rice, and some of the cream cheese. She wasn't thrilled with the chili's tonight. But hey, she's only 18 months. She ate well however. I LOVED the chili's. This was the best ever! Now, I just need to get a cornmeal batter perfected! The matzah meal breading was good, but it just wasn't what you expect on chili rellanos!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Sesame Tofu

I was so tired last night, I didn't post. But I have a spare minute now, while waiting to take my neighbor's daughter to the bus, so I'll post now, before I forget.

This meal was a variation on a recipe I found, eons ago, called Chinese Hot Eggplant. Not having eggplant, I used tofu. I then added broccoli and sesame seeds to garnish, as my friend in Massachusetts did at her vegan Chinese restaurant. I added green beans to the meal as well.

Recipe:
2 T soy sauce
4 T hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes (less for a more mild version)
1/2 C dry sherry (I omitted this)
1 1/2 C water
2 T peanut oil
1 1/2 lbs tofu (or two medium eggplants for original recipe)
2 TB each minced garlic, onion, and ginger
Sesame seeds for garnish

Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Heat oil in skillet and add chopped tofu, garlic, onion, and ginger. Stir fry over high head for 3 minutes. Add sauce and still well. Reduce head to medium low, simmer 15 minutes. Gradually turn up heat and cook until sauce is reduced to a thick glaze. Serve over rice.

Verdict: Mini Muffin did her infamous vegetable binge, eating green beans and broccoli. I finally convinced her to eat the tofu and rice. She wasn't too thrilled about her precious tofu being covered in gravy. There's that darn gravy suspicion again. The rest of us however did enjoy it.

Monday, April 17, 2006

First Seder Pic

I have received the first seder picture. However, as I didn't take the image, it isn't vegetarian. There is Turkey on the picture. So, out of respect to the vegans and animal loving vegetarians who view this site, I am offering a compromise. I am posting a LINK to the image, and its up to your discretion as to whether or not you view it.

I personally had the garden salad with the vinigarette dressing, green beans almondine, mashed potatoes (no gravy on mine) and some matzah ball soup. I added a few meringues as well.

Remember, view the First Seder Meal at your own expense.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Second Seder
















Friday evening we went a second seder. The pictures above are, in order, the seder plate, Matzah Ball Soup, Fruited Rice, Honey-coated Carrots, and for dessert, Macaroons!

For more information, or questions, on the Seder or Passover, feel free to ask me!

Tostadas

We were going to have haystacks, similar but eaten differently. However, uh-umm, DH informed me he had eaten almost all of the corn tortilla chips, so I decided to make tostadas. Corn tortillas topped with beans, cheese, lettuce, onions, and olives today. We also used salsa! The beans were a mix of S&W Chili Beans, Black Beans and canned chili peppers. MM good!

Mini Muffin fed herself the beans. The rest of us each had 3 tostadas. Definately finger lickin good! Oh yah, its a messy meal, so be warned!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Matzah Vegan Fish!

Now that title is a mouth full! Again, thanks to Jennifer at The Vegan Lunchbox for this recipe. She is just the food god! JK. But she is awesome and her food ideas are great!

As it is yeastfree week, I'll be repeating quite a few items, since we are trying hard to survive the week! But I'll also be researching some new recipes and see if I can't get some NEW foods on here.

My Mom, who has requested to be the CORN Muffin (CM), has been hearing about this fish thing and I invited her over to have some tonight. Brown Rice, homemade tartar sauce (yes, I minced the pickles, I am not a fan of relish, however it is not vegan), tofu fish, and spicy green beans. If you look closely you'll see the little hot peppers I added to the green beans!

Verdict: Mini Muffin, for the first time of having this meal, ate FOUR fish sticks! She had six green beans, not bad considering the hot peppers, and a few bites of rice. She also tried the tartar sauce, again. She's not sure about that. CM stuffed herself, always a compliment, and so did DH. I'd say 5 muffins!

Personally, I did a few things different to the tofu than I did in the past. Instead of dipping the sticks into soymilk and then the crumbs, I just put it into the crumbs. The tofu dried out some, and didn't fall apart as easily. The taste was also much better than it had been in the past. The Matzah crumbs added a nice texture that was different than the cornmeal or flour I used in the past. Overall, tonight's was much better than the last ones, though the last ones were awesome as well.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Pesach starts tonight.

I will be going to our synagogue's annual Pesach (Passover) seder tonight. I'm planning on taking along my camera and getting pictures of stuff to post. However, I wanted to warn you that there may not be a posting tonight, if I'm too worn out from dancing and eating. Also, during Pesach, which lasts for eight days, there will be no yeast and wheat in my foods. We lean towards the sephardic side so there will be beans, corn, soy, etc. Here is some additional links about Pesach.

JewFaq.org
Torah.org
Torah Tots.com

Verdict: Ok, I admit it, in trying to get the last few things finished before sundown, and trying to get Mini Muffin ready to go, I forgot my camera. HOWEVER, a very nice gentleman took a picture for me and says he'll email it to me. So, that being the case, I'll post it when I get it. I WON'T forget it on Friday!

Back to our regularly scheduled programing.

Well, back to date now. Tonight we had green bean casserole, because I've been craving it. However, instead of using french fried onions, I lightly sauteed onions and put them on top before baking. Complementing that was gluten burgers, and herbed red potatoes.

Verdict: Mini Muffin ate most of her gluten burger, half of an adult one. She ate her potatoes, and a couple of bites of green beans. She's not thrilled with gravy-like substances. Us...suffice it to say, there are NO leftovers. I finished off the last of the green beans this evening while folding laundry.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

opps!

Due to Passover cleaning, I kinda forgot to get this on yesterday. So you'll, again, get two posts in one day. Here's the first, our infamous pizza! Hey, it uses yeast, alright?! I again put rosemary into the crust, and let me tell you, I will NEVER, NEVER make crust without it...its that good. Wham, mushrooms, onions and broccoli are featured in yesterday's pizza. For dessert, I made pretzels again. Cinnamon and sugar, per DH's request. No salad today, didn't have time, cleaning and all.
Verdict: Mini Muffin ate one whole small pretzel, yes silly us, we ate dessert first. She then ate most of one piece of pizza. Us adults LOVED our food, and snarfed it down. The pretzels, well, there was only one left today, and that's gone now too. I'm not the keenest on sweet bread, but these were pretty good.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Tostadas!

Tonight we had tostadas! MMMMMM. They ended up being eaten more like soft tacos, because the corn tortillas were only toasted, so they weren't crispy. But they were still delicious and filling! Basically what I did was toasted some small corn tortillas, and topped them with Beans Melvon, some cheese, lettuce, onion, and salsa. We actually ate less cheese at this meal than at most! Hallelujah!

Verdict: The Muffin Man says, "Muy Bein!" Mini Muffin only had beans and cheese and a small amount of corn tortilla. She's still not sure on this corn tortilla thing. Don't worry, we'll convince her!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

I remembered!

Whoo HOO, I remembered! Oh and I perfected the pretzel recipe too!

Today was macaroni and cheese, with broccoli, onions and mushrooms. Side of salad, and the breadsticks were pretzels. I like making the breadsticks in different shapes, like the pretzels for instance, because I think it adds a touch of variety. Besides, soft pretzels are just fun! I coated these with a pesto flavored olive oil, and some chedder cheese.

Verdict: Great meal! Biscuit Boy was here still, and I quote: "As much as I hate to admit it, the broccoli in here is good!" There you have it! If an 11 yr old will admit broccoli is good, the meal must have been great!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Shells, again!

You can tell Passover is really near. I'm using up as much chametz as possible before Wednesday. My nephew, who's requested his nickname for now shall be Biscuit Boy, came over to spend the night. He LOVES eggs and toast in the mornings for breakfast, so we are using up chametz then. Tonight we had stuffed shells. I snuck some broccoli and onions and mushrooms, minced of course, into the stuffing. The vegetable for tonight was broccoli, much to the gentlemens dismay. Mini Muffin of course was overjoyed.

Verdict: We had no leftovers! And everyone was full. Mini Muffin ate half of her stuffed shell, and all of her broccoli. MMM Good meal.

Tomorrow we will be having mac n cheese for lunch. If I remember, I'll get a picture on here for you all.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Simple

Every now and then, simple meals are the best. Tonight we had Beans Melvon, brown rice, and mixed vegetables. MMMM.

Mini Muffin stuffed her little belly full. She loves beans. Interestingly, however, tonight she dove for her vegetables FIRST and wouldn't eat beans without vegies mixed in. HURRAY!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Wednesday

Today, we had the gluten burgers and pasta salad we were going to have for supper, at lunch. It was so nice today we took Mini Muffin to the park and had a picnic. Couple that with the fact that now, Mondays and Wednesdays, Mama Muffin has a step aerobics class at 4:30 for an hr, and was exhausted afterwards. So that soup I was making last night, and we were going to have at lunch? Well, it got moved to supper. But we have lots of pasta salad, so we had that and soup and toast for supper. The soup had macaroni noodles, scallions, kidney beans, and basil. The salad had more noodles LOL, green peppers, kidney beans, and shredded carrots.

Yah Yah, I know, the Muffin family hasn't been eating all that great recently on the blog. But rest assured, we are getting lots of fruits and veggies. Especially Mini Muffin.

Mini Muffin ate all of her bowl of soup, half of a full bowl, a half of a piece of toast, a few bites of salad, and all of my salad's kidney beans. Then we topped her off with a couple of bites of chocolate that a good friend from back East sent for her. Definately a good meal, even if it was unconventional and thrown together!

And we are back!


Contrary to popular belief, my flop did not discourage me. Rather, I haven't had much of a chance to cook, and when I did, I didn't have a chance to post! Recap on my week - On Sunday, I had to cook at my friends house (no camera) for a presentation of some cookware we sell. She had ribs and chicken planned, but there were several vegetarians so she had me cook up some steamed veggies and tofu. Sunday night we didn't eat much, we had some guests over for a product demonstration for some other products I sell. Monday we had the meal pictured here, which I will expound on in a moment.

Tuesday, I WAS COOKING, tomato soup with all sorts of goodies, like kidney beans and macaroni noodles, when my dear Mother Muffin called and asked us to help us look at some potential relocation locations. (mmm try to figure that one out - read new homes.) So she then treated us to Special Thai food, poor us.

Monday night we had pesto pasta, rotini noodles tossed with pesto sauce, and homemade bread pretzels. The pretzels were ok, however, my recipe needs work. The pesto was great!

Tonight I will post supper, and that means you'll get two posts on one day. Thanks for your patience!