Simple Southwestern (Vegan again)

Nothing fancy tonight, but delicious nonetheless. Black Beans and Rice and sauteed corn. I cut the corn off the cob and sauteed it with olive oil and scallions. I seasoned it with oregano, garlic salt, and paprika.

I was going to have corn on the cob one night, but it never happened and tonight something told me to cut it off the cob. I did. Good thing too, because some young men from the LDS church came by and we had a grand chat. (Seriously we did, we love it when they come!) They will be coming by for supper next week. Anyway, due to our chat, we would not have had time for DH to eat corn off of the cob, so it turned out perfect!

Verdict: The adults liked it. Mini Muffin was tired, cranky, hot, etc. She's 19 months after all! She ate about half her plate and then was "done." So we let her be done.

WonTon Ravioli's (VEGAN!)

More Wonton Pastas! I didn't use vegan wontons, but I listed this as vegan because that is easily substituted. I stuffed these ravioli's with tofu and spinach, using paprika, garlic salt, oregano and thyme to season them. The bread is that loaf of homemade italian bread, buttered with garlic butter and cooked in the oven. And the usual nice tossed salad.

My mom came today for supper. I made 35 ravioli's, using 70 wrappers, 1/2 cube of tofu and 2 cups (?) spinach. There was enough for 3 adults, Mini Muffin, lunch for DH, and more in the fridge. Unfortunately, my ravioli's started to fall apart, so next time I will be making tortellini, as those holds together better. But, it tasted awesome!

My nieces were also over, but they had eaten already. They still managed to get into the garlic bread!

Mini Muffin ate one ravioli (basically two wonton's or tortellini's) and some cucumbers and bread. Very happy child! Everyone was stuffed and happy!

Fajitas (VEGAN!)

Fajitas! I sauteed julienned carrots, onions, bell peppers and mushrooms and then layered them with S&W chili beans and rice in a tortilla. VERY GOOD!

Verdict: This dish is easy and delicious. Mini Muffin loved it, but then it has vegetables, beans and rice, all her favorite ingredients! Us adults stuffed ourselves after two! And its vegan, and very healthy!

Burgers and Fries, VEGAN!

Its Memorial Day, and what is more American than Burgers and Fries! We had our Gluten Burgers, and homemade potato fries.

To make the potato fries, slice your potatoes into whatever size and shape you want. Toss with olive oil and then season with italian seasonings such the ones I used last night: rosemary, thyme, oregano, and garlic salt. Bake at 450 for approx 20 minutes, or until tender.



Gluten Burgers

3/4 C quick oats
1/2 C gluten flour
2 T wheat germ
2 T yeast flakes
1 tsp sage or McKay's seasoning

mix together and add
3/4 C hot water
2 T soy sauce
1 T oil

Stir liquids into dry mix and set for a few minutes. Wet hands and shape into four patties. Brown both sides in a skillet. At second side, add 1/2 C - 1 C water, cover and cook until the water is gone.

Verdict: Mini Muffin loves this meal as do we all! I'm not sure if her favorite part is the potatoes or the slice tomatoes! Definately a hit!

Ramen Noodles and Vegetables

Yes, I know, this is not a picture of what we ate for supper. However, oriental ramen with mixed vegetables isn't really all that exciting. However, my attempt at Italian bread is! I know, it's not a pretty loaf. But hey, its only my second try in 8 years. This was the bread I started on sunday, and finished last night! It tastes great!

Interestingly, back to the topic of supper, most families stick mixed vegetables into pasta dishes in hopes that their child will eat more vegetables. We, on the other hand, stick vegetables into pasta dishes in hopes that our Mini Muffin will eat more PASTA! She loved on the vegetables and picked at the pasta. Silly little Mini Muffin!

Nothing for tomorrow probably, but we'll see you back next week!

Personal Spanakopitas

Upon trying to decide what to make tonight, my eyes fell on the phyllo dough in my fridge. I didn't really want to do the whole cassarole dish, as it takes a while. But then I thought, why not do little personal ones! And boy, were those easier and faster!!! I used:

1/2 of a bag of chopped spinach
1/3 of a large carrot, grated,
And some feta and chedder cheeses.

I then mixed it together and filled the dough. You just have to make sure to squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible. I rolled them up like little greek burritos, oilying with olive oil, and presto, done! I brushed them with oil on the top, and baked them at 350 for about 30 minutes (half the time for the whole thing!) It made 4. This would be perfect for a family who doesn't have the hour to make the pie and another hour to bake it. I'd say 30 minutes prep at the absolute most, 30 minutes baking. Plus, during that 30 minutes baking you can have the rice cooking and make your vegetable side!

Verdict: Awesome meal. Mini Muffin ate half of a pie, and all of her small serving of rice. DH ate his, and said "awesome meal!" I loved mine. This is a winner!

No Bake Mac & Cheese

I still can't use my oven. Oh, did I forget to explain why? That's simple. I tipped a fresh hot pizza over on accident and coated my oven with grease and cheese and sauce, and....ugh! That was monday. You know, the day that I was just getting well...and there's no picture. Now you know the OTHER reason I didn't put an image of food. Muffin Man graciously went and bought ANOTHER Papa Murphy's Gourmet Vegetarian pizza to replace the one that I trashed...which had been originally purchased by my mom, Corn Muffin, to help us out since I was so sick and sore all weekend. Sigh...

Don't worry, I'll get to clean my oven tomorrow. Then I'll be baking the bread I've wanted to make, since Monday. I'll be able to bake the cookies I made and froze...on Monday.

DH wanted Mac & Cheese tonight, so he asked me to make it without baking it afterwards. I did and it was great! It's still better baked...but at least this time I got the salt right on!

Verdict: Mini Muffin ate half of her small little bowl. DH and I both had two bowls, I finally got full for the first time since last week. HURRAY! Broccoli and onions and mac and cheese.

Cream of Asparagus (VEGAN!)

I needed to use up the tofu marinating in my fridge for several days, so I did. I made tofu nuggets. I used the marinade from last time, see post below, and flour seasoned with garlic salt and paprika. I also made Cream of Asparagus soup, using the Broccoli Soup recipe, adding dill weed and a few other herbs.

Verdict: Mini Muffin LOVED the tofu! She ate 6 pieces! And what's not to love, its the best tofu I've ever had!! Having left the tofu soaking for several days, they really retained the italian flavor! Muffin Man really enjoyed the nuggets as well, and ate most of them. Not that he's a pig though, I told him to since I'm still not feeling well. The soup was fantastic. We all ate one bowl of it, I would have had more but again, not too well! DH isn't a big fan of soup as it is...so if he ate it I'm happy!

Ugh

Don't know if there will be a post this evening....I've been sick all weekend. Hopefully I'll be good as new tomorrow as Mini Muffin has her swimming lesson. She has made tremendous progress this last week and I don't want her to miss her lesson!

Editted to say I have a moment of quiet here. I'll post the marinade from the tofu burgers.

I took a ziploc sanwich-sized container I used approximately:

2 TB soysauce
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp each of oregano, paprika, thyme, and crushed rosemary.

I then stacked the four slices (all that would fit coincidently) and filled it with water. After sealing, I shook up the container a few times while let it sat for 20 minutes. The flavor wasn't extremely strong, but it did add flavor to the burgers. Letting it sit overnight will add more flavor.

Tofu Burgers

It has been hot! I'm just thankful it hasn't been in the 100's like it has in eastern WA. But it hit 90 this week and now is back to 70. In an effort to survive we've been eating macaroni salad and sandwiches. Last night we ate the last of the macaroni salad.

Last night I made tofu burgers. A girl in High School (way back when) gave me this idea. Only tonight I soaked it in a marinade and floured it to add some crisp. Very yummy!!!

Verdict: Mini Muffin wasn't sure. She hasn't had tofu this way yet. But she ate a few bites and focused on her macaroni salad and sliced tomatoes. She LOVES tomatoes! DH ate his and said he really liked it. He had hoped I had made more than one patty a piece, but I hadn't. I loved mine and this is definitely a keeper!

Hot HOT Weather

We have had weather in the 80's and 90's around here. So we've been eating lots of sandwiches. Here is one of them. This has herbed cream cheese, lettuce, mushrooms, cucumbers, and radishes and cheese between homemade wheat bread. It had a side of corn chips and salsa.

Verdict: I'm not sure I've put radishes in a sandwich before, but I'll definately be doing it again. DH said it was "Interesting." Mini Muffin had a cream cheese sandwich with chunks of cucumber on the side and grapes. She ate most of it, happily.

I think my computer is back to normal.

The other day my computer overheated and I wasn't sure if I was going to lose. I didn't, fortunately. So now I can post again. Sunday was Mother's day, so we had a Mother's day brunch with my mom. Omelettes, Hashbrowns, and fruit. Here's the picture DH took of the spread. The Omelettes had red pepper, onions and mushrooms.

Verdict: We stuffed ourselves! I think Mini Muffin had more fun eating the fruit than anything else. Very good brunch.

Mini Muffin's Lunch

I'm also including in an additional post today, a lunch. Mini Muffin had a lunch the other day with her bread, previously featured. I thought you'd all like to see it. She had a cream cheese sandwich with blackberry jam, grapes and a glass of soymilk. She loved having a sandwich with her own bread!

Supper last night

I didn't post supper for a couple of nights because we either all ate at different times or like last night, Mini Muffin was sick. But Thursday night we had stirfry and last night, baked potatoes. The baked potatoes was a pretty simple meal. My potatoes are HUGE, so I had to cut them in half or they'd take several hours to bake. I wrapped them in tin foil and baked them at 450 for 90 minutes. Then I sauteed onions (sometimes I add broccoli and mushrooms to the sauteed) and we topped our potatoes with chedder cheese, onions, ranch dressing and baco bits.

To veganize this meal you simply use salsa or a vegan salad dressing, and leave off the cheese. Toppings could include vegan vegemeat;: sauteed vegetables such as mushrooms, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc., vegan cheese, salad dressings or salsa.

Cream of Broccoli Soup - Vegan!

Tonight was a quick fix (macaroni and sauce) and I didn't get a chance to take a picture, so I'm posting the Broccoli Soup Recipe. This is adapted from the Choices cookbook by Cheryl Thomas Peters, R.D.

2 C water
1-2 stalks broccoli or 1.5 lbs frozen broccoli
(she puts 1 stalk celery, however I did not)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 T olive oil
2 T flour
2.5 C water
2 T McKay's Chicken-Style seasoning
2 tsp garlic salt
1 C soymilk

In 3 qt saucepan boil broccoli and onion (and celery) in first 2 C water. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until tender. Using Blender or food processor, blend to uniform consistency.

Heat oil in 3 qt saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in 2.5 C water and heat to boiling again. Stir constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Add broccoli, McKay's Chicken-Style seasoning, and garlic salt. You may also add up to 2 C of small broccoli florets at this point and boil until tender. Then add soymilk and heat thoroughly. Serves 8 (in my house, 3).

Pesto Pizza

Tonight, I wasn't sure what to make. We had leftover pesto, but not enough for a full repeat meal. So I experimented and made pesto pizza. I more or less continued the green theme. I did have the pizza with Pesto and the other half with spaghetti sauce. I then added spinach under the cheese, and zuchinni and onions on top. The salad on the side is standard of course, fresh veggies are almost always in our fridge and I do hate cooking vegetable sides if I don't have to.

Verdict: OH MY! This was the BEST and I mean the BEST spaghetti sauce substitute EVER! I may never make pizza normal again. Ok, I probably will, but you know what I mean. We all loved the pesto side. Mini Muffin ate almost a whole slice, plus a few bites of salad. (I'm happy she loves them but I'll never understand that child and her love for vegetables.)

Birthday Dinner

Man yesterday was so busy. We had two business meetings and a small birthday dinner to do! Whew! The second meeting didn't get over until 8:30!! But it worth it!

I'm just now posting this, but the meal was grand! The theme was green, as Muffin Man's favorite color is green. I normally make cakes, but knew I couldn't pull it off with all we have been doing, and keep it a secret. So I got a DQ ice cream cake. I remembered that DH said he liked the crispy crunch cookie in the middle. The fish and rocks were both edible and were a symbol of our love for animals. We, uh, have 6 fish tanks set up and are getting ready to put a few more up.

The highlight of course was the pesto! DH had been mentioning that he wanted Pesto. So I decided to do it for his birthday. It was good. A tad strong, but then mine usually is. Complimented by a green salad. MMM.

Verdict: Mini Muffin wasn't sure about the pesto, I added spaghetti sauce to it. She ate a bit and then decided tomatoes were the way to go! So she had mainly tomatoes and cucumbers for dinner. DH LOVED the pesto and took extra for supper at work. My mom came and she said she really enjoyed the meal!

Quick posting

Today, 7/7/06, is Muffin Man's birthday. Look forward to a special birthday meal!

If by chance you want to say Happy Birthday, email us at RMSwanston@mail.com.

Stuffed Peppers

I hate stuffed peppers. Can't stand them. In fact, I often dreaded having them as a kid and usually choked them down because I hated even more telling my mom that I hated the peppers. So when the Vegan lunchbox featured stuffed peppers, I thought, ick, moving on. However, I started wondering, maybe I should make those. So I decided to try to make them with my OWN stuffing. So this is the result.

Verdict: DH LOVED them and wants them again. Mini Muffin didn't eat supper with us because it was late and she had already eaten. One of those days. Me? The stuffed pepper hater? Well, they weren't too bad. I'm going to go back to the drawing board and see if I can't make them better. I ate mine, and was happy. Lets put it that way!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it!

I forgot to post the last few days! EEK! I did however take pictures. Here is a picture of cream of broccoli soup. VEGAN!!!!!!

I'll post the recipe tomorrow or over the weekend. Verdict: Mini Muffin loved it. DH loved it and put cheezits in his soup. I ate loads of soup, and it didn't taste vegan at all!

Bonus picture for forgetting:
And yes we baked those today, Mini Muffin actually tried to knead and shape hers. She did a lot with Papa and I helped finish it.

Vegetable Lasagna

Ok, this isn't vegan. But is vegetarian and its GOOD! I made vegetable lasagna with a homemade Alfredo sauce and tofu. The vegetables were fresh spinach (blanched and chopped), steamed carrots and zucchini. Side of green leaf salad with cucumbers, red pepper, and mushrooms.

Verdict: definitely an awesome meal! Mini Muffin, little miss anti-cheese (fine with us), loved it. She ate her whole slice, which was an 1 inch by 3 inches. She had already eaten some guacamole at the Y today, member appreciation day, and some crackers. She also ate red pepper and cucumber from the salad. Muffin Man and I both had 3 helpings of lasagna! There was even enough left over for tomorrow's lunches! HURRAY!