Stuffed Eggplant

Tonight I needed to use up our eggplant, and tried this new recipe! I stuffed the eggplant with a mixture of the removed eggplant, mushrooms, onions, and ritz crackers. You could easily use breadcrumbs or vegan crackers in place of that however. I baked it at 350 for close to an hr. Sides of sauteed green beans and yellow crooked neck squash.

One plate and you're full! Very tasty! Mini Muffin wasn't too thrilled, but again, she was tired, cranky and still getting well. The rest of us enjoyed our meal!

The eggplant was a bit bitter, so next time I'll soak it in salt water first.

Naan, Naan, Naan, Naan Naan Naan! (mostly Vegan)

Ok, I'm only trying to be silly with the title. Pardon me, I came down a cold. Anyway, this is what we had tonight. Chana Masala, Palak Paneer, and Naan. The Naan isn't vegan, but I'll work on that. This was my first try ever, pretty good considering you are supposed to have a Tandoor oven, and I don't. I used Tofu in place of the Paneer (goat cheese) as well.

Anyway, short blog tonight, I'm going to bed early. Mini Muffin liked the Chana Masala and Naan, and she sampled the Palak Paneer. Muffin Man seemed to enjoy it, but he was exhausted tonight, so didn't say much. Night!

Fried Green Tomatoes

No, this isn't about Fried Green Tomatoes the movie! I saw some green tomatoes at the local farm stand so snatched them up. I haven't had fried green tomatoes in so long! I invited my mother and Grandmother over for supper last night. With all this heat, combined the fact they are moving, I figured they could use a good meal that they didn't have to work for!

The big red thing there is manicotti. Tofu-stuffed as usual with minced scallions and mushrooms mixed with the tofu. And because of the heat, a nice healthy salad.

I let Mini Muffin "help" with this meal too. She got to see me stuffing the manicotti, slicing the tomatoes and she got to put all of the ingredients of the salad in the bowl after I cut them. Mini Muffin absolutely loved the green tomatoes. I wasn't sure if she would, but she did. She also ate half of her half of a manicotti....not bad for a 1.5 year old. She sampled the salad as well.

Grand Muffin ate her food with utterances such as "mmm", "good", and "good food", all the way through her meal. Corn Muffin did the same, however she did comment that she couldn't comment much because she was too busy stuffing her face! Muffin Man wasn't so sure about the Green Tomatoes idea, but we all noticed that he went back for a generous second helping!!

Awesome meal!

Editing to give recipe for the fried tomatos.

I used:

3 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inches
1 C cracker crumbs or Matzo Meal
1 tsp each of dried: Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Paprika, Garlic.
2 eggs
1 C flour

In one bowl beat eggs, and set aside. In another bowl, mix cracker crumbs and seasonings. Put the flour in a third bowl. Flour each side of the tomato slices, and then dip into the eggs. Dredge each slice in the breadcrumb mixture and fry on each side until golden brown.

Good ol' Steak and Potatoes!

Ever had the craving for meat and potatoes, but couldn't have the meat? Well, your search is over! This is a complete Steak and Potatoes meal, it even has the buttermilk biscuit! Coincidently, its the ONLY part of the meal that isn't vegan! Gluten Steak patties, baby red potatoes, and green beans. I later added basic brown gravy, however it would have hid the lovely meal!

Mini Muffin helped in snapping the green beans. She's been doing it with me recently. Sometimes she forgets to take the ends off, but usually she does pretty well. Crazy thing is, she's doing beans as well as I did when I was 6 or 7!! But letting her help me is aiding in getting her to eat more green beans, and thus like them.

Very good meal! Definately took away the desire for meat and potatoes, thus leaving me plenty of creative thinking for the next meal!

No Picture

We had beans and rice and a dish of carrots sauteed lightly with onions. But no picture.

This weekend we may be going on a church thing called Campmeeting. Its where our whole church, all of the different congregations, meet together and have service in tents and things. Its great. As we will be picnicing, I'll try to get a picture or two of some of our meals.

Night All!

Pizza and Pasta Primavera!

My mom and Grandma came over on Monday and brought us Pizza! So we all had a great stuffing meal of Pizza and salad. MiniB Muffin ate salad fixings, and some spinach! She also ate most of her piece of pizza. Thanks Grandmas!

Tonight I made Pasta Primavera. I used green beans, onions, baby carrots, mushrooms, and garlic in it. This time I didn't use cornstarch in my soymilk to see how it worked.

MiniB Muffin didn't feel well this morning and took an early nap. She was so tired at supper that she didn't feel like chewing anything, so she didn't want to eat the vegetables, just slurp the noodles. However, for us adults the sauce was perfect! I may use a tad amount of cornstarch next time, but not much. This was a very good meal that we all enjoyed!

Squash Casserole and breakfast

I made a nice little breakfast for us the other day. It was in a small bowl, and I didn't think it would fill us up. We were all very happy with the size. Mini Muffin ate half of hers. Definately a good idea!

The Squash Casserole meal, was, yes, very yellow. Who said it was bad to eat lots of yellow!! Anyway, I got the recipe from Martha Stewart. I used 2 yellow crooked neck squash, one half of an onion, 1 C soymilk with corn starch added, 3 eggs, and 1.5 cups of cracker crumbs, thyme, salt and some cheese. MMMM.

We all loved it. Mini Muffin had a small amount and has decided yellow squash is her friend! She was too busy to eat a lot however!

Been busy

I will post soon, promise!

Build Your Own Sandwich

Until yesterday, it had been so hot, I'd been trying to not use the oven much. So here we have build your own sandwich night. Basically I pull out a bunch of sandwich fixin's and everyone gets to choose their own. As you can see here, I chose lettuce, tomatos, mushrooms, cucumbers, radishes, and lettuce. I never thought they'd be great on sandwiches, but I was wrong, radishes definately make a good sandwich topping!

Muffin Man complained, but agreed it was better than hot food on a hot day. He took all but the radishes. He didn't see them, or at least that was his excuse! Mini Muffin ate tomatoes, cucumbers, and some bread and cheese. All seperately. She has decided cheese isn't so bad, in small quantities.

Curried Green Beans and Mexican Food

Hows that for a title! I'm still catching up on housework and things...so I'm posting another previous meal from this week - Soft Tacos. Rice, Beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc. Wonderful filling meal.

Verdict: We used up the last of the baby lettuce that we had in the fridge for this meal, and let me tell you, it was so great on those tacos! Mini Muffin ate tomatoes, beans and rice, and sampled some lettuce.

Now, for the Curried Green Beans.

I sauteed tofu, cut in cubes, until golden brown. Just before they were done I added 2 cloves of garlic, crushed, to add flavor. Then I added a small bag of frozen green beans, and cooked them until almost done. I poured a can of coconut milk on top, and seasoned with curry powder and paprika to taste. I then added salt to taste, as Muffin Man always says I forget salt...and yes I do. That was it. I am sorry I dont' have better measurements. I'm not that kind of cook very often!

Tofu Fish Fillets

The first night back, that is, Thursday, I made tofu fillets. Poor Muffin Man, he had no one to cook for him for 11 days. I decided to give him something he would really LOVE! Fish Fillets, tarter sauce, and curried green beans and tofu.

The green beans and tofu were inspired from my favorite restaurant. One evening I said to Niki, make me something with green beans, and she made this dish for me! I LOVED that and made a note to make it myself!

Verdict: I sent the leftovers with Muffin Man for supper while at work. He thanked me the next day and asked if we had anymore curry leftover!! (we didn't, he'd already eaten it all at work). But, wow!

Mini Muffin wasn't too sure about the green beans, but she ate the tofu and a few bites of beans. Great Meal!

Back from Vacation!

I'm still pretty tired from my trip, but I can't let all of you down! Here's a piece about a restaurant we went to on our trip! We went to a restaurant called Noah's Ark. Here they have vegan food, vegatarian food, and a few select meat dishes (but only to satisfy those who wouldn't otherwise "survive" dinner). I had the lasagna, which they offer in both veggie and vegan style, and my mom had a greek meal! The little girls, my niece and Mini Muffin, had chicken nuggets, Mini Muffin's being vegetarian of course!

Verdict: Very good! I choose to have a smaller portion, and I'm glad I did. I was able to eat it all, but not feel miserable! Mini Muffin had never had anything like chicken nuggets and she loved them! She had them again later during the trip when I bought them for her and she loved them then too! The restaurant was nice, I enjoyed poking around the gift shop area. We didn't take a tour because we were headed to the Wildlife Safari! Mini Muffin got a camel ride there, and hasn't forgotten it yet! 2 weeks later and we still hear about the "Camool" and how fun it was!

I hope that next week I can catch you all up on the two meals we've had this week.