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, August 31, 2007

A Cheesecake by any other name...

What can I say about this....other than WOW!

I grew tired of the recipes I had, so asked a food group I'm on to please give me some ideas. They did! This is one of them. A Savory Cheesecake.

First, the Muffin Man's reaction, and MiniB Muffin. I don't have a regular sized springform pan, so I just used my two 6 inch ones. We ate one last night. I encouraged the Muffin Man to eat more, but he insisted we take it to church with us tomorrow night and have it served to the worship team and Rabbi. MiniB Muffin wasn't sure with her first taste, and continued to not be sure. But by the end of the meal she was snarfing down her portion. I think that the next time I serve this, she will be less cautious.

Me? Well, let's just say it's a good thing I was full, or the Rabbi wouldn't be getting any.

Warning, this dish is long, involved, and oh so worth it! Here is the recipe.

Savory Vegetable Cheesecake
This main-dish cheesecake comes from Mollie Katzen's "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest".
8 servings, 2 hours 30 min prep

3 cups grated zucchini
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup minced onions
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrots
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup freshly minced parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 large eggs
fresh ground black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, sliced into rounds,then sliced in half
3-4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.
2. Butter a 10" springform pan and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, set aside.
3. Put the grated zucchini into a colander.
4. Salt lightly, and let is sit about 15 minutes, then squeeze out any excess moisture.
5. Saute the onions in butter with 1/2 t salt.
6. When they start to turn translucent, add the carrots, garlic, zucchini, flour, basil and oregano.
7. Keep stirring and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley and lemon.
9. Beat the cheeses and eggs together until well blended.
10. (Hello, Kitchenaid mixer!) When the cheese and egg mixture is nice and fluffy, fold in the veggies.
11. Season to taste with black pepper.
12. Pour the mixture into the springform pan.
13. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes-- then pull it out for a minute.
14. Remember those tomatoes?
15. Dredge them in the breadcrumbs and decorate the top of the cheesecake with them in a pretty spiral pattern.
16. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees, and bake another 30 minutes.
17. Turn off the oven and just let the cheesecake sit in there for another 15 minutes.
18. Then, take it out of the oven and let it cool about 10 more minutes before cutting and serving.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

yellow squash pizza?

Yes folks, I was feeling creative! I made pizza, only I wanted something unique. So I used yellow squash, eggplant parmesan, broccoli and onions. I was hoping that the yellow squash would taste similar to zucchini, which I like on pizza.

YES! It was delicious. Everyone loved it and the entire pizza was gone by bedtime. Considering the pizzas I made are on cookie sheets, that's a lot of pizza!

Tomorrow I'll post yet another unique food adaptation I made recently!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Eggplant: VEGAN!

I figured out a way to make Eggplant Parmesan vegan! Its really very silly and simple! Flour the eggplant, then dip it into water, or put it under running water....just to moisten the flour, not to wash it off. Then you put it in your seasoned breading! IT WORKS!

So tonight I had leftover eggplant, so I made eggplant sticks. VERY yummy. And after sampling eggplant all week, MiniB Muffin decided she really does like it. Especially after dipping it into ranch dressing or marinara sauce.

Definitely not healthy, but OH SO GOOD!!!!!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

no sleep = no posts

Sorry guys, Mocha Muffin stopped sleeping as long, and I get less sleep!! Plus The Muffin Man is home more often now to, so I don't get as much computer time either!

Raw Food! Great for health, easy to cook, and typically COLD!!!!! Nice on hot days, and for crunchy cravings.

Pesto! Here's a neat story. We belong to two churches, and go to both of them on Saturday. Typically when I take food to the fellowship meal afterwards I make twice as much so I can take the same thing to both congregations. So this time I made Pesto and intended on making Pasta just before leaving the house.

Only we got sick. And we never went. So I had all this Pesto....for no reason. So we had pesto for supper that night. To add to the raw food theme I added raw vegetables. Well, around 6pm we get a call. Odd, as everyone knows we'd be at service at that time. I answer it and its a friend of mine who's locked herself out of the house with her two kids! So, Muffin Man goes to get her and the kids, and brings them over. Lo and behold, I have food all waiting for them. Thank you Lord for the Pesto and Pasta!!!

Mini Muffin is still trying to decide if she likes it yet or not!