Not the worst, but definitely not the best...

I made another lentil dinner last night, and this one wasn't quite as delicioso. It's always good to try something new, though!

This recipe for Rosemary Lentil Loaf sounded and looked good, and also used ingredients that I already had. I like that there is some sweet potato stealthily added. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't fantastic. It needed some more spice or something. I followed the recipe exactly, except I put some ketchup and mustard on top for the last 10 minutes...I'm white trash like that.

We had mashed potatoes and corn on the side. I'm pretty sure I could live on mashed potatoes. I know there are people on both sides of the mashed potato war...lumps or no lumps. But I'm like Sir Mix a Lot. I like it thick and chunky.

I leave the peel on and mash by hand, and instead of milk I use vegetable broth. The corn was...a can of corn!

This dinner WAS really filling. It must be the oatmeal that's mixed in with the loaf. I probably won't make this again, but you never know. It's a good excuse for mashed potatoes, anyway!

How do you cut a mango?

I seriously don't know. Cutting a mango seems like so much work to get a tiny bit of fruit. Am I holding it wrong? They're too slippery.

Anyway, last night I made this mango dal and it was really flavorful and delicious! I used green lentils, dried ginger, and and ground cumin instead of seeds. I also punked out on using that much cayenne. It turned out spicy, but not too spicy...I probably could have added the whole amount. The mangoes were such a perfect part of this dish! They were sweet with a little bit of tang. YUM. Next time I'll add a third mango, or maybe learn how to cut them better so I get all the goodness off the core.

We put the dal over rice with cooked carrots on the side. I just had the leftovers for lunch and it was just as good! You could put it in a tortilla and pack it for a portable lunch, too. Next time I might make a double batch, but then again, Kyle definitely does not need any more food from the bean family. Speaking of...I'm making another lentil dish for dinner tonight. Sorry, world.

Definitely a keeper!

I wasn't planning on making dinner tonight since we still have leftover black bean soup and Kyle's going out, but I have felt like poo all day. Tired, dizzy, and blah. When I feel like that, I always want some starchy carbs. Then I remembered a recipe for peanut butter noodles that my friend Chris posted, which then led me to feel like if I didn't get peanut butter noodles, I may not survive.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but made a few substitutions to make it easier. I used vegetable broth instead of chicken, and instead of fresh ginger and garlic, I used powdered. I added shredded carrots and some chopped cilantro, and also used sliced almonds instead of peanuts.

Let me tell you...you HAVE to try this. It was SO good!! You could add all kinds of steamed/stir fried vegetables to make it healthier and to feed more people. I may or may not have eaten the entire thing. Heehee.

Once again, I neglected to take a picture of the final product! It didn't look like a food magazine, but it tasted incredible. These are the rice noodles I used.

They were great and tasted just like noodles from a Thai restaurant! Seriously...try this recipe. YUM!!!

Black Bean Soup

This one is ridiculously easy and versatile! The recipe is for a very basic soup that can be dressed up and very easily doubled, tripled, etc. for feeding a crowd.

Put the following in a blender or food processor:

2 cans black beans (mostly drained, but ok to leave a little)

1 cup any kind of salsa

1 1/2 c vegetable broth

1 t cumin

Blend until soupy, dump in a big pot

Then add 2 more cans black beans (drained and rinsed) and 2 cans of corn (drained)

That is all.

You could add other spices to the base (cilantro, green onion, garlic, etc.) Last night I added a can of diced green chiles, which I thought made it too spicy. I'm a wimp. You can also vary it by using different types of salsa. And you can add all kinds of vegetables after it's blended too.

Of course you can top it with cheese and sour cream, or just crush some tortilla chips on top.

I was so tired, I didn't even bother to take a picture! So here's a picture of a good little rodent eating its vegetables. 

Another easy one

Esther hasn't had much of an appetite (still hoping it's not the flu!) and Isaac had some special treats at school AND after school, so I knew they wouldn't be eating dinner. So, I made something I knew they wouldn't eat anyway!

I guess it's kind of a polenta lasagna? Layer a baking pan with slices of cooked polenta (comes in a plastic tube.) Then sauté 2-4 chopped zucchinis in some olive oil with garlic salt and pepper. Add a bunch of spinach, black olives, and some spaghetti sauce and simmer until spinach is wilted. Then I threw in the remaining leaves of my nearly dead basil plant. Pour all this on top of the polenta and bake at 350 for 15 mins or so.

 Kyle and I really liked this, but it's not something I'd make the kids eat. I think it would be even better to fry the polenta slices until crispy and just put the sauce on top. Mmm, fried food.

Next week I'm making 2 stand-by recipes and trying 2 new ones that use lentils, including a lentil "meatloaf"! I hope it'll be good!

Whoops-a-daisy!

Cooking is full of trial and error. My worst yet was a pumpkin soup the first Halloween we were married. I think Kyle is still traumatized because anytime I mention anything about pumpkin in any form other than pie, he cringes.

Tonight I thought I'd add to our usual stir fry by making homemade egg rolls. Yay, me!

I chopped up some onions, garlic, cabbage, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. Then I sautéed all that in some olive oil and sesame oil and added some soy sauce and dried ginger.

My friend Tami told me that La Choy soy sauce doesn't have gluten! Hooray! I knew Esther wouldn't eat the egg rolls anyway, so I went ahead and added it even though it has soy. While I was doing this, I also enjoyed some sake. Wrong country, right continent?

I've made homemade egg rolls in the past, but it's been a while. This time, I ended up with spring roll skins, which I discovered are quiet different. When I opened the package, I was surprised to see that they were...translucent and crispy!

I had no idea what to do with these, so I looked online and learned that you soak them for 30 seconds in warm water and then you're able to roll them. Whew. I thought they turned out lovely!

The package had so many skins (eeww) that I'm going to try to make fresh spring rolls next time (raw veggies wrapped up in the skins.) 

Instead of frying, I wanted to bake them and found lots of recipes online. You can coat a baking sheet with oil and bake at 425 for 15 mins or so. I learned not to try to flip them too soon, or they'll look like this:

That's not right. So I let them keep baking and THEN flipped and they turned out like this:

Hooray!! I think I used too much oil on the baking sheet, and on top of them because they were a little greasy. I didn't have any Pam.

I served these with rice, stir fried veggies, peanut sauce, and the gluten free teriyaki sauce in the picture above.

Everything was fine, but not awesome. Next time I'll add more spice to the filling, flip at the right time, and use less oil. Less whining from children would be rad too. I'm also really looking forward to the fresh spring rolls!

The kid is getting on board...

No, Isaac's not actually eating the food I make. Haha. But, last night we had leftovers and he didn't want to eat them, so I told him he could make a sandwich. He decided on pickles and tomatoes. As he was sitting down, he asked, "don't you want to take a picture for Firstenfood?" Of course! He propped up the top piece of bread so you could see the delicious contents. Love that boy.

Ugly dinner

I thought we'd just eat leftover pasta tonight, but then I realized Kyle will be eating out tomorrow, so I'll just save it until then. No sense in cooking a meal for 2 little people who won't eat anyway!

Tonight I made a veggie enchilada casserole and I must say...it was fantastic! I didn't miss the cheese AT ALL. I think it was mostly because of the enchilada sauce. Almost all pre-made sauces have soy, dairy, or gluten in them, but I found that Kroger (store brand) did not! I got a jar of each kind, green and red, and used both. They were perfectly spicy, but not over the top.

I put a thin layer of sauce in a 9x13 pan, and then a layer of tostada shells. I know you normally use corn tortillas and fry them first, but #1 ain't nobody got time for that #2 I hate the way frying tortillas makes the house smell and #3 less oil. Then I added chopped carrots and onion and a can of drained/rinsed beans. Then more sauce and tostadas. Then chopped squash and bell pepper and a can of drained corn. Topped with more sauce, tostadas, and sauce again. Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly.

As you can see...this is one UGLY dinner! Ugly but delicious! This is also a great way to use up Mexican leftovers. And no, the kids didn't eat it. Boo on them!

Easy Peasy

Last night's dinner was really easy and chock full of vegetables. I used a jar of pasta sauce and made it feel more "homemade."

First I sautéed some onion and garlic, then added a big jar of spaghetti sauce. Next I added a bunch of chopped vegetables: carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper, mushrooms, and olives. While that was simmering, I made some quinoa pasta and then it was done!

The picture doesn't look very vegetable-y, but it was great. Kyle and I loved it, Isaac ate most of his, and, as usual, Esther didn't eat anything. I seriously don't know how that girl survives!

We have so much leftover that we're eating it again for dinner tonight. We'll see what Esther thinks!

More stir fry

Tonight I made another stir fry, but this time with rice noodles. I had the hardest time finding Asian rice noodles, but settled on Tinkyada. They were fine, but more spaghetti-ish than I was hoping for. I think next time I'll go to an Asian grocery store, just to try something different.

I stir fried onions, garlic, broccoli, carrots and red bell pepper and also made a homemade peanut sauce. Thank you Marla for the recipe!!

2 T corn starch

1/2 c cold water

Dissolve corn starch in water, set aside

Whisk together the following in a saucepan over medium heat:

1/4 c soy sauce

1/2 c smooth peanut butter

1/4 c brown sugar

1 T vinegar

2 tsp sesame oil

1 c warm water

Stir/simmer until dissolved, then stir in cornstarch/water until thick, 1-2 minutes

This was really great! Soy sauce has soy (duh) and also wheat (WHY?!?!?!) so I used Worcestershire sauce instead. It does have soy, but no gluten. I'm sure it would be even better with soy sauce, but we just added some salt.

We sprinkled on sesame seeds and sliced almonds, and Kyle added red pepper flakes. So good!

Isaac thought the noodles were slimy, but ate the vegetables. Esther ate the noodles, but not the vegetables. At least everyone ate something, I guess!

Is it summer already?!

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful out! Sunny, blue skies and warm enough to wear a tank top. Wow! We went for a drive to a peaceful "beach" (sorry, lakes and rivers do not have beaches) and had a great time together as a family.

In keeping with the summer weather, we decided to BBQ for dinner. I'm not normally a Whole Foods shopper, but they do have a few items you can't get elsewhere. It's really hard to find "fake" food (cheese, veggie burgers, etc.) that doesn't have soy or gluten, but thanks to my friend Beth, I found some vegan burgers that fit the bill!

As we were prepping to BBQ, we discovered our propane tank had a leak. OOPS!!! I just fried the burgers in a pan, which was fine. They kind of fell apart, which would have been even worse on a grill! Kyle and I put our burgers in romaine lettuce leaves and the kids had theirs with toasted bread. They kind of tasted like...mushy falafel? Kyle had the chipotle flavored ones, which he said were great. We also had corn on the cob (probably GMO in some lab because I know it's not corn season!) and frozen fries (Alexis brand is soy-free...most others use soybean oil.) 

This was a seriously tasty dinner. I can't believe it's only January and I'm already looking forward to summer. Don't remind me of this in August when it's 120 degrees out. UGH!!!

The perfect accompaniment to this meal was BEER! We finally found a gluten free beer that is actually good! Most of them are super light lager style, but Whole Foods had ONE amber ale. YUM.

Pasta time

I've mentioned the Nursing Mom Recipes website before, which was a real life saver when we first found out about Esther's allergies. All of the recipes are dairy and soy free, and most are easy to make gluten free.

I've made this linguini recipe many times and we all like it. The kids tolerate it. Good enough for me. I used quinoa pasta this time, but have also used corn pasta from Trader Joe's. Gluten free pasta can be tricky and the spaghetti/linguini style in particular can get mushy.

I decided to skip the beans this time because we've all had enough beans lately. I used a 28 oz can diced tomato and a whole can of olives. The other change that I always make is to add a whole bag of spinach because it cooks down so much.

I top the pasta with fresh basil from my Trader Joe's (again!) basil plant. It's only $3.99, which is cheaper than a package! I usually buy one once a month or so. I'm sure some people can keep them alive, but I definitely don't have a green thumb because mine always die.

The kids had their pasta with just the tomato sauce because neither of them really like all the "stuff" in the sauce. They also both surprised me by eating salad with Italian dressing!

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!

So YESTERDAY, I made this stew, which took longer than the recipe said. I think I cut the potatoes and sweet potatoes too big or something. I didn't have chipotle, so I used cayenne pepper (hooo weee!) My grocery store didn't have turnips, so I just did more potato/sweet potato. I also used more carrots because I know my kids will at least eat those! It says to blend the tomatoes and spices, but in the words of Sweet Brown, "ain't nobody got time for that!" so I didn't bother. AND, just NOW when I looked at the recipe again (after it's all cooked) I noticed the "Chef's Note" not to add the vegetable broth if you're using the crock pot. Um, could you maybe put that in the ingredient list or the top or something? Like I'm going to thoroughly read a recipe! Sheesh.
Anyway, we had it tonight with the Bob's gluten-free cornbread I made yesterday.

Kyle and I both really liked the soup, but because I didn't take the time to blend the tomatoes and added the veg broth, it wasn't really a stew. It still tasted great and had a little kick from the cayenne. Esther didn't touch it, but that's nothing new. Isaac ate it and didn't realize the sweet potatoes weren't just big carrots. Muwahahaha! He said it was ok.

I'm having fun trying all these new recipes and just signed up for a weekly menu planner through The Vegan Menu. I know I can just look up recipes online for free, but I got a great deal through Living Social, and it'll also be nice to have a complete week of recipes emailed to me for inspiration.

Good to have a Plan B

Yesterday I was planning on trying a crock pot recipe I found on the Forks Over Knives website. I followed the directions, set the crock pot to high, and was looking forward to a yummy smell filling the house.

In the meantime, I made some gluten-free cornbread, using a Bob's Red Mill mix. It does use 2 eggs, so it's not vegan, but is gluten, dairy, and soy free, which is our biggest concern. I used almond milk, which gave it a nice, sweet taste!




















When dinnertime rolled around, I checked the crock pot and all the vegetables still felt basically raw. Kids were getting crazy and I was on my way out the door! I decided to "make" (assemble) some basic tostadas that I was planning on making Friday night. I opened 2 cans of refried black beans (Trader Joe's of course...most brands have soy in them for some reason!) and put them on tostada shells (most corn tortillas/tostadas are gluten free, although you have to check each brand.) Then I made some guacamole and put jars of salsa on the table. Dinner is served!

I had plans to go thrifting and grab dinner with my friend Marla and thoroughly enjoyed THIS!

Awwww, yeah. It was GOOD. It's not vegan or healthy, but IS vegetarian. I ordered a grilled cheese which is really just a cheeseburger without the meat. Delicioso! One thing I noticed was that I got SO full, SO fast, even without the meat! Mmm, cheese.

Kyle kept the crock pot going until the dinner was finished, so tonight we'll have stew and cornbread with no cooking at all! Woo hoo!

Drinking our dinner...

I bet you thought I was going to say I made a healthy, homemade smoothie. Nope. This is what we're having.

Ok, that, plus leftovers. The last few dinners I've made have been pretty huge, so we're just finishing up the leftovers with some salad. The kids are having a mix of fruit and some pasta with olive oil and spices.

Tomorrow I'm making a crock pot meal, so we'll be back to the recipes.

Cheers!

The spice of life

Last night I tried a new recipe for Curry Chickpeas. YUM. I know some people aren't fans of curry, but I love it. And it's always nice to use a spice other than the standards!

Sautee some onion and garlic in olive oil

Add a can of tomato sauce and 1/2 c water

Mix in 1 1/2 tsp curry powder (or more, depending on how spicy you want it)

Add 2 cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Simmer 3 minutes

BOOM, you're done

Serve this over rice and alongside your favorite veggies. The kids ate the vegetables and rice, but didn't care for the beans. I think it was a combination of the spice and texture. I LOVE garbanzo beans, but I know they aren't for everyone.

This really was an easy dinner, and it made enough for lunch for 2 people the next day. Woo hoo!

Trying to mix it up!

As I was meal planning for the coming week, I wanted to make sure we had a variety of food styles and ingredients. We'll be eating Asian, Indian, Italian, Mexican, and American! Some recipes are old stand bys and a couple are new. I even managed to get a crock pot recipe in there, which I'm pretty excited about. I love preparing dinner early in the day while I still have energy so that the afternoon can be a time that I can focus on helping with homework and winding down for the day.

I've made this recipe quite a few times, so I decided to cut out the meat and sub more vegetables. I served it cold with green onions, cilantro, red bell peppers, cucumber, oranges, celery, and almonds. For the dressing, I used garlic powder and garlic salt instead of minced garlic.

It was so yummy. I'm really diggin' the sweetness of the oranges mixed in with the usual vegetables. This would be a great dish to bring to a summer potluck!

I knew this would be too hard for the kids to pick apart, so I just made them this for dinner. (Esther just had mac n "butter".) They did also eat pears and bananas, so it wasn't totally terrible.

What about protein?

Normally when I want to lose weight or get ready for summer, I switch to a low carb, high protein diet. I've been wondering if the lack of meat would actually make me gain weight. I looked online (where everything is true and unbiased, right?) and feel much better. There is actually quite a bit of protein in beans, nuts, spinach, mushrooms, sprouts, and quinoa! We will just stick with this and see how it goes!

On Saturdays, we try not to do too much work and just have a relaxing day as a family. For lunch we had leftover pizza and other random stuff. For dinner I made tortilla soup, which is easy and I've made many, many times. It's my go-to meal for new moms, so some of you have probably already tried it!

TORTILLA SOUP

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

bunch green onions

giant handful cilantro

3-4 cloves garlic

1/8 tsp sugar

Blend in a blender, put in a big soup pot

Add:

2 cans or 1 box veg broth

1 8oz can tomato sauce

chili powder (1/2 tsp or so)

1/4 tsp marjoram

1 bay leaf

Simmer 20 minutes

Add:

3 cans beans, drained/rinsed (black, kidney, pinto, etc.)

2 cans drained corn

whatever else you want (carrot, zucchini, chicken, etc.)

Top each bowl with crushed tortilla chips (or you can make your own by cutting up corn tortillas and baking until crispy.) Normally we also add cheese and sour cream, but this time we just added guacamole and it was still really tasty. This soup is best enjoyed with a margarita or three.

Cheesy

Friday, I had had about enough of kids turning up their noses at my dinners and Kyle and Isaac got home late from school, so we decided to go out. We found Sammy's Woodfired Pizza, which offers gluten-free crust and vegan cheese. Friends have told me that Daiya cheese is good, so I thought I'd check it out for myself. Isaac got a pepperoni pizza with mozzarella cheese. (Gotta let the kid live a little!) He ate so fast I thought he was going to choke! Esther also had a pepperoni pizza, but with the vegan cheese. When it arrived at our table, she was upset and said, "cheese makes me sick!" She was shocked when we said it was special and she could eat it...she loved it! Kyle ordered a Margherita pizza on gluten-free crust with vegan cheese, and I had a veggie pizza with the vegan cheese.

Ok, the cheese was melty, which I guess a lot of vegan cheeses don't do. But it tasted like Velveeta, only grainier. I know...not so good. I'm guessing my friends who think it's good, just haven't had real cheese in so long that they have convinced themselves that it's good. Haha!! I understand...I once convinced myself that rice milk lattes were "just as good" as real ones. Anyway, my pizza wasn't too bad. It was covered in eggplant, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and other goodies. But poor Kyle's just had tomatoes and basil, so you could really taste the cheese. He was not impressed and brushed his teeth as soon as we got home to get rid of the texture. The other problem was the price. These individual pizzas were $12 each...plus $3 for GF crust and $2 for vegan cheese. For the four of us (drinking water) the bill was $60 by the time we left the tip. Sheesh. I think for pizza I'll just stick to making my own. There's no need to eat processed cheese, really. There are lots of GF pizza crust mixes and I just add lots of vegetables. My favorite is pizza sauce, thinly sliced zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms, spinach, and a little onion. Once you load all that stuff on, you don't really miss the cheese. (I'm lying, but it IS good.) For the kids I guess I'll give them a treat and buy some pepperoni...it's like a dessert.

So, lessons. It's too expensive to eat out with kids and vegan cheese is gross. You're welcome.

Discouraging day

Well, our day got off to a good start. I had a banana with peanut butter and everyone else had cereal with almond milk. The fact that there's no complaining from almond milk is a miracle!

Lunch was more of the same. Thank God the minestrone soup is now GONE! Normally I'd freeze that much leftover soup, but I don't feel like beans really freeze well.

When I picked Isaac up from school, he asked, "What's for dinner?" I said stir fry, and Esther broke into tears. Seriously? I'm so horrible for feeding you healthy food, I KNOW!! Isaac then said, as soon as he was a teenager, he was getting in his car and going to fast food. It must be one of those things where you know you can't have something and suddenly want it more than anything in the world. Normally, I'd say we have fast food maybe 2-3 times a month...not too often. But, hey...I understand. In-n-Out is pretty fantastic.

I made an Asian stir fry, which was probably my favorite meal this week. It was onions, garlic, carrots, orange bell peppers, and broccoli, with some celery and oranges added at the very end. Then we topped that with sesame seeds, almond slices, and a bit of sesame seed oil and GF peanut sauce, all over rice. So good!!

I've been trying to have a "daily lesson" and I guess mine for today is that I really don't love cooking all this food from scratch. Sorry. I'd love to just order a pizza. Or even boil some spaghetti and add some jarred sauce! But, I'm really, really trying to keep this up. It's not a super burden...it's just a little hard when people are like, "eeewww, disgusting" when you've worked so hard. Maybe we'll get a date night soon and I can bust out that box of mac n cheese!

Mmmm, donuts

One of the things I'd like to do on this blog is to tell about restaurants with vegan options. While searching for bakeries a couple of months ago, I found Ronald's Donuts. I'm telling you, you would never guess these bad boys were vegan. They are fluffy and not too heavy or greasy. Just the right sweetness, too. (Yes, I know they aren't healthy!) The shop is in Chinatown and has that neighborhood community feeling. The owner is super friendly and let me know that the raised donuts are vegan, the cake ones are not. Sadly, only the cake donuts had sprinkles and of course that's what Esther wanted! Eh, she'll survive one donut. Treats like this aren't a usual thing for us, but we were meeting a friend later, had time to kill, and were in the area. And with Esther's allergies, it's nice to find a place where she can actually eat!

I had some of the minestrone soup for lunch, along with a banana and peanut butter.

For dinner I decided to just make something light that could go with MORE leftover soup, so I made a Greek quinoa salad. I've made this for potlucks before and have always been given the thumbs up. It's just cooked quinoa, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, black olive, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt & pepper. Yes, feta cheese would make this even better! Normally I use green onion but wanted to try red onion since it seems more Greek...I used way too much and it was an onion-fest! Other than that, it was great. We used collard green leaves to make wraps.

The kids really don't like quinoa, no matter how I fix it. Most of the time, they eat what we eat, but when it's something I know they hate, I am ok with making them a simple dinner. Isaac calls this meal "a plate of stuff." They both had hummus with carrots, bread with peanut butter, and some pears. No complaints tonight!

Finding sandwich bread that doesn't have milk or soy in it has been a challenge. Good old Trader Joe's never lets me down though. They have a Tuscan bread that is awesome. And if you're able to get your hands on some Dave's Killer Bread, DO SO!!! I know it's available all over Seattle, and I just about peed my pants when I checked their site and discovered that there is ONE STORE in Vegas that carries it! Yesssssss. (Poor Kyle, it's not gluten-free...we'll eat it while he's at work.)