A new laptop! Woohoo!

Ever since my daughter knocked over my laptop and ruined the monitor, I have had a hard time with the blogging. My desktop is slow and uncomfortable, and I don't like to blog at work, so I have just been finding it all too much work. On Friday, though, I got my tax refund (thank you, new house!), and yesterday I got a new laptop. I am just amazed at how quickly technology moves on--I got my old laptop only two years ago, and this one has lots more memory and hard drive space, plus facial recognition for logging in, and probably other things I have not discovered yet, for $150 less than I paid for the other one. Yippee!

On the eating front, we have been doing pretty good. I am still cooking more, to avoid the expense of eating out. My biggest habit change that I am so proud of is eating breakfast at home. I had gotten in the habit of waiting until I got to work to eat breakfast, because we were so rushed in the mornings. However, that means being up for about two hours before I ate anything, which is terrible for my metabolism, and making poor choices, because I was starving by the time I ate. Lots of greasy hashbrowns with eggs, biscuits, donuts, and other heavy, unhealthy foods were had. Now I have cereal with rice milk, or oatmeal cooked with maple syrup, dried fruit and cinnamon, or a whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter and a banana, or a fruit smoothie. Much better choices!

On a completely different note, I have to share a picture of my almost vegan desserts from the after-Thanksgiving meal I had with friends the first weekend in December:

Don't those look delicious? The first one at the top left is my almost vegan dessert--a pumpkin bread pudding. I used soy milk, but I went ahead and used the eggs in the recipe. I have not been brave enough to experiment with egg substitutes for cooking yet. Scrambled tofu for brunch? I got that down pat, but not so much on the cooking subs. Next is urban vegan's cranberry upside down cake which was absolutely scrumptious, as expected. Front and center is the Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake from the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen (not a fatfree recipe!). That is very nearly the perfect dessert. It's rich and delicious, and I really couldn't eat more than a small slice at a time, because of the richness. Everyone loved it, vegan or not.

Okay, I have gained about 5 pounds just looking at that picture and thinking about how good those desserts were, so I need to go do some exercising! Hopefully I will be back here more often with the new laptop--I've missed it.

Leftovers

I have been thinking about this recipe that I found in a Laptop Lunchbox newsletter last year

for some time now. It really looked good, and I even considered making it as an entree for the Thanksgiving meal, like they suggested. I really like the individual dishes, though, and I have some picky family members that don't necessarily like their foods to be combined, so I decided againt it. I didn't forget it, however, and this year, I bought portobello mushrooms with my Thanksgiving supplies so that I could do it both ways, using my leftovers to make a totally new dish.

This turned out really well. The girl even ate some, although she said she wasn't very hungry. But she even put the cranberry sauce on top and ate without complaining! The boy liked it all except for the mushroom, but he ate the sweet potatoes and the stuffing and the cranberry sauce.

I also made pumpkin soup with the pumpkin I had leftover from the pumpkin cheesecake. That wasn't quite as successful. I thought it was all right, although it could have used a bit more spice. The kids, on the other hand, cried. They haven't done that in a while, and I thought it was more than a bit of an overreaction, but it clearly was not a success at any rate. I am going to perservere, though, because they need to learn to like soups. I am wearing them down in other areas (excuse me, educating their palates), it is time for soups. They are such a great way to get in extra vegetable nutrition. Plus, it's cold outside and soup is warming.

I just need to prepare myself for the whining and complaining! They will get used to it eventually, I am sure.

Thanksgiving meal

I love having people over for meals. I rarely have my family over, because they are suspicious of my food. I am slowly winning them over though. And they are big into food that someone else cooks, especially at Thanksgiving time, so I was able to get them over to my new house today for a big meal. My dad did make a turkey out on the grill, though. But that is a small concession to make, I suppose. I didn't eat any of it, and they were happy to have it.

Here's a picture of the meal, except for the garlic roasted brussels sprouts, the turkey and the double-layer pumpkin cheesecake:

The potatoes were mashed with Earth balance and Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream, the sweet potato casserole was based on this recipe from Fat-Free Vegan, and I got the cranberry orange sauce recipe on Rachael Ray's website, although I added a bit of Grand Marnier to mine at the end. The stuffing recipe is the same one I make every year, although this year I left the raisins out in the hope that it would be more appealing to my mom that way. She did try it, but still thought it was weird; hey, at least she tried. Oh, and I also made the dill dip in the same post with the stuffing, but that was pretty well demolished by the time I took my picture.

Here's a picture of my plate, with all the yummy stuff:

So, by switching my dessert (from the pecan pie of last year), I managed to go completely vegan this year. I thought about making some kind of replacement for the turkey, but there was really plenty of food; I didn't miss it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Almost Vegan Pastitsio

This meal took a little longer to make than many things I do, but it was worth it. It was very good, and both of the kids had seconds! I based this on a recipe in the Weight Watcher's Take-Out Tonight cookbook.

Almost Vegan Pastitsio

I have been eyeing this traditional Greek dish on restaurant menus for a while now, wishing I could try it. With a ground beef filling and a milk-based bechamel, that was not going to happen, so instead I searched out a recipe to veganize. The nutmeg in the sauce disguises the soy taste wonderfully. I know there are egg substitutes that would work in this, but I am not really familiar with them, so I just used the eggs. Feel free to suggest vegan alternatives in the comments.

Sauce:

3 cups soy milk

1/4 cup cornstarch

3 eggs, lightly beaten

4 TBSP parmesan substitute (we used Parma!)

salt and ground pepper

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Filling:

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3/4 pound ground meat substitute, like Boca crumbles

1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced (although I used more--probably 4 or 5)

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

salt and pepper

1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti or elbow macaroni

2 TBSP parmesan substitute

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.

Meanshile, combind the milk, cornstarch and eggs in a large saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. This took me a while, but I think I turned the fire down too low--I was warming, not cooking--so make sure the heat isn't too low. When thickened, remove from heat and add the Parmesan sub, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Place a lid on the pot and set aside while you make the filling.

At this point, you'll want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 7 by 11 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

For the filling, heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the onion until softened. Add the remaining filling ingredients and cook until heated through, and the liquid from the tomatoes evaporates. Stir often.

To assemble the casserole, start with half of the pasta, then top with all of the filling and the other half of the pasta. Pour the bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with the last 2 tablespoons of Parma. Bake until golden, 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, to set the casserole.

I was going to roast brussels sprouts with this, but the kids aren't fans, so I ended up skipping them, and we had green beans instead. Lima beans stewed with some olive oil and oregano would have been good, too.

A couple of quick meals

I read a lot of vegan blogs with fantastic gourmet recipes. I love to see people showing that great meals do not need to center around a hunk of rotting flesh, or baby animal milk. People do some truly amazing things. But in general, that is not me.


I just want to get dinner on the table most nights. I want my food to have nutrition and flavor, but I am not passionate about making it just right or gourmet, or taking a long time. There are so many things I want to do in life, and cooking is definitely one of them, but only one. I want to get good food made in the smallest amount of time that is necessary. Sometimes that is not such a small time, but some nights it has to be fast, or we can't do it. Here are some examples of fast meals we have done lately.


First, I described my recipe for fast vegan fried rice awhile back, but here is a picture:

Doesn't that look healthy and delicious? The kids even like it. The boy had seconds and the girl ate hers without too much convincing (although she did try to convince me that she wasn't that hungry, a holdover from a virus she had the week before--she didn't complain about the taste, though). Every time I make rice these days, I make some extra so that we can have this later in the week. It is super fast, nutritious and we all like it.

Here is an even faster way to use up leftover rice:

For this one, I used fried tofu I got from the international foods market, along with a canned Thai soup and frozen green beans. I had to add some sriracha hot sauce to mine, but my friend said it was very good.

So, there you have it: some fast to the table, but still flavorful vegan meals. I hope this gives someone some good ideas for quick family meals that don't sacrifice flavor or your food convictions.

My Backwards Dinner

The kids are at their dad's for the night, so I had dessert first. I was really excited this weekend to see the coconut milk ice cream at Whole Foods this weekend. I was looking forward to it all day at work, so I decided to dive in as soon as I got ome tonight. Oh my goodness, was it good! So creamy, no soy taste, just about perfect. I had to stop myself from devouring the whole pint, but I am looking forward to being able to have it again, so I was able to take only one serving and put it back in the freezer.

Why do I get to eat dessert first, when I won't let my kids do the same? Because I knew I was making urban vegan's delicious 30 minute Polish meal. I didn't get a picture, but it was awesome! I added cried cranberries to the carrots, and used baby carrots rather than slicing whole carrots, but other than that I pretty much followed the recipe as is. Oh, and the first time I tried to toast some walnuts to throw in the carrots, I accidentally turned off the wrong burner, so they burned, while I lost cooking time for the carrots. It all turned out very good, though, and I caught it before it got too bad. I had to throw out that batch of walnuts, but I didn't ruin the pan or start a fire or anything.

I tell you, having my own house is so good for me--the kids weren't here, but I cooked a real meal and washed dishes, two things I used to avoid when the kids were gone. I ate out a lot, or made sandwiches and left the dishes for the next night. So, healthy delicious eating, saving money, cleaner home. All in all, a definitely good thing!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yesterday I cooked twice. I worked from home, so I decided to cook lunch, too, and freeze some of the leftovers. I made the Red Lentil and Cauliflower Curry from Veganomican. I had made it before, but just from what I had on hand when I went searching in the cookbook. This time I actually planned ahead to make it and went to the store to buy all the ingredients for it. It was good last time, but this time it was even better. The parsnip was good--I had only had parsnips once before and I don't think that was a good recipe. I remember thinking it was weirdly textured and bland, but it really worked in this recipe. I got an Anaheim chili, which isn't quite as hot as the jalapeno or serrano recommended, because I think the kids may eat some when I thaw out the remainder. I have to warn you, though, they are still plenty hot enough to set your eye on fire if you touch it without washing your hands. I learned that the hard way well after I was done eating, while I was on a work phone meeting. People are asking me questions, and I am trying not to scream while frantically searching for the nearest washcloth to help rinse my eye out, with impaired sight since I couldn't open the one eye. Not something I recommend. Be careful with chilis!

I had it with some garlic naan from Trader Joe's. Doesn't it look delectable?

And for dinner, I made my friend Andrea's favorite dinner (well, her favorite dinner that I cook, anyway): Curried Stir-Fried Noodles with Vegetables. No picture of this one, but I can assure you it was very good, as usual.


See all these fresh veggies? I feel so healthy! And full.

A Flurry of Cooking

I have actually cooked dinner four nights in a row! I have plans for the rest of the week, too.

Moving has, once again, made it hard to get into a routine. On top of moving there is the new school year, which always comes as a shock to me. Why, I don’t know, since we have been doing this for 6 years now, but I am always thrown by the new schedule. And on top of that, we are in a new school this year, so the routines are even more different. Not to mention the whole unpacking thing, and (sniff, sniff), the lack of a dishwasher at the new house (sob, wail!).

But, this week I got it together finally. I have done some cooking, of course, but this week, I made a menu, and a grocery list, and went and got everything I needed. And I have been cooking every night, and even doing dishes and making lunches. Go me! Here is my menu:

Sunday: Tempeh Shepherdess Pie, from Veganomicon, which was fantastic. We had friends over for this one, and everyone loved it. It was a bit more time-consuming than I would like for a weeknight meal, but it was perfect for having friends over on the weekend.

Monday: Curry Cashew Casserole, from urban vegan, also very good, but not quite spicy enough for me. No matter, I had some good Thai garlic chili sauce, and it made the dish perfect. The kids actually ate this fairly well, too.

Tuesday: Meatballs in Applesauce, rice, broccoli, from Cooking for the Rushed (although this recipe called for ground beef, I just subbed some meatless meatballs from Trader Joe’s), which is a popular kid meal

Wednesday: this was my non-vegan night, with Curry Salmon Noodle bake, peas, which was a HUGE hit with the kids

Thursday: Sloppy lentils on whole wheat buns, baked fries, bell pepper strips

Friday: Fried rice, egg rolls and shu mai (appetizers from Trader Joe’s). Oh, and we may have some candy, which will likely not be vegan.

Saturday the kids will be at their dad’s, so I am not sure what I will be doing, although I do have food. I may be helping friends move, though, so I may do something with them. Sunday I have a play to go to. We go to the 2:00 show, so we often eat out after that.

Monday: Macaroni and Cheese and peas

Tuesday: some kind of sandwich or snacky food for me, while the kids are at their dad’s house

Wednesday: payday! We may go out to celebrate surviving the first month with the big house payment. And then we may need to do a quick grocery store trip to replenish supplies.

The house is continuing to force me to cook at home, which is good for my bank account and my health. Also, my eating pleasure--it may not be modest, but I have to say that I make good food!