Where's the beef? Back on my table!

So, the great vegan experiment has come to an end.  We are carnivores and that is just how it is.    I enjoyed our experiment with the plant based world, and fully plan to put meat free selections on our family menu, but the meat is back!    I have no problem eating a veg diet, but it is just no fun to cook!

Tonight I made Buffalo Chicken Risotto.  It was HOT and tasty.    The risotto was cooked with celery and onion with a little bit of beer and a mixture of chicken broth, hot sauce, honey and worchestershire sauce.  At the end I stirred in some rotisserie chicken.  Quite tasty.     

We had decided to go carnivore again after I did my shopping for the week, so our other selections include Oven baked Mac and Cheese,  Tofu, chickpea and sundried tomato salad (this was a Wednesday night staple for a loooooong time when we were doing South Beach) and Veggie Fajitas.  To be honest with you, the fajitas are so good, I may never make fajitas with meat again.   Portobello mushrooms make it as meaty as it needs to be.  Yummy!

So now that meat is back, I am going to break into some new recipes I have and I am pretty excited, so stay tuned!

A yummy week

Well,  I just realized I have not posted anything in over a month!  It has been pretty hectic and I guess I have sort of  forgotten my food raves.  This week saw some very yummy food!

I made some Millet Paella on Saturday.  The recipe I have for this needed some tweeking as it called for way less liquid than the millet needed to cook properly.  Millet is an often overlooked whole grain that is really pretty tasty.  The paella had kidney beans, edamame beans, kale (which I used to sub for the escarole that I couldn't find), onions and lots of peppers.   It is a very colorful dish.  There is seriously not one bad ingredient in this whole recipe.  Just pure wholesome goodness.

On Sunday I made Springtime Risotto.  The recipe is here: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000111149

I have decided that though risottos are a ton of work, they are worth every stir of my spoon.  Creamy and delicious.  This one has edamame and asparagus and instead of putting butter in at the end, you put cream cheese.   Then you top it all off with Fresh Thyme and shaved Parmesan.  Magnificent!  Pretty too.

And tonight, I made quite possibly the best vegetarian dish I have made yet!  Portobello burgers with bulgar pilaf.   In the past whenever I have made a portobello "burger"  I have just panfried my portobello whole.  Not this time.  These burgers had T.V.P. (textured vegetable protein), Provolone, CHOPPED portobellos, onion, zuchini and sundried tomato.   The flavor was absolutely wonderful.  The burgers didn't hold their shape really well, but the flavor was there to make up for the sloppy presentation.    Wow.  Just Wow.  And the bulgar pilar has bulgar, green onions and even more mushrooms.  Dinner tonight just made my taste buds so very happy. 

So I am getting into the groove on this vegetarian eating thing.  We just haven't been able to give up the cheese or half and half, so I guess we can't say we are 100% plant based (have I mentioned I have dubbed our version of the diet as a "Chegan" diet?).  I find more interesting recipes each time I flip through my collection of cookbooks.     I wonder what next week will bring...

The week's menu and other tidbits

I got a subscription to Cuisine at Home recently.  I must tell you...GET THIS.  It is chock full of great recipes, and no fru-fru ads or articles.  Just pure cooking.  I love it.  Anyway, when you subscribe there are some cookbooks you can buy too.    I of course, having major cookbook buying problems, got 4 (they are not that big).   2 were for quick meals and 2 were for light meals.  All are fabulous.  Of course right now as we are doing the plant based diet, there was only 1 or 2 recipes in each that would work for us at this time.  The rest of the recipes were very appealing though and will make an appearance once our experiment is over. 

So I found 3 of my recipes this week from these cookbooks and I am very excited.  The beans and rice recipe I found on vegweb.com.  The hubby wanted some beans and rice and oddly, non of the vegan cookbooks I got had a recipe.   

So this week we will have:
Tuscan-style Quinoa with orange spinach salad
Veggie Noodle bowl (with a peanut sauce)
Mulligatawny Risotto with coconut crusted tofu
and Beans and Rice

If the pictures from the cookbooks do these recipes any justice, we are in for a treat!

I also made Blueberry Bran Muffins (and will make more this weekend) this past week.  They were so good.  I used All-Bran Cereal and Wheat germ for the "bran".  It is funny, because I don't actually like fresh blueberries.  I have issues with the texture, but if you put blueberries in a muffin, they are just wonderful.  

As for the plant based diet, we are doing pretty good.  We tried Mimicreme, which is a almond/cashew creamer for the morning coffee and while the flavor was not bad, it just wasn't right.  It made the coffee look funny too and if I have to close my eyes to drink my "liquid cup of personality", I may as well go back to bed.   So we decided to be mostly plant based and continue with the very small amount of half and half we use.   And though I have not scarfed any meat or eggs this week, I have had some cheese.   My excuse is that I had some left in the house and didn't want to waste it, but really, I just love cheese.  I don't need cow milk, eggs or meat, but cheese makes me happy.  Oh, and I have tried several substitues.  SOY DOES NOT MAKE GOOD CHEESE!!!!!!!!  .  I almost hurled when I tried the parmesan sprinkle substitute.  Almond cheese is no great shakes either.    So I am going to have to cut out cheese all together, or just go light with it.    I think the latter will do.  

Mulligatawny! Soup for you!

AHHHHHH, Mulligatawny, made famous by the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld...."No Soup for you!"   This soup is just wonderful.  It has lentils and garbanzo beans, cumin,cayenne and curry powder, coconut milk, tomatoes and honey and more!   It smacks of comfort with a little bit of heat.  This is a dish that proves you don't need meat to be happy.    The recipe is posted in my facebook notes.     

And yesterday I had a Vegelleta from Jason's Deli.  It is a vegetarian Muffaletta which is my all time favorite sandwich.  I have to say that even without meat, this sandwich is just the tastiest thing on the PLANET.    It made me happy, and that is what food should do.

Afghan Spinach and Tofu

Okay, the name of the recipe may sound kind of odd, but it was really quite delicious!   There was lots of spinach and tofu of course, but there was also cumin, corriander, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, veggie broth and onions  in it too.  All served over brown basmati rice.  Oh and there were TOASTED pine nuts (Mere---aren't you proud?).   I really enjoyed this and I think that this recipe shows that eating disgustingly healthy can actually be a great experience.  I am not sure how legal it is to post recipes with a copyright in a blog, so facebook me or leave a comment if you want the recipe.  

Macaroni and "Cheese" and this week's menu.

So we had Macaroni and "Cheese" for dinner tonight.  The "cheese" sauce was made up of nutritional yeast, curry powder, mustard powder, salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic flour and soy  milk.  No cheese.  I cooked the pasta and whipped up the sauce.  You can either just dump the sauce on the pasta and eat it, or you can do that then cook it in the oven with some breadcrumbs on top.  I chose the latter, because I think baked mac and cheese is just better.  I have to say, it really didn't taste all that cheesy, but I did like the flavor.    It was also very easy to make.   

As for this week's menu, it is our first fully vegan dinner plan.  Here goes

Afgan Spinach and Tofu
Red Lentil Bolognese
Muligatawny soup (so super yummy!)
Seitan curry bowl (seitan is wheat gluten dough that functions as a meat sub)
Monk Bowl (this one has tofu too)

These recipes all looked pretty yummy, and I am hoping for the best as we embark on a dairy/meat free spree.    Oh, and we tried Almond based cheese tonight and I think I will be exploring other cheese options.    I love Almond milk, but the cheese didn't do a thing for me.

Kale!

Kale rocks!  It is this thick almost frilly leafy green.  You can do lots with it.  I have a fablous Chickpea, Kale and Italian Sausage recipe, but my lasest discovery is Kale Chips!  You just toss the chopped up Kale with a little olive oil and whatever your favorite seasoning is (I am using buffalo seasoning for the batch I am about to cook) and cook at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until crispy.  I would recommend serving on a plate not in a bowl as it gets mushy all stacked up in the bowl.  This is a tasty and insanely healthy snack.   And it helps you get the veggies you may not otherwise get in a busy day!

Good Morning Muffins and the hunt for new recipes.

So our egg/meat/dairy supplies are begining to run out.  The hubby had to go on a business trip today, so I made him some muffins to take with him.   It was my first stab at a vegan baked good.  As an egg substitute, you can actually blend oh-so-good-for-you  ground flax seeds with water!  Who'd have thought!  The muffins have mollasses, raisins, 3 different types of flour (including soy flour) and the milk was soy milk.  I have to say, the batter really did smell kind of grassy as I was putting them in the oven.  But due to the amazing wonder of baking chemistry these nutritious muffins taste fabulous.  They kind of remind me of hermits.   

I have also been pouring over my many cookbooks on the hunt for good plant based recipes.  For Christmas I got the Bob's Red Mill Cookbook.  I LOVE this cookbook!  Firstly, it addresses how to cook all the amazing whole grain foods that are out there.    It also marks out each Vegan recipe with a big V, so I can peruse a bit easier.  And to be honest, I have yet to try a Bob's Red Mill recipe that didn't taste good.    We will soon beging to test the waters with grains like millet and if I can find it, teff.  I have already played with bulgar wheat, barley and quinoa.  All of them are pretty tasty.     The one grain we have tried and strongly disliked is kasha.  It is part of the buckwheat plant.  When I made this, Anthony said it tasted like sheep or goat.   We will not try that one again....ever. 

Food is kind of like the lottery.   You can't win if you don't play (or try new things).

It isn't always awesome....but then we make up for it the next day.

So last night I made Curried Tofu stuffed acorn squash.    I can't say it was bad, but it was certainly not amazing.  I used to love acorn squash, but I think that is when it is covered with brown sugar and maple syrup.  Stuffed with curried tofu, it was actually a bit bland.   The curried tofu part was pretty tasty though.  I may just use butternut squash if I make it again.  This will be fine, since the hubby doesn't care for acorn squash AT ALL! 

Tonight however is the amazing Spicy Chicken and Rice Flu Chaser Soup.  This is my all time favorite soup, and the last meaty dish I will be making for a while.     It comes from the New England Soup factory cookbook and the recipe is on my facebook page.      It has been it the works for a few hours now and the buzzer just went off for me to dig out the whole chicken and pick the meat off.  The rice is cooking and all will be ready to eat within an hour.  Oh delicious goodness, I can't wait to eat you!

A new leaf, literally

So we watched this documentary this week called Eating.   It was all about how having a plant based diet is better for your body and the earth and all that jazz.  The long and short is that we are going to give it a go.  I have been trying for years to foist vegetarian dishes down my meat loving husbands throat, and I am actually pretty interested in trying to make a go of this.  We work out pretty hard, so I have been trying to figure out how a vegan diet will give us enough protein.   I still have some research to do so I can properly plan a balanced menu.  We also need to finish eating our fridge full of milk and cheese. 

To celebrate our decision, we had dinner at Five Guys Burgers to ah, have one last hurrah.   And I am making my super awesome chicken soup this weekend, because I am not sure how long our culinary expirement will last and want it one more time before soup season ends.   

I did pick up some interesting vegan products today though.  I got soy and almond based cheese.   Almond and soy milk (The hubby says Soymilk tastes like Chlorophyll-this is going to be real interesting folks).  Lots of nuts.  This stuff called Mimicreme, which is a almond/cashew based coffee creamer.   I think Earthfare will be seeing a lot more of the Cassinos, where I hit up the bulk section for lentils, TVP (textured veggie protien) and nutritional yeast.

So we are going to finish what dairy/meat we have and then start a new way of eating.  I found a recipe for tomorrow for Acorn squash stuffed with veggies and tofu.  I love acorn squash, so I am looking forward to it.   

And so we embark on a brave new journey....

Cantonese Chicken and Mushrooms

Wow, we had a great recipe week!  Tonight was Contonese Chicken and Mushrooms.  It was fabulous, and very easy.  The prep took me a while as there was a bit of chopping of the veggies and chicken.  I also could not find baby bok choy (I looked at four stores) and the regular bok choy was kind of limp, so I subbed Napa Cabbage and it worked great.  In fact, I would probably used the napa again as good bok choy is hard to find.   Here is the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/cantonese-chicken-and-mushrooms-recipe/index.html

So, I was pretty excited to try five all new recipes this week and not have one dud.    All were pretty easy to make too.  I don't cook on Wednesdays and Thursdays because of my work schedule, so I am "off" from the kitchen for the next couple days.    Leftovers here we come!!

Bacon Pierogi Bake

This one was a winner too!  I can't take credit for the cooking though.  The hubby gets all the credt.  He said it was pretty easy to make and it had a great creamy flavor which was accented nicely by the crunchy bacon.  Believe it or not, the recipe is from Cooking Light.  I am pretty sure we had more cheese than was in the recipe, but you always need to go heavy on the cheese!    So it may not have been as "light" as intended...

Here is the recipe:  http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000108395

Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash and Scallion Couscous

Dinner tonight was super yummy and packed with flavor!  Tagines in Moroccan cuisine are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures, resulting in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce.  This tagine was a pretty quick cooker, but probably the meat would have benefited more from a longer simmer at a lower temp.  I swear I bought shallots, but when I started cooking I couldn't find them and ended up using a regular onion.  Like I said, the meat could have been a bit more tender (though it was not tough) and I needed to cook it about 10 more minutes than the recipe said to get the squash done.  This would also have been fabulous in a slow cooker.  The darling daughter actually ate it, though she said it was so she could get dessert....and the hubby thought it was pretty tasty too.  He liked this one better than the Sweet Potato Tagine with Pine Nut Couscous that I have made in the past.  The reason for that is that he likes MEAT and the sweet potato recipe was a vegitarian recipe.    For the couscous, I used the Near East garlic and olive oil couscous, chopped up some scallions and tossed them in once couscous was cooked.

Here is the recipe:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000109584

This was a pretty straightforward meal to prepare too.  Easy and full of complex flavors.  Who could ask for more!?!

English Cottage Pie

Ohhhh tonight was English Cottage pie.  It was sensational!  Full of wonderful herby flavor.   Yummy!  Easy to make too.  I didn't have any leftover mashed potatoes, so I made some just for this recipe.  I used about 3 medium sized potatoes to get what I need.     This was a sensational meal. 

Here is the link to the recipe:  http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000107447

Try it! 

A word on Anchovies.

I remember as a kid, my mom used to get anchovies on her pizza and I thought it was the most disgusting pizza topping on the planet.  I recently had to use anchovies in a recipe, and I just have to say, those ugly little suckers are tasty!   They look sort of like a flattened slug, so you really have to look past the ugliness.  Anyhow, I had to chop some up for a recipe which was good itself, but I had some left over and I decied to try them on saltines.    They don't taste anything like they look.  They are salty, and there texture was unexpectedly smooth.  So today I champion for the ugly and sometimes feared anchovy and think that the next time I get pizza from a place that actually still has them on the menu, I may just have to get some anchovy pizza.    

Chicken and Black Bean Stuffed Burritos with Citrus and Radish Salad.

This one was pretty good!  It was also very easy and very fast to make!  I would recommend adding salt to the salad dressing.  Here is the Recipe:

1/4 Cup Water
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper (I totally read this wrong and used Crushed red pepper but it worked)
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
3/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup refrigerated fresh salsa (  I actually took the whole can of beans and mixed it with most of the container of salsa).
4 8 inch flour tortillas
1/2 cup shredded Monteray Jack (colby jack works too) cheese

1. Bring first 6 ingredients to a boil in a small sauce pan then stir in onions and chicken
2. Combine beans and salsa.  Spoon 1/4 cup (or as much as you feel like) of bean mixture and 1/4 of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla and top with cheese.  Roll up.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Spray pan with cooking spray.  Add 2 burritos.  Place heavy skillet  on top and cook for 3 minutes on each side.  Repeat with remaining burritos (or save the mix for lunch tomorrow).    4 servings.

For Citrus and Radish Salad:

Combine 2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1/8 tsp ground red pepper (I needed salt too).    Toss with 4 cups of prechopped romaine lettuce, 1/2 cup thinly slice radishes, and 2 tablespoons of cilantro and 1 sliced peeled avocado. 

This week's menu

Okay, so I recently started subscriptions to Cooking Light and The Food Network Magazine.  This week's menu came from these sources.  I haven't decided what days I am making each recipe yet, but I have the groceries and I am ready!

Here goes:
Bacon Pierogi Bake
Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash
Cantonese Chicken and Mushrooms
English Cottage Pie
Chicken and Black Bean Stuffed Burritos.

My DH was away this week and when he got home today I showed him all the pictures of each dish.   I think he is pretty excited.     I will post how they go. 

The begining

Hi there,   I am a girl who loves to eat.    Therefore, I love to cook, because someone has to make all the good things I like to eat!  I am a food adventurer, willing to try anything once.    Each week, I sit down to make my menu and just thumb through my rather large recipe collection until something strikes my fancy.  I prefer quicker meals as I am a working mom, but I venture into longer prep stuff on the weekends.   Food is one of the ways to show people that I care.  One of my co-workers sort of suggested I start a food blog and so here I am.  If you stumble across my page, I hope you enjoy it and find something you would like to try to cook too!