Sweet potato shepherd's pie

June 8, 2013

This morning was pretty remarkable. I actually cooked breakfast! My daughter asked for pancakes which was perfect because I had a new package to try. Normally we buy just regular pancake mix. Geez, it has 22 ingredients (plus those that make up 2 of the 22). Seriously? I wanted to try an organic buckwheat mix (hoping it would be similar to the amazing pancakes we had at a vegetarian cafe). How many ingredients were in this package? 5 ingredients (not including those that made up 1 of the 5). I added in 2/3 cup of the mix, 1 egg, 2 tsp oil (I used smart balance for the first time), 2 tsp local honey, 3/4 cup almond milk, and some cinnamon. They were delicious. Not quite like the cafe's but they had a ton of flavor. I served them with some of my father in law's homemade maple syrup. Yum!

I took the kids out and we hit up some rummage sales. We stopped for a quick Subway lunch before continuing on to our errands. I got home and tackled some yard projects. By the time I came into the house, I was exhausted. Ugh. Dinner. I wanted something fast. Then it hit me. Genius. Pure genius. I had leftover homemade veggie quinoa soup. I had leftover mashed sweet potatoes. Do you know where I'm going yet? I scooped out some of the soup (trying to leave behind most of the broth) and put it into a small glass casserole pan. I topped it with some sweet potatoes. Next, mexican and cheddar cheese joined the party. I popped it in the oven (350) until bubbly and then under the broiler to brown up the cheese. Voila! Sweet potato shepherd's pie! It was awesome! My daughter went back for seconds (there was only about a half a serving in there). Then she said "ah man, I wish there was more". I told her that I could make more for lunch tomorrow. Her reply, "Yay"!

We were in the mood for milkshakes tonight. I had about 1/3 pint of dairy free coconut ice cream (made out of coconut milk). I put that along with a splash of almond milk and a chunk of fresh pineapple into the food processor. The next batch I used 1/3 pint of raspberry fudge greek frozen yogurt, 1/2 pack of raspberries, and almond milk. For some reason, this one needed more almond milk. They were both delicious!

Soup & Roll ups

June 7, 2013

We are six weeks into our vegetarian journey. So far so good. Although there are still days where I feel like I have no clue on what to cook, which happened to be today. I stared in the fridge. I looked in the freezer. I rummaged through the cupboards. Then it hit me. Pizza. I had made a pizza-dilla (quesadilla) awhile back and decided to do it again today. I sauteed up some onion, mushrooms, green/yellow/red pepper, spinach, and garlic in olive oil and then a little local white wine. I seasoned it with adobo. I spread homemade pizza sauce (Gasp! It was my last jar!) on a tortilla. I loaded it up with my toppings along with some black olives and mozzarella cheese. I spread just a little sauce on another tortilla and put them together. I placed the pizza-dilla in a pan and just heated until the tortilla browned and the cheese melted. Yum! The kids only had half a day of school so they made sandwiches when they got home. We ran out to a garage sale and scored on some books. We got 120 like new books for $21.

Once again, at dinner I felt like I had no idea what to make for us. Sometimes it is hard to come up with a main dish made out of beans. Then the 'aha' moment. Beans just need to be involved. They don't need to be the main ingredient. I asked if the kids wanted veggie soup. My daughter said yes but my son said he wanted finger food. Hmmmm. I settled on doing soup (small bowls) along with sandwiches. But not any sandwiches. Oh no. We needed fun sandwiches. First, let's do soup....

I started out with two cans of vegetable broth. I added a little chopped onion, two chopped carrots, one celery stalk, one diced potato, and 1/2 cup quinoa. I added one bay leaf, a few shakes of oregano, salt, and pepper. After simmering for around 12-15 minutes, I added in one cup of white beans, a pint of home canned green beans, a bag of corn (frozen from farmer's market; about four ears of corn in it), a big handful of peas, 1/2 a quart of home canned tomatoes, and a handful of chopped spinach (fresh from farmer's market). For the fun sandwiches, I grabbed cucumber, carrot, celery, green onion, and spinach. I sliced the veggies very thin (just tore the spinach). I still had some leftover black beans that were processed with homemade salsa. I spread the black beans on a tortilla. Over the bottom 1/3 of the tortilla, I placed the veggies going across. I topped them with some fresh cilantro. Roll the tortilla up tightly and slice like little sushi rolls.

Dinner was a hit! My daughter said it was the best soup ever. She had seconds (as did I). My son loved the roll ups. He asked me to make more so we all had a second round of those. They had no suggestions on how to improve the soup for next time. My son said to add red onion in the roll ups. Mmmmm. That I can do. Why did I doubt myself?! I totally know what I'm doing!

Muffin competition

June 6, 2013

The kids both had dentist appointments during school today. I still had them pack their lunches because I would be picking them up during their lunch breaks. My daughter had leftover pasta, string cheese, and fruit. My son had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and fruit.

There was a small container of leftover black beans that were processed with homemade salsa. I decided to make a wrap and put that on it. I sauteed up some onion, mushrooms, red/yellow/green peppers, garlic, zucchini, and yellow squash. I normally have raw spinach but today decided to throw it in the saute as well. I seasoned it with the garlic wine seasoning and used some local white wine. As I was building my wrap, I decided to go a little healthier today than normal. I only added avocado and cilantro versus piling on cheese and sour cream too. And guess what? It was still delicious!

I wanted to do a little baking today for two reasons. 1) My son asked for muffins recently. 2) I have multiple muffin ingredients that need to get used up soon. I started off with grabbing some sweet potatoes. I diced them and boiled them then put them through the food processor until I had a nice smooth mash. While they cooled, I got to work figuring out what recipe to use. I had made sweet potato bread several months ago and we all loved it. I found the recipe and decided to try to make a few changes to it so that it would be healthier (not as much sugar and no oil). I hardly ever make up recipes for baking because I'm always worried it won't turn out. For some reason, today I decided to dig in.

Original recipe called for 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Man. That is a LOT of sugar. It also called for 1/2 cup oil. I decided to try 1/4 cup of each sugar and instead of oil to use 4 ounces of applesauce (one of the single serve packs). After they were mixed, I added in two eggs. The dry ingredients were mixed separately: 1 3/4 cup flour, 1 tsp soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Alternately add some of the dry ingredients and then add some water (1/3 cup water total). After it is all mixed, stir in 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. I added a handful of craisins to half of the batch. Fingers crossed.... Not quite right. The muffins were really dense and didn't fluff up like normal. At this point, I was knee deep in competition with these muffins and I was not about to let them win. Round two. I decided to add in an extra tablespoon of each sugar. I also added in 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. I figured that maybe they needed some fat in them. I added 1/2 cup sweet potatoes and 1/2 cup mashed banana. I kept the rest of the ingredients the same (minus craisins because I had used the end of the bag). Ahhh. Much better. I wouldn't call these perfection just yet but they are well on their way. My daughter liked the banana sweet potato muffins. She said they could use more cinnamon though (I agree). My son liked the sweet potato muffins better. Really? I was surprised because of their texture. Although the sweet potato flavor really is delicious. I have quite a bit of the sweet potato mash leftover. Looks like round three will wait for another day...

After all the muffin making and dish washing, I really didn't feel like cooking dinner. We had to eat quickly in order to make it to a meeting at their school. I thought about just going out and grabbing Subway on the way to the meeting. Ugh. I don't want to give in. I'll end up being crabby later for spending the money. I found a partial bag of ravioli in the freezer. I heated up a jar of our homemade spaghetti sauce. I settled on a side salad of spinach, romaine lettuce, mushrooms, red onion, cucumber, and sunflower seeds. I found a small container leftover from my lunch of the sauteed vegetables so I threw those on the salad too. Why have I never done that before? Yum!

Beefless tips; grocery savings

June 5, 2013

The kiddos both packed sandwiches, apples, and yogurt smoothies for lunch. I had some of the leftover sweet potato macaroni and cheese.

My pre-challenge weekly average at the commissary was $175. Today I spent $21.71 on cleaners and toiletries. I still had quite a bit of fruit and veggies at home along with some freezer items so I only spent $69.46 on food. I had one impulse item for $2.99. I saw vegan butter and curiosity got the best of me. I spent $5.80 on gossip magazines. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $103.66 out of pocket which is a savings of $71.34. The pre-challenge weekly average for restaurants was $80 and this week we spent $54.25 by going out to Moe's and the vegetarian cafe. This is a savings of $25.75. The kids packed lunches and saved $12. This brings our weekly savings to $109.09! Yes! It's been awhile since I hit over $100 mark. This brings our grand total of savings to $3,714.43 in 231 days!

I wanted to make a snack for the kids for when they got home. I processed 2 cups of white beans, about 1 1/4 cups of lemon cake mix, and enough almond milk to thin it out. Ugh. It still isn't as smooth as when my friend made them. I'll have to try another bean again! It was still yummy though and we had it with apples.

I was beat after grocery shopping and doing yard work so I wanted a fast dinner. I steamed some asparagus and cooked up mini bow noodles. I grabbed a bag of Gardein brand beefless tips. Hmmmm. This should be interesting. I browned the "beef" in olive oil then moved them to the outside of the pan. I added in some of the new vegan butter, onion, and mushrooms. After a few minutes, I added local red wine. Next, I added in a can of cream of mushroom soup and a couple big spoons of sour cream. I topped it off with some fresh green onions. It actually wasn't too bad! The texture was surprisingly similar to beef tips. My daughter said it was good. My son said the "meat" was ok but he really liked the sauce. The meat had a strong flavor for him. He said we could have it cooked a different way next time. I don't think it is something I would eat all the time, but once in awhile I think we'll be using some nonbeef! Ha!

Sweet potato macaroni & cheese

June 4, 2013

My daughter packed some of the leftover potato/cauliflower salad for lunch. I figured that it is actually a complete meal by itself (beans as the sauce (protein), potato (starch), and cauliflower (veggie) but I had her throw in some fruit too. She also packed a yogurt smoothie. My son decided to buy school lunch today. I had the leftover veggie burger. It was even delicious as leftovers. It sealed the deal for me that it is our new fav burger because I totally scarfed it down in no time!

I have been meaning to try a new recipe that my daughter had picked out a few weeks ago but I never got to. Tonight was the night. It is a recipe from Delish.com but of course I altered it to what I had on hand as usual. Carmelized sweet potato, garlic, and rosemary macaroni and cheese. Sounds good, right?!

The first step was to boil 10 garlic cloves then mash them. I skipped that step. I sliced one large sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices and then boiled them for five minutes. Then I sauteed them in a little olive oil for a few minutes until they got a little carmelized. I thought some colored mini shells sounded like fun for our pasta choice. Colored as in made of veggies. Yay! Next, I had to make the cheese sauce. 4 tablespoons of butter. Really? I settled on using about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons. The recipe also called for 4 tablespoons of flour but I used about 1 1/2 so the butter/flour ratio would be ok. Melt the butter, stir in the flour, and cook for a few minutes. I added in a tablespoon of garlic. The recipe called for 3 cups of half and half but I only had two. It'll work. I slowly added in the half and half, salt, and pepper. I brought it to a boil and then simmered for a minute. The recipe called for 2 cups of an Italian blend of cheese (mozzarella, parmesan, and smoked provolone). I used sharp white cheddar instead. The recipe also called for 3/4 cup of asiago. I used mild (regular) cheddar. Part of the cheese was to be set aside and mixed with bread crumbs and olive oil. My daughter isn't big on "casserole" types of macaroni and cheese so I didn't want to bake this or use the topping so I just added all the cheese into the sauce to melt. I didn't have fresh rosemary anymore so I skipped it. I stirred in the sweet potatoes and pasta and we were all set. I went on the back porch to chop off some green onion tops. My daughter followed and grabbed herself a basil leaf. My son followed and grabbed some cilantro. Ha. We all had "fancy" toppings.

We all really liked the sweet potato macaroni. I think they would like it even more if the cheese sauce was a little runnier (more like Kraft consistency) so next time I may eliminate the flour or just use a tiny amount. Overall, it was a win though.

New favorite burger

June 3, 2013

We started our day by trying almond butter for the first time. Wow. It is awesome. Why have we always eaten peanut butter? If everyone knew how delicious and flavorful almond butter is, then peanut butter would be taking a back seat. Do yourself a favor and buy a jar! My daughter packed an almond butter sandwich, an apple, and juice. My son packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, and yogurt. I had some leftover black bean pasta with roasted red pepper sauce. My hubby had leftover fajitas, fruit, and yogurt.

I decided to make a new recipe for potato salad. Actually, potato cauliflower salad. I followed the recipe on Melomeals. I boiled diced potatoes (two large baking potatoes) for two minutes then added cauliflower (about 1/3 of a large head) and boiled for an additional two minutes. I added about 1/2 cup red pepper, 1/2 cup celery, 3 tablespoons of red onion, some dill/black pepper, and paprika to taste. The mayo is actually beans! In the food processor, I combined a tablespoon of garlic, one can of cannellini beans (drained and rinsed), 5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (next time I would probably add less), 1 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons mustard, 1 tablespoon of champagne dill mustard (recipe called for dijon), 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 teaspoons sugar, and then slowly added 1/8 cup olive oil (recipe called for 1/4 cup).

We wanted to try a new recipe for burgers to go with it. We followed "Morgan's Veggie Patties" on the Food Network. We sauteed 3 tablespoons onion (we used white because I already had some chopped but recipe called for red), a handful of black olives , 2 tablespoons of red peppers, 1/2 of a jalapeno, and 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic in olive oil. Let it cool. In the food processor, I combined 1/2 cup black beans, 1/2 cup chickpeas, 1/2 cup white beans, 3/4 cup quick oats, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 tablespoon parsley, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon celery salt, 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning (recipe called for sage but I didn't have any), 2 tablespoons bread crumbs (we used panko), and an egg. The recipe also called for artichokes but I didn't have any. Mix in the veggies. My hubby fried them up and then topped them with sautéed mushrooms that were simmered in local red wine, avocado, spinach, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and cilantro.

My hubby, daughter, and I all really liked the potato/cauliflower salad. My son isn't big on potato salad period so his vote doesn't count. Ha. I can't believe the beans actually work as a dressing. How fun! The burgers turned out great. This is our new favorite burger recipe!

Black Bean Pasta

June 1 & 2, 2013

Yesterday we went to Moe's for lunch. My son had a cheese quesadilla. My hubby had nachos with beans, onions, peppers, mushrooms, jalapenos, and queso. My daughter had a burrito with tofu, black beans, rice, sour cream, cilantro, black olives, cheese, and lettuce. I tried a stack called the wrong doug. I had tofu (gasp!), black beans, cilantro, mushrooms, onions, peppers, pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. It is stuffed between two corn shells then wrapped in a grilled tortilla. It was awesome but super filling. I was stuffed after only eating half!

We had friends over for dinner. We made tacos. Local ground beef for them and black beans for us. We topped our tacos with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onion, black olives, cheese, sour cream, grilled onions/peppers/portobello mushrooms, and avocado. I wanted to make some type of appetizer. Even though we had it twice in the past few days, I knew just what would go perfect with tacos....the salsa corn queso dip. Yes! It was delicious. I set out some pineapple, pears, grapes, and strawberries and we were all set. For dessert, our friends had brought over a tray of assorted cheesecake. Yum.

We woke up today and my hubby asked me if I wanted to do a day trip. I did what any rational person would do. Scream yes and start searching menus to see where we would eat lunch! I found a little cafe that is all vegan. We were all pretty excited to try it. I had a portobello mushroom garlic flavored seitan, spinach, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, mozzarella cheese, avocado and roasted garlic mayo sandwich served on toasted rye bread. It was good. I think I would enjoy seitan more if it had been cut thinner and I would rather a different cheese. My son had pancakes. They were the best pancakes ever. I had the kids ask what was in them but I only got a half hearted reply. I may need to do some research! My daughter had buckwheat soba noodles, marinated tofu and mushrooms atop a bed of leafy greens topped with sesame seeds served with a sesame ginger dressing. Her salad was really good. My hubby had thinly sliced seitan, sauerkraut, 1,000 island dressing, and vegan cheese on toasted rye. Ah, yes. Thinly sliced seitan is the way to go. We heard their milkshakes were great so we decided to share one. We had the peanut butter oreo shake. Oh my gosh. It was amazing. It was so smooth and the flavors were awesome. I made a comment that if only they had a raspberry one that we could share another. My daughter pointed out my mistake: pineapple raspberry. Uh oh! We went back in for another round. It. Was. Heaven. I will definitely need to try to duplicate that!

We hit up a natural foods store. I found such cool stuff. My favorite find was pasta made out of black beans. Imagine eating spaghetti (my fav) but with the added bonus of 25 grams of protein. Wohoo! I also bought dry black beans, brown rice, peanut butter and honey (travel pack for my daughter), vegetarian teriyaki jerky (my daughter's choice again), acai energy drink (for hubby), and cranberry orzo.

I wanted to try out the black bean pasta for dinner. I also had a new recipe to try for roasted pepper sauce. After reading through the recipe, I realized that I would want to make a few changes to it. I sauteed two tablespoons of garlic, two fresh basil leaves, and about 3/4 jar of roasted red peppers. I put it through the food processor then added it back to the pan. I stirred in 2 cups of half and half, 1/4 cup of asiago, 1/2 cup of parmesan, and 1/4 cup of mozzarella. The only reason that I used parmesan is that I used up the end of the asiago. I use any good block of cheese interchangeably so just use what kind you like. Seasoned the sauce with salt and pepper and it was set. I steamed some broccolini as our side. If you have never had broccolini, you are missing out. It tastes almost like a cross between asparagus and broccoli. I LOVE it but have a hard time finding it at stores. How did we like the pasta? My daughter took a couple bites and said "this spaghetti is awesome"! My son said he liked it but would rather the sauce a little thinner. Ok. My hubby said it was delicious. I loved it. You could tell it was different than a store bought pasta. Although, fresh pasta also tastes different than store bought. Take a look at the ingredient list on a box of white pasta. I bet you will find multiple ingredients that you don't know what they are. This pasta had two ingredients: black beans and water. Score. I need to find this pasta closer to home! We finished off our dinner with some of the leftover cheesecake that our friends left behind. We topped it with caramel sauce from Pampered Chef. Yum!