The secret to pizza

July 16, 2013

I spent the morning trying to weed my garden. I say trying because it was so hot and my puppy looked too cute. Ha. At least I got some of it done. I didn't feel like cooking lunch so I just ate up the pasta salad leftovers. My hubby packed leftover pasta salad and fajitas. The kids had peanut butter sandwiches.

Now for the star of the day. Dinner. Let me start by saying we love pizza. We have made a ton of homemade pizzas over the years. We have done regular pizza toppings. We have done pulled pork and potato toppings. We have done taco toppings. You name it, we probably made it. However, only today did I realize that we were making pizza wrong. Are you ready to hear the correct way to make pizza?! Grill the toppings! I cut red potatoes, red onion, green/orange/red bell peppers, mushrooms, and poblano pepper. I tossed them in olive oil and sprinkled on some garlic wine seasoning (I got two new bottles in the mail today! Yay!). I cooked them on the grill until they were about half cooked. Normally we make pizza dough in our bread machine but today I didn't take the time to do that. I bought a ball of dough and called it good. I was also out of my homemade pizza sauce so I had to use store bought. I can't wait until summer really gets going so I can make all of my sauces again! We topped the pizza with the sauce, grilled veggies, black olives, plum tomato, mozzarella cheese, and feta cheese.

Wow. After dinner, we kept saying "that was really good". A few minutes later one of us would say "that was really good". Ha. I don't know if the grilled veggies or the seasoning or the feta is what did it (maybe a combo of all three) but it was delicious. It makes sense though. Why put raw veggies on a pizza when you can top it with seasoned veggies that have the smoky flavor of grilling?! Maybe next time we will go all out and even cook it on the grill. Mmmmmm. The only problem is that there is only one piece left!!

Pasta salad and stuffed mushrooms

July 15, 2013

I am trying to use up leftovers because grocery shopping day is coming soon. There was a grilled portobello mushroom and some grilled onion/peppers. I decided to have a burger. I warmed them up and put on a slice of baby swiss cheese. I found a container of processed black beans and salsa so I added that too. I grabbed a handful of baby kale and half an avocado. I also heated up the rest of the leftover broccolini. The kids got home from their first day of summer camp and they each had a request. My daughter wanted Mrs. Grass soup with an egg added in (kind of like egg drop soup). My son asked for chicken ramen noodles.

My daughter tried a chickpea salad from the deli section of one of the grocery stores this past week. I told her that I could make a batch of something similar. I figured today could be that day. I grabbed a bag of chickpeas out of the freezer and let them thaw. I was out of bell peppers. Oh well. I figured I could just wing it and add in whatever veggies I could find. I added celery, red onion, cucumber, carrots, peas (shelled from farmer's market), edamame, chickpeas, and pasta. I couldn't decide on a dressing so I put the salad into two containers and one got ranch and the other italian. I don't think I have ever added cucumber to pasta salad before. I works surprisingly well.

I didn't want a big heavy dinner so I threw together some stuffed mushrooms. I sauteed onion, garlic, poblano peppers, and the chopped mushroom stems. I added in local red wine and spinach. I seasoned it with adobo. I cooked up some vegetarian bacon and crumbled it on top of the stuffing. I topped them with mozzarella cheese and freshly grated parmesan. They baked at 375 for about 25 minutes. The mushrooms were good but were missing something. Next time they will get a little more seasonings.

Teenage mutant ninja turtle party

July 13 & 14, 2013

What a busy weekend! Yesterday we had our son's 7th birthday party. He wanted to do a teenage mutant ninja turtle theme. My hubby was up for the challenge. He made a turtle cake with his first attempt at fondant. It turned out great! He also put together some turtle apples using fruit by the foot and a little frosting. I'd say he did a good job: my son said it was the most awesome party ever!

My hubby grilled beef burgers for our guests and portobello burgers for us. I made a taco dip out of cream cheese, processed black beans with salsa and taco seasoning, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, and mexican cheese. I made a pot of baked beans. I got the recipe from my hubby's cousin. They were a quick recipe that is semi homemade. We altered her recipe by adding different beans so feel free to use whatever beans you like. The beans can also be either baked or done in the crock pot. We sauteed some onion. Add in a big can of baked beans (I used a vegetarian one), 16 oz of butter beans (drained), 2 cups of great northern beans (from my freezer), 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tsp vinegar, and 1 tsp mustard. I let it simmer on the stovetop for about an hour. My son requested a melon assortment and cookie dough hummus. Ha. I can do that. However, he made up for his great choices yesterday by asking for McDonald's for lunch today. Ugh. Today is his actual birthday so I couldn't say no. My hubby, daughter, and I all had Subway instead.

We ran to the pet store today to get a few things that our new puppy needed. Ahem. Ok, so I wanted. Ha! What good is a new puppy if you can't have new toys and all the cool treats, right?! Then we got to work staining the new tree house my hubby built. Before we knew it, it was 7:30. Ugh. Dinner? My hubby sauteed up some onion, peppers, and mushrooms. I heated up some leftover black beans. We made fajitas and added in cilantro, avocado, baby kale, and ranch. We put the leftovers to use and had some baked beans. The kids also ate up the rest of the cookie dough hummus. They also had peaches, apples, mango, and bread.

Mushroom and roasted chickpea marsala

July 12, 2013

We managed to pull ourselves away from our new puppy long enough to make lunch. Ok. So maybe he was at the groomers. Ha. I grilled up some potatoes. I also grilled up a basket of red onion, mushrooms, green/red/yellow peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash. I made a bed of lettuce, spinach, and baby kale. I topped it with cilantro, the veggies, sunflower seeds, avocado, black beans processed with salsa, and a little ranch. This was the first time we had tried baby kale. It was pretty good and added a nice flavor to the salad. I'll be buying that again.

Our puppy got home and of course no one wanted to cook. It was play time! I finally got hungry enough that my stomach won over my need to pet my lil fluffy guy. I grabbed a bag of chickpeas out of the freezer and thawed them in the microwave. I tossed them in olive oil, salted them, and stuck them in the oven at 400 to roast. I steamed a pot of broccolini. It tastes like a cross between asparagus and broccoli. Yum. I decided on a variation of marsala so I threw on a pot of jasmine rice to go along with it. Now on to the marsala. I sauteed some yellow onion in a little olive oil and vegan butter. I added in some garlic, mushrooms, and a handful of frozen green peppers along with some marsala wine. I seasoned it with adobo and salt. After letting it cook down a little, I added in about a quarter cup of marsala wine that I had mixed with a couple tablespoons of flour. We used the roasted chickpeas to add some crunch to our marsala.

What did everyone think of my quick creation? My son didn't like the crunchy chickpeas but said the rest of the sauce was good. My daughter was the opposite. She loved the chickpeas (of course) but said the sauce was just ok. My hubby and I liked it. I think the chickpeas should have been seasoned a little more. My hubby really liked the texture of the chickpeas. That's it for tonight....I need some puppy time!

Chicken patty

July 11, 2013

I think that our surprise over us liking the fake bacon yesterday led us to try another new product today.  We tried fake chicken patties for lunch. They are baked with a crispy breading. We added lettuce, cilantro, tomato, red onion, avocado, ranch, and baby swiss cheese. My daughter isn't big on chicken sandwiches but she said that it did taste like chicken. My son said it was ok. The big shocker was that my hubby and I actually liked them. They had a nice texture (probably due to the breading). I will definitely be buying these again.

We ran some errands this afternoon which turned into us somehow ending up at a pet store. After snuggling and falling in love with a sweet little face, we couldn't leave empty handed. We decided to take the little guy home with us. I finally got around to dinner at 7:30 so we settled on just having a quick breakfast. My son had french toast. My daughter, hubby, and I had eggs, toast, and grapes.

Facon lettuce tomato

July 10, 2013

One way to tell that you have been on vacation: an empty fridge. Thankfully the commissary was open today. We hit up a farmer's market on our way and found some goodies. I got strawberries, two types of cherries, two types of peaches (one was a donut peach), spinach, romaine, zucchini, cucumber, yellow squash, red/yellow/green pepper, and carrots. Our favorite farmer had a new type of lettuce so we tried that too.

My pre-challenge weekly average at the commissary was $175. Today I spent $24.21 on toiletries/cleaners. I spent $2.49 on impulse items. We decided to try a fake chicken patty for on a sandwich. I spent $106.89 on food. Ugh. We needed a ton plus I had to get a big bottle of vanilla because they were out of the small ones and that alone was $7. I spent $7.98 on gossip magazines. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $143.81 out of pocket. This is a savings of only $31.19. My pre-challenge weekly average at restaurants was $80. However, I decided to pay for our food expenses during our vacation (10 days) with my challenge savings so restaurant totals will not be counting against (or for) us this week. Seeing as the kids are out of school and can't pack lunches, that means our only savings for this week is the commissary savings. This brings our grand total savings to $3,986.90 in 266 days!

I told my hubby to look in the freezer and pick one of our fake out meals for tonight. He decided on vegetarian bacon strips. I have been missing having blt's so my fingers were crossed hoping this turned out well! I also grabbed a pack of stuffed mushrooms. We normally make these ourselves but I saw them today and thought it would be great for an easy side. The mushrooms were stuffed with mozzarella and parmesan cheese and spices including garlic, sage, and basil.

My hubby cooked up the facon (ha, fake bacon) while I got the veggies ready. We topped our sandwiches with the new lettuce, spinach, red onion, cucumber, cilantro, avocado, and tomato. My hubby sniffed the facon when he opened the package. "That smells like bacon". Whew. Test number one passed. He cooked up about 8 slices. We all taste tested a small bite. "That tastes bacony". No way. Is it really passing the taste test? Don't get me wrong. You can tell the difference between pork bacon and facon. However, it is a very doable substitute. How can you tell if it is a good substitute? The entire plate disappeared while I was chopping and my hubby was getting the toast ready. Ha. He had to grab more out of the freezer and make another pan full. I asked everyone what they thought. My son said two thumbs up. My daughter said that facon is less crispy but otherwise she really liked it (she stole most of the first plate). My hubby. Oh boy. The man who loves bacon more than most things. More than sunshine. Is there any chance for him to like this? Yep! He said "huh, not too bad being a vegetarian; we'll make this again". Then we listed all the things that we can now add facon to.

Back from vacation

July 9, 2013

It's time to get back to the blog. We took a vacation to go visit family and I took a step back from the blog while we were gone. To prepare for vacation, I had to clean out the fridge. I had corn on the cob so I just cut it off the cob and froze it. I read that it didn't need to be blanched if you plan on using it up quickly. I figured I could save myself that step if I used the corn right when we got back. I had part of a poblano pepper. Into the freezer it went. I had a bunch of green onions. All I had to do was chop them up and stick them in a freezer bag. I chopped up half a pack of mushrooms. I threw tinfoil around a pack of portobello mushrooms. I shredded half of a zucchini. All of my goodies went in the freezer.

I wasn't sure how the vacation would go along with us being vegetarian. It definitely made traveling a little harder. Coming across an exit with restaurant signs wasn't very helpful if we didn't already know their menu. We stopped at a Big Boy. They were very accommodating. I got an old favorite sandwich (slim jim) but had them hold the ham and add in peppers and mushrooms. My mom had me plan out what meals we would like to eat while we were home and then she altered them a bit for everyone else. One night, I planned lasagna roll ups (with spinach and mushrooms) so she also made a pan of regular lasagna with hamburger for everyone else. It was nice that we didn't feel like we were "missing out" on anything by eating vegetarian meals. We went to my husband's cousin's house for a night. His wife was great and had a vegetarian friendly bbq get together for us. She made a three bean dish that my daughter loved (I still need to get that recipe), roasted veggies (mushrooms, peppers, asparagus) that were to die for, asian ramen noodle salad, guacamole and salsa, watermelon, etc. We spent one night at The Great Wolf Lodge. I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple vegetarian options on their menu. We tried the portobello fajitas and a portobello sandwich. They were both delicious. Thank you to everyone that helped make our vacation a little easier for us!

Of course we get back to town on the day that the new policy goes into effect at the commissary. Due to the budget, they will be closed on Tuesdays (as well as Mondays). I went to a different grocery store today and grabbed milk, coffee creamer, and a couple things to get us by for today.

I decided to do an easy dinner after being outside working all day catching up on yard work. The kids both wanted peanut butter sandwiches and apples. I wanted dip. I love dip for dinner nights. I mean really. Who doesn't like cream cheese for dinner?! I layered cream cheese then black beans processed with salsa. I took the corn, poblano pepper, and green onions out of the freezer. I also grabbed some frozen red pepper. I sauteed the (thawed) corn, peppers, and garlic in a little olive oil. I spread the veggies on the dip. Next, I covered the top with cheddar cheese, mexican cheese, and the green onion. The dip baked at 400 just to warm up and then went under the broiler for a few minutes. Yum!