Quinoa salad

July 30 & 31, 2013

We've been bad this week. So so bad. My hubby got home from work yesterday and neither of us felt like cooking dinner. Once again, we went out to eat. There was one good thing about it though. We went to the restaurant that our friends own. It is always nice to support their business. I mean, we have to do our part right? Ha.

Today we ran some errands and did some back to school clothes shopping. We played outside with our puppy for awhile and then worked on some house cleaning. Before I knew it, I had about 40 minutes to figure out what to make for dinner, prepare it, get the kids to eat quickly, get them in their uniforms, take the puppy outside, and get out the door to karate practice. Yikes!

None of us were very hungry so I knew I just had to find a simple meal. I cooked some quinoa and added craisins halfway through the cook time. I kept it simple and only seasoned it with a little salt. I decided to serve the craisin quinoa on a salad. I grabbed the rest of the spinach from the farmer's market. There was still a little bit of baby arugula left. I added green onion (from my garden), japanese cucumber, carrots, peas, orange pepper, and avocado. My daughter had ranch on her salad. My son had his plain (without avocado or dressing). I didn't even bother to add ranch to mine. The quinoa and avocado added plenty of creaminess to the salad.

After karate practice, the kids asked for dessert. Unbelieveably, my son asked for the last leftover chickpea peanut butter blondie over the freezer full of ice cream! He ate all the crumbs out of the pan and asked me to make another batch soon. Ha. Will do son.

Peanut Butter Blondies

July 29, 2013

My hubby lucked out and I let him take the only leftover piece of pizza for lunch today. We certainly out did ourselves last night. I can't wait to make another pizza! I decided to make a pasta salad for me to have for lunch and then also have it for a side dish for dinner tonight.

I found a recipe on Thekitchn.com for edamame and cauliflower pasta salad with feta. I altered it a bit. I used orzo pasta. I steamed 3/4 of a head of cauliflower. I added in a package of edamame. The dressing called for 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, juice of 2 lemons, mint, green onions, salt, and pepper. I only added one lemon and I omitted the mint. It seemed to be missing something. I added in some of our favorite teriyaki sauce and a new sauce I got this week (ginger sesame sauce).

We also made our favorite recipe for vegetarian meatballs (found it on celiag16.hubpages.com). They are made of chickpeas, eggs, onion, parsley, oatmeal, bread crumbs, cheese (we used romano tonight), garlic powder, black pepper, worcestershire sauce, and we also added garlic & wine seasoning from The Melting Pot. My hubby made a sauce for them out of about 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce, 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce, just under one teaspoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoons grey poupon. I wanted some sauteed mushrooms and onions as another side. I saw the container of baby arugula in the fridge. Hmmmm. I asked my hubby to throw a handful into the mix.

I asked the kids if I should make a batch of the chocolate chip blondies made with chickpeas again tonight. My son whined no. I told him that I thought he had liked them when I made them before. I pulled up the blog entry from that night and read it to him. Sure enough, he couldn't get enough of them. Ha. My daughter decided that she wanted to make them. I pulled up the recipe for her (Chocolate Covered Katie). It is a great recipe for kids to make because it is basically just using a food processor. She mixed together 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup quick oats, and 1/4 cup peanut butter. After those ingredients are all mixed well in the food processor, stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we just chopped up chocolate bars). I meant for us to try to make these with less sugar this time but I totally forgot. Next time. Spread the batter in a greased 8x8 pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

How did dinner go? I think I finally figured out why the pasta salad was weird. It tasted more like a side dish that should be heated up and not served cold as a pasta salad. My daughter said she would prefer it without feta cheese. I didn't think the feta worked too well in it either. My hubby liked it. Three of us really liked the sauce for the meatballs. My son said it was ok. Now on to the blondies...We started off by each having a piece before dinner when they were warm from the oven. Yum. Then my son remembered them! After dinner, I told the kids they could have another one. Well, that turned into my son asking for one more. I suppose, they have chickpeas, oatmeal, and peanut butter. If I were to forget about the sugar then they would be healthy. Go ahead son. Ha. I did have to say no when he asked for yet another. Ha! I don't think he will say no if I ask him if I should make them again! I don't think my hubby got to try the blondies the last time I made them. My daughter told him the ingredients after he had eaten one. His response, "there's chickpeas in there"? Funny because I had made pasta salad last week with small white beans. The first day we ate it with ranch dressing. The second day we added avocado, tortilla chips, and catalina dressing to have it as taco salad. After eating the pasta salad for two days, I mentioned beans as I wrote my blog and he said "there was beans in there"?

Pizza's best topping

July 28, 2013

Our friend drove 14 hours to come visit us this week. We took her out to lunch today to a Japanese restaurant. Did we ever stuff ourselves! We hadn't been to a Japanese restaurant in quite awhile so I think we were deprived and had to order lots of items. Ha. We started off with the ginger salad. Yum. Next up was our trio of sushi. We had sweet potato rolls, avocado rolls, and cucumber rolls. My daughter had a shrimp and avocado hand roll. The kids both had a bowl of miso soup. My hubby and I both had the vegetarian hibachi lunch with rice/noodles. Our friend shared some of her sushi with us too. She ordered an asparagus, radish sprout, lettuce, cucumber, and avocado roll. So stuffed. So delicious.

About a week ago, I posted the secret to pizza. I'm sure you've all read that post (because you are all good blog followers!) but incase you missed it the secret is grilling the vegetables before you put your pizza together. We upped our pizza skills tonight. My hubby grilled red/yellow onion, green pepper, hungarian wax pepper (only for him), red/purple potatoes, pineapple, and mushrooms. We also added pizza sauce, black olives, garlic and wine seasoning from The Melting Pot, thyme from my garden, baby kale, and baby arugula. My hubby topped it with mozzarella, feta, and provolone cheeses.

I have had a slight (ok, huge) obsession with an assortment of salad greens lately. I'm not quite sure why I haven't thought to add it to pizza until now. Oh my goodness. Arugula is GROWN for pizza. Yum. I asked my hubby what he thought and he said that he wished there was more leftover for lunch tomorrow because there is only enough leftover for me. Awwww. Seeing as he let me have the leftover last week, I'll let him have this piece. Now that's love!

One dinner: Two salads

July 26 & 27, 2013

Yesterday the kids had their last day of summer camp. We hit up the farmer's market on the way home. I love farmer's markets. I could go to one everyday and still find something that I need to buy. We came home and decided to have a picnic. I put together a pasta salad to take outside. I had a box of small ring pasta. Perfect. I added carrots, red onion, green pepper, tomato, cucumber, small white beans, and peas. I mixed in ranch dressing just in the salad that we put on our plates. I figured I would leave the rest of it undressed so that I could do something different with it the next day. We didn't want too much for dinner last night. Ah. A night of dip for dinner. Yum! Cream cheese, black beans processed with salsa, corn, sauteed red onion/mushrooms/green peppers/poblano pepper, mexican and cheddar cheese, and green onions. The kids had peanut butter sandwiches and peaches from the farmer's market.

Today we went out for lunch at a local restaurant on the river. We had a coupon for a free appetizer so we got the sampler of asian spring rolls (vegetarian), jalapeno poppers, and onion rings. My hubby ordered a portobello burger  with eggplant, roasted red pepper, and zucchini in a balsamic glaze. I had a portobello sandwich stuffed with arugula and three cheeses. My daughter had a buffalo chicken sandwich. My son had macaroni and cheese and applesauce.

We spent the afternoon weeding the garden. By "we", I actually mean the entire family! Yay! So we bribed them with a little money. So what. Ha! Our garden is not growing very well this year. We had way too much rain for about a month and some of the garden stayed under water. I am tired of waiting for the garden to get going so we decided to make do with what we could tonight and make a salad. We thinned out the carrots and green onion to get enough for the salad. My hubby picked two red onions. Yeah they were very small but enough for tonight. We also added our own lettuce, thyme, cilantro, garlic chives, tomato, and green pepper. The only item in our salad that didn't come from our garden was the dressing!

I grabbed the rest of the undressed pasta salad from the fridge. I added in an avocado, mexican cheese, and catalina dressing. We topped it with crushed tortilla chips. Voila. A new meal from leftovers. It was so good! We finished the pasta salad but I'm thinking I may need to make another batch tomorrow!

Loaded BLT

July 25, 2013

What a fun day! Our friend moved away seven months ago and today she came back for a visit. My hubby made us wraps for lunch. He grilled red/purple potatoes, red onion, portobello mushrooms, green pepper, cubanelle pepper, pineapple, and cayenne pepper. We also added in baby arugula, baby kale, broccoli sprouts, pea shoots, cilantro, avocado, mexican cheese, black beans processed with salsa, and ranch. Yum!

My daughter asked to make us a snack in the afternoon. My hubby had hard boiled some eggs so she decided to make deviled eggs. I peeled/washed the eggs for her and she set to work. She used miracle whip, mustard, home canned relish, salt, and pepper. Then she topped some eggs differently. Some had cayenne pepper. Some had green onion from the garden. Some had the garlic and wine seasoning from Melting Pot. Oh man. Those were amazing! That seasoning really does make everything taste great.

We got the call that my hubby was on his way home from work a few hours later. Yep. She had to make a few more eggs for daddy to try....uh, all of us to have. Ha!

We weren't too hungry when dinner time rolled around so we decided to have some BLT's. Loaded BLT's. Vegetarian style. We had vegetarian bacon, an orange tomato from the farmer's market, baby kale, baby arugula, broccoli sprouts, pea shoots, cilantro, avocado, and cucumber. I asked my hubby if he wanted to kick the sandwiches up a little bit. Of course! We sauteed red onion, garlic, and baby portabella mushrooms in some local white wine.

How have the kids adjusted to having vegetarian bacon? They were playing outside while we cooked dinner. They kept sneaking in so many times to get pieces of bacon. The last time my hubby caught them my son had a fist full. Ha! After dinner, I asked my hubby what he thought of the sauteed mushrooms and onions on the sandwich. His reply, "new level". I guess that means we'll be adding it to our future BLT's!

Broccoli Carrot Pasta & Grocery Savings

July 23 & 24, 2013

Yesterday for lunch, I just heated up some of the leftover grilled veggies and added in some greens (I have a ton of different ones: baby kale, spinach, arugula, broccoli sprouts, and pea shoots). Of course I also threw in some cheese, avocado, and ranch. The wrap was delicious. I took our puppy to his first vet appointment in the afternoon and then spent some time hanging out with my friends who babysat for me while I was at the vet. Dinner time rolled around and I didn't feel like cooking so we headed to a local pizza joint. A veggie pizza, fried cauliflower, and an order of stuffed riggies later.....dinner was served.

Today was grocery shopping day. My pre-challenge weekly average was $175. Today I spent $19.78 on toiletries and cleaners. I spent $7.13 on impulse items. I got vegetarian egg rolls, general tso's chicken (for my daughter), and garlic cheese rolls (think pizza rolls but a different brand). I felt like I bought a ton today. There was probably two things going against me. I was hungry and I had my hubby with me. Ha. I spent $92.42 on food. I spent $7.98 on gossip magazines. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $130.96 out of pocket. That is a savings of $44.04. My pre-challenge weekly restaurant spendings was $80. This week I went out to lunch with friends, out to lunch with my family, and then out to dinner with my family last night. Yikes. We spent $85.21. Ugh. Over. After taking out our overage, our savings for this week is only $38.83. But hey, it's still savings! This brings our grand total savings to $4,145.81 in 280 days!

Today was a long day. Grocery shopping and errands, a pampered chef party, dinner, and karate. I wanted a quick meal so I just made some pasta with my home canned spaghetti sauce and some steamed green beans. I topped mine with freshly grated parmesan. My daughter topped hers with nutritional yeast. For the pasta, I found a bag of broccoli carrot fettucini that I had bought at a local Amish store. The kids and I really liked them (my hubby worked through dinner). We couldn't taste the veggies at all which I guess is a good thing. The kids said it is a "buy again" pasta.

Fresh raspberry brownies

July 22, 2013

Today was a super busy day of doctor appointments, pharmacy pick ups, post office, laundry, dishes, potty training our puppy, and a lot of cooking. I'm beat. I started the day off by cooking a big pot of black beans and a big pot of chick peas. I had soaked them over night so that they would be all set this morning. I bagged them up and froze them in two cup increments.

My hubby had requested that I make another batch of the semi-homemade baked beans that I had made for our son's birthday party. I made them this afternoon. I think that next time I will eliminate the one can of store bought baked beans and do the entire thing from scratch. I also tried out using different beans with it today. Instead of lima and kidney beans, I used small white and black eyed peas. I was just saying yesterday that we need to use up the black eyed peas. I made a batch of them and froze them but had no idea what to use them in.

Then I moved on to dessert. I made a pan of brownies. I wanted to make something that I could incorporate some of the raspberries and black berries that we had picked yesterday. I took the recipe that I like for raspberry filled brownies from Eat at home cooks and made a few changes today. 2 sticks of butter (I used vegan sticks), 4 eggs. Well, let me stop there. I only had three eggs so I looked up a substitute. What do ya know. Silken tofu is an egg substitute and I actually happened to have a container of it in the fridge! I decided to use 2 eggs and substitute tofu for the rest. It is 1/4 cup of silken tofu per egg. Ok, 2/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 cups sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 cup flour, and 1/2 tsp baking powder. I was going to try to cut back on the sugar a little bit but I was worried that I would need it to balance out the tofu. Melt the butter then stir in the sugar, eggs (and/or tofu), and vanilla. Add the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir. Pour half of the batter into a 9x13 greased pan. The recipe then calls for 3/4 cup raspberry pie filling (I made it that way a few months ago and it was great). Today I skipped the pie filling and just topped the batter with 3/4 cup of the fresh raspberries and black berries that we picked. Then top the berries with the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

I called the kids in for a snack. I asked if they wanted smoothies. Of course they did! I added the rest of the silken tofu, some milk, vanilla, raspberries, and pineapple. My son asked for strawberries in his too. They loved it and had no idea there was tofu in it. Score!

For dinner I wanted to make it something quick because I was tired of being in the kitchen. I figured we could have some of the baked beans and just grill up some veggies. I couldn't stop pulling veggies out of the fridge. Ha. My hubby grilled up red/green/cubanelle peppers, red onion, red/purple/sweet potatoes, asparagus, broccolini, yellow squash, zucchini, and shiitake mushrooms. For dessert they could choose between a brownie or a mini angel food cake topped with fresh berries and cool whip.

I was a little surprised with the results of the food today. My son will normally eat beans but doesn't really "like" them. He actually liked the baked beans! Yay! However, he didn't like the raspberries in the brownies. What? He can't be my child. My daughter said the brownies were ok. She prefers a wetter brownie. She liked the baked beans though (no surprise from my bean lover). My hubby liked the baked beans and said the black eyed peas went well in it. Score number two! Looks like I found a use for the rest of the bags of them. He said the brownies were good but a little soft and crumbly. As for me....I thought the beans turned out great. They were very sweet (which I like) and I like that I can play around with whatever beans I have to use up. The brownies. Ahhh the brownies. I don't know what is wrong with my family. I think the brownies are great! No problem. Just means I get to eat the whole pan. Ha!