What a good food day! The kids were home for lunch today. I asked if they wanted to try the new macaroni & cheese that I had found for them. They both agreed and then headed outside for a picnic. If you are looking for a healthier option for mac & cheese, let me point you to "Back to Nature" brand. We tried their organic shells & cheddar. It was really good. Both kids asked for seconds. Also, I made it with vegan butter and just a splash of almond milk and it still tasted good. I'd say that's a winner. For myself, I decided to make a wrap out of some leftovers. I used processed black bean and salsa mixture, grilled tofu, and grilled zucchini/squash, peppers. I also added in some spinach, avocado, and cilantro. Yum! I wasn't sure if the tofu would be ok as leftovers but it was fine.
A few weeks ago, my daughter had a friend over and she stayed for dinner. I was so nervous to cook a vegetarian meal for a meat eater. There was no need to be nervous because she LOVED the bean burgers I made. Yay! Today her mom even asked me for the recipe. The girls wanted another play date so she came over for dinner again tonight. Hmmmm. Will I be able to pull it off and have her enjoy another night of vegetarian fare?
Today is also a special day for us. It marks 8 weeks of being vegetarian. I wanted a feast! We decided to make meatballs, cauliflower steaks, salad, and Italian bread with dips. Once again, we used the meatball recipe from Celiag16.hubpages.com. 2 cups chickpeas, 2 eggs, onion, parsley, 1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal, 1/4 cup bread crumbs (we used panko), 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, and 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce. Combine all ingredients and mash until the chickpeas are no longer whole. Roll meatballs and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. My hubby sliced the cauliflower into "steaks" and brushed them with olive oil and garlic wine seasoning. The cauliflower needed to bake at 425 for 25 minutes so we compromised and set the oven at 395 (because 400 would be just too much. ha). My hubby made a sauce for the meatballs and cauliflower out of sauteed onions and mushrooms, marsala wine, vegetable broth, garlic, thyme, and thickened it with a little corn starch. For our salad, I chopped up spinach & radishes (from farmer's market), carrots, mushrooms, red onion, and sunflower seeds. The bread we served with the processed black bean and salsa and some of the tomato garlic dipping sauce that we got from the food & wine festival. We washed it all down with some berry gelato.
How did my daughter's friend like dinner? She couldn't decide if she liked the bean burgers or the meatballs better! Yay! She even went back for seconds of the meatballs and cauliflower. The kids weren't too thrilled with the sauce. I think there was just too much mushrooms for them. I loved it though. My hubby said dinner was good. Today was a win!
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