Summer Recipe Week! Potato Salad

 Potato Salad
Yield: 6 - 8 servings
Ingredients
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced (about 5 cups)
1/2 cup Vegannaise
~1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
Directions:
Place potatoes in large pot and add enough water to cover potatoes. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook 13 to 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain. In a large bowl combine potatoes and onions. Toss to coat with Vegannaise thoroughly. Add ketchup until a light red almost pink color. Add salt and pepper.
This recipe is simple and easy and tasty.

This weekend we are having a BBQ/Potluck for my sister and her family. I am going to make this and the Baked Beans too. I will post pictures. I am a bit behind on pictures and sewing trying to get used to my work schedule and duties at home. I will say that it has been good having company over and since it has kept me accountable to keep the house clean! :)

I have been picking up more shifts at work and I am still trying to get used to my late nights. Needless to say my early mornings have not been happening like I would like. I still have my quiet time but it is happening around 6:30. Thankfully the kids are sleeping in more and do not get up until 7:30-7:45. I usually get home around 10:30 or 11:00. It usually takes me a good 20-30 minutes to wind down from work. I like to lay down on the sofa with the pillows stacked three high and put my feet up in order for my legs to relax.

Summer Recipe Week! Lettuce Wraps and Sauces

I wish I had a deliscous picture for you to salivate over but I did not get pictures at the party.
Wah wah wah waaah

But I have the wonderful recipes!

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
1 head of romaine, rinsed and dried whole leaf
1 red bell pepper finely diced
1 cucumber, peeled and finely diced
2 celery stalks finely diced
1-2 avocado mashed
Directions:
Take a lettuce leaf spoon on avocado, veggies and one, two or all three sauces. Roll up like a taco and enjoy, have napkins on hand.

Sauces

Red Bell Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:
2 red bell peppers
juice from a lemon
About 2 Tb olive oil
Mary-Ann's Garlic Salt
Mary-Ann's Seasoning Salt

Directions:
In a saute pan roast the bell peppers whole until skins are blackened. Cut into strips and place in a blender. Add salts, lemon juice and start blender on low and move to medium. Slowly drizzle olive oil while blending. Obtain a nice blended sauce not too thin.

Cilantro Serrano Sauce

Ingredients:

1 bunch of cilantro rinsed
1 red bell pepper chopped and seeded
2-4 serrano peppers- depends on how hot you want it.
(You can always seed the peppers or use jalapeno peppers and it won't be as spicy)
juice of a lemon
Mary-Ann's Herb Salt
Mary-Ann's Seasoning salt
about 2 Tb Olive oil

Directions:
In a blender place cilantro, lemon juice, red bell pepper, serrano peppers and salts.
Slowly bring the blender from low to medium. Add olive oil until a nice smooth creamy sauce.


Hummus

Ingredients:
2 cans of organic garbanzo beans not drained
juice of a lemon
1/2 cup of tahini
about 2 Tb olive oil
Mary-Ann's Garlic Salt
Mary-Ann's Seasoning Salt

Directions:

In order in a blender add garbonzo beans with water, lemon, salts, and then tahini. Slowly bring to medium speed and slowly drizzle olive oil. This will make a thinner sauce than most hummus. If you like a thicker hummus add only one can with water.


Add these sauces to salad, baked potatoes instead of sour cream, or as a dip for veggies.
I love these sauces and there is something for everyone!

Enjoy

Summer Recipe Week! Veggie Burger Recipe Updated

Since today is the "Official" First day of Summer I thought I would kick off this week with some new, easy, healthy recipes for a your summer BBQ's and picnics!

Monday: Better Veggie Burger

Tuesday: Lettuce Wraps and sauces

Wednesday: Potato Salad

Thursday: Pasta Salad/Baked Beans-I have not decided which one

Friday: Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake 

*Change in schedule, my recipe needs tweeking* 6/24

Today we will revisit the veggie burger for a new and improved recipe 

New and Improved Veggie Burger

Ingredients
1 package of extra firm/firm tofu
1 medium onion sliced
1 basket of mushrooms sliced
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup rice flour
1 Tb yeast
1 Tb Braggs Amino Acid
1 Tb Mary-Ann's Herb Salt
dash of Mary-Ann's Seasoning Salt- if you don't have this use salt and pepper with dash of nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven 450-500 degrees.
In a grill pan or saute pan cook onions and mushrooms with dash of Seasoning Salt. Cook until soft and browned. In the blender add tofu, onions and mushrooms. Blend but do not puree. You do not want big chunks. In a medium mixing bowl add tofu/mushroom/onion mixture with quinoa, Braggs, yeast, Herb Salt. Mix well. Then add rice flour until mixture is holding together well, about 1 cup. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out patties with 1/3 measuring cup and flatten into a patty. Bake for about 15 minutes on each side. We personally like them a little more done, a nice golden brown color on both sides.
Makes about 10-15 patties depending on how big you make them. My kids will easily eat three to four each.
So if you have any left over they will keep good in the fridge and are perfect for lunch the next day.

I usually serve them with grilled onions, fresh arugula, ketchup and if I have it Veganaise. We love Veganaise and often dip our fries in it too.....so yummy. It is a little on the expensive side so I do not buy it often.
Enjoy!

Stick around for all of the great new recipes!

Giveaway, Grads and Good Stuff!

 Alrighty folks, today is the last day to enter the giveaway. I realized that I did not put an end date so today will be a week since it opened and that sounds good. Tonight at 8:00 pm Pacific Time I will close the giveaway.

I have been a little busy this last week with work, graduation and family here. So I plan to get back on schedule. Thanks for the patience :)

Last week was graduation for the University and our neighbor graduated! I was so honored when he asked me to make lunch for his family and friends. We have had him over a few times for dinner and he really enjoyed my cooking. So I planned out a menu and we shopped and Friday and Saturday I cooked up a storm. Not to mention I worked a double at the restaurant on Saturday. For the restaurant, graduation is the second busiest day of the year next to Valentine's Day. It was a hectic but fun day! I love having twenty things to do and only a certain amount of time, I thrive on being under pressure.

Here is our menu:
Starters:
Romaine Lettuce Wraps:
 In a large lettuce leaf with a dollup of guac, spoonful of veggies and drizzle with one or all three sauces, wrap it like a taco and enjoy!
Guacamole
Diced Red Bell Pepper
Diced Cucumber
Diced Celery
With Sauces of
Hummus
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce
Cilantro Serrano Sauce

Baked Polenta with Sauteed Mushrooms

Entrees:

Fire Roasted Corn, Bell Pepper and Broccoli Salad
Veggie Burgers
Grilled Eggplant
Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Dessert:

Fruit
Candied Pecans
*I will post the recipes*

I made it for about ten people and everyone throughly enjoyed themselves.
I love cooking and I was so thankful to give a special gift to our Graduate.
Congratulations Robert!!!

Lastly, we had my sister and her family stay the other night on their way up to Northern California. They are staying with Scott's mum and then will visit here for about a week. We all stayed up late talking and the kids just adored New Zealand cousins. Enzo calls the "Museum Cousins". He can't quite say New Zealand ;)

 Good Stuff! I can't wait to spend more time together!

Broiled Polenta and Mushroom Ragout

 I am always searching google for frugal vegatarian meals and this one popped up the other day. I love polenta and I love mushrooms, so I had to try it and I am so glad I did. I am adding this to my menu plan queue. Enzo ate three helpings and about five polenta sticks. Kira actually ate all of her mushrooms and tred the polenta. Still not crazy about polenta but ate three bites of it.

Broiled Polenta
Ingredients
6 1/2 cups cold water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
I sprayed the baking sheet with olive oil so it would not stick
parchment paper

Directions:
Bring 6 1/2 cups cold water with salt to boil and slowly add cornmeal in a stream in a large pot. Whisking quickly the whole time. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 20-25 minutes. Keep stirring constantly with a long-handled wooden spoon because it will bubble and can splatter causing burns. Continue until polenta begins to pull away from side of pot.

Pour polenta into baking pan covered with parchment paper, using a warm cup of water dip your wooden spoon and then spread evenly.

 Let pan cool on a rack until polenta is lukewarm about 20 minutes.

Spray olive oil on a different baking sheet and invert first baking pan onto sheet to unmold.

Preheat broiler 

Broil about 4 inches from heat until pale golden, 10-20 minutes. Check every five minutes to ensure you do not burn.  Cool 5 minutes, then cut into 3- by 1 1/2-inch sticks.

Mushroom Ragout

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 large onion, finely chopped

3-4 packages (24-32 oz) white or cremini mushrooms, quartered

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 tsp crushed dried rosemary

Mary-Ann's Seasoning salt

4 Tbs tomato paste

2 tsp balsamic vinegar
4 cups water

Directions

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add onion and salt and pepper cooking until soft, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and add seasoning salt. Cover and cook until mushrooms release their juices, about 10 minutes.

Uncover pan and cook on high, stirring often, until liquid has evaporated about 5-10 minutes. Then cook mushrooms until brown, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add rosemary, tomato paste and water. Simmer until sauce has thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in vinegar.

Serve over polenta. Enjoy.

 

Menu Plan

It has been some time since I last posted menu ideas.
Especially since we have gone plant based/vegan, I thought I would share some frugal, vegan and gluten free recipes. Say that ten times fast. Since we do not buy meat my grocery bill is so much lower. We get ample protein from our greens, legumes and nuts.
So here I go:

Sunday
Chili and Cornbread and Salad
without meat

Monday
Red Beans and Rice and Salad

Tuesday
Broiled Polenta with Mushroom Ragout
without goat cheese
and Broccoli

Wednesday
Nutty Noodles with Veggies

Thursday
Baked Potatoes w/ Chili and Salad

Friday
Tomato and Garlic Pasta and Salad

Saturday
Cornbread Waffles or Leftovers


On Sunday afternoon I soaked a pound of pink beans and a pound of kidney beans together. Then split them into two pots and cooked them. One pot for chili with garlic, bell pepper, salt and onion. The other pot with onions, garlic, celery, bay leaves, bell pepper and salt. I made two dinners in one night. Then on Monday night I put the beans on and warmed them up while rice was cooking. I loved the combo of pink and kidney beans. I am excited to try the two new recipes I showed and I will report back to you.

Menu Planning for February

Okay since I am doing 28 days of Nothing I thought I would menu plan the whole month. I planned, wrote out all ingredients, and then wrote a shopping list. I estimated the cost of each item and totaled it to make sure I could get everything on the list and be on budget. I was thinking to myself that someone needs to write a program that takes a recipe and convert it to a shopping list, what a great idea. I found one place. I spent over an hour typing out one recipe. I have never written it down and had to think of what I actually put in it. Only to have wasted that time because their website is lame and does not work. I emailed and told them of the problem and no one has got back to me and it still does not work as of 8:34 pm. So go there goes that idea. Instead I did it all by hand. I wrote down breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks and came out with over five pages of menu type stuff.

Here is what we will be dining on in the next month

Breakfast
Cereal with Soymilk and Banana
Eggs and toast
Oatmeal or Cream of Rice(homemade)

Morning Snack
Ants on a Log (Celery with Sunflower Seed Butter aka Sun Butter and Raisins) Kid's New favorite
Ants on a Canoe (Apple slices with Sun Butter and Raisins) Made that name up:)

Lunch

Kids
Bean Burritos w/ sour cream
Roll-up (Corn Tortillas with Sun Butter)
Grape Tomatoes and Cucumber slices

Eric
1 Tuna Sandwich and 1 PB&J Sandwich
Apple
Tortilla Chips

Keilah
I like eating salad and leftovers from the night before

Afternoon Snack
Popcorn
Raisins and Almonds

Dinner
I usually have theme for each night and modify each week a little
Monday-Asian/Stirfry
Tuesday-Mexican
Wednesday-Soup and Salad
Thursday-Baked Potatoes and Salad
Friday-Pasta
Saturday-Breakfast
Sunday-Leftovers

Here is the whole Month of February
Now I do not totally stick to I HAVE to have Stir fry on Mondays only, if it is easier to do Breakfast or Pasta I do, but I have an outline and stick to those meals.

M-Feb 1-Nutty Noodles and Veggies
T-Feb 2-Potato Flautas w/ Rice and Beans
W-Feb 3-Tomato Soup and Salad
R-Feb 4-Baked Potatoes and Salad
F-Feb 5-Pasta with Marinara Sauce and Salad
S-Feb 6-Poor Man's Meal with Eggs
S-Feb 7-Leftovers
M-Feb 8-Honey Glazed Veggies and Fried Rice
T-Feb 9-Arroz Con Pollo w/ beans
W-Feb 10-Corn Chowder and Salad
R-Feb 11-Baked Potatoes and Salad
F-Feb 12- Pasta with Butter Sauce and Salad
S-Feb 13-***Pizza***
S-Feb 14-Waffles
M-Feb 15-Nutty Noodles and Veggies
T-Feb 16-Tacos w/ Rice and Beans
W-Feb 17-Chili and Cornbread
R-Feb 18-Baked Potatoes and Salad
F-Feb 19-Pasta with Marinara and Salad
S-Feb 20-Pancakes
S-Feb 21-Leftovers
M-Feb 22-Garlic Veggies and Fried Rice
T-Feb 23-Enchiladas w/ Rice and Beans
W-Feb 24-Corn Chowder and Salad
R-Feb 25-Baked Potatoes and Salad
F-Feb 26-Pizza and Salad
S-Feb 27-Waffles
S-Feb 28-Leftovers

***Pizza*** Our church is having a Parents Night out and are watching the kids from 5:30-8:00 and they are feeding the kids pizza. So that Kira and Enzo will not feel left out I am making GF pizza for them. For $4 we have childcare for three hours. We can have a date. I am going to pack a picnic basket of something special. Details of that will come later :)

Whoa! I am tired just typing this out. But I did the grocery list and shopped for two of the four weeks today and I have to say I am under budget sweet.
I spent $59.05 at Costco
$10.95 at Trader Joe's
$ 8.91 at Food 4 Less
________________
Total $78.91
Budget $80.00 for two weeks
Diff $ 1.09


I am excited for this next month. My pantry is fairly stocked, Car is full of gas and we should get our deposit back too from the other house.

Here is my plan for the month.

-Avoid shopping as much as possible, and then only for essentials.

-Not eating out, this will not be hard for me, I am getting used to not eating out. We do eat at Costco occasionally for the yummy hot dogs w/o buns for $1.50 with a drink for the bubba and Kira and I usually share the Turkey Wrap w/o the wrap. Twice a month this happens. So I am going to try to go to Costco by myself and forgo any eating out, sneaky but I think it will work.

-Drive only when we have to, this should not be hard being walking distance from the store and a wonderful bus system.

–Sort through our excess unused stuff and put things on Ebay and Craigslist

-Main goal to save up our $1000 emergency fund through not spending and selling things too. I think it is a pretty big goal but I am aiming for the stars and will be happy if I hit the moon.

I will most definitely be praying through this too that it would change my attitude all together.