Grilled Veggies

All summer I've been telling James that I want a grill for our backyard because I would love to have fun grilling all sorts of veggies and things. I finally I decided to do something about it. No, I didn't go and buy a grill but I did pull out our cast iron stove top grill.

With the grilled veggies I made some quinoa and I also roasted some veggies in the oven because our grill is small and I knew it would take forever to grill everything. Plus I made the Cesar Salad out of "Veganomicon".

So good!!!





"There's a way to do it better — find it." - Thomas Edison

Crazy Days!

Wow! It's been a crazy week so far! We had more storms come through (it is monsoon season). Wednesday was a BIG one! It poured for most of the day which resulted in flooding in several parts of the valley and our power was out for most of the day. It worked out well that I'm reading a good book (Stephen King's "11/22/63") so I didn't miss having the internet or TV (that much). It would have been nice to know what was going on as it happened but I got caught up after our power was back on.

I didn't stick to my meal planning too well this week. Last week we ended up having leftovers for dinner several nights plus an extra meal that wasn't planned. So by the end of the week I still had planned meals that hadn't been made. On our store run James and I just picked up some odds and ends and now I'm just throwing meals together with things I have on hand.

With trying to eat better I've also been trying to watch our spending. Before if I didn't feel like cooking I would have James stop and get something on his way home from work either at a fast food place or the grocery store. I think I would call him at least a couple of times a week. I'm sure it added up to be a lot more expensive than cooking at home.

 Now I'm trying to go to the store only 1 day a week along with not calling him to pick up food. I'm not sure if or how much we're saving (he uses his tips to buy dinner) but I know it's a lot better for our health!

A bowl of Texas Hash. James' favorite meal.

"It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference." - Tom Brokaw

Baked Tofu and Pasta

Last nights dinner was really simple. I roasted some garlic, mashed it, tossed it with some fettuccine and Earth Balance Spread then served it with baked tofu, sauteed cabbage and onions. 

James loaded his pasta with Parmesan cheese. When I asked him how he liked it and if there was too much garlic in the pasta he said "There's garlic in here?" 

 All he could taste was the Earth Balance and the Parmesan. I guess worrying that 2 bulbs (yes two whole bulbs went into the pasta) were too many was done in vain.   

Yesterday afternoon I also spent some time baking. I still had the leftover chocolate fondue from a few nights ago that I needed to do something with. I thought about my options.... we could reheat it and do fondue again but I would have to go to the store to get more dip-able things and we would still have leftovers of the chocolate or I could do some type of baked good.

I went with cookies. When I looked at the chocolate it looked pretty solid so I thought I could just chip it apart and do a chocolate chunk cookie but when I stuck a knife into it it was almost the constancy of pudding. By this time I already had the dough for my cookies mixed. I figured it was too late to turn back now and dumped the 'pudding' into the cookie dough. 

After it was all mixed the texture had me a bit worried so I added some more flour. I tasted the batter (because I don't cook with dairy or eggs it's perfectly safe to do so).
It tasted pretty good but I was still worried about it. I did a test batch to see if they held up and if they didn't I could try to fix the dough.

As the timer went off I peaked into the oven, afraid of what I might find. To my surprise they looked ok. They weren't the prettiest shade of brown but I figured if they tasted good I could hide it by dusting them with powdered sugar.

Before I threw another batch into the oven I waited for the first to cool a bit so I could try one. I gently scooped one off on the cookie sheet. Holding my breath I folded the cookie in two and pulled apart the two halves. I was shocked at how pillowy it looked. I took a bite..........it tasted just like chocolate cake! I was so excited!! I think it is one of the best cookies I've every made. 

It went from me just trying to find a way to use our leftover fondue to me quickly trying to remember exactly how I made both the fondue and the cookies and writing it down so I can recreate them.  I will definitely want these again.

So I made the rest, dusted them with powdered sugar and waited for James to come home. I couldn't wait for him to try them! I was very good and didn't have another one until after dinner.

"Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails."- Max Eastman

Enchilada Casserole

Last Tuesday when I made out my menu for the week and went grocery shopping I hadn't planned on making this meal. The corn tortillas were to be made into bowls for a couple days worth of taco salads. Since I am trying to be healthy (for the most part) I didn't want to fry them so I planned to bake them.

 Unfortunately that didn't work out to well. They ended up really chewy and not very tasty. So now I had a bunch of corn tortillas that would need to be used and I was afraid if I didn't use them right away I would forget about them and they would go bad (It's happened before). 

Enchiladas sounded like the best idea to me. I looked to see what I had on hand that I wasn't planning on putting in another dish. I had 2 cans of black beans, onion, green bell peppers, tomatoes and garlic. I drained and rinsed the black beans, chopped up everything else, threw it all into a bowl together and added some seasoning.

I also made an enchilada sauce from scratch and then I was ready to assemble the dish. Usually I roll them but it kind of seem counter productive because when I serve them I can never find where one ends and the other begins. They end up not being true rolls because inevitably I scoop into one and end up with one and a half instead of just one or two. So I decided to skip the work of rolling each one. 

Not rolling them made it really simple. In a casserole dish I scooped in some enchilada sauce, laid down some corn tortillas, scooped in some filling, added more sauce and repeated. Then I baked it at 350 for 45 min. When it was finished it wasn't very pretty but it sure tasted good :)

 



"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." - Albert Einstein

Taco Salad

For the last week I have been craving taco salad. So I made one. 

I made a taco shell bowl by taking a corn tortilla brushing it with oil, stuffing it into a ramekin and baking it for about 8 min. It wasn't very tasty but it was cute!

The 'meat' was a taco seasoned brown rice and onions.

For the salad I used romaine and iceberg lettuce. Drizzled it with a homemade French Dressing added the 'meat' and topped it with diced onions, tomatoes, Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds and (not pictured) Tofutti Sour Supreme. James, of course, added real cheese and sour cream to his.

It was exactly what I was wanting. 

On the menu tonight enchilada casserole. (to use up the abundance of corn tortillas I have)


"Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks." - Johann Gottfried Von Herder 

Noodles and Noodles

Meals the last couple days have been Buckwheat Soba Noodles with veggies and Black Bean "Meat" balls with sauce and fettuccine. Last night I also made a chocolate fondue for dessert that we dipped fresh pineapple, strawberries and pretzels in. I took some photos of us dipping into the fondue but none of them turned out.

I'm very excited about the week of meals I have planned. So excited that last night after I got home from the grocery store I told James that I wanted to make everything right now and taste it all. :)  He, of course just laughed at me.


"When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier."- Roy E. Disney

Meatless Monday

It's Monday again :) James and I decided last week that Mondays will be our date night. It will be the one night a week that we will either get take out or go out to dinner. It will also be a way to support restaurants that offer meatless options on Mondays (or everyday).

Last Monday we went to Capriotti's and brought sandwich's home to enjoy for another movie night. I got the "Veggie Turkey" off of their Vegetarian menu without cheese or mayo but loaded with all of the veggies they offer plus seasoning. I was in the mood for a deli sandwich and it didn't disappoint. I think next time I get this sandwich though I will ask for about half of the "meat" that they put on it. It was good but I want to taste the veggies more than the "meat".

Along side of my sandwich I tried Lay's new Simply Natural potato chips. They are kind of in between Baked Lay's and Regular Lay's. I'll have to be very careful with these! Potato chips are a huge weakness for me and because these aren't as salty as regular potato chips I could very easily eat the entire bag.  

"As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma." - Sri Guru Granth Sahib