Saturday Lunch - Polenta Rancheros (July 3)

It seems fitting to make our brunch from a brunch cookbook: 
Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Based on her description - replacing soft eggs with soft polenta - had my attention. I simply love any recipe that replaces eggs in traditional dishes - chickens being one of the worst treated animals on factory farms.  

When Kate tasted it, she practically swooned! It is a truly delicious meal! The soft, creamy polenta, with the spicy beans and the cooling guacamole is superb. Nicely thought out recipe. Next time we make this - and we will - I will grind the spices before adding the onions and garlic; broken pieces of coriander seeds are a little distracting in the rancheros.

Cost Breakdown:
tomato, can: $2
2 beans: $4

polenta: $.50
avocado: $3
onions, garlic, fresh tomato: $2
vegetable broth, homemade: $.50
sour cream: $.50
Total tofeed a family of 5:
$12.50

 

Friday Lunch - Sweet Potato Sandwich (July 2)

We went on a hike today. Lunch was sweet potato sandwich with lemon-tahini spread. I baked the sweet potatoes the night before with the Lima Bean Bake and cooled it overnight in the fridge. It worked very well because the potato had time to firm up and was tender and melt-y but held together. The spread I made with tahini, yogurt, Meyer lemon (why not?) and sugar and salt. At home on the sandwich were tomatoes, onions, avocado and sunflower sprouts - the most decadent sprouts in my opinion.  

The kids found this sandwich a little too sweet. The first one I made I made the mistake of not seasoning properly. Because the sweet potatoes are so sweet, seasoning each layer was crucial! For the girls I made the sandwich the same way but without the sweet potato and called it California Sandwich with Lemon-Tahini Spread.

Cost Breakdown:

bread: $2

sweet potato: $2

avocado: $2

onion, tahini, yogurt, sugar: $1

tomato: $2

Total for 5 sandwiches:

$9.00

 

Sweet Potato Sandwich

California Sandwich

Thursday Dinner - Lima Bean Bake with Garlic Rapini (July 1)

This is a perennial favorite around here. We've been making it for years; not just for the family, but as potluck dishes for recitals, parties, homeschool clubs, etc. It is amazing! The buttery bean, contrasted with the bitter, garlicky rapini is a flavor explosion! I can't go on enough about it. The cooking broth is always sopped up by the children with French or Italian bread. Mmmm.

It takes just 15 minutes to make on the stove, but requires a few hours of baking in the oven. I always overindulge on this. Oh, well.

The recipe is enough to feed a family o five, but the leftovers from this are in demand, so I always double this recipe.

Cost Breakdown:

2 cans of beans: $2.50

onion, carrot, garlic : $1.50

tomato: $1

rapini: $3

bread: $3

Total to feed a family of 5:

$11.00

 

Lima Bean Bake with Garlic Greens Recipe

Wednesday Dinner - Toasted Noodles with Kale and Navy Beans (June 30)

Tonight is Italian/Pasta Night

Although tonight's meal is not Italian, but Jewish, it is a pasta dish.


The kids love this meal and requested a repeat, especially Kate who did not want me to forget about making garlic bread! Traditionally it is simply referred to as 'fideos'; the noodles are first sauteed in olive oil and then baked with just enough vegetable broth to soften them. After baking I crispen them in the oven on broil. I added kale and navy beans this time around. I know the kids will add some Better Than Sour Cream -it is just how they roll and this can be traditional as well.

Then they'll do an un-traditional thing and put it on some fresh garlic bread. Yeah, we live adventurously here.

Cost Breakdown:

brown rice pasta: $2.50

vegetable broth (homemade): $.50

tomatoes: $2

1/2 kale: $1.50

bread: $2

garlic and onions: $.50

Better Than Sour Cream: $1

beans: $2

Total to feed a family of 5:

$12.00

 

Toasted Noodles with Greens and Beans Recipe

Wednesday Lunch - Basil-Tomato Soup (Cat) (June 30)

When we suddenly went vegan (really- one weekend I tossed everything that wasn't vegan and on Monday we went to Whole Foods; that was it) back about a decade ago, my daughter's, four at the time, new comfort food became Whole Food's Basil-Tomato Soup. She would get that soup every time we went to Whole Foods!

Then one day a few years ago, we returned for her obligatory soup-fix only to find that it was no longer vegan - it had cream in it. Yikes! Magic in the kitchen was needed. I managed to recreate her beloved soup for her and she has been enjoying it ever since. This is her contribution to the family cooking this week and she does a tasty job of it. Thank you, Cat!

Simple, more cost-efficient, and vegan.

Cost Breakdown:
tomatoes: $5
basil, dried: $.50
onion, garlic: $1
sugar or agave: $.50
bread: $3
Total to feed a family of 5 a few times:
$10.00



 

Basil-Tomato Soup Recipe

Tuesday Dinner - Piri Piri Summer Vegetables with Jollof Rice (June 29)

Tuesday nights are Asian/African nights

...or anything that is nice with rice. Tonight I made an African meal complete with red palm oil, a distinctive African flavor. Piri Piri means 'hot chilis' in Swahili and so the name of the marinade echoes the content of it. Unfortunately, I could not find any thai bird's eye chili, so I made my piri piri marinade with Fresno and serrano peppers - less spicy. It seems to be a chili week, here at my house! After the vegetables - eggplant, green beans, zucchini and yellow squash - were marinated for 20 minutes, I grilled them on the griddle I still had out (but cleaned, of course :) from lunch. I served it in butter lettuce to cut the heat and provide a vessel to the mouth. Yum!

The rice is cooked with tomatoes, onions, cinnamon sticks, fenugreek seeds, coriander and cumin, and the ubiquitous African red palm oil. I love African food. The family is still getting used to the unique flavor - especially of the palm oil (which you can skip and just spice your neutral oil by simmer it with onions, garlic and the spices for 15 minutes, straining it and using it as the cooking base). The flavor of the vegetables - spicy and sweet with a little tang from the lemon in the marinade - were well received, though.

Cost Breakdown:

vegetables: $5

peppers: $1

rice: $.50

tomatoes: $2.50

red palm oil : $1

lettuce: $2

spices: $.50

Total to feed a family of 5:

$12.50

Tuesday Lunch - Panini Burritos with Roasted Corn and Chili Cream Sauce (Mikel) (June 29)

I am pretty sure kids don't really care that they have the same type of meal right after another, because Mikel chose to make bean burritos for lunch. He grilled the burritos like a quesadilla, so we decided to call it a 'panini.' Yes, we pressed it down to make it official, even though we have no panini press.

He roasted some corn on the griddle, added that to the refried beans he made, some Daiya cheese and a bit of sour cream and avocado and the meal was complete. I, however, wanted to make a sauce for it and even Mikel liked it. I just rehydrated some 2 chilis and blended them with some almond milk, a few cashews, a dash of salt and sugar, strained it and heated it to meld the flavors. Oh my! The humble burrito, as fabulous as Mikel made it, was flown to even more glorious heights.

Cost Breakdown:

tortilla: $2

beans: $4
corn: $1
avocado: $3
sauce: $1.50
Daiya: $2
Total to make 10 burritos:
$13.50

Monday Dinner - Raw Tacos Two Ways (June 28)

Wow! This was fabulous. The inspiration came from my coffee-table cookbook, Raw, but I significantly simplified it.

One of the tacos has oyster mushrooms and fresh cut corn marinated in lime juice and a little chili sauce I made for the vinaigrette. I then dehydrated it a bit to let it 'cook.' The other taco has jicama and mango filling with guacamole. The shells I made using fresh cut corn and soaked golden flax seeds. I made my cashew sour cream, which is raw anyway. The chili vinaigrette was made by rehydrating ancho and guajillo chilies, (but any dried chili would be fine) and whisking it with lime juice, vinegar and olive oil. The sauce was super awesome!

The tacos with the sour cream and the chili vinaigrette were a mouth-watering combination.

Even picky-daughter who swore she would never eat raw had a few of these.

Cost Breakdown:

nuts and seeds: $5

olive oil and vinegars: $1

chili peppers: $.50

produce: $7
Total to feed a family of 5:
$13.50

Raw Tacos Two Ways Recipe

Monday Lunch - Banana-Chocolate Chip Pancakes (Kate) (June 28)

Kate made today's lunch. She not only loves pancakes, but she thinks the flipping is out of this world! The only thing better than flipping pancakes, is eating them. She wanted to do something different with her pancakes today so she blended bananas with her wet ingredients. Of course, she used whole wheat flour.
Yeah, breakfast for lunch.
Why not?

Cost Breakdown:

white whole wheat flour: $1.50

almond milk: $2

chocolate chips: $1

bananas: $2

maple syrup: $3

Total to stuff 5 people:

$9.50

 

Banana-Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe

Sunday Dinner - French Dip (June 27)

Family Favorite night. French Dip. I worked in restaurants most of my life, and French Dip was something that many featured on their menu. This has to be one of the most difficult sandwiches to recreate vegan since the sandwich itself has nothing but sliced meat on it and the dipping sauce, au jus, is made of meat drippings.

Difficult, but not impossible. It is a Sunday Fave because we managed to do just that: take something wholly meat-laden and recreated it delicious and added nothing to it and took nothing away (except the meat). The seitan is inspired by Bryanna Clark Grogan's 'beefy' seitan. The au jus uses vegetable broth, portabella mushrooms (do not be deterred by this even if you hate 'shrooms) and onions. It is divine!

Cost Breakdown:

seitan: $2

mushrooms, onions: $2

vegetable stock: $1 

bread: $3

Total for 5 sandwiches:

$8.00

 

French Dip Recipe

Sunday Lunch - Summer Garden Pasta Salad (June 27)

Summer time is wonderful for bright, vibrant vegetables. Showcasing them simply in a light pasta salad is not only ideal, but imperative. Adding some cannellini beans and a garlic crostini (toast with fresh garlic rubbed on it) makes this a complete meal. I make Sunday's lunch lite because Sunday's dinner is a family favorite and more often than not is either a heavy meal or more involved to prepare. A lite lunch balances things out.

This pasta salad has broccoli, asparagus, red bell peppers and green onions that I lightly sauteed for a few minutes until they were just crisp. I added sliced grape tomatoes, some vinegar and a few tablespoons of olive oil and a few fresh herbs. Great flavors, little time.

Cost Breakdown:

asparagus: $3

1/2 bell pepper: $1

1 bunch broccoli: $2

green onions and garlic: $1

herbs: $1

tomatoes: $2

pasta: $.50

beans: $2

bread: $1

Total to feed  a family of 6:

$13.50

 

Summer Garden Pasta Salad Recipe