Saturday Dinner - Sausage-style Beans with Grilled Green Beans (July 24)

Continental

I have been craving mashed potatoes topped with Italian Sausage drenched with a flavorful sauce. Since I didn't want to use seitan or soy again, although Tofurkey makes a great Italian Sausage, I needed to get the flavor of Italian sausage in some other way. I chose beans since we haven't had our weekly quota of legumes. I seasoned the beans with ground fennel seeds, crushed chili, Hungarian paprika and garlic. I added a chopped tomato to help get some sauciness into the beans and splashed on some balsamic vinegar for a tang.

I served it over mashed potatoes and topped it with grilled green beans cooked crisp-tender. I infused some olive oil with garlic, chili flakes and fennel seeds, and used the oil for the green beans and I stirred the strained solids into my mashed potatoes.

So, I achieved what I set out to do - infuse the flavor of Italian sausage into my beans, achieved wonderful texture and grilled flavor with the green beans and got my creamy mashed potatoes to tie everything together.

Nice.

Cost Breakdown:

3# potatoes: $3.50

almond milk, olive oil, garlic, spices: $2

beans: $2

tomato, green beans, onion: $3

Total to feed a family of 5:

$10.50

  

 

Saturday Lunch - Spinach and Mushroom Strata (July 24)

Brunch

I made this recipe on May 1. It is from 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. I have been a fan of Robin's books since the first one I picked up way back when - Vegan Planet.

Back to the recipe: It says it makes 6 servings, but after I assembled it, I knew this would be too much for my family and I didn't picture this as all that popular as a leftover. So, I put it into two square cake pans and froze one. I grabbed it out of the freezer today and put it in the toasted oven - more welcome during the summer, and baked it for a little over an hour.

It turned out just as good as the first time and I didn't have to lift a finger. My kind of brunch.

The dish has spinach, mushrooms, onion, tofu, a little cheese and cubed bread.

Cost Breakdown:

onion, garlic, mushroom: $2

spinach: $2

tofu: $2

bread: $2

cheese: $2

Total to make 6 servings as written:

$10.00

 

Friday Lunch - Roasted Beets on Crostini (July 23)

Hike Day

We were supposed to have a picnic, but the weather was only cooperating for the hike. Although we went home to eat, this certainly can be picnic fare or even a lovely appetizer or lite meal.

I roasted some beets, and sauteed some minced onions in balsamic vinegar. This softened the onions, reduced the vinegar to a sweet syrup and got rid of the extra acid. I made a dressing for the beets with Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, smidge of agave, the onions, the reduced balsamic, a dash of dill weed and salt 'n pepper.

The 'feta' I had left over from a few weeks ago. It kept really well, covered with oil, very much like sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. I mashed it up, added a crushed-to-smithereens garlic and seasoned it with salt, pepper and dill, echoing the beets. For good measure, I topped it with some of those beautiful sprouts. They reflected the earthiness of the beets magnificently.

Slapped 'em on some toasted bread - crostini - and we were all set. 

 Uncommonly good.

Cost Breakdown:

beets: $2

bread: $3

feta: $2

onion, dill, olive oil, Dijon, balsamic: $2

Total to make a bunch of these (20?):

$9.00

Thursday Dinner - Wheat-Meatloaf

European Night

This loaf is based on Hungarian Fasirozott. What makes a Hungarian meatloaf Hungarian? The onions are sauteed first with 'bacon' - in my case olive oil and a little toasted sesame seed oil for taste and instead of breadcrumbs we use rice. I used ground seitan, which if homemade, actually sticks together well. I also added flax seed meal to help the binding in case my seitan wasn't enough. The flavors were spot on, the texture excellent, it was moist and it held together. I believe I've covered the criteria for a meatloaf. I did not add the obligatory ketchup on the top, but some family members, who shall remain anonymous, added a generous portion to their helpings.

Cost Breakdown:

1/2 of a portion of homemade seitan: $1.50

flax: $.50

rice: $.25

vegetables: $1

tomato paste: $.50

Total to make 7 servings:

$3.75

 

Thursday Lunch - California Club (Cat) (July 22)

Usually, I insist that when the kids cook, they actually cook something.  Once every 10 weeks I ask each of them to come up with 10 meal ideas. That way they don't have to worry over it weekly. Once every 10 weeks or so I also allow to assemble a meal. Cat made this sandwich, one of her all time favorites, with tomato, Veganaise, Follow your Heart, Tofurkey, lettuce, and avocado. I add sprouts onto mine, as well. These little babies were hand raised by me. If you haven't grown sprouts, yet, you should.

Three easy steps:
In a wide mouth quart mason jar with a 'sprout lid'
1) Soak 2-4 T seeds for 8 hours in filtered water to cover.
2) Drain and flip upside down in the dish draining rack
3) In the morning and evening, rinse seeds with a little water.

Keep them upside down to drain always. They are ready when their tails are 1/4-1/2 inch, 3-5 days.When they are ready, put them in a big bowl of water. The seed shells will float to the top where you can skim them off. Drain very well and store them in the same jar they sprouted in.

Cost Breakdown:
sprouts: $.50
bread: $3
avocado and veganaise: $3
tomato, lettuce: $1.50
Tofurkey and Follow your Heart: $5
Total to make 5 sandwiches:
$13.00

Wednesday Dinner - American Lasagna (July 21)

It is Italian/Pasta Night

This is the best lasagna. Period. Well, maybe Bryanna's Italian Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce is a rival :)

This is not a vegetable lasagna, because my kids' first question after 'What is for dinner?' is "Is there anything weird in it?' Define 'weird' as 'vegetable.' Ahh. Gets old. I do not know how they overlook the fact that the ricotta-style filling has 8 cups of spinach, but I don't care! They love it and as long as there are no odd bits of zucchini or mushrooms to bite into, they are happy. If it was up to me, there would be pieces of zucchini and eggplant and pepper and mushrooms, but, alas, I leave this one alone. For now.

This lasagna is easy to make, and I hope that is not just because I've been making it for over seven years. It has 5 layers of: pasta, spinach-basil tofu filling, ground Boca, Daiya-Follow Your Heart cheeses, homemade pasta sauce. I use Whole Foods No Boil Lasagna noodles, but I've had success using regular lasagna noodles and not pre-cooking them. Just make sure to cover your pan very tightly with foil (doming it a bit so the cheese does not stick to it) and extend the cooking time about 15 minutes. Adding a 2-3 T of water to the bottom of the pan before assembling the lasagna gives extra insurance of it getting cooked properly. 

This has to be one of our more expensive meals, but putting things into perspective, each generous serving is $2.70. You can't even buy a frozen meal for that much.

Cost Breakdown:

noodles: $2

spinach, basil, tofu: $8

Boca: $3

tomatoes: $5

onion, garlic, olive oil: $1

Daiya and Follow Your Heart: $8  

Total for 10 servings:

$27.00

American Lasagna Recipe

Tuesday Dinner - Tom Kha (July 20)

Asian Night

When we have the chance to go to a Thai restaurant, David, Mikel and I always want the Tom Kha soup - a coconut-lime soup. Invariably though, there is either fish sauce in it or it is made with chicken stock. There was a time we received it with a piece of chicken, even after interrogating the server; makes you think they weren't being completely forthright...maybe?

If we are able to find a place that follows our one simple rule of 'no animals in our food,' they charge an arm and a leg for a teeny, tiny bowl. It just makes more sense to make it at home and load it up with all your favorite vegetables, fungi or soy products. 

This soup should really be called Tom Yum, but that is this same soup without the coconut milk - so unfair.

We made ours with shiitake, green beans, red peppers, spinach, carrots, shallots and basil. This is one of those Thai meals, that although would be even better with the addition of kaffir, lemongrass and galanga, tastes spectacular with just lime, lemon zest and ginger. This is so because I've gone to the extent of having gotten those exotic ingredients, but not tonight. Still totally wonderful.

Cost Breakdown:

coconut milk: $3

homemade stock: $1

lemon, lime, basil, ginger: $3

vegetables: $3

fungus: $2

Total to feed 6 people your way:

$12.00

 

 

Tom Kha Recipe

Tuesday Lunch - Chili Bean Dip and Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips (Mikel) (July 20)

Mikel will do just fine on his own when he moves out - as long as he has beans and pasta, because that is what he likes to cook - Mexican and Italian. Today he cooked up some chili infused bean dip and made some tortilla chips.

Please note the 'chips' are homemade, the tortillas themselves were homemade by Whole Foods. It really is a snap to bake some tortillas to wind up with chips. Needless to say, he did a great job and he was done in a jiffy.

 I am not one to look at a 'gifted pot for the lid' - he cooked and I did not have to. 

Cost Breakdown:

tortillas: $3

beans: $2

2 avocados: $3 (sale at WF)

tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices: $1

Total to feed 4 people:

$9.00

 

Monday Dinner - Raw Collard Wraps (July 19)

Monday Night is Raw Night

It seems my children have gotten used to the idea of Raw Night. I didn't say they've gotten to like it - just that they now remember to moan...'oh, yeah. It's Raw Night,' sigh and walk away.

No matter! Onward we go!

Tonight's culinary delights involved a marinated collard wrap, encasing a puree of fresh-shelled peas and kohlrabi. The puree is mixed with walnut pieces, slivered spinach, bean sprouts and minced Fresno peppers. Accompanying the wraps are a cucumber salad, marinated shiitake and nama shoyu vinaigrette.

I found the meal well-balanced, the flavors, textures and colors all complementing each other. David thought it wasn't bad. Kate liked it. Mikel and Cat humored me tasting the wraps. Mikel told me making raw taste good is hard. After I gave him a Mom-look, he amended that to getting him to like raw is difficult.

When dinner was almost ready, Cat sprang on me that it is her Half-Birthday. Great! So? Well, we have some dear friends who do celebrate all five of their children's half birthdays, and since I was just jumping out of my skin that my daughter was doing math of any kind, I immediately set to work to produce some dessert in celebration. ...a raw dessert.

Mudslide Pie.

No fear, blog readers, desserts of any kind - raw or otherwise- are always welcome at our house! Desserts are not collards, after all.

By the way, this pie has three fillings - almond butter, chocolate and vanilla. My blender needed to be cleaned thrice. And the food processor once. This is a gluten free, albeit not soy free dessert - the thickener is soy lecithin.

Cost Breakdown:

1/2 collard bunch: $1.50

filling: $4

mushroom: $3

1/2 cuke: $.50

nama shoyu, limes, pepper, oils: $2

Total to feed 3 people:

$11.00

5 out of 5 stars

Raw Mudslide Pie Recipe

Monday Lunch - Gluten Free and Fat Free Biscuits (Kate) (July 19)

Like I said before, my kids simply do not care if they have the same things in a row. Last night we had Seitan and Dumplings (read: biscuits) and today Kate wanted to make Biscuits.

We make a whole wheat biscuit that is fat free. This is probably the fifth time she has made these. The kids love it and I don't cringe when they put Earth Balance on it because I did not add fat to it.

Today I tried my hand at making gluten free biscuits, thanks to Simply Healthy Family blog. It certainly can't hurt to be moderate about wheat - one of the key reasons why we don't eat anything exclusively, like soy. Too much of a good thing is not necessarily a good thing, and all that.

I made them the same way we make the regular biscuits, just replaced the whole wheat pastry flour with GF flour. It needed a half cup more flour than wheat recipe, but I still didn't want to add xanthan gum or fat. Because they were still a little softer than the wheat ones, I baked them in my cast iron biscuit/cornbread pan. I'm sure a little more baking time would be nice, and preheating the pan would be great, too, to get them golden brown. In the end, they are fluffy, held together, are light and tasty. I'm sure adding 2-4 T of fat would make them even better, but like I said, my kids would add it no matter what I did to the batter.

Cost Breakdown:
Regular:
whole wheat flour: $.50
almond milk: $.50
chives, bak. powder: $.25
Total to make 6 biscuits:
$1.25

GF biscuits:
GF flour : $2
almond milk: $.50
chives, bak. powder: $.25
Total to make 7 biscuits:
$2.75

WW, FF on right

GF, FF on left

Gluten Free Biscuit Recipe

Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipe (fat free and regular)

Sunday Dinner - ...and Dumplings (July 18)

Sunday Nights are Family Favorites

So what do you call a dish that originated as 'Chicken and Dumplings' and morphed into 'Seitan and Dumplings'. Naturally, the seitan is flavored and tender. So should it be 'Tender Seitan and Dumplings?' Sounds good to me!

This huge pot of lovely 'Tender Seitan and Dumplings' uses half a recipe of Tender Seitan, baby carrots, onions, celery and homemade feather-lite dumplings. Besides all the other junk that is in that name brand biscuit mix, there is a ton of fat. I used 4 T of Earth Balance in my whole wheat biscuit mix, and even that was painful. Fortunately, they came out just as light as they had in the past when I made them with half-a-cup of fat.

 I wonder how low I can go?

I used Bryanna's Vegan Chicken-style Broth from her site for the flavor pop and  nutritional yeast for added vitamin B12, which by the way, is important even for omnis - there are many people who are B12 deficient even eating animal products. B12 is actually made by bacteria and the animals eat them and then humans eat the animals. With all the factory farming these days, and the feeding of grain to the animals, there is a huge reduction in the animals' consumption of B12. 

Cost Breakdown:

dumplings: $1

seitan: $2

vegetables: $1

nutritional yeast: $.50

hemp milk (dumplings) : $1.50

Total to feed 8 people:

$6.00 

5 out of 5 stars