Thursday Lunch - Italian Casserole (September 23)

This meal somehow got moved from its intended night to the next day. Funny how things like this can happen at my home...

This casserole is mostly like a layered potato dish, but without milk or cheese (nondairy, of course). Instead it has fresh tomatoes, olives and an herb paste - garlic, basil, parsley and oregano - topped with fresh bread crumbs.

I have to say that fresh bread crumbs are the way to go - just take a few pieces of bread and grind them in a food processor or blender. It tastes so much better than dried crumbs.

As for the casserole, it was a refreshing dish, with the fresh tomatoes and herbs, but the kids weren't that into it.

It didn't have the big, bold flavors that I expected, but I was still pleased. A bountiful bowl of fresh crisp salad was just the perfect accompaniment to the creamy potatoes.

Cost Breakdown:

potatoes: $2

tomatoes: $2

olives, garlic: $1

herbs: $2

bread: $.25

Total to feed a family of five:

$7.25

Wednesday Lunch - Pasta Pomodoro (Mikel) (September 22)

It was Mikel's turn to cook today. While he did not make anything off of the Cooking List, he did make Pasta Pomodoro. Pomodoro means tomato. Yes, my son, the one who does not make friends easily with tomatoes, wanted to make this dish. It is about the only thing on the menu at Olive Garden that is vegan, and having had it before, he wanted to recreate it.

And just because he is such a fan of pesto, he made a Duo of Pasta for lunch.

The Pomodoro uses tomatoes from our garden, Hungarian Hearts to be exact, and the pesto uses basil from our kitchen garden. Both contain plenty of garlic to boot and both were delicious. Both are actually very simple to make - the Pomodoro has basil, garlic and tomatoes, the pesto, basil, garlic and nuts.

He used Lo Mein noodles for the pasta since they cook in three minutes and I was out of angel hair.

Cost Breakdown:

noodles: $2

tomatoes: $3

basil: $3

garlic: $1

Total to feed a family of four:

$9.00

 

Tuesday Dinner - North Indian (September 21)

Indian Night

As soon as my kids got wind that I was making Indian (again) they asked: are you going to make the same things again?

Are you kidding me??

There is a whole country of food to make!

But, it does seem, at least to kids before they tasted it, that indeed, Mom did make the same things again: legumes, potatoes and rice. It was only after they tasted it that the light bulb went off - this is totally different than last week's Indian.

It was either my cooking skills or South Indian's penchant for sour, because they enjoyed the tonight's North Indian more. 

Tonight I made a split red lentil (masoor dal) Dal with spinach and tomatoes, Chana Masala, chickpeas with gravy - one of the only vegan items on an Indian restaurant menu, and Alu Matar, a potato and peas dish. 

The Alu Matar recipe I got out of Flavors Of India by Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff. I met this lady in San Francisco where she has an Indian shop. Her cookbook is excellent and the recipes are easy. This is the book I have used before and while it does not have all the recipes that one can drool over in a restaurant, it is a great place to start. If you are looking for a good, simple Indian cookbook, look no further.

The chickpeas in the dish above need to be cooked fresh since the cooking broth is important in the preparation. Believe me, I've tried making Chana Masala on more than a few occasions since it is Cat's favorite dish, with little success until tonight.

Cost Breakdown:

onion, garlic: $1

spices, herbs: $1

tomatoes, peppers: $3.50

potatoes: $1.50

peas, lentil, chickpea: $3

spinach: $1

rice: $.50

Total to feed a family of 6:

$11.50

 

Chana Masala Recipe

Dal with Spinach Recipe

Tuesday Lunch - Strawberry Dip (Kate) (September 21)

Dear daughter Kate loves strawberries and she chose to make a dip for some fall fruit.

The dip is really simple, with strawberry preserve, yogurt and Better Than Cream Cheese. Her biggest challenge was cutting the fruit - it kept rolling on her.

We received beautiful pears and apples in our box this past week, so the timing on her dip was great.

Nothing much to cook with this one, but it is on their list of things to make, the Lunch and Snack List.

Cost Breakdown:

apples, pears: $3

dip: $1

Total to make snacks for 3 kids:

$4.00

 

Sunday Lunch - Dolmas (September 19)

Dolmas are stuffed grape leaves. It seems humans have stuffed anything they have been able to lay their hands on, from peppers to leaves to unfortunate animal parts. On this blog, we stuff the plant kingdom only and today the grape leaf was up for graps.

I stuffed the leaves with rice, parsley, pine nuts and seasonings. Wow! This was nothing like I had ever had in a restaurant or from a store. And interestingly, it was not difficult or that time-consuming to make.

Interestred? Here is the How To Breakdown...

I have been wanting to make Videos, but the time and effort they take is a little more than I have to spend right now. Maybe in the future. As for now, I am preparing a

Picture-Blog of dishes which I think are confusing or complicated to make. Let me know how these are working. Please. You won't totally hurt my feelings.

Cost Breakdown:
leaves: $4
rice: $1
lemon, olive oil: $1
pine nuts: $1
parsley, scallions: $2
Total to make 40 dolmas:
$9.00


 

Dolmas Recipe

Learn to make Dolmas on my new blog!

Saturday Dinner - Grilled Vegetable Lasagna (September 18)

Summer is ebbing and my garden is ripening. Cat has been asking for lasagna again, so I granted her wish, although maybe not her vision.

I made this lasagna using grilled vegetables with a grilled eggplant-tomato sauce. I grilled whatever I could for this dish: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, onions, carrots and garlic. The sauce I made with the eggplants and the tomatoes I grilled and added the other grilled veggies, chopped, into the lasagna.

I made a tofu-ricotta-style filling with fresh basil, grilled garlic, tofu and olive oil. I added the Daiya and Follow your Heart cheezes to satisfy my daughter, but had I made it for just myself I would have skipped it. The irony is that she didn't like it - too many vegetables. The other two scarfed it, though!

This was really good and so satisfying. The summer vegetables were so welcome, knowing that summer is leaving and fall vegetables are arriving in my CSA. Sort of a grand exit, if you will.

Cost Breakdown:

eggplant, pepper, tomato: $9

onion, garlic, carrot, fennel: $3

Daiya and Follow Your Heart: $8

basil, tofu, olive oil: $4

pasta: $2

Total to make 10 servings:

$26.00

Saturday Lunch - Flannel Cakes (September 18)

Brunch

Flannel Cakes. Hmm. Are they a pancake or a crepe or what? Has more than nine-tenth of the population never heard of these? I haven't. Until I came across a recipe for it and then I went in search. It was difficult for me to find information about this elusive cake; most people just liken them to pancakes, but in fact, as far as I know those facts, Flannel Cakes are lighter, fluffier and thinner than than traditional pancakes. They are supposed to be less dense than their counter-part and therefore less filling.

Now to find a recipe...most call for at least 4 eggs. Now normally I wouldn't even bat an eyelash - just skip 'em! No need for eggs in pancakes. But this made me think. If the cake is to be lighter, sort of halfway between a pancake and a crepe, than I couldn't just ignore the them. I had to replace them with something more than flour.

There is a recipe for Flannel Cakes in Flavors of the Southwest by Robert Oser, but it seemed too dense. BUT, he did use whole wheat bread soaked in milk as an ingredient. It was obvious to me that this would work, at least partly, so I used it for part of the recipe. The rest is flax seed meal and whole wheat flour.

The kids really loved it! It is important to cook these on low heat so they develop a nice crunch and cook all the way through without burning on the outside.

I served them with apples and maple syrup, to stay in the Auterr season.

Cost Breakdown:

whole wheat flour: $1

bread: $.50

almond milk: $1

flax: $.50

maple syrup: $.75

apples: $1

Total to feed 3 hungry kids:

$4.75

 

Flannel Cakes Recipe