Vegetable Enchiladas

For the first time in maybe forever, I'm home alone for about 24 hours. Bill is at Horribly Hilly in Madison, Wisconsin and Kay has a slumber/pool party. I always liked my alone time but I've gotten so used to not having any that I'm not real sure what to do with myself! Luckily, it is gorgeous out today and I have 2 library books and 3 magazines I haven't read so I've been on the porch all afternoon.

I made these enchiladas on Thursday when my parents and one of Kay's friends were over. The grown-ups all really liked them and the kids thought they were ok. I'll take it!

There was one still left over which I ate with herbed rice and roasted carrots. I'm quite impressed with the meal I was able create from leftovers considering it is Saturday and Sunday is our shopping day. Usually at this point we are eating buttered noodles and crackers!

Vegetable Enchiladas

Corn tortillas

Enchilada sauce of choice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

2 cups eggplant, chopped

1 pound firm tofu, crumbled

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp chilies (I used the kind that come in a squirt tube. Hot sauce or crushed red peppers would work too.)

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the onions, peppers, and garlic and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms, zucchini, squash and eggplant. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the tofu and seasonings and cook 5 minutes more. If you must add salt, add it now but not sooner or your vegetables will get watery.

Heat the tortillas in the microwave to soften them. Heat the enchilada sauce in a skillet. Dip each tortilla into the sauce and then fill with a spoonful of the filling (yes, this is very messy). Roll the enchilada and place in a baking dish. Continue until you run out of tortillas, filling, sauce, or pan space. Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes.

Dana (all by herself!): I topped the kid's portion with cheddar cheese. Tonight I put sour cream (soy of course!) on mine. I had planned to offer it along with salsa on Thursday but forgot. I'm heading back to the porch!

Taco Salad

This is the taco salad I grew up with. My husband claims this isn't real taco salad but he still eats it! I always crave this when the weather first turns warm. This time I made one regular salad for Bill and Kay and tried to make a dairy-free version for me. It didn't work. It was fine but didn't taste anything like the original. Tough luck for me, I guess.

Taco Salad

There aren't really measurements for this because it depends on what size pan you put it in. Layer the ingredients in the following order starting on the bottom.

Lettuce (usually romaine or iceberg)

Green pepper

Green onion

Tomatoes

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Creamy garlic salad dressing

Cheddar cheese, shredded

Doritos, taco flavor, crunched up

If you aren't serving it immediately, wait to add the chips or they'll get very soggy.

Kay: I liked this salad. It tasted like tacos and salad. I really liked the chips! This has nothing to do with the salad but I got a new hamster today.

Mom (Dana): If I ever come across a decent dairy free creamy dressing, I'm giving this another shot!

Chocolate Mousse

You know, ever since my job decided that they were going to monitor our internet access, my quality of life has decreased significantly!! Basically, I can't check my e-mails at work so they build up to a ridiculous amount and by the time I am done checking them, I don't have time to post on the blog. I'm just going to have to start scheduling the time to do it because post ideas keep piling up!

I was going to post what we did with all the bananas but then the weeks flew by. We ate several of them and made smoothies but we also made this really good mousse. It comes from Go Dairy Free which is a really good book for dairy-free snack ideas.

We actually had this over a week ago. All my time last week was taken up planning our weekend out of town. Bill had a bike race in Burlington, Iowa (he got 11th out of about 30). It was called Snake Alley because part of the course looks like this:

We stayed in Galesburg, Illinois for the weekend. Besides the race, we went to a train museum, ate at a creperie, looked at the Mississippi River, and saw Star Trek. It was a nice weekend but we were really tired from all the driving and the heat so it was nice to get home.

Chocolate Mousse

12.3 oz package of firm silken tofu

2 medium bananas, ripe

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place the tofu and bananas in your blender and process until smooth. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate into the blender along with the vanilla and blend until it is smooth and creamy. Divide the mousse between 4 bowls, cover with wax paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Kay: I wish it had less banana flavor to it but it was really good besides that.

Mom (Dana): I've tried a lot of pudding-type recipes that use tofu but they always tasted a little funny. This mousse didn't have that weird tofu taste at all.

Banana Bread

Last Halloween, we weren't going to buy a pumpkin but on our way home from my parent's house, we noticed a sign that said "pumpkins $1". Who could pass that up? It was at this small tent set up in the parking lot of a small candle and craft shop. I had seen it there all summer but that was the first time we stopped.

A couple weeks ago, Kay and I noticed they were back so we stopped there after going to the library. I don't know where the produce comes from but there is a lot of it and the prices are really really REALLY low. We've started going there every week and I'm always amazed at how much we get for so little.

This week when we were checking out, the guy who I think is the owner said "You want some bananas for a dollar". Why not! He gave us two huge bunches of bananas and then said "I give you more if you can use them - no charge". 15 bananas is more than enough for us though!

So over the next week or so, we are going to post recipes using all of these bananas. The first thing I made was banana bread. Kay doesn't like banana bread and didn't even help make it this time (she is always at tennis) but Bill loves this recipe and he is very child-like at times so it counts as a child friendly food! I messed around with several recipes until Bill declared that it was perfect a few years ago.

I pulled this out of the oven just a couple minutes before Bill walked in the door. As you can see, one disappeared before I could even get my camera!

I usually make mini loaves but I only have 2 pans and this makes 4 and I didn't feel like doing two batches so I tried it in giant muffin pans and it worked great. Plus we don't feel as guilty eating a whole muffin (no matter how big) as we do when we eat a whole loaf!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup milk (I used rice this time)

2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg beaters

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed bananas (usually around 2 bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon ground flax

Mix all the wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the dry. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed.

For small loaves or large muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

For a regular size loaf, bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

The small loaves work a lot better than the regular size one.

Roasted Red Pepper and Leek Soup

Did you know that unlike the soccer team, the tennis team either practices or has a match every single weekday? Every one. I was really happy when Kay took the spring season of soccer off to try tennis instead. Her soccer practices were at 5 or 5:30 which was a mess with our dinner time and we had to travel to other towns every weekend for the games. Tennis on the other hand, practices right after school at her school which is seconds from our house and they have a bus that takes them to and from the matches. This was all really good news until I got the schedule. Every night is a bit much!

So obviously our dinners have been a little crazy and weird because I'm not very motivated to make a full meal when none of us are eating together. I did manage to pull this soup together one night though and it went over pretty well. It is based off of something that I saw on Delicious TV but that I didn't write down. This might be her exact recipe or it might be nothing at all like it! But this is at least what I remember it to be!

Roasted Red Pepper and Leek Soup

4 cups chopped leeks (about 1 large leek)

1 jar roasted red peppers (or about 5 peppers)

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups vegetable broth

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the leeks in olive oil over medium heat until softened. Add the peppers and cook 1-2 minutes. Add the broth and bring it to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree the soup either in a blender or with an immersion blender. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve with a sprinkling of coarse salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Kay: This soup was OK. I like creamy soups like this.

Mom (Dana): Our weather is bouncing all over the place and this soup was light enough that it was enjoyable on the 80 degree days as well as the 40 degree ones.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Kay and I have both been on spring break this week. Normally this is a fun week, especially when her birthday falls in the middle of it like it did this year. Unfortunately for Kay, she also had to get two teeth pulled, go to the eye doctor and to the orthodontist! Plus the weather was terrible up until yesterday. To make up for this though she is having 3 birthday celebrations including a slumber party this weekend so don't feel too sorry for her.

On her birthday, I let her pick the meal. I was positive she would pick gnocchi but in a surprise move she picked fettuccine alfredo instead. Everyone seems to like this and it is my friend Lisa's favorite out of all my recipes. It is not at all healthy though! Obviously it is pretty much pure dairy so I ate a frozen dinner instead but Bill and Kay enjoyed it.

Fettuccine Alfredo

12 oz fettuccine

1/2 cup margarine

1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

Cook the fettuccine according to the package directions.

In a medium sauce pan, melt the margarine. Gradually stir in the cheese and then the cream. Stir until well blended. Continue heating sauce, stirring constantly until it boils.

Combine the noodles, sauce and parsley.

Kay: I like the fettuccine a lot. I would rather have the parsley only on top instead of mixed in though. For my birthday my parents gave me a Wii and then I got money from my relatives so I bought some games yesterday.

Mom (Dana): This always looks like a disaster but it does eventually come together. If the cheese is really gloppy, a whisk helps.

Soda Bread

A while ago, my mom was telling me that she saw soda bread in the store and was tempted to buy it but didn't. Then a few days later she saw it on Martha Stewart. She had never tried it before which I find shocking because I've been making it for years. I had planned to make some for them but then we got sick and lost about a month of our lives but now we are better. So Kay and I made some bread Friday night and then we all got up early and took it down to their house for breakfast.

Most recipes I've seen for soda bread call for raisins but my dad hates dried fruit so we used mini chocolate chips instead. You can also use nuts or a combination of all of them. You can also use herbs instead of the cinnamon and put Parmesan on top instead of sugar and serve it with dinner. It is really flexible.

Soda Bread

In a large bowl, mix:

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

Cut in 1/2 cup margarine.

Stir in 1/3 cup chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts.

In a medium bowl, mix:

1 cup soy milk

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Let set 5 minutes. Then add in one egg or two egg whites.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Knead lightly to bring the batter together. It will be dry.

Form the dough into a round and place it on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cut an X into the top of the loaf and brush it with soy milk. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

Kay: I don't like raisins so I was glad we used chocolate chips instead. This was fun to make. I like kneading.

Mom (Dana): This is a very dry bread. The first bite is always a little bland to me but the flavor develops as you eat it.

If you don't have white whole wheat flour, you can use 4 cups of all purpose instead.