New blog

Kayleigh is now 16 years old and off doing her own thing.  I missed blogging though so I've started my own at ponderinghappiness.blogspot.com.

I still talk about food but also exercise and general health.  I've been unemployed 6 months so I also post motivation kind of things.  Unfortunately I have way too many friends out of work right now (several of us from the same company) so I figured we could all use a little positive attitude!

Closing comments for now

Hello everyone. We've been uninspired lately for any posts as you can see. I'm getting tired of deleting spam comments so I am turning them off for now until we have a new post.

Enchilada Casserole

If you've read some of our earliest blog posts, you know that Kay has always been in the kitchen with me. When she was a baby, I'd put her bouncy chair on the kitchen table and she watched. When she was about 4, she started making cornbread. Then when she was about 8 she was helping with the cutting, sauteing, and kneading. But she is now 12 years old and it is a whole new phase which involves a lot of complaining and eye rolling and stomping around the house. That is why I was so happy yesterday when she came up to me with one of her old cookbooks and asked if she could make dinner! That is why I'm posting this, even though we don't have a picture. This is a truly momentous occasion!

Actually, this casserole wasn't very attractive anyway. It did taste really good though. Not at all like what I expected. It is out of Kay's favorite cookbook "Kids Can Cook: Vegetarian Recipes" which we've mentioned before. We've had nothing but success out of this book. I will warn you though, this recipe ended up taking about an hour and a half to prepare.

Since I don't have a picture of the food, I'll post a picture of Kay so you can get a taste of the atmosphere around our house lately.

That is Kay with her aunt. We had just got back from the park. She was mad because she was thirsty but I didn't take a water bottle with and her uncle was talking and not unlocking the apartment door so she could get a drink. Oh the stress that is her life!

Enchilada Casserole

(This is half a recipe. The original made 8 servings.)

First make the chili gravy:

3 tablespoons oil

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 tablespoon cumin powder

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup flour

3 cups water

In a large pot, saute the onion in the oil over low heat. Cook until the onions are soft. Add the dry ingredients and stir into the onions. Slowly add the water to the pot, stirring with a whisk to remove all the lumps. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, whisking occasionally.

Casserole assembly:

Chili gravy

8 flour tortillas

2 cans pinto beans, rinsed

cheddar cheese (or melty cheese sauce)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour half the chili gravy into the bottom of an 8x10 dish. Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray it with a light layer of oil. Cook each tortilla on each side about 30 seconds.

Spread a big spoonful of beans in the tortilla and roll it up. Place it on the gravy in the dish. Continue with all remaining tortillas. Pour the remaining gravy over the enchiladas.

Top the casserole with cheese of your choice.

Bake for 40 minutes. To serve, cut into squares.

Melty Cheese Sauce:

In a small sauce pan, mix together:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk in:

1 cup water

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard.

Cook and stir until the sauce thickens.

Kay: (She's at school now. I'll see if she has time to post later. I know one thing she will say is that the onions should have been cut smaller! She seemed to like it though and for once didn't complain about dinner.)

Dana (Mom): We usually don't add salt to our recipes but both the cheese sauce and the gravy needed it. We make a lot of different kinds of enchiladas but this was really different. The beans, tortillas, and sauce all blended together. The cheese sauce is your typically nutritional yeast fake cheese. If you don't like nutritional yeast (which I happen to love) then you won't like this! Kay and Bill had regular cheese on their part. We did it all in the same pan without any problem.

Franks and Beans

This is one of those recipes that we used to have when I was growing up but then I just kind of forgot about it. A couple years ago, my dad was over helping with one of our endless home improvement projects and I needed to throw something together for lunch. This has become one of his favorites which is why we had it last month for his birthday as well as a couple weeks ago when we visited my brother's family at their new apartment.

Kay and Grandpa on his birthday

It is very versatile because we have found that most non-vegetarians will eat vegetarian hot dogs without batting an eye if you just don't say anything. The first time I tested this was 2 years ago at Kay's birthday party. No one had any idea. Then a few months later we had a family get-together. My niece is usually a very picky eater (maybe not always but at least when I try to feed her!) but it seemed crazy to get regular hot dogs for just her so my mom and I decided to give her the veggie hot dogs. I worried a little when she didn't want a bun, ketchup or mustard. She ate it completely plain though and didn't seem to mind at all. (I have to say, they've come a very long way since I first tried them 19 years ago. Those things were disgusting!)

Kay and her cousin playing Wii

Therefore this makes a really good meal when you have a mixture of people. It is also really easy. That first time I literally just threw things together!

Franks and Beans

1 cup onions, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon oil

15 oz can of vegetarian baked beans

15 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons mustard

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

6 hot dogs, cut into bite-sized chunks

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Saute the onions over medium-low heat until browned. Add the remaining ingredients, stir and simmer for 15 minutes or until heated through and the flavors are blended. Stir every now and then so it doesn't stick.

Kay: I like mostly the hot dogs but my dad likes mostly the just the beans so it works out good.

Dana: This recipe can get unhealthy really fast depending on the ingredients you use. Make sure you check the salt content in all items and get salt free beans if you can.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I am so happy that school has started again and we are back to a more regular schedule. Kay started at a new school this year and it starts much earlier than her last one so that has been a bit of a shock to our systems. I think we are all finally starting to adjust though.

During the summer, I work in the office two days a week and my parents spend the day with Kay. On their second to last day, which also happened to be my dad's birthday, they took Kay and two friends bowling, out to lunch and to a ceramic painting store. Then for dinner we made one of my dad's favorite meals (upcoming post) with these cupcakes for dessert. They were a huge success. My parents liked them so much, my mom made them again a couple weeks later.

They are very peanut buttery. We may have even eaten them for breakfast. The recipe is out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (fantastic book!). I reduced the sugar quite a bit, omitted the salt, and used rice milk just because we prefer that in baked goods. Normally I would have substituted part of the all-purpose flour with some spelt or white whole wheat but this time I left it alone (it was for a birthday after all!) We used natural, organic, crunchy peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

3/4 cups rice milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons ground flaxseed

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Mix the milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle (this creates non-dairy buttermilk).

In a large mixing bowl, cream the peanut butter, oil, sugar, molasses, vanilla, and flaxseeds until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full (we use an ice cream scoop). Bake 23-26 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks.

Top with ganache and chopped peanuts. Place in refrigerator to set the ganache.

Quick Melty Ganache

3 tablespoons soy milk

1/3 cups chocolate chips

Heat the soy milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until just about to simmer. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Kay: comments to come after school.

Mom (Dana): When I was typing this, I kept putting Peanut Butter Pancakes instead of Cupcakes which has given me a whole new idea!!

Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas

Last night I was going to make either potato enchiladas or black bean and potato tacos (which I haven't posted yet but plan to) but we have both of those so often. It was much warmer yesterday and I didn't want to turn on the oven so I came up with something similar but in a quesadilla instead.

Bill had two races in Chicago today (see Flickr for pictures) and we must have walked 5 miles! I was so happy to have these leftovers at home!

Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas

2 pounds potatoes (about 4)

2 tablespoons vegetable broth

1 can chopped chilies

Juice of one lime

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

tortillas

Cut the potato into chunks. Boil until soft and then mash along with the vegetable broth. When the potatoes are relatively smooth, add the chilies, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder. Stir in the black beans.

Warm a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla in the pan and cover half of it with the potato mixture. Fold the tortilla in half. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side until nicely browned.

Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Kay: I thought these were a little spicy. I didn't see the salsa so I ate mine plain.

Dana (Mom): This made a lot of filling. I'm going to try freezing some of it to see how it holds up. You can use any kind of bean that you like or have on hand. If I had extra spinach in my refrigerator, I probably would have chopped that up and added it as well.

Pesto

I didn't get very good pictures but that is the pesto peaking out under the peas.

We finally had our first CSA pickup last Friday. Actually, with how cold and rainy it has been, I'm shocked anything has grown. We received Swiss chard, shelling peas, fava beans, arugula, and basil. Kay and I cooked the fava beans which were such a pain but then we sat down and ate all of them within 5 minutes! I'm not sure what we'll do with the arugula since none of use care for it. The other ingredients were all incorporated into our dinner on Monday.

We grow our own basil so whenever I get a bunch from the CSA, I make pesto. Kay and I don't really like peas but I remembered a salad recipe from Ina Garten that used pasta, peas and pesto so I decided to turn that into a warm meal. Shockingly, Kay loved it. I think it had something to do with the huge amount of garlic I put in the pesto. I cut all the ingredients in half, based on the amount of basil I had but forgot to half the garlic!

Pesto

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup pine nuts

8 cloves garlic, chopped

5 cups basil leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup olive oil

Place the nuts and garlic in a food processor and chopped for 30 seconds. Add the basil, salt and pepper and chop for 30 seconds more. Leave the processor running and drizzle in the oil until all ingredients are pureed and well blended.

This will freeze very well.

Kay: I don't really care for peas but they tasted good mixed with the pesto. The fava beans were awesome. We gobbled them up in one minute!

Mom (Dana): For our dinner, I blanched the peas for about 1 minute and then mixed the peas, some cooked pasta, and some of the pesto. Bill and Kay added Parmesan. As you can see, we also had pea pods with almonds and onions and Swiss chard and potatoes.

Vegan Egg McMuffins

July 1st is the worst day of my professional year every single year. There is tons of work and stress and time constraints but, lucky for you, I just lived it and have no intentions of rehashing the whole thing. After working about 10 hours, I collapsed on my couch to watch some TV and turned on "Delicious TV Totally Vegetarian". After a few minutes Kay wandered in and sat down as well. She was so amazed by how these sandwiches looked, she asked me to make them. So this is what we had for dinner.

First of all, the "egg" part really looks like the egg on an Egg McMuffin. I was shocked. We had ours on toasted sourdough bread with fake bacon (which we LOVE!). When eaten like a sandwich, I thought it tasted pretty authentic and I don't know that I would have realized it wasn't egg if I hadn't been the one who cooked it. Kay ate one of hers as a sandwich and the other by itself. She thought it tasted more like egg in the sandwich than alone.

These were really easy to make. I'm not sure how quick it went but it is 5:40 now and I didn't stop working until 5:00 so within 40 minutes we watched the show, fixed the food and ate it. Not too bad.

Vegan Egg McMuffin

Actually this recipe is just for the egg part. You'll have to figure the rest out yourself!

1 pound firm or extra firm tofu

1 cup cornstarch

Pinch of salt

Turmeric

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Heat the oil in a large skillet.

Mix the cornstarch and salt in a bowl.

Slice the tofu into 4 slabs. We cut ours into circles because that's how they did it on TV but it would work just as well as rectangles. Dip each slice into the cornstarch, coating well. Sprinkle turmeric on one side and place that side down in the pan. Sprinkle the top with more turmeric. Repeat with other pieces.

Cook about 4-5 minutes per side until nicely browned.

Serve with toast, bacon, sausage, ham, cheese, or whatever else sounds good to you.

Kay: If you eat it plain it doesn't really taste like egg but if you eat it with fake bacon and bread, it tastes like an egg mcmuffin but a lot less greasy.

Dana: Unfortunately our home computer is in my home office and my work computer keeps beeping at me about new e-mails. I was tempted to ignore them since if I was still on the couch, I wouldn't have even known about them, but in the end, I couldn't so I'm back to work again. At least I got a dinner break!

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.

Chicken Salad

Yes, we realize it has been over a month since we posted. And what a dreadful month! First Kay got the flu and then gave it to me. We both had fevers for several days and didn't start feeling better for over a week. After a couple days of feeling better, I developed bronchitis which had me completely wiped out for 10 days. During the 3 weeks we survived mostly on sandwiches and pre-made soups. It was dreadful.



Finally last week I was able to cook again. I've been fixing all of Kay's favorites which are already posted. So today I decided to post her favorite lunch instead. This is about the only non-vegetarian food that is ever made in our house. I developed this several years ago when I couldn't get her to eat anything. I discovered organic canned chicken that is all white meat and low in salt. I thought it would have tons of preservatives in it but it is just chicken, water and salt so I don't feel so bad using it.



Chicken Salad

1 10 oz. can chicken, drained
2 tablespoons fat free ranch dressing
1/4 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup chopped orange bell pepper
ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate at least an hour to blend flavors.

Kay: I like this with grapes added in. I like grapes more than the vegetables. I eat it on crackers. Once I brought it to school and our classroom smelled like ranch dressing.

Mom (Dana): I've included all kinds of vegetables in this. I'll try anything that I think she might eat. I can usually spread this across 3 lunches for her.

Texas Caviar

Lately everything we've been eating is either something that we've already posted or straight from someone else's blog. Therefore, I'm going back to Christmas and posting one of our salads.

This is probably my husband's favorite recipe. When I had surgery a few years ago, I made a double batch of this and he ate it for lunch and dinner for a full week. Amazingly, he still likes it!

It is such an easy item to make, we often take it to get-togethers and everyone always seems to like it. This year I asked my family if they could only pick one recipe from past holidays, which would it be and most picked Texas Caviar.

Kay, just to be different, doesn't like it. Lucky for her, there is usually a large variety of foods when we have this so she can completely avoid it. This year for Christmas, she made it by herself while I was on the phone making our final holiday plans.

Texas Caviar

1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn (white shoe peg is really good)

1 small jar chopped pimento

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup green pepper, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine:

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 cup oil

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons sugar

Pour the dressing over the salad and gently mix. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Kay: She is asleep on the couch right now. She is battling terrible growing pains today so no comment from her.

Mom (Dana): Bill eats this with a fork but it is also really good on corn chips or wrapped in a tortilla (I'll throw just about anything into a tortilla!).

Onion Rings

As you may have noticed in past posts, Kay doesn't usually like onions. That is one of her top complaints. A couple months ago I made green beans in mustard sauce with crispy shallots (I plan to post this if I can ever find the dumb magazine - it has to be in this house somewhere). I had the shallots sitting on a paper draining and Kay kept eating them. I was worried we wouldn't have any left for the green beans! Later when Bill called she said, "I like onions now"!!

I told her she would have to try onion rings the next time I made them. I made them, she tried them, and she loved them. Bill and I love them too. We could seriously pig out on these. Luckily they are not the kind of thing that I have time to make a ton of so we are forced to eat only one portion each.

I've spent forever perfecting this recipe and technique. I finally figured out how to bake them but have them taste like they were fried. I don't have exact measurements since it really depends on the amount of rings you are making. Also, they are really messy but completely worth it.

Onion Rings

Onions, cut into thick rings

Bowl one - flour

Bowl two - one egg with about 2 cups milk

Bowl three - 2 cup wheat germ mixed with basil and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Dip all the rings into bowl one, then bowl two, then bowl three. Place them on a paper towel on the counter.

Cover a baking sheet with the oil. Place it in the oven for 3 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven. Immediately place the rings on the pan and return it to the oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Flip the rings once about half way through.

If desired, lightly salt upon removing from the oven.

Kay: I never thought I liked onions but these really make me like onions more. I like how they are crunchy.

Dana: I do this same thing, minus the flour step, for eggplant Parmesan.

Beans

We've always eaten a lot of beans but, unless they are going in soup, I usually use canned. My reasoning for this was that we like to eat a variety of beans and so the cans are more convenient. Like everyone else though, I've been trying to cut back on my expenses and so I decided to try dried beans again. I measured this week and a one pound bag of black beans gave me the equivalent of 4 cans but cost the same as only 1 1/2 cans. The extra bonus was that we now remember that we actually prefer the taste of beans that we cook ourselves!




The way that I combated my own argument that we need a wide variety of beans on hand at all times was to go through my recipes. For the past month, every week I've picked one kind of bean. I then found 4-5 meals or snacks using that bean. For example, last week I made chickpeas. We had patties, falafel, chickpea salad, and roasted chickpeas. I also planned to make a pasta and rice dish with chickpeas but we ran out! There is such a variety of things you can do with beans, you don't have to worry about feeling like you are eating the same thing every night. Not once did Bill or Kay say "Chickpeas again?!".




My other argument was always the time involved which is really ridiculous because, seriously, I'm not that busy! It's almost no hands-on work. Here's what I do:




Soak one pound beans in a large bowl with about 6 -8 cups of water. You need a large bowl. It is amazing how much they swell. Leave on the counter overnight.




When you wake up, drain the beans. Place the beans in a stock pot with 6-8 cups fresh water and one strip of kombu* or 2 bay leaves. Bring the beans to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer one hour. Test for doneness. You should be able to easily crush it with the back of the spoon but you don't want them to be mushy because you'll more than likely be cooking them again in whatever recipe you choose. Drain the beans, remove the kombu or bay leaves, and leave to cool. Once cool, place in a large ziploc in the refrigerator.
(Here's what a smashed bean looks like.)




You can also freeze them. I've done this in the past with good luck. Lately I haven't had any left over to freeze.

I don't salt my beans. I'd rather add salt if needed, when I'm adding them to a recipe. If you insist on salting the beans while cooking, don't add it until the last 20 minutes or so. But really, don't add salt - it isn't good for you!

*Kombu is supposed to make the beans easier to digest. It also seems to help them cook up more evenly. I ordered a ton of it through amazon.com but I've also seen it at our health food store.






Kay: Kidney and garbanzo beans are my favorites. I like kidney beans whole in recipes but I like garbanzo's mashed up like in chickpea patties.




Mom (Dana): Really - it only takes one hour in the morning. You can eat breakfast, take a shower, get dressed, make the bed, watch tv, read a book, etc. Who doesn't have an hour in the morning on a weekend? You could even go back to bed if you really needed too. Just remember to put your timer nearby!

Cheese fries with corn by Kay

Yesterday, I asked my mom, after school, what we were having for dinner. She said that we were having leftovers. I don't like leftovers unless there is something in the refrigerator that I like. I asked her if I could make something because she had a headache. I said that I wouldn't make anything complex like Pinto Gallo or pizza. I wanted to have something like mini Potato Enchiladas that you would cook in the microwave.

Then I thought of Cheese Fries. I love Cheese Fries. I went in our refrigerator and found some corn. I then knew that my dad and I would have Cheese Fries with Corn. Here's the recipe:

Cheese Fries With Corn

2 potatoes
1/2 can of corn
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (original rice milk)
3/4 cup cheese (Queso and Cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste
salsa (optional)

First, peel the potatoes if you want. Then, cut into cubes. You can either roast or boil the potatoes. I boiled the potatoes because I wanted it to go quickly.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk 1/2 cup at a time. Whisk to combine. Then stir after it is combined. After all milk have been added continue cooking and stirring until it thickens.(about 5 minutes) Then stir in the cheese. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Cook the corn in a saucepan or the microwave.

Drain the potatoes.

To serve, put the potatoes on a plate. Then add the corn on top or as a side. Add as much cheese sauce as you want. If desired, top with salsa.

Kay: I really liked this and so did my dad so he says. You could also use the cheese sauce to dip with chips. You can put whatever flavorings you like. You could put in tomatoes, cumin, chili pepper, or any kind of seasoning.

Dana (Mom): I didn't have any of this because I had a headache and because it has cheese in it but I was quite impressed that she came up with this and then managed to make a successful bechamel sauce!