I do not know how I've lived 35 years without eating this fabulous cuisine, but I'm officially in love. I went to an Indian restaurant for dinner tonight in town and I swear I had one of the best and most interesting meals of my life. It is a super crowded tiny little place and I refrained from photographing my meal because of the packed nature of the establishment and because it was kind of dark-ish in there.
Since this was a new experience, I wanted to try several things and ordered an appetizer and a meal...which is a boatload of food for me. For my appetizer, I had a vegetable samosa. It was a pastry type item filled with a spicy mixture of potatoes, peas, and carrots and it came with 2 sauces for dipping. I could have just eaten those as my meal, but then I would have missed the next yumminess.
For my entrée, I ordered the Chef Specialty which was Palak Peneer. It is a creamy spinach dish with homemade cheese and served with a side of rice that I mixed with it. I have no idea what spices were in it, but it is hands down one of my new favorite foods. I was lucky enough to be super full and only eat half of it, so I have lunch tomorrow! The meal also came with naan, which if you are unfamiliar with Indian food as I was before tonight, it's a super soft flat pita type bread...tasty!!
Thank you Cafe Maharini for a delicious dinner. I will be returning!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Pescetarian Days
I've been practicing this at dinner the last two nights. I just can't quit you seafood, I love you.
Monday was a great food day. It started with my favorite breakfast of a MS Farm veggie sausage biscuit and coffee that was delivered to my room (Thanks, CRH!). Lunch consisted of a yummy salad and an eggplant calzone from Down to Earth that I could eat daily and costs less than most burgers. For dinner, CRH made a scallop pasta with a spicy rum pineapple sauce and chunks of pineapple...o-m-g.
Today, CRH and I had to have our oil changes done and we ate breakfast at Starbucks. I branched out today from my Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl coffee cake and had the Blueberry Oatbar. They warmed it and add a little bit of whipped cream and it's my new fave. I haven't checked the calories yet, but damn it was tasty. Lunch was a pizza veggie burger and dinner was hand rolled sushi from a friend. It was laden with ahi and again, I'll say it...I love you seafood and at least you aren't as vile as poultry, pig, and cow.
Monday was a great food day. It started with my favorite breakfast of a MS Farm veggie sausage biscuit and coffee that was delivered to my room (Thanks, CRH!). Lunch consisted of a yummy salad and an eggplant calzone from Down to Earth that I could eat daily and costs less than most burgers. For dinner, CRH made a scallop pasta with a spicy rum pineapple sauce and chunks of pineapple...o-m-g.
Today, CRH and I had to have our oil changes done and we ate breakfast at Starbucks. I branched out today from my Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl coffee cake and had the Blueberry Oatbar. They warmed it and add a little bit of whipped cream and it's my new fave. I haven't checked the calories yet, but damn it was tasty. Lunch was a pizza veggie burger and dinner was hand rolled sushi from a friend. It was laden with ahi and again, I'll say it...I love you seafood and at least you aren't as vile as poultry, pig, and cow.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Pizza Night
We love to make our own pizzas on pita bread. A year or so ago, I was at the aforementioned Farmer's Market and discovered this pizza that looked delicious. It's a pesto base with tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella and basil...can you say lick you lips good?!
We've made it in various forms on various crusts, but since Eve is struggling with the whole vegetarian thing, I thought make your own pizza night would give her the opportunity to just eat what she wanted to make. She made a regular cheese pizza and scarfed it down. I made us 2 tomato pesto pizzas and 1 white sauce based pizza with mushrooms and black olives...tasty!
Before
After
We've made it in various forms on various crusts, but since Eve is struggling with the whole vegetarian thing, I thought make your own pizza night would give her the opportunity to just eat what she wanted to make. She made a regular cheese pizza and scarfed it down. I made us 2 tomato pesto pizzas and 1 white sauce based pizza with mushrooms and black olives...tasty!
Before
After
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Farmer's Market Goodness
We have a great local Farmer's Market in Haleiwa. I love, love, love it. We have one in Waialua too, but I can't ever seem to make it over there despite the fact that they have it twice a week on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I need to try harder because I've heard they have great stuff too.
Yesterday, Eve and I were out shopping and came upon a lady selling mini loaves of Banana Pineapple bread. I have a jar of homemade jam from the market that is Banana Pineapple yumminess. I swear I could just eat it from the jar. I came home, sliced the bread, microwaved it for a few seconds, and slapped a heaping mound of the jam on it.
OMG...drooling.
Today, we went shopping at the market and I bought a ton of produce and lunch. The Naked Cow Dairy ladies make sandwiches and burgers. I opted for an ahi sandwich, you know since I've cut out all other meat. It was soooooo delicious. They make it with fresh ahi, lettuce, tomato, pineapple, and tzatziki sauce.
I don't know that I'll ever be able to give up seafood. I love eating good, fresh food. I feel better too. I'm thinking I haven't lost any weight, but I've maintained and this new way of eating is rocking!!
Yesterday, Eve and I were out shopping and came upon a lady selling mini loaves of Banana Pineapple bread. I have a jar of homemade jam from the market that is Banana Pineapple yumminess. I swear I could just eat it from the jar. I came home, sliced the bread, microwaved it for a few seconds, and slapped a heaping mound of the jam on it.
OMG...drooling.
Today, we went shopping at the market and I bought a ton of produce and lunch. The Naked Cow Dairy ladies make sandwiches and burgers. I opted for an ahi sandwich, you know since I've cut out all other meat. It was soooooo delicious. They make it with fresh ahi, lettuce, tomato, pineapple, and tzatziki sauce.
I don't know that I'll ever be able to give up seafood. I love eating good, fresh food. I feel better too. I'm thinking I haven't lost any weight, but I've maintained and this new way of eating is rocking!!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Vegetarian Chili
Last night, it was chili night! I swear this tastes like regular chili. CRH swears it is yummy, but does NOT. He said that it's like when I go on a diet and I "forget" how regular food tastes. At any rate, this was super easy and delicious!!
Simmering on the stove before I added the tomato juice and sugar.
In it's final glory, we did add way more sugar than the recipe called for. We ended up with about a 1/4cup and we added a tsp. of cumin. I also added minced garlic (2 heaping huge tsp.), crushed chili pepper flakes, lots of hot sauce, and garlic salt.
Ingredients
2-3 onions
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bag griller bits (Morning Star)
1/2 green pepper
2-4 tsp Chili powder
2 cans Bush Chili beans (15 oz - small size)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
15 oz can diced tomatoes
Rounded 1/2 tsp white sugar
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 large can tomato juice
Directions
Saute 1” X 1” pieced of onion in the olive oil until tender and add pepper
Then add griller bits and saute 5-10 minutes scraping bottom until crispy
Then add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and beans.
Simmer 5-10 minutes
Add tomato juice and sugar, simmer 10-15 minutes
Overall simmer on low 45-50 minutes
Add salt to taste (1/2 – 1 tsp)
About Recipe submitted by Pam C.
View on the Key Ingredient website
Simmering on the stove before I added the tomato juice and sugar.
In it's final glory, we did add way more sugar than the recipe called for. We ended up with about a 1/4cup and we added a tsp. of cumin. I also added minced garlic (2 heaping huge tsp.), crushed chili pepper flakes, lots of hot sauce, and garlic salt.
Ingredients
2-3 onions
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bag griller bits (Morning Star)
1/2 green pepper
2-4 tsp Chili powder
2 cans Bush Chili beans (15 oz - small size)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
15 oz can diced tomatoes
Rounded 1/2 tsp white sugar
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 large can tomato juice
Directions
Saute 1” X 1” pieced of onion in the olive oil until tender and add pepper
Then add griller bits and saute 5-10 minutes scraping bottom until crispy
Then add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and beans.
Simmer 5-10 minutes
Add tomato juice and sugar, simmer 10-15 minutes
Overall simmer on low 45-50 minutes
Add salt to taste (1/2 – 1 tsp)
About Recipe submitted by Pam C.
View on the Key Ingredient website
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Processed Vegetarian Food Day
Today was the fast food of vegetarian days. I didn't sleep worth a damn last night. The smoke alarms started randomly going off last night at 1:45am because they needed a new battery. Then I woke up at 4am with a leg cramp, walked it off, went back to sleep, and woke back up at 6:30am with both legs cramping so severely I was totally drenched in sweat and was crying. That was a good time.
I was off today, so luckily I slept until about 9am. When I got up I had my usual MS Farm veggie sausage biscuit. I'm not tired of them yet...so good! I decided that I didn't want to go to the beach today and went to hit up Target instead. I went hungry and that's never a good idea, but I found some yummy deals including Amy's burritos on clearance for $1.28. I bought 6 and promptly came home to eat one!
I also stopped on the way home today and picked up some plants for our garden. Our neighbor has the most amazing garden (He's quite the grower if you catch my drift...) and he prepared the area behind my house this week for us to plant some things as well. Eve loves helping him in his garden and so I bought some peppers, lettuce, strawberries, sage, and basil along with some seeds to try to attempt artichokes, soy beans and green beans. I've never been overly successful with seeds, so those may or may not make it. Here's Day 1.
I made a very thick, super peanut buttery, yogurt, banana, and almond milk smoothie this evening to give me some potassium to help the leg cramp situation. By this time, we were kind of tired and lazy around here and neither CRH nor I really felt like cooking. We had vegetarian hot dogs for dinner that were tasty. They're called Smart Dogs. I loaded mine with ketchup, mustard, and onions. I briefly contemplated adding cheese and CRH suggested Velveeta. Ewwww! I tried to melt it and it was just nasty, so I thankfully skipped adding that layer of processed cheese food to my meal. Tomorrow I'm going for fresher food choices.
I was off today, so luckily I slept until about 9am. When I got up I had my usual MS Farm veggie sausage biscuit. I'm not tired of them yet...so good! I decided that I didn't want to go to the beach today and went to hit up Target instead. I went hungry and that's never a good idea, but I found some yummy deals including Amy's burritos on clearance for $1.28. I bought 6 and promptly came home to eat one!
I also stopped on the way home today and picked up some plants for our garden. Our neighbor has the most amazing garden (He's quite the grower if you catch my drift...) and he prepared the area behind my house this week for us to plant some things as well. Eve loves helping him in his garden and so I bought some peppers, lettuce, strawberries, sage, and basil along with some seeds to try to attempt artichokes, soy beans and green beans. I've never been overly successful with seeds, so those may or may not make it. Here's Day 1.
I made a very thick, super peanut buttery, yogurt, banana, and almond milk smoothie this evening to give me some potassium to help the leg cramp situation. By this time, we were kind of tired and lazy around here and neither CRH nor I really felt like cooking. We had vegetarian hot dogs for dinner that were tasty. They're called Smart Dogs. I loaded mine with ketchup, mustard, and onions. I briefly contemplated adding cheese and CRH suggested Velveeta. Ewwww! I tried to melt it and it was just nasty, so I thankfully skipped adding that layer of processed cheese food to my meal. Tomorrow I'm going for fresher food choices.
A Week In With Just Seafood, No Other Meat!
I've been a crappy blogger since Sunday, but I've pretty much been eating leftovers and veggie burgers and such. Tuesday night we had some amazing Brie and Apple Salsa Quesadillas. We also had a craptacular day that day and had a lot of wine and I wasn't in the mood to photograph it, but they were delicious!!
I tried some new things at lunch yesterday. First up, I added "mock chicken" to my salad. I am assuming it was tofu and I honestly liked it. It was a little strange texture wise, but it did taste like chicken. I would try it again. I will not be trying gluten, wheat free pizza crust again though. That just sucked. I picked up a slice of veggie pizza on that crust by accident, but I'd touched it by the time I realized it.
Last night for dinner, it was Pesto Shrimp Mac and Cheese night. YUM, YUM, YUM! I did manage to snap a few pictures of this goodness.
Before it went into the oven...
Before it went into my mouth...
Here's the recipe from Better Homes & Garden. Enjoy! It's seriously good and super easy.
Pesto Shrimp Mac & Cheese
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes
Stand: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb. fresh or frozen medium shrimp in shells
8 oz. dried elbow macaroni (2 cups)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup half-and-half
1-1/4 cups shredded fontina cheese (5 oz.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted
1-1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
Fresh basil leaves
Directions
1. Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and devein shrimp, removing tails. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. Chop shrimp and set aside.
2. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
3. In large bowl stir together eggs, butter, half-and-half, 1 cup of the fontina cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, garlic, pine nuts, chopped basil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir in shrimp and macaroni. Transfer to buttered 2-quart casserole. Top with remaining cheeses.
4. Bake, uncovered, 40 to 45 minutes or until heated through and shrimp pieces are opaque. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Top with fresh basil leaves. Makes 6 servings.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 509, Total Fat (g)27, Saturated Fat (g)14, Cholesterol (mg)254, Sodium (mg)694, Carbohydrate (g)33, Fiber (g)2, Protein (g)33, Vitamin C (DV%)7, Calcium (DV%)33, Iron (DV%)23, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
I tried some new things at lunch yesterday. First up, I added "mock chicken" to my salad. I am assuming it was tofu and I honestly liked it. It was a little strange texture wise, but it did taste like chicken. I would try it again. I will not be trying gluten, wheat free pizza crust again though. That just sucked. I picked up a slice of veggie pizza on that crust by accident, but I'd touched it by the time I realized it.
Last night for dinner, it was Pesto Shrimp Mac and Cheese night. YUM, YUM, YUM! I did manage to snap a few pictures of this goodness.
Before it went into the oven...
Before it went into my mouth...
Here's the recipe from Better Homes & Garden. Enjoy! It's seriously good and super easy.
Pesto Shrimp Mac & Cheese
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes
Stand: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb. fresh or frozen medium shrimp in shells
8 oz. dried elbow macaroni (2 cups)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup half-and-half
1-1/4 cups shredded fontina cheese (5 oz.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted
1-1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
Fresh basil leaves
Directions
1. Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and devein shrimp, removing tails. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. Chop shrimp and set aside.
2. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
3. In large bowl stir together eggs, butter, half-and-half, 1 cup of the fontina cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, garlic, pine nuts, chopped basil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir in shrimp and macaroni. Transfer to buttered 2-quart casserole. Top with remaining cheeses.
4. Bake, uncovered, 40 to 45 minutes or until heated through and shrimp pieces are opaque. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Top with fresh basil leaves. Makes 6 servings.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 509, Total Fat (g)27, Saturated Fat (g)14, Cholesterol (mg)254, Sodium (mg)694, Carbohydrate (g)33, Fiber (g)2, Protein (g)33, Vitamin C (DV%)7, Calcium (DV%)33, Iron (DV%)23, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Lima Bean Parmesan Finally!
This morning I woke up to my usual breakfast. Then around lunch time, Eve and I hit the farmer's market. We gathered our yummies and headed home to make lunch. I read a recipe earlier in the week for Baked Eggplant Fries. I am the only one in the house that likes eggplant, but I decided to make it for myself today with my freshly purchased eggplant straight from the market. It was super easy and would have complimented my veggie pizza burger splendidly, if only I had better timing in the kitchen.
As it turned out, the eggplant fries were dessert. To make these, slice your eggplant, dip it in Italian dressing and then bread crumbs, bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes and turn them half way through. Tasty!
Eve after eating an eggplant fry. I swear they are good! She's 7.
For dinner, I've been dying to try Lima Bean Parmesan. I think I've mentioned it in every post and tonight was it's night. All I can say is, I don't give a crap if you're vegetarian or not but you MUST try this dish. It was pure yummy goodness in my mouth. I'm posting the recipe below the pictures. I modified the sauce slightly. I used 28oz of Italian diced tomatoes. In the future, I would use more for more sauce because I served this over thin spaghetti and I like sauciness on my pasta. I also added more than just salt and pepper, such as basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper and then to make it Eve and Amy friendly, I blended it up. We do not care for chunky tomato sauce. It was totally worth the build up. Everyone ate it and Eve begrudgingly liked it. CRH went back for seconds.
Baked Lima Beans Parmigiana
From how to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
1 recipe Fast Tomoato Sauce(below)
4 cups fresh, frozen or cooked dry lima beans
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 cup cubed mozzerella(preferably fresh)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped parsley for garnish
Preheat oven to 400
Use a tbs or so of the oil to grease a 2 qt souffle or gratin dish or a 9x13 baking dish.
Spread tomato sauce in the dish and spoon the beans on top. Spread the mozz cubes around evenly pressing them into the sauce and beans a bit. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and parm and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake until cheese is melted, sauce is bubbling and crumbs are brown, about 20-30 minutes.
Remove and sprinle with parsley and additional black pepper if desired. Can be served over rice or pasta.
Fast Tomato Sauce
3 Tbs olive oil or butter
1 med onion, chopped
1 24-32 oz can tomatoes drained and chopped (I'm lazy, I bought diced)
salt and fresh ground pepper
Heat olive oil in 12" skillet over med-high heat. Add onions and stir 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes break up and the mixture comes together, thickening about 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
__________________
As it turned out, the eggplant fries were dessert. To make these, slice your eggplant, dip it in Italian dressing and then bread crumbs, bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes and turn them half way through. Tasty!
Eve after eating an eggplant fry. I swear they are good! She's 7.
For dinner, I've been dying to try Lima Bean Parmesan. I think I've mentioned it in every post and tonight was it's night. All I can say is, I don't give a crap if you're vegetarian or not but you MUST try this dish. It was pure yummy goodness in my mouth. I'm posting the recipe below the pictures. I modified the sauce slightly. I used 28oz of Italian diced tomatoes. In the future, I would use more for more sauce because I served this over thin spaghetti and I like sauciness on my pasta. I also added more than just salt and pepper, such as basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper and then to make it Eve and Amy friendly, I blended it up. We do not care for chunky tomato sauce. It was totally worth the build up. Everyone ate it and Eve begrudgingly liked it. CRH went back for seconds.
Baked Lima Beans Parmigiana
From how to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
1 recipe Fast Tomoato Sauce(below)
4 cups fresh, frozen or cooked dry lima beans
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 cup cubed mozzerella(preferably fresh)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped parsley for garnish
Preheat oven to 400
Use a tbs or so of the oil to grease a 2 qt souffle or gratin dish or a 9x13 baking dish.
Spread tomato sauce in the dish and spoon the beans on top. Spread the mozz cubes around evenly pressing them into the sauce and beans a bit. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and parm and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake until cheese is melted, sauce is bubbling and crumbs are brown, about 20-30 minutes.
Remove and sprinle with parsley and additional black pepper if desired. Can be served over rice or pasta.
Fast Tomato Sauce
3 Tbs olive oil or butter
1 med onion, chopped
1 24-32 oz can tomatoes drained and chopped (I'm lazy, I bought diced)
salt and fresh ground pepper
Heat olive oil in 12" skillet over med-high heat. Add onions and stir 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes break up and the mixture comes together, thickening about 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
__________________
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Peace Offerings and Continued Defiance
When Eve spends the night away, she's usually home pretty early the next morning. This morning, she did not come home until almost 11am. She knew I wasn't happy with her from our whole conversation last night, but I don't want this just ending up being a battle of wills, so I was willing to drop it.
I had my usual for breakfast, despite making the granola. Granola is actually more of a snacky thing for me than a meal. I think I need to mix it up with some yogurt and fruit though and turn it into a meal pretty soon. Anyway, I packed the kids up today to hit the beach since the rain finally stopped here and I made them all PB&Js and I packed myself white bean hummus and blue corn chips. It was a great beach snack - easy and light.
Tonight as a peace offering, I suggested to CRH that we have Salmon and Havarti pizza since it's Eve's favorite and it was one of our five fish items that I knew she would actually eat. After we came home from the beach, she went out to play. While she was out playing, she managed to eat half of a 20pc chicken nugget meal and came home to tell me that she wasn't hungry for dinner (before she knew what we were having!). CRH and I really enjoyed the pizza and she ate a bite or two, but the defiance in her face when she was telling me she ate chicken nuggets was priceless. It's going to be a long road. I couldn't yell at her because just last night I was telling her that it is her choice if she eats meat when she's not at home. Trust her to find the loopholes!
Tomorrow night is Lima Bean Parmesan and she's actually kind of excited about that. I'll keep you all posted!
I had my usual for breakfast, despite making the granola. Granola is actually more of a snacky thing for me than a meal. I think I need to mix it up with some yogurt and fruit though and turn it into a meal pretty soon. Anyway, I packed the kids up today to hit the beach since the rain finally stopped here and I made them all PB&Js and I packed myself white bean hummus and blue corn chips. It was a great beach snack - easy and light.
Tonight as a peace offering, I suggested to CRH that we have Salmon and Havarti pizza since it's Eve's favorite and it was one of our five fish items that I knew she would actually eat. After we came home from the beach, she went out to play. While she was out playing, she managed to eat half of a 20pc chicken nugget meal and came home to tell me that she wasn't hungry for dinner (before she knew what we were having!). CRH and I really enjoyed the pizza and she ate a bite or two, but the defiance in her face when she was telling me she ate chicken nuggets was priceless. It's going to be a long road. I couldn't yell at her because just last night I was telling her that it is her choice if she eats meat when she's not at home. Trust her to find the loopholes!
Tomorrow night is Lima Bean Parmesan and she's actually kind of excited about that. I'll keep you all posted!
Granola
My favorite granola for years has been Cascadian Farms Organic Oats and Honey. It is delicious, tasty goodness. It is super expensive here though, as is granola in general. I don't know if that's a Hawaii thing or if it's expensive everywhere, but a box here runs about $6. I ran across this recipe the other day and thought it looked yummy. It's not so healthy, but it sounded great.
Dee's Dark Chocolate Granola
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 30 Minutes
Servings: 8
"This crunchy peanut butter and chocolate granola is great for breakfast, or any time that a chocolate craving hits."
INGREDIENTS:
cooking spray
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter flavored spread
(such as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!®
Spread)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups oats (such as Quaker Oats®)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
(such as Craisins®) (optional)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Melt together the brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, butter flavored spread, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until well combined; remove from heat.
3. Combine the oats, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the brown sugar mixture into bowl; stir well to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and almonds. Spoon into the prepared pan; pat down and spread evenly.
4. Bake in preheated oven until browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com (Maybe this means I shouldn't post it, I don't know, but there's the credit.)
I left out the almonds and dried cranberries because I'm not big on nuts and I can't stand dried fruit. I also used semi-sweet chocolate chips because it's damn near impossible to find dark chocolate chips on this island. It is as delicious as I had hoped it would be. I made it last night after Eve left as sort of a peace offering to the transition. We'll see how it goes over when she gets home today.
Burritos, Beer Garitas, and Resistance
If I'd known I could eat like this, I would have made the change years ago. I started Day 2 with a veggie sausage biscuit per the week's norm and stopped at 7-11 on the way to work for a cup of coffee. I've been a die hard Starbucks fan for decades, but I have to say that the 7-11 coffee with French vanilla creamer for $1.49 gave my Starbucks $3.30 latte a run for it's money. Clearly my champagne tastes on a beer budget are now starting to align and I'm developing beer tastes on a beer budget, which is as it should be!
My co-worker/lunch buddy is seemingly on the fence about this process. Yesterday, he was totally supportive though and we went to Down to Earth for lunch at their hot bar. I had the MOST delicious piece of white pizza with olives, mushrooms, and basil. The dough was super soft yummy goodness sprinkled with herbs on the bottoms...omg tasty. I complimented that with a fresh salad from their salad bar with a lovely red pepper dressing. I could eat that lunch every day for the rest of my life...really.
On the way home from work, I stopped off at Safeway and found lima beans for the aforementioned Lima Bean Parmesan and bought the stuff to make my own granola. Yes, I said it...make my own granola. No, I'm not going to quit shaving my legs. I'm sure if you have known me for any length of time, you are laughing your ass off right now.
Anyway, I came home and made this.
Dinner was a Veggie Burrito Casserole, compliments of CRH's iPhone recipe app thing and Beer Garitas, compliments of Southern Living. The verdict - I loved it, he liked it (though he said he wasn't feeling good and was super tired, so he may have loved it), and Eve hated it. It sparked her asking to watching Food, Inc. since this movie was changing her life. She decided she wanted to see it. I immediately agreed and then she promptly changed her mind, started crying, and said I was forcing her to do things she didn't want to do. Can ya'll imagine what my life is going to be like in 5 years if I'm getting this now?! We talked about it some and I told her I wasn't "forcing" her to do anything. I wouldn't make her watch the movie if she didn't want to and as far as becoming a vegetarian too, that was up to her when she wasn't at home but that I wasn't cooking meat here anymore outside of some select seafood. Fortunately, the convo ended when her bff came over to pick her up for a last minute sleepover. Good Times, really.
Here's the recipe for the casserole. It totally packed my 8x8 dish and CRH thought it needed more tortillas, but he loves bread a lot.
Ingredients
3/4 cup white rice
1 1/2 cups water
1 (12 ounce) package frozen soy burger-style crumbles
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
2 (10 inch) burrito-size flour tortillas
1 (14.25 ounce) can vegetarian refried beans, divided
1 can green chilies
1 1/2 cups salsa, divided
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
Directions
In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place soy crumbles, tomatoes with juice, chili powder, cumin, and taco seasoning in a medium frying pan over medium high heat. Cook and stir, breaking up tomatoes, for 10 minutes.
Lay 1 flour tortilla in a lightly greased 8×8 inch baking dish. Layer with one half of the beans, green chilies, rice, salsa, soy mixture, and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients, beginning with the flour tortilla, and top with remaining 1 1/2 cups Cheddar cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
About Recipe submitted by Barbara T.
View on the Key Ingredient website
My co-worker/lunch buddy is seemingly on the fence about this process. Yesterday, he was totally supportive though and we went to Down to Earth for lunch at their hot bar. I had the MOST delicious piece of white pizza with olives, mushrooms, and basil. The dough was super soft yummy goodness sprinkled with herbs on the bottoms...omg tasty. I complimented that with a fresh salad from their salad bar with a lovely red pepper dressing. I could eat that lunch every day for the rest of my life...really.
On the way home from work, I stopped off at Safeway and found lima beans for the aforementioned Lima Bean Parmesan and bought the stuff to make my own granola. Yes, I said it...make my own granola. No, I'm not going to quit shaving my legs. I'm sure if you have known me for any length of time, you are laughing your ass off right now.
Anyway, I came home and made this.
Dinner was a Veggie Burrito Casserole, compliments of CRH's iPhone recipe app thing and Beer Garitas, compliments of Southern Living. The verdict - I loved it, he liked it (though he said he wasn't feeling good and was super tired, so he may have loved it), and Eve hated it. It sparked her asking to watching Food, Inc. since this movie was changing her life. She decided she wanted to see it. I immediately agreed and then she promptly changed her mind, started crying, and said I was forcing her to do things she didn't want to do. Can ya'll imagine what my life is going to be like in 5 years if I'm getting this now?! We talked about it some and I told her I wasn't "forcing" her to do anything. I wouldn't make her watch the movie if she didn't want to and as far as becoming a vegetarian too, that was up to her when she wasn't at home but that I wasn't cooking meat here anymore outside of some select seafood. Fortunately, the convo ended when her bff came over to pick her up for a last minute sleepover. Good Times, really.
Here's the recipe for the casserole. It totally packed my 8x8 dish and CRH thought it needed more tortillas, but he loves bread a lot.
Ingredients
3/4 cup white rice
1 1/2 cups water
1 (12 ounce) package frozen soy burger-style crumbles
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
2 (10 inch) burrito-size flour tortillas
1 (14.25 ounce) can vegetarian refried beans, divided
1 can green chilies
1 1/2 cups salsa, divided
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
Directions
In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place soy crumbles, tomatoes with juice, chili powder, cumin, and taco seasoning in a medium frying pan over medium high heat. Cook and stir, breaking up tomatoes, for 10 minutes.
Lay 1 flour tortilla in a lightly greased 8×8 inch baking dish. Layer with one half of the beans, green chilies, rice, salsa, soy mixture, and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients, beginning with the flour tortilla, and top with remaining 1 1/2 cups Cheddar cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
About Recipe submitted by Barbara T.
View on the Key Ingredient website
Friday, May 13, 2011
Day 1
Thursday was the official kickoff of the venture. I'm pleased to report that I grocery shopped for 2 weeks and spent about what we normally spend. I had hoped to spend less, but it's apparently pretty freaking expensive to eat healthy. I'm still trying to figure out the breakfast thing. I'm not good in the mornings at all. I actually hate the morning and find myself scrambling around for food (no pun intended).
So, every morning this week I've had a Morning Star Farms veggie sausage biscuit. I love those, but I need to find some alternatives quickly before I get bored. I'm working on some things this weekend, but I'd love ideas for quick and easy.
Yesterday I sat here...
and ate an egg salad sandwich with tomatoes and onions from my favorite bakery, Waialua Bakery. They have a Pesto Turkey Special that I will miss very much, but alas their egg salad is pretty rocking.
I had awesome plans of coming home last night and making Lima Bean Parmesan, a recipe given to me by a friend, but Foodland did not have limas and I had moved onto plan B in my head. Around the time I was headed into the kitchen to cook, a friend of mine came over with beer and sushi and I ended up eating that for dinner. After I put Eve to bed, I decided I was still snacky hungry and I made some edamame. I let Eve get up to try some and she LOVED it. She stood with me in the kitchen and ate half the bowl. Who would have ever thought?!
So, every morning this week I've had a Morning Star Farms veggie sausage biscuit. I love those, but I need to find some alternatives quickly before I get bored. I'm working on some things this weekend, but I'd love ideas for quick and easy.
Yesterday I sat here...
and ate an egg salad sandwich with tomatoes and onions from my favorite bakery, Waialua Bakery. They have a Pesto Turkey Special that I will miss very much, but alas their egg salad is pretty rocking.
I had awesome plans of coming home last night and making Lima Bean Parmesan, a recipe given to me by a friend, but Foodland did not have limas and I had moved onto plan B in my head. Around the time I was headed into the kitchen to cook, a friend of mine came over with beer and sushi and I ended up eating that for dinner. After I put Eve to bed, I decided I was still snacky hungry and I made some edamame. I let Eve get up to try some and she LOVED it. She stood with me in the kitchen and ate half the bowl. Who would have ever thought?!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Metamorphosis
I grew up in the South. When you sit down to eat, something has died. It's just the the way of it. We are some meat and potato loving people. In our household growing up, my parents would usually have one vegetarian meal a year that consisted of fried squash, fried okra, and corn on the cob. It would piss my carnivorous brother off and he would go to the fridge and grab either some leftover meat or lunch meat and eat that with his dinner. It wasn't my favorite until many years later. I'd give my left arm to have that meal in front of me right this very second.
When I got married, Christropher was a vegetarian following a bout of kidney stones. It didn't last long because he was the cook and he got tired of preparing multiple meals (an event that I think only occurred a handful of times, mind you). Anyway, we continued our meat loving ways for years. In 2007 (ish), I read and watched Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me. I was horrified by both and went off McDonald's for a good solid month. Fast Food Nation did more than get me off fast food for a month though, it laid the groundwork for this. I also weighed 180lbs give or take (and I'm 5'4").
I've wanted to watch Food, Inc. for a long time, but I've been really busy in grad school for the last year and I just had not gotten around to it. A few weeks ago, I bought the book at Borders and I read part of the 1st interview with Eric Schlosser, who also wrote Fast Food Nation. I've also been watching Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver and I'm horrified over how we feed our kids, but I'll get to that in time. Last weekend, I was laying around the house because we've had nothing but rain for weeks and I finally figured out how to watch Netflix movies on the Wii. Food, Inc. was one of the free movies and I watched it in absolute disgust.
I'm in the middle of making a lot of life changes right now. Three years ago, I moved to Hawaii. I lost 55lbs and pretty much eliminated all fried food from my diet. I am currently in grad school for my MSW. I'm in the process of getting a divorce (although we still live together and get along really well these days). I'm moving into another phase of my life. I won't go on and on about how gross the movies were and the books I've read that have lead to this point. You all know that it's out there and if you want the details, educate yourself. This blog is going to be about my personal transformation from Southern Girl Carnivore to Vegetarian. I plan to post recipes with pictures and discuss the process. I want to talk about healthy food practices, Eve's (my daughter) responses to our food choices and life style transformation, provide recipe feedback and ease of preparation, product reviews, and overall changes in my body and how I feel.
I planned our next two week's worth of dinners this morning with Christropher's help. We've decided that fish is still ok. I'm sure it's actually not as ok as I think it is and I know some about the overfishing and such, but none of the movies and books I've seen have discussed the gross factor in fish eating just yet. It's not processed, so I feel like what I'm eating is pretty pure in that regard. I am pleased that out of the 13 meals we planned, only 5 have fish.
Stay tuned for updates, feel free to comment and offer recipe ideas, and I hope you enjoy reading about the journey!
When I got married, Christropher was a vegetarian following a bout of kidney stones. It didn't last long because he was the cook and he got tired of preparing multiple meals (an event that I think only occurred a handful of times, mind you). Anyway, we continued our meat loving ways for years. In 2007 (ish), I read and watched Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me. I was horrified by both and went off McDonald's for a good solid month. Fast Food Nation did more than get me off fast food for a month though, it laid the groundwork for this. I also weighed 180lbs give or take (and I'm 5'4").
I've wanted to watch Food, Inc. for a long time, but I've been really busy in grad school for the last year and I just had not gotten around to it. A few weeks ago, I bought the book at Borders and I read part of the 1st interview with Eric Schlosser, who also wrote Fast Food Nation. I've also been watching Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver and I'm horrified over how we feed our kids, but I'll get to that in time. Last weekend, I was laying around the house because we've had nothing but rain for weeks and I finally figured out how to watch Netflix movies on the Wii. Food, Inc. was one of the free movies and I watched it in absolute disgust.
I'm in the middle of making a lot of life changes right now. Three years ago, I moved to Hawaii. I lost 55lbs and pretty much eliminated all fried food from my diet. I am currently in grad school for my MSW. I'm in the process of getting a divorce (although we still live together and get along really well these days). I'm moving into another phase of my life. I won't go on and on about how gross the movies were and the books I've read that have lead to this point. You all know that it's out there and if you want the details, educate yourself. This blog is going to be about my personal transformation from Southern Girl Carnivore to Vegetarian. I plan to post recipes with pictures and discuss the process. I want to talk about healthy food practices, Eve's (my daughter) responses to our food choices and life style transformation, provide recipe feedback and ease of preparation, product reviews, and overall changes in my body and how I feel.
I planned our next two week's worth of dinners this morning with Christropher's help. We've decided that fish is still ok. I'm sure it's actually not as ok as I think it is and I know some about the overfishing and such, but none of the movies and books I've seen have discussed the gross factor in fish eating just yet. It's not processed, so I feel like what I'm eating is pretty pure in that regard. I am pleased that out of the 13 meals we planned, only 5 have fish.
Stay tuned for updates, feel free to comment and offer recipe ideas, and I hope you enjoy reading about the journey!
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